Former Candia selectman Richard Lazotte has been charged with simple assault after a scuffle Sept. 10 during a meeting at Town Hall. A warrant for his arrest was issued Sept. 14.

The former selectman turned himself in to Candia Police Sept. 19. He was processed in under an hour and released on $1,000 personal recognizance bail, according to police.

The fight which led to the charge broke out at a Board of Selectmen’s meeting Sept. 10, during a tense discussion on the town’s closure of its incinerator site.

Lazotte and former Solid Waste Committee member Roger Stenbak shared a heated exchange after Stenbak, feeling the former selectman was disrupting the meeting with excessive questions, asked Lazotte to sit down and be quiet, according to the police affidavit. Lazotte, after telling Stenbak that “no one tells him to shut up,” asked the other man to “step outside” to the parking lot. Stenbak agreed.

As Stenbak approached the door, he was punched by Lazotte twice below the eye. After a brief scuffle, they were escorted to the town police station on the other side of the building.

Stenbak was bleeding from a cut on his left cheek and taken to a Manchester hospital. The hospital visit was largely for precautionary reasons because of complaints of neck pain and a history of heart issues.

Lazotte suggested in his statements to police that the assault was in self-defense, as he believed Stenbak intended to hit him first as he approached from across the room. The police investigation determined Lazotte to be the primary aggressor, however, due to his suggestion of going outside and that he approached Stenbak rather than turning to the exit adjacent to his seat, implying intent to commit the assault.

Lazotte is to appear before the 10th Circuit District Division Court in Candia on the morning of Nov. 7. The case is a Class B misdemeanor charge, which imposes a fine of up to $1,200.

The scrap occurred as the selectmen were preparing to vote on a $129,300 contract with EnviroVantage to close the town’s incinerator site. The project has been controversial in the town, as Candia doesn’t yet have the money to pay for the entire project, having earmarked only $35,000. Proposals to break the work into smaller projects and hire local contractors were rejected. The town lawyer, according to selectmen chairman Joe Duarte, believed that such a change would be an inappropriate alteration of the bidding process.

The board of selectmen voted 3-2 to accept EnviroVantage’s bid.

bclogston@newstote.com