A series of arguments and face-offs appears to have led to the firing of a town employee last September by the Berne Supervisor Kevin Crosier, according to accounts from other town employees.

An impromptu inspection of a former boarding house has led to the Berne town building inspector to recommend that the town order it either secured or demolished by the owners, a church in Queens that uses the building’s property, but not the building, as a retreat center.