LISBON — After receiving a report from its attorney saying a recall petition against council Chairman Fern Larochelle was without merit, the Town Council heeded public criticism Tuesday and appointed another attorney to take a second look.

On July 1, councilors appointed town attorney Kristin Collins to review a recall affidavit filed against Larochelle. It claimed he had neglected his core financial and ethical responsibilities and was also accused of conflict-of-interest issues, but no specifics were mentioned.

According to the town charter, Collins’ decision would determine whether the recall could proceed.

Collins, serving as independent reviewer, issued her report July 8, ruling that “none of the allegations sufficiently states a permitted reason for recall.”

Even though Collins is not a town employee, some residents felt she was too close to the town administration and council to provide an unbiased opinion.

“If you were being questioned regarding your ethical practices, would you want the prosecutor to be your representative?” asked Grace Dube, who is part of a group that filed the recall petition. “That’s what I feel like I got. So, I’m going to appeal this decision, and I will take it as far as I need to go. Be rest assured.”

“You guys are all co-workers, you’re not unbiased,” Karen Stevens said. “From the get-go, it should have gone to another attorney who lives outside of Lisbon and has no conflict of interest with the town of Lisbon.”

Audience members also questioned Collins’ motivation since her law firm, Preti Flaherty, was seeking an extension of their three-year contract to represent the town.

After hearing from residents, councilors said they made a mistake appointing Collins.

Collins advised the board it would be fine to hire another attorney to conduct another external review.

“Hearing what we did from the public tonight, there is some clear dissatisfaction with that,” Councilor Normand Albert said. “If we want to honor the constituents that we serve, we should consider (getting another attorney) as an option. We’ve got to turn every stone until there is no doubt.”

“If there is even a perceived conflict of interest, I say let’s send it to a second independent review,” Councilor Nick Craig added. “That way if it comes back the same, we can all be very confident that’s the appropriate response. If not, we can deal with it then.”

Councilors unanimously chose the Lewiston law firm Brann & Isaacson to review the merits of the recall affidavit.

Additionally, the council chose Brann & Isaacson over Preti Flaherty to serve as its new legal representative. A report is due at its next meeting.

Larochelle has served on the council for nearly 20 years. The statement of reason for Larochelle’s potential recall claims he “has demonstrated a pattern of neglecting core financial and ethical responsibilities associated with his official duties as chair of the Lisbon Town Council.”

The affidavit claims Larochelle has repeatedly said that he wishes to “ween the town off of the unassigned fund balance.” It later states that despite contrary evidence, his position would lead or already led to a “structural budget deficit.”

The petitioners said evidence includes what they claim is a 60% increase in municipal expenditures without proportional growth during the past two budget cycles.

Larochelle has also been accused of conflict-of-interest issues exposing the town to legal action by failing to recuse himself. Exact instances are not spelled out in the affidavit.