RUMFORD – In what many hope will allow the town to get back to business, selectmen granted a contract to Town Manager Stephen Eldridge Thursday night.

The action followed a 25-minute closed session. Selectmen Jim Rinaldo, Jolene Lovejoy and Greg Buccina voted in favor of granting the contract, while Selectmen Mark Belanger and Arthur Boivin abstained.

Belanger and Boivin said they didn’t vote for the contract because they believe the action doesn’t comply with the town charter. Belanger also said that there were too many things pending, such as a letter to the Office of the Attorney General requesting an investigation into a possible illegal executive session, to warrant the action now.

The site of the meeting was changed from the Municipal Building when selectmen went into closed session, to the American Legion Hall because more than 49 people were present. The State Fire Marshal’s Office has declared the Municipal Auditorium unsafe for more than 49 people until several codes are brought into compliance.

The contract extends Eldridge’s tenure to June 2008, rather than the previous December 2007 expiration so that Eldridge will be appointed during the time frame called for in the town charter.

To meet another charter requirement, town attorney Jennifer Kreckel introduced an amendment to the 55-year-old document that allows selectmen to decide whether the town manager, town auditor, sealer of weights and measures, and other appointed positions must reside in the town. People who hold the positions now must reside in town, according to the charter. Besides Eldridge, the town’s sealer of weights and measures and the town auditor live elsewhere.

Selectmen approved putting the amendment before the public at a special referendum election on Dec. 5 by a vote of 4-1, with Boivin casting the dissenting vote. A public hearing on the amendment will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 30, at the American Legion Hall. If passed, the amendment would go into effect immediately rather than wait the usual 90 days.

“If we pass this charter amendment, the issues in Tom Carey’s suit would be moot and we can get back to town business,” Kreckel said.

Kreckel said the town neglected to change the residency requirement in the town charter when several lawsuits nationwide challenged such a requirement in the 1980s.

Former Selectman Eugene Boivin, who sits on the Charter Commission, questioned why the town would set a special election to amend the charter when the commission has just started its review work.

He said the only residency issue was the town manager.

“A lot of people feel the town manager should live in Rumford,” he said.

Carey, who filed a complaint against the town because of what he called charter violations, said Thursday night that he was saddened that it had to take a lawsuit to bring those violations to the board’s attention. He had said on Tuesday that if the selectmen signed the contract Thursday night, that action would be a further violation of the charter.

He unsuccessfully filed a request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the signing of the contract.

Kreckel said Thursday that she had already begun to make changes that would bring the selectmen’s actions into charter compliance before Carey filed a complaint.

Eldridge said following the meeting that with a contract that conforms to the charter, the many issues facing the town can now be worked on.