LONDONDERRY, N.H. — A Londonderry Town Council meeting ended in an exchange of insults Monday night after one councilor objected to a partly redacted legal bill and to how an investigation report was released, and a colleague said the remarks violated attorney-client privilege and amounted to "outright lies."

The clash came in the final minutes of the Nov. 9 meeting, after public comment had closed. One councilor told the board that the council had received a legal bill in which the redactions totaled $29,935, out of a bill of more than $125,000.

"I'm not in favor of paying a bill and I don't know what the heck it was for," the councilor said, adding later, "I think we need a bill that shows everything before we pay this."

The councilor said the bill was dated Oct. 21 but that council members "just received it last Friday after the election kind of convenient," and noted that the attorney had redacted the bill but released "the entire report which has everybody's names on it."

The councilor also objected to how the investigation report and an accompanying press release were made public, saying the council never voted on releasing them or on what should be redacted. "What we did by letting that out and not voting on it was illegal," the councilor said, adding that council members saw only a summary before the release and that "there's no way I'm reading 500 pages in less than two hours."

The councilor told the board that an email had been sent asking that the material not go out until the council voted, and asking that the councilor's name not be attached to it.

Another councilor, addressed by colleagues as Sean, responded that the council would not get into "a back and forth" and said discussing the matter in public "is violating attorney client privilege against the best interest of the town and the taxpayers who are in a suit."

"The things you said were outright lies," he said. He said that discussing what happened in closed sessions "will further jeopardize the court case and the taxpayers," and added, "What you said in the union leader isn't true." He said a complaint would "most likely" be filed.

The councilor he accused, addressed during the exchange as Deb, replied, "Good put the complaint in Sean," and said nothing that had been raised was private information. "I triple checked with two attorneys who are municipal attorneys," Deb said, later adding, "take me to court then and prove me wrong."

Deb repeatedly pressed Sean to say what had been untrue, telling him, "look me in the face and tell me what I lied to you about." Sean responded that Deb was "attempting to legally sabotage a case by talking about what happened in a meeting."

As the exchange escalated, Deb said Sean had "publicly slandered my name" and told him, "you're a baby Sean a big big baby because you can't say the truth." The council then voted to adjourn.

No one at the meeting described in public what the legal bill covered or what the court case referenced during the exchange is about.

Earlier in the meeting, the council voted 4-1 to authorize the acting town manager to enter into an off-site improvements agreement with a developer.