CHESTERVILLE — A motion to pursue legal action against a resident who has blocked a section of Adams Road failed in a 2-2 vote by selectmen Thursday night.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s done,” Selectman Guy Iverson said.

“This is it for us, unless it comes back again,” Selectman Scott Gray added.

Iverson and Gray voted for the motion; Chairman David Archer and Selectman Paul Caldwell voted not to. 

Under Roberts Rules of Order, a motion fails if there is a tie vote. The five-member Board of Selectmen has one vacancy.

For years, selectmen and residents of the dead-end Adams Road have argued over which section is public and which is private. On Sept. 17, selectmen wrote a letter to Darleen Hamel saying she had created a dangerous situation by putting two gates with rocks placed on a public way to obstruct travel. The gates are on the northern property line of the Richard Hamel Estate. Hamel lives 2¼ miles up the road.

“The foregoing obstruction is a hazard to vehicular and pedestrian travel and must be removed immediately,” the letter said.

Selectmen ordered Hamel to take down the gate and rocks by 4 p.m. Oct. 15, and if she refused the town might take legal action.

On Friday, Hamel, who was not at Thursday’s meeting, responded to board’s vote.

“I own almost a quarter of a mile before the gate. No one has the right of way through there,” she said.

At the meeting Thursday, Iverson emphasized selectmen’s initial assessment, based on advice from the town’s attorney, was correct.

Others at the meeting disagreed.

Resident Patty Hastings said selectmen denied two petitions she wrote for what they deemed monetary reasons, “but you want to talk to an attorney for things you can’t prove.”

Iverson defended the work selectmen did to get answers to end the road dispute.

“I’m not happy about it, but this is where we are,” he said.

The controversy surrounding the road has been going on since the early 1980s, Caldwell said.

“Some of these road things take years and years and years,” he said. “It’s more complicated than it appears.”

Hastings said the board was continuing to waste time discussing a dead-end road.

“I just want to document how much money we’re going to waste on this project,” she said.

Iverson said he was worried about potential liability for the town if someone driving up the road on an ATV ran into the gate.

“The issue is it is our road,” he said.

Later, Iverson said he wasn’t in favor of putting any more money for maintenance into the road than the town was already spending until the situation was resolved.

As for Hamel, she said she is furious with how the dispute has been handled. It has cost her a lawyer to research the road, she said in an earlier interview, and she has 24/7 surveillance on her property.

“They think they can do what they want when they want and they’re going to get away with it. They’re not going to win.”

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