Strong selectman Milt Baston answers a question from a resident during a packed Special Town Meeting last Friday. Pictured (left to right) are Strong Selectmen Clyde Barker, Mary White, and Milton Baston. (David Hart photo) STRONG — Strong Selectmen held a Special Town Meeting last Friday night with nearly 65 people in attendance. An article asked the residents to transfer $5,000 from the surplus account for pending and future legal services.

The $2,000 raised at the annual town meeting for this purpose was depleted when the selectmen became engaged in filing and pursuing a lawsuit. The lawsuit was against long-term resident and former Town Clerk Eunice Shurtleff, 72, on harassment charges that allegedly occurred while she was dealing with staff at the town office.

According to Selectman Rupert Pratt after the meeting, no findings of guilt or innocence were determined by the courts and there was no admission of guilt from Shurtleff. However, an agreement was signed by both parties before the judge heard the case. The agreement worked out by both parties released the case from the courts, Pratt said.

“The four of us contacted legal services so that we could represent ourselves in a court case of harassment,” answered board chairman Milton Baston during the meeting. “We can not do that without legal services.”

“The legal services will not cost $5,000, they will probably cost between $3,000 and $4,000,” Baston said. He explained that $1,500 was paid to attorney James Katsiaficas as a down payment. This nearly drained the town legal line. Approximately $1,500 to $2,500 more would be needed to pay for the legal services associated with the harassment case.

Many people were present that evening to demonstrate their position on other issues or to present other questions relating to the court proceedings itself and how or why the town got into this position.

Meeting moderator Susan Pratt continuously reminded residents to stay focused on asking questions through her and not directly to the selectmen or other residents and to ask questions about only the issue of the article on the warrant.

“The article we are acting on is to simply raise money for legal services. That is the article we need to address in our questions,” the moderator said.

“I want to know if we’re going to allow $5,000 for legal fees, if it’s only to cover the town government or will it cover the other side,” said resident Terri Parker.

“I can tell you that legal monies raised by the town,” Selectman Pratt answered, “cannot be used for outside individuals. They only can be spent on the town and the workings of the town which is what we’re spending it on.”

One resident offered an amendment to the original motion that started the meeting. The amendment changed the amount of money to be transferred for legal fees from $5,000 to $1. That amendment failed by a vote of 32-17.

Resident Roger Lambert moved to call the question, which cuts off any further debate should two-thirds of the people agree. That motion failed as well and debate continued along the same lines.

In the end, a secret ballot was requested by one individual and it revealed a 40-21 vote in favor of passing the article.

After the meeting, Baston said regarding the court case, “this is not a happy occasion for anybody involved… Nobody is happy. We’re satisfied that we’ve reached an agreement and as a board of selectmen we think it’s a fair agreement and we need to move on.”

“We’ve reached an agreement in court and we’ve been financed to finish paying for our attorney so this particular issue is over,” Baston explained.