PLATTSBURGH — Peru Town Justice Peter Keenan said he was concerned by the alleged behaviors of town Code Enforcement Officer Paul Blaine.

“Mr. Blaine at times was out-of-control,” Keenan said this afternoon as the first defense witness in Peru Town Supervisor Donald Covel’s official-misconduct trial.

“(It was) conduct that was completely out-of-control and nuts and not good for a workplace.”

Keenan said he shared his concerns with Covel about two weeks before Blaine was temporarily dismissed from his position.

“He (Covel) at this time said he was going to suspend or terminate Paul Blaine.”

At issue in the trial is whether Covel inappropriately fired Blaine in early 2008, when he was officially listed as suspended with pay, and whether the supervisor issued unlawful permits and certificates for his wife’s business while he briefly served as acting enforcement officer.

Town law says a supervisor would fulfill the duties of the code enforcer if a vacancy arose.

Defense attorney Lawrence Elmen, despite objections from Assistant District Attorney Jaime Douthat, offered Keenan’s testimony to help document Covel’s state of mind before Blaine’s dismissal.

Don Lee, a retired code-enforcement officer for the Town of Plattsburgh, later described his contact with Covel during Blaine’s absence.

“He asked if I could perform code-enforcement officer duties,” Lee said as evidence that Covel had tried to otherwise fill the position.

Lee said he and his former assistant were unable to help the adjoining town because of their busy schedules.

Plattsburgh resident Ian Fasking later told jurors that he too was asked to serve the town in that capacity during the vacancy.

Earlier today, before the prosecution rested after calling five witness, Blaine spent several more hours on the stand detailing his relationship with Covel and past work experience, all the while maintaining that he thought he was inappropriately fired.

He told jurors that he, too, had approved applications for relatives but said he advised his superiors of those actions to avoid any appearances of a conflict of interest.

Blaine said there were various reasons why he didn’t approve Linda Covel’s requests for her business, Frosty Springs Co., saying portions of her application were either incomplete, in question or that inspections were needed.