NEW GLOUCESTER – Steve Hathorne spent Friday in Upper Gloucester village gathering signatures for a petition that asks residents to repeal last month’s vote to build a public water system for the village.

Hathorne and a half dozen residents are recruiting voters to sign the petition, which would be forwarded to selectmen. Spearheading the drive are Debbie May and Jerry Witham, who could not be reached for comment Friday.

The petition must have roughly 267 names of registered voters. Those names must be verified by town officials before the document goes to the board for consideration.

At issue is a nearly unanimous vote by about 200 people who raised their hands Feb. 16 to adopt the Town of New Gloucester Upper Village Water Services Ordinance. The $2.4 million project would provide public water to 48 businesses and homes, about half of which have private wells that have been polluted by chemicals as far back as the 1980s.

The Feb. 16 vote reversed one on Jan. 14, that rejected the project, 116-101.

Last week, selectmen voted not to hold a third town meeting on the issue, based on advice from town attorney Pat Scully, who said the Feb. 16 vote appears to be proper, valid and conclusive.

Some residents faulted how the Feb. 16 meeting was conducted, saying there was no time to ask questions, no paper ballots and no opportunity to vote for those who arrived late because the meeting took less than 15 minutes. Some said they couldn’t hear from the back of the Memorial School gymnasium, and the meeting was held on a holiday weekend before school vacation week.

For those reasons, Hathorne and others want another vote.

“We’re stuck with a water district whether we want it or not,” Hathorne said. “I feel like we were rushed through this and there must be a cheaper alternative,” he said.

Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Steve Libby said Friday that he will not sign the group’s petition, though he voted in favor of holding a third town meeting when other selectmen voted against it at their last meeting.

“I will be defending the will of the people who had voted, though I feel bad for the people who had things to say and were not able to voice their concerns,” he said.

Libby said the two “are dividing the town. They are hiding behind the Saturday meeting date and the show of hands vote and the fact that they couldn’t hear, but they are actually opposed to the project all together.”

He said May and Witham notified the town manager they had contacted an attorney about the issue.

Meanwhile, funding for the project has been obtained and a contract signed between the New Gloucester Water District and Wright-Pierce of Topsham for engineering, design and construction, which is expected to begin this spring.