IRASBURG — The two major protagonists in this town’s year-long struggle over the treasurer’s job both went down to defeat at Tuesday night’s town meeting.

The ousted treasurer, Linda Stone, narrowly lost her bids for the jobs of town clerk and treasurer.

But the chief architect of her ouster, veteran selectman Ken Johnson, lost his job to Charlie Jaquish by a wide margin.

So many Irasburg residents turned out Tuesday night that the line of voters waiting to be checked off the checklist at the door backed up on the staircase to the town hall’s second-floor meeting room, across the porch and out onto the sidewalk.

At last year’s Town Meeting, 114 votes were cast in Ms. Stone’s successful bid for the treasurer’s job.

This year that tally was doubled.  Of the 230 votes cast in the selectman’s race, 141 went to Mr. Jaquish and 89 to the incumbent, Mr. Johnson.

Ms. Stone lost her bid for the town clerk’s job to the incumbent, Danielle Ingalls, 105 to 117.

She lost the treasurer’s job to the woman the selectmen appointed to replace her, Suzanne Cartee, 103 to 121.

Ms. Stone ran for that job despite a town ruling, published in the Auditor’s Message in the Town Report, that she was not eligible for the job because she had not properly closed her books after the selectmen declared her office vacant in late July last year.  They did so after Ms. Stone was unable to meet their demand that she double her security bond to $1 million.

The town’s effort to bar Ms. Stone from the race was overruled in a last-minute temporary restraining order issued by Superior Judge Robert Bent after a Monday hearing.

The hearing was part of a complex lawsuit Ms. Stone filed in an effort to get her job back.

That, presumably, is no longer a question that can be settled in court.  But considerable concern was expressed Tuesday night about how much the suit, and the legal maneuvering that led up to it, will cost the taxpayers.

While the selectmen continue to insist that they don’t know what the legal bills will ultimately total, a figure of $250,000 was discussed Tuesday night.

If it comes to that, Selectman Randy Wells said, the town will have to borrow the money, and raise the taxes needed to cover the loan next year.

In a footnote to their budget in the town report, the selectmen did say that they paid $31,657 in 2010 to cover legal bills tendered between March 18 and December 14.  Those presumably went to their lawyer, Duncan Kilmartin of Newport.  It is not clear if that amount covers all of Mr. Kilmartin’s services in 2010, or how much more he will bill for 2011, as the case continues.

In another footnote, the selectmen say Ms. Stone’s attorney, Charles Merriman of Montpelier, has sent the town bills totaling $40,264, which does not include another $26,000 that accrued in January.

However, the selectmen wrote, Mr. Kilmartin has told them that the town is not responsible for Ms. Stone’s legal bills because she initiated the suit.  The state law requiring a town to pay its officers’ legal fees applies only if a suit is brought against them, the footnote says.   It adds:  “We believe it was our duty to inform you of the foregoing, because Linda and her attorney may sue the Town to recover these fees and costs.”

Just before the balloting started in the treasurer’s race Tuesday night, Ms. Stone was asked if she would drop the lawsuit if she won.  However, the question was quickly ruled out of order by the town moderator, Ron Holland.

If the voters sent a message Tuesday night, it seemed to be that it was up to them, not the selectmen and their attorney, to decide who should serve them as town treasurer.  Their votes seemed to confirm Mr. Johnson’s judgment, while condemning his methods.

Years ago, Mr. Jaquish served a 12-year stint as an Irasburg selectman.

In other elections Tuesday night, the voters returned everyone to office who was willing to serve.  Omer Bousquet accepted a two-year term as lister, while a one-year term was left vacant, for the selectmen to fill later.

In a contested race for library trustee, Casey Eldridge prevailed over Mariette Metcalf, 79 to 73.

The voters approved the selectmen’s general fund budget of $198,200.  Other financial items, including a highway budget of $201,000, setting aside $20,000 to replace road equipment, and a long list of appropriations were still pending when the Chronicle bowed to deadline pressure and left the meeting.

At the annual school meeting voters approved the board’s budget request of $1,734,208, which is up 1 percent from this year.  Board Chairman Amy Leroux won another three-year term, without opposition, and Adam Johnson was elected to fill the balance of the term to which he had been appointed.