Palmer Lake may be stuck when it comes to key decisions after the Board of Trustees terminated the town’s attorney at a meeting last month.

“We as a staff will not be creating resolutions without an attorney,” said Glen Smith, the town’s interim administrator, at a meeting Friday night.

The trustees voted to fire former Town Attorney Scott Krob in the early hours of Jan. 23, nearing the end of a seven-hour meeting. Krob had already announced his resignation at a Dec. 11 meeting, stating his intention to stay on until a replacement was selected.

Trustee Beth Harris made the motion, saying the public “has no trust” in Krob. The board initially gave the town’s staff until Friday to find a replacement, but Smith at the time expressed doubt about fulfilling that deadline.

Without a town attorney, Smith told the trustees that he was vetting multiple candidates with the possibility of an interim or permanent contract. The board discussed presenting attorney options at a Feb. 12 meeting.

Smith said whoever is hired would be “ordained by fire.” The town is in a complex legal situation as the defendant in multiple lawsuits. It is also trying to hash out a position on how to handle annexations, in light of a September special election item requiring all such requests go to a vote of citizens.

In recent months, the board has been in an intractable debate over the timeline to vote on a request by developers to bring 30 acres into the town marked out for a new Buc-ee’s travel center. The 74,000-square-foot location, if built, would be Colorado’s second.

The proposal has deeply divided the small town, prompting multiple recalls and resignations of public officials. The new rules passed by town voters last year require an election to decide annexations, but the board has its own vote to conduct as well. Which should come first is not universally understood.

The town had previously discussed leaving the interpretation of the new code to a judge.

Trustee Roger Moseley on Friday tried to introduce a motion to acknowledge what he felt was established code — the board’s vote comes before the town’s.

“It’s already in the code,” he said.

Moseley is the source of the town’s two active lawsuits, one over financials and the other over the legitimacy of Dennis Stern’s appointment as mayor.

Town staff expressed concern over making big decisions without legal counsel, especially when it comes to the hot-button issues around annexations.

“I think we’ve shown how complex and sensitive they are,” said Town Clerk Erica Romero.

The meeting ended with no concrete decisions on discussion items, though the board did set a time to interview candidates for a vacant trustee position left by Tim Caves, who resigned amid a recall campaign.