Selectmen will appoint a replacement to outgoing board Chairman Galen Stearns’ seat after learning his resignation will come too late for voters to decide in the March election.

After reviewing state law, selectmen recently discovered Stearns must resign before the position opens up for election.

The last day for candidates to file for an elected position is Jan. 29, but Stearns’ resignation is effective Feb. 6, after the town’s deliberative session.

Stearns, who is leaving after taking a full-time job as Antrim’s town administrator late last year, said he would have resigned earlier had he known. He opted to stay on the board through the deliberative session for the sake of continuity, but hoped his successor would be elected by voters in March.

The news came as a shock to Ruth-Ellen Post, who had filed for the selectman seat shortly before the question of timing was raised. With a scant few days to decide whether she wants to run for re-election to the Planning Board, Post is in limbo.

“They’re saying I can file for other things and that’s true. I’ve always enjoyed being on the Planning Board, but what is my option in terms of seeking the position I wanted to have?” she asked. “This is one of the reasons I wanted to become a selectmen, to prevent problems like this. There needs to be better communication and much more care as questions arise, and they need to be asked early on.”

Post hopes the board will make the appointment process a public affair, but selectmen are still grappling with the timing. Board Vice Chairman Bruce Breton wants to see someone in Stearns’ seat as soon as possible, but he’s facing opposition from fellow selectmen.

“We haven’t really had a full board since Galen took on the other job,” Breton said. “If you look through the minutes, he’s been absent quite often. We have a lot of work we have to finish out.”

A board meeting scheduled for Monday was canceled for lack of quorum, he said, and Breton doesn’t want to see another cancellation in the near future.

Selectman Ross McLeod would rather wait until after the March elections to install a new member, not before. It makes more sense to appoint a new selectman to a new board than to a board in its waning days, he said.

“There is nothing on the radar between now and the election,” McLeod said. “We’re picking someone with this board make-up for only five weeks whereas if we wait until after the elections, the board in place will have to work for a full year. Why have a board that is going to be with a person for five weeks?”

As for how the appointment process will be handled, McLeod wants to keep it public and even take input from voters before making a decision, though it will likely be decided in a nonpublic session, he said.

“Anyone who expresses an interest, that name should be made public. If this was an elected seat, that name would be in public,” McLeod said. “I would hope to stress the positives and that way people would see the process played out in public. I’m certainly leaning heavily in favor of that approach, but I’m not sure if that would carry the day.”