A public hearing on Town Accountant Elizabeth Zaleski's firing will be continued at a later date after lawyers spent more than four hours questioning one witness Thursday.

Town Administrator Mark Andrews issued a press release announcing Zaleski's termination on April 4, after a draft financial audit conducted by independent auditor Powers & Sullivan revealed a $919,000 discrepancy in the town's books.

Four days after the announcement, Zaleski's lawyers called for a public hearing on the termination, saying "due process" was not followed. The public hearing is required per the Town Charter.

James Powers of Powers & Sullivan was the first witness called in the hearing, with the discussion addressing the details of the audit and the process by which the audit was conducted.

The $919,000 discrepancy stemmed from Zaleski not properly reconciling the town's books, Powers said.

"A reconciliation is the review of one set of numbers [in the books] to the other. ... It's as simple as ticking and tying each transaction," Powers said. "[Zaleski] explained, at least to me in a phone call or two, that she knows she needed to have [reconciliation] done and she was rushed" because the audit was scheduled to begin.

While rushing, Zaleski made an error in the School Department records, Powers said.

"The Town Accountant, in order to appear to be reconciled, erroneously ran the 2011 school records ... and matched that up to 2010," causing a discrepancy totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, Powers explained.

Powers said he and his employees knew there was a problem when the audit began in November and that he and Zaleski notified Andrews. Powers said the extent of the discrepancy, however, was not known until March.

Auditors are still working to account for the money in the town's books.

Andrews served as the hearing officer, though Zaleski's attorneys argued that, as the person who fired her, he should not preside over the hearing.

"Your personal interests were at stake and the provisions of the Charter were not followed" in Zaleski's termination, said attorney Robert Galvin, asking Andrews to recuse himself. "Someone with some impartiality would ensure Ms. Zaleski some fairness."

Attorney Richard Bowen, representing the town, argued that Zaleski's employment contract and the Charter states that she could request a hearing before her appointing authority - Andrews - and made no provision for delegating the responsibility to any other party.

Addressing the issue, Andrews said he'd given the process a lot of thought.

"I've searched in my heart and my soul and my mind on this matter. ... Ms. Zaleski was not only a friend, but a colleague," he said, noting that the Town Accountant attended his late uncle's wake.

Andrews ultimately denied the request, saying: "I don't have any financial interests with [Zaleski]. ... We don't have any issues relative to anything outside Town Hall."

Andrews received guidance from a town attorney during the hearing.

Selectman Cara Winslow, who after reviewing the draft audit report, wrote a letter to the editor calling for Andrews to fire Zaleski or to resign, will also be questioned during the hearing.

We will update this story with the date of the next hearing as soon as it is available.