MADISON — A move to hire a full-time code enforcement officer roiled the town for much of last year and is a primary factor behind a push to recall one of the town’s selectmen.

The effort to recall Glen Mantor is the focus of a public hearing scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Old Point School on Old Point Avenue.

The organizers behind the recall submitted a petition with more than 200 signatures, enough to place the matter before residents at a special election planned for Tuesday, March 7.

Town Manager Tim Curtis said Thursday that it’ll cost about $2,500 to hold the special election, with most of that expense coming from printing ballots and paying workers to staff it.

There’ll actually be two questions posed to voters on March 7: one to ask if they will remove Mantor from office, and if that recall is successful then the second question asks them to choose among candidates who may seek to replace Mantor.

Mantor took office in 2021 and his term ends in June 2024.

Curtis said the last time an effort was made to remove a selectman from office was in 2000, but his recollection was that it didn’t proceed to the point where it went to a ballot.

Mantor has been critical of Curtis’ work as town manager and was outspoken about Curtis’ move to bring on a full-time code enforcement officer. Mantor has highlighted how the enforcement officer Curtis hired, Jay Watt, is the town manager’s second cousin. Curtis said Watt was an experienced and important part of the town highway department for many years and that his decision to appoint Watt as enforcement officer was not based on any familial connection but rather on Watt being the most qualified for the position.

Despite their differences, Curtis said Mantor’s experience — he served a couple of terms as selectman in the 1990s and was also the town’s road commissioner for 17 years — has been beneficial to the town.

“I’ve always been pleased with his input and his decision-making process,” Curtis said.

Mantor acknowledged Friday that there were some bruised feelings when Watt left the highway department to become enforcement officer. But he said his opposition to a full-time officer was twofold: the cost of the town paying $24 an hour with benefits, and what Mantor said is no need for a full-time post.

The enforcement officer currently works on a per diem, on-call basis.

“I’ve always watched the money more than other people, I guess,” Mantor said.

Curtis said he wants to have an enforcement officer who would also double as a maintenance worker responsible for the upkeep of the five town buildings. The code enforcement work coupled with the maintenance needs would amount to a full-time position, he said.

Another consideration is that the town has had four enforcement officers in the last five years, with three resigning to take full-time work elsewhere, Curtis said. Having an enforcement officer working in a full-time capacity would likely help retain that employee longer, he said.

One of the organizers of the recall effort, Amber Meunier, said Thursday that Mantor is among three selectmen who are “putting personal feelings ahead of what’s best for the town.”

She said Mantor voted to carry money forward to fund other municipal positions, but not the code enforcement post. And she said not having a full-time enforcement officer can slow the approval process for inspections and other work that’s needed.

Meunier acknowledged that she and Watt are a couple, but she said her efforts are driven by the town’s interests, not her own.

“Yes I have a very personal feeling about this, but it’s really about what is right and what is wrong,” she said.

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