AUBURN -- The encroaching nor'easter wasn't the only storm brewing Tuesday night.

Escalating tensions in the ranks of the Auburn school board over audit committee and internal audit procedures came to a momentary head during a protracted meeting.

The brief clash followed a presentation by board president Michael Stearns, on an audit committee meeting held Jan. 29. Stearns, who sits on the three-member committee, had just outlined a diagram approved at that meeting, which streamlined the process by which a board member can raise questions to the group.

The overview incited a series of brusque questions from member Joseph Leogrande, around timelines for committee responses to board members. Leogrande peppered his queries with equally terse complaints about a two-month wait for responses to his initial inquiries.

After Stearns and fellow audit committee member Ginny Kent moved to iron out some of the issues, Stearns asked for a moment to respond to a published editorial in the Feb. 4 edition of The Citizen.

The editorial had delved into the question of whether Stearns and audit committee members Kent and Charles Cator had violated the state's Open Meeting's Law when they discussed audit committee-related business over a casual breakfast Jan. 6 at Denny's.

The state's Committee on Open Government had validated Leogrande's prior charges that the breakfast constituted a violation of that law, prompting Leogrande to demand a public apology from Stearns.

Quoting the editorial, Stearns said he agreed that "the state's Open Meetings Law is one of the most important safeguards the public has against abuse by elected officials," but maintained the breakfast was little more than a get-together. In addition to what he described as a "brief thing that came up" relating to how to answer Leogrande's questions, the three also chatted about family and vacation time.

"There was no violation or a need for any apology," Stearns continued. "It was just breakfast, with no cost to the public."

The response prompted Leogrande to challenge Stearns' public statement that the clash would limit the board's communications with ... Leogrande in the future, "because he's twisting around a lot of what we're saying,"

"I'm not twisting anything around," said Leogrande, confronting the notion of censuring communication with any member of the board.

Indicating his respect for Leogrande's right to ask questions and proffer opinions, Stearns said the pair's written communications since mid-December attested that rigidity prevented Leogrande from taking the context of his off-the-cuff e-mails in the spirit with which they were sent.

"..Since everything is going to be taken to the letter of what we write, that information has to be 100 percent accurate," Stearns said, adding that the night's airing of grievances might open up opportunities for future sit-downs between the two.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.