Tempers flared at Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting, after resident Dr. Thomas Bicki approached the Board seeking an apology from Selectman Brenda Eckstrom for a comment she made when he was before the Board at last week's meeting.

Speaking during the "citizens participation" portion of the meeting, Bicki said that while he could hear Eckstrom "mumbling" last week when he was asking the Board about the town sewer plant's capacity and methods of billing for sewer, he could not determine what she was saying.

After listening to a recording of the meeting, Bicki said he could hear Eckstrom say "What an idiot."

"Mrs. Eckstom's defamatory comments were uncalled for," Bicki said.

Eckstrom responded that Bicki is involved with the Coalition for Buzzards Bay task force on the sewer, of which she is also involved. Eckstrom said that that committee is working with the town's engineers to find answers to the same questions that Bicki was asking the Selectmen.

"I don't know what you were trying to get from that," Eckstrom said. "I just thought that that was rude. Did I think that, in my opinion, were you acting like an idiot? Yes."

Bicki said he'd been out of the country for six weeks and did not know what the task force was working on.

Board of Selectman Chair Jane Donahue had to keep the meeting in order with several bangs of her gavel. Eckstrom did not apologize for her remarks.

"At the very least, I would request a sincere apology for what happened last week," Bicki said. "How I proceed in the future will be determined by the response of the Board and the response of Mrs. Eckstrom."

Donahue asked Bicki if he was threatening the Board. Bicki said he was not.

"I take that in a negative fashion," Donahue said, and ended the discussion.

Eckstrom is currently named in a $500,000 defamation suit for comments she made at a June 2009 meeting about resident Cara Pillsbury, which suggested Pillsbury's husband was having an affair.