Things got testy in Edgecomb Monday night when a developer took issue with comments a selectman made earlier this month.

Edgecomb Development owner Roger Bintliff brought up a newspaper story about the June 4 selectmen's meeting. At that meeting, the board discussed a May 31 letter Bintliff wrote to the town, arguing the town should resume paying tax incentives to his business, and stop paying them to Bank of Maine.

Bintliff has acknowledged previously agreeing to have the town send payments to the bank instead. But he says he owes the bank nothing now, and that the town should once again be paying Edgecomb Development.

Selectmen have said they have received nothing new from the bank or a court instructing them to redirect the money. Monday night, Bintliff read aloud from the newspaper coverage, including Selectman Stuart Smith's comments that Bintliff's letter "means nothing... It's worth the paper it's written on."

Bintliff asked Smith if that was what he said.

"That's what I said," Smith said.

"Why would someone as smart as you are say that?" Bintliff asked.

Bintliff said his concerns extend beyond the published comments. Neither the bank nor the town has given him documents he has requested, he said.

Jessica Chubbuck, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said she has been working "very, very hard" to respond to Bintliff's letter. The documents Bintliff wants fill a number of boxes and will be photocopied for him, she said. "We've gone above and beyond for you, and I'd appreciate some respect for that," she told Bintliff.

The selectmen will treat him the same as it does any citizen who contacts them, Chubbuck said. "You will not get better treatment; you will get equal treatment," she said.

Bintliff plans to have his lawyer review all the documents the town gives him. He said he's not claiming the town was wrong to pay the bank previously, but that, from now on, the payments should go to Edgecomb Development.

"I'm trying to prevent a future train derailment that involves the town," Bintliff told the board.

Meeting schedule update

Selectmen announced their next meeting will be at town hall on Monday, June 25, at 6 p.m., a change from their usual schedule of alternating weeks. They will meet again at town hall on Monday, July 2, at 11 a.m. to accommodate board members' schedules that week.