RUMFORD – Thursday night’s selectmen meeting cruised through most of its short agenda until talk turned to a stop sign erected 32 days ago.

A handful of residents clashed with Selectman Chairman Jim Thibodeau over the placement of a stop sign at the inside corner of Penobscot Street and Swift Avenue near the dead ends of both roads.

At the board’s July 1 meeting, selectmen agreed to install the stop sign as requested by Jeremy Volkernick. They did this without inspecting the intersection. Selectman James Peterson was absent.

The issue was also not placed on the agenda.

Thibodeau said Thursday night that he didn’t put the issue on the agenda because he wanted the board to discuss the matter among themselves.

“I didn’t want a crowd there to bias the matter,” he said.

Volkernick, who lives at 20 Swift Ave., requested the sign, saying his wife, Kelly, narrowly avoided a speeding driver on Penobscot Street while backing out of their driveway.

The speed limit is 25 mph, but both Volkernicks said it isn’t obeyed.

Thursday night, Thibodeau revived the matter, seeking to have the sign removed and placed on the opposite corner from where it is now.

“At the time it was put in, I was opposed to where it was being put. It’s the most dangerous place, where traffic is coming down the hill, or they’re sliding down the hill in the winter,” Thibodeau said.

He said that since the sign had been installed, he had received numerous complaints “from almost every family in the area.”

Thibodeau said he wants to move the sign to the side opposite where it is now, stopping drivers on Swift Avenue rather than Penobscot Street.

The Volkernicks objected, as did Lorraine Barre, who said she has lived in the area for 23 years.

They want the stop sign to stay where it is, and have either three signs added for a 4-way stop or a second stop sign added at the corner of Penobscot and Swift, stopping people who come into the intersection from the dead end of Penobscot.

“It’s a danger to proceed into Penobscot, because you can’t see both ways,” Barre said.

Jeremy Volkernick revealed the issue using charts of the affected streets, and other four-way stop intersections in similar low residential areas.

He also asked the board to bring in a Maine Department of Transportation expert on intersections at the next meeting, but Thibodeau strenuously objected, raising his voice.

Thibodeau said he wasn’t about to bring in someone from Augusta, because the board didn’t need outside help.

After more discussion, and both Thibodeau and Selectwoman Jolene Lovejoy acknowledging that their July 1 decision was wrong, the matter was tabled to the next meeting, on Thursday, Aug. 12.

This time, prior to the meeting, selectmen are to inspect the intersection.

In the past, there were no stop signs in place.