A bare-bones Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 to ask Governor Deval Patrick to solicit legislation to allow Michael Schneider's vacant seat to be added to the April 3 town election ballot.

Schneider notified the Town Clerk's office via a February 7 letter that he would resign his seat effective March 31. However, town officials learned Wednesday that Schneider's seat is vacant now despite his plans to leave in March.

"According to the Secretary of State's office, [the seat] is vacated and I have to act as if it is vacated," Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva said during a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday.

Schneider cannot rescind his resignation, Silva said.

The special meeting was called by Schneider and Selectman Ellen Begley on Monday in an effort to avoid a special election. Schneider's notification came too late for the town to easily add the seat to the April 3 ballot. Schneider would have had to announced his resignation by January 30 for that to happen, according to Silva.

The town is now faced with holding a special election, which can be costly, or asking the state to allow Schneider's seat to be added to the annual town election ballot.

Silva estimated a special election could cost the town from $10,000 to $15,000.

Selectmen Chair Walter Cruz and Begley both voted in favor of the request, while Selectman Cara Winslow was the opposing vote. Selectman Steve Holmes is traveling and was absent from the meeting.

The Board of Selectmen's vote only allows the town to ask the state for the special legislation. Legislators must approve the request before the seat can be added to the ballot.

However, nomination papers for the remainder of Schneider's term -- two years -- will be available at the Town Clerk's office immediately. It is completely separate from the three-year term currently on the ballot -- Cruz's vacated seat.

Interested candidates must return papers, complete with the signatures of 50 registered voters, to the Clerk's office by 5 p.m. on February 24.

Any candidate who has returned papers for the three-year term may not use those papers to instead run for the two-year seat. If interested in the two-year term, they must withdraw their papers, pull a new set, and return the new papers with 50 signatures by the deadline, Silva said.

Winslow worried that the six business days that papers will be available is not enough time for the process of collecting signatures and setting up all other necessarily aspects of a campaign. The Town Clerk's office is closed on Monday, February 20, due to Presidents Day.

"I think we're trying to attach a cost to something that really doesn't have a price tag on it," Winslow said of the town's attempt to save money by avoiding a special election. "We're talking about a full, fair democratic process, giving both the candidates and the voters a fair election process. I don't think that six business days is a fair election process."

Winslow also pointed out that next week is winter vacation for the schools and some parents who may be interested in running may have vacation plans that would cause them to be out of town and unable to get signatures and return papers.

Begley argued that the vote was necessary to save the town money and said the seat may appeal to candidates who may not have wanted to run for the full three-year term.

"There have been people who have taken out papers at the last possible hour that you can possible take them and return them within two days," Begley noted. "Yes, there are only six business days, but there's a week. There's a week to get 50 signatures."

Cruz agreed and pointed out that when he ran for the board, he was one of those people who took out papers just before the deadline and was able to return them in time.

"It can be done," Cruz said. "It's going to save us $10,000 to $15,000."

The last time such a process occurred was after the 2007 resignation of Selectman Mary Jane Pillsbury, though that process began approximately two weeks earlier than this one, Silva said.

The vote and subsequent adjournment of the meeting prompted yelling from members of the audience, some of whom were upset that the board voted without all Selectmen present and others who were hoping to ask questions about the process.

"Boy, that was really pathetic, guys," an angry Donna Bronk, who serves on the Finance Committee, said over the noise and hollering of questions from others. "That was really pathetic."

Begley responded: "It's not a public hearing."

The only order of business on the agenda was the discussion about Schneider's seat -- a requirement per Board of Selectmen policy when a special meeting is called.

In his statement to the Town Clerk's office, signed by a Maine-based notary public, Schneider cited his "current personal situation" that will require him to "relocate on a permanent basis" and his desire to "focus my energy on my health and the well being of my Family" as his reasons for resigning from his post.

A meeting of the Transportation Action Committee, scheduled for the same date, time, and room, was recessed to allow for the Selectmen's meeting to happen. It resumed after the Selectmen adjourned.