The BOS and the town attorney all admitted that the executive session the BOS held on December 15 was illegal and therefore void. The BOS proceeded to apologize for not knowing the law and said that it was not done in malice. Brooke Buckley, chairman of the illegal session, said she'd written a note to Carla during the meeting to ask her if they should proceed to a private meeting or in the open. They claimed that they did not want to discuss "personal views of candidates out in public". Carla Chiles claimed that no decision was made in that executive session. Jed said that he told Coralue Anderson the day after the meeting that it was an improper executive session and that he thought that any action to appoint was subject to legal challenge and that challenge would win. Jed told the board that they would lose in court, but that regardless the court would have no authority to force the town to hold an election. Jed told the BOS that they will indeed be paying the plaintiff's attorney's fees as a result of their illegal actions.

Concerned about the legal fees the town would have to pay, the plaintiff's attorney, Mike Sawyer, offered a deal on behalf of his clients. Basically, the plaintiffs offered to pay to the attorneys out of his own pocket the amount equal to two elections, the town would pay the rest owed to the attorneys, and the case would be dropped. Otherwise, the plaintiffs would proceed to a hearing and trial (which Jed has already said the plaintiffs would win), racking up more attorney fees in the process that the town would have to pay, which literally could be thousands more.

The BOS was less than receptive to the offer and Carla Chiles stated before the plaintiff's attorney spoke that it wouldn't matter what he said, she would not be changing her mind. Rick Payne likened the offer to blackmail. They discussed their views on any person or association paying for an election. They thought that would be improper and would taint an election. They said they could not be sure that anyone would run for the office if it went to an election. (you don't go to an election unless you have candidates that have turned in petitions to run, they can't just call for an election, they said). Ultimately, the BOS decided that an election would cost too much money, that appointing a mayor had been done in the past, that an election would take too long and that they would pursue their right to appoint a mayor despite knowing they could be paying thousands in attorney fees to sue and defend their illegal actions. They then proceeded to rubberstamp the appointment of Tom Bennhoff (although he hasn't been sworn in yet).