Apparent miscommunications and misinformation in the sponsorship of three items on last month’s Special Town Meeting agenda prompted several residents to speak out at the Planning Board meeting on Monday.

“I’m here to ask that the board conduct a constructive review of all the things that went on to get the bylaw amendments to Town Meeting,” said Bonne DeSousa.

There was confusion at the Special Town Meeting over three zoning amendment bylaws. Although Brad Saunders, a consultant hired by parties within the Bay Club, presented the amendments, the agenda stated that the Planning Board sponsored them. Town Administrator Mike Gagne also read a letter stating the board had voted 5-0 in favor of the bylaws. The items were all indefinitely postponed by voters.

The Planning Board, however, says that the wording of the letter, written by secretary Tammy Ferreira was a mistake. The 5-0 vote was to close the public meeting and allow the items to be on the agenda, not to support them, said board members.

Any questions the public had could have been answered at the numerous public hearings the Planning Board had with Saunders, said several members.

“If people are concerned with what’s going on, you’ve got to pay attention all the time,” said board member John Mathieu. He added that meetings are available online.

“I can see the confusion. [The amendments] should have been by the petitioner,” said board member Ronald Merlo.

According to Gagne, that would have required 100 signatures from registered voters to be carried on the agenda.

For her part, DeSousa had several requests, including a public meeting where the board and Selectmen could discuss the communication issues, a complete review of the sponsorship process, and for the letter read at Town Meeting to be corrected.

“There are a few places where obviously there was a misinterpretation of what was actually happening,” she said.

In speaking with officials, DeSousa said she frequently got different answers.

Chair Thomas Tucker said he would invite Selectmen to discuss the matter with the board.

“I’d be more than happy to sit in front of them,” he said. “We never ever ever said we were going to be the sponsor for this.”

Resident Brad Hathaway asked for more transparency, particularly from Selectmen.

“It has been two weeks since Selectmen were asked to call an open honest public meeting of all parties concerned,” Hathaway said. “We have been whistling in the dark while Selectmen have moved to get their own answers to some questions in private.”

Merlo also asserted that everything was done above board, even if mistakes were made. “People were following what they thought was the right thing,” he said.

On Tuesday, Gagne echoed Merlo’s statement, and said he’s concerned by some comments that have been made about Selectmen’s involvement in the bylaws.

On Sept. 22, Gagne forwarded an email from Town Counsel to the Planning Department stating the need for a letter of support from the board. The email included the finalized articles stating they were brought by the board. No one corrected the mistake, said Gagne.

“I don’t want it to be made into some grandiose conspiracy,” he said. “We had no knowledge that it was a citizen petition.”