OAKLAND — Town financial records show that a town vehicle was serviced at an auto repair shop owned by Council Chairman Mike Perkins and one councilor said she wouldn’t sign off on paying the bill because she believes that violates state law.

The town received a bill for $1,032.27 from Perk’s Auto Repair for brake work on a police cruiser in June.

Councilor Kelly Roderick said she believes this violates state law because a councilor benefiting financially from town funds is a conflict of interest.

A state statute requires municipal officials try and avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, and requires municipal officials to disclose any conflicts of interest where they may benefit financially in a vote or contract.

A search of town records shows one other instance of a vehicle going to Perk’s; a vehicle was brought there for an inspection in October, at a cost of $12.50.

Perkins said he never knows what vehicles are in his shop, and he doesn’t have any influence over where the town sends its vehicles. He said Roderick just wants to cause trouble.

“It’s a s–t-stirring contest,” Perkins said. “My shop costs less than 90% of the shops around here, so I save the town of Oakland a lot of money.”

Perkins said he doesn’t believe the town broke any laws. “How is that a conflict of interest?” he said.

“It’s not like we use them for everything we do,” Town Manager Kelly Pinney-Michaud said at the meeting, after Roderick said she thought the town had violated state law. “It’s when we can get in quick to get something fixed.”

The vehicle, a police cruiser, is being readied for a new full-time detective in the police department; funding to move the position from part time to full time was approved earlier this year at town meeting.

Police Lt. Adam Sirois said the cruiser still needs various updates before department’s new detective can drive it. It’s not clear when the car will be back on the road, as Sirois said he’s planning to do more repairs on the car himself when he has time.

Perkins posted about the repair on Facebook on July 2, writing that he wanted to get ahead of the Morning Senintel’s reporting. Perkins described the work as an emergency repair, and said that the vehicle was back in service in three days, saving the town time and money.

Sirois said the cruiser spent two weeks at Perk’s Auto, with the repairs themselves taking one week. He said Perkins told him that he only learned the car was at Perk’s when his mechanics were already working on it.

The town does not have a policy to avoid using Perk’s Auto, and Sirois said he uses whichever mechanic has availability and will be quickest, giving preference to local shops. There are dozens of mechanics in the Oakland area, and Pinney-Michaud said the town usually tries to get cars fixed at dealerships first, and makes an effort to avoid using Perk’s Auto unless there’s an emergency situation.

Perkins and Pinney-Michaud both said the payments to Perk’s Auto are not newsworthy.

Roderick and Perkins did not sign the financial disbursement warrant that authorizes the town’s treasurer to pay the bill, as a majority of councilors did.