NEW VINEYARD — Voters will have the opportunity Thursday night to approve or reject two ordinance proposals.

Petitioners at the 6 p.m. meeting at Smith Hall will ask residents to adopt a code-of-conduct ordinance and a recall-of-elected-officials ordinance.

Jon and Alyce Cavanaugh said they had lost patience with what they perceived as selectmen’s consistently improper behavior. They gathered twice the necessary number of voter signatures to request that selectmen Fay Adams, Frank Forster and Doug Withey schedule a time to address their concerns.

“We presented a citizens’ petition to our selectmen, requesting them to hold a special town meeting,” Jon Cavanaugh said.

He said selectmen were required to respond to the petitioners within 60 days, and at the July 30 selectmen’s meeting, they received an answer to their request for a meeting.

“When we asked, we were told we might have to wait another 60 days,” Cavanaugh said.

The next morning, he said, Adams began distributing a letter around town written to selectmen by Frank Underkuffler, the town’s attorney. The letter advised that selectmen could refuse to call the meeting and that any ordinances adopted at the meeting could be ignored and considered null and void.

Underkuffler and Forster did not return calls for clarification by Wednesday evening. Adams declined to comment, saying only that she had not yet decided whether to attend the meeting.

Selectman Doug Withey said residents were entitled to assemble, but selectmen were not supporting the gathering. He said he was willing to attend and listen to opinions.

Voters may approve one, both, or neither of the ordinances.

“My perception is that this has created a small civil war in town,” Withey said.

Cavanaugh asserted that selectmen refused to call a town meeting, and they had to ask Strong Town Clerk Lois Barker to notarize their signatures and paperwork to call the meeting.

“They have lost sight of the fact that they are public servants who should serve all their people,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to wait three years if things are going wrong.”

He said that some selectmen had used their elected positions for personal and financial gain, used taxpayer money for frivolous reasons, and attempted to remove Code Enforcement Officer Jim Cahill for insufficient cause, using taxpayers money to do so.

Cavanaugh also said people had endured public slander and a lack of responsiveness from the board. Residents, he said, had been prevented from exercising their constitutional rights, had been blocked from obtaining public information, and had been bullied by selectmen.

“With such an ordinance, I hope for a better New Vineyard because in the end, that is what it’s all about,” he said.

An ordinance would not lead to the immediate recall of any particular selectman, but would ensure that town voters have the ability to do so, he said.

“I’m hoping this meeting will get their attention, and they will begin acting more civilly and ethically,” Cavanaugh said. “If that doesn’t happen, I’m sure there will be action to recall one of them.”