Epsom’s elected road agent Gordon Ellis sued selectmen for firing him in October, after they say he failed to obtain authorization for work the Highway Department performed.

In the state Superior Court suit, Ellis’ lawyer Lee Nyquist argued selectmen overstepped their authority when they fired Elliis, elected to two-year terms in 2003 and 2005.

At the 2007 deliberative session, several petitioned warrant articles asked for the removal of board members Bob McKechnie, Joni Kitson and Peter Bosiak, but were legally nonbinding.

Another petition was successful in cutting the board to three members, which will be implemented at this year’s election. Others petitions asked the board’s spending authority, particularly over the Highway Department, be significantly decreased.

Many outraged residents expressed mistrust in the board, alleging nonpublic sessions were too frequent and that too much was being spent in legal fees.

Bosiak passed away in July, his position filled by Bob Blodgett.

Epsom resident Dave Fiorentino filed a Right to Know lawsuit against McKechnie and Kitson, which he discontinued in September when it was costing him too much money.

In October, with McKechnie absent, Klose, Blodgett and Randall voted to dissolve the Road Agent Committee governing Ellis, giving him more discretion in his spending. Kitson voted against dissolving the committee.

Recently, both McKechnie and Kitson announced they would not sign off on invoices for the Highway Department, posing a problem for the Board of Selectmen’s three-signature policy should any of the other three selectmen be absent from a meeting, at which the invoices are typically signed.

Both McKechnie and Kitson declined to comment on the invoice policy, the Fiorentino suit, and various other issues associated with the past year’s rocky road.

Meetinghouse moves
In February, a special town vote to save the town’s historic meetinghouse, most recently home to the Epsom Bible Church, from certain demolition passed with voters. Later that month, it was moved a quarter of a mile down Route 4 on a wide-load truck.

The meetinghouse made it onto the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance’s Seven to Save list, which provided some of the funding for the move and repairs.

Cumberland Farms, which bought the property the building sat on, donated the $10,000 it would have spent on demolishing the building toward moving it instead.

In October, the NHPA held their annual meeting at the old Epsom town hall in celebration of the Meetinghouse’s move and to update members on the progress of the other six buildings on the list.

Plans for the meetinghouse, according to *** Frambach of Friends of the Epsom Meetinghouse, are to connect it to the library, a project that is estimated to cost about $950,000. Grants are being looked into to help with some of the costs.

Time to move?
For Ken and Carolyn Stiles, the speeding car driven by Efrain Perez, 24, of Manchester, was the third car to drive into their home in 12 years.

The couple lives on the corner of Center Hill Road and Route 4, and in June they narrowly escaped injury when Perez’s Cadillac sped at 96 mph and flew into the Stiles’ living room.

A Northwood police officer pursued Perez over the town line in a 3-mile chase which ended in Perez’s arrest.

Perez attempted to flee the scene, running down an embankment in the back of the yard and breaking his ankle.