RUMFORD – Town Manager Steve Eldridge has called a meeting with the Board of Selectmen for 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, to discuss their relationship.

The meeting will open in public, then go directly into executive session.

The meeting is a result of Thursday’s three-hour board meeting that saw disagreement among members and some of the 150 people who attended. Selectman Arthur Boivin moved to suspend and remove Eldridge from office pending the results of an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General. The reason for the probe is Eldridge hiring an outside auditor allegedly without selectmen’s approval.

Boivin’s motion died for a lack of a second.

When Burt deFrees asked what the cause for dismissing Eldridge would be, Selectman Mark Belanger said any such discussion should be held in closed session.

Earlier in the evening, former Selectman Eugene Boivin, Arthur’s brother, listed a number of alleged misdeeds, including hiring the auditor without board approval, granting an abatement without tax assessor approval, and changing accounting systems without getting bids.

Also Thursday, Selectman Jolene Lovejoy outlined the process by which the outside auditor was hired, and by whose authority.

Eldridge said Friday that the town’s lawyer, Jennifer Kreckel, will file the board’s request for an investigation into the possibility that the auditor, RHR Smith and Co. of Buxton, was hired without getting bids for the work.

Lovejoy said Thursday night, and Eldridge concurred on Friday, that when Eldridge was hired, it was found that some of the recommendations presented by the town’s regular auditor had not been followed by the previous town manager. The board asked Eldridge to look into it and to take care of the problem, they said.

A financial workshop was held in February 2005 to acquaint the board with where municipal monies were located. The only two current members on that board were Lovejoy and Rinaldo.

“Selectmen told the town manager to look into and take care of the problem; that that may include bringing in another auditor, but to keep the board chairman and vice chairman informed,” Lovejoy said.

The work was not bid because the cost was expected to be less than $1,000, the threshold the town has before soliciting bids, and, according to Lovejoy, investigations aren’t usually put out for bids.

In June 2006, Eldridge met with Lovejoy, the vice chairman, and Rinaldo, the chairman, and told them he was hiring RHR. He also sent memos to all department heads, he said.

Both he and Lovejoy said the meeting was not an illegal executive session because only two board members were there, and the previous board had authorized Eldridge to meet with the chairman and vice chairman when deciding whether to hire an outside auditor.

“There is bad blood on this board,” Lovejoy said. “There’s tension in the town hall. Two selectmen at anytime can sit down with the town manager. It wasn’t a secret meeting.”

“It’s unbelievable to me that we’re having resistance to improving the system,” Eldridge said Friday.

He also said the outside audit was not intended to point a finger at anyone, or to zero in on excise taxes.

“When I was hired, I was asked to address the hardware and software accounting system,” he said.

The board sought bids on a new accounting system in the spring. TRIO, of Bangor, won the contract over another company.

The action to have an outside audit was also taken because of the recent incidents of embezzlements taking place in several area towns, Eldridge said. But he was quick to say that there was never any suspicion about anyone in the town office.

He said it was the need for internal controls.