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FOXBORO - The town's dog park continues to draw controversy, with the latest heat involving the actions of a conservation commissioner.

Long-time conservation commission member Allan Curtis was criticized after the commission's chairman disclosed that Curtis sent a personal letter on commission stationery seeking an outside conservation group's legal help against the board of selectmen in the dog park dispute.

The action so angered first-year Selectman Paul Mortenson that he called for Curtis' removal from the panel. No other selectman took up Mortenson's recommendation and Curtis, the commission's vice chairman, will remain.

Mortenson and others have said part of Curtis' letter distorted the history of the opening and closing of Cocasset River Park. Mortenson has said Curtis' letter also implied a link between the abutting Milton Lane neighborhood and the vandalization of the park.

Mortenson added that Curtis in effect and falsely linked Milton Lane resident Don Baker, a local builder, with the vandalism, and that at the very least Curtis owes Baker an apology. Curtis has refused to appear before selectmen to discuss the issue.

"I would sincerely hope, based on Mr. Curtis' extensive history of dedicating countless hours to the town and with his admission of error and apology to the conservation commission, that we can move beyond this one indiscretion and consider this issue closed," conservation Chairman Robert Boette wrote in a letter he read during Tuesday selectmen's meeting. "We need to rebuild our working relationship and resolve the more pressing issues at hand."

In his July 1 letter, Curtis asked the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions to provide "legal aid" in superior court if selectmen direct Town Manager Andrew Gala to close the Foxboro Dog Park.

Baker, a plaintiff in a current suit seeking to close the dog park, was present with his attorney, Edward Valanzola, who said the town should write to the MACC and formally withdraw Curtis's request for legal aid.

The town's swimming facility was located on conservation land at the park from the 1960s until 2000, Curtis wrote.

"It was closed due to continuous vandalization of the gates and bathhouse," Curtis wrote. "This vandalization dramatically increased after a small local builder constructed 8 houses on a new street called Milton Lane which runs parallel to the park. The swimming facility was forced to close. Once closed the vandalism completely stopped. This is the only building in Foxboro that was consistently damaged."

Gala, Police Chief Edward O'Leary and Selectman Mark Sullivan all indicated disagreement with Curtis' account.

Gala said the swimming place was close primarily because of the high levels of coliform bacteria in the water. O'Leary said much of the vandalism of the structures occurred after the park closed.

Mortenson earlier said an issue that needed to be cleared up is whether Curtis's letter to Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions Executive Director Linda Mack, written on Foxboro Conservation Commission letterhead, spoke for the commission or for Curtis alone.

"The letter was a personal letter that was mistakenly put on Foxboro Conservation Commission letterhead," Boette wrote last week. "The Conservation Commission did not review the letter or vote to authorize sending the letter to the MACC." Boette reported that Curtis has been a volunteer for the town for the last 35 years, as a recreation department and commission member.