RUMFORD – A hearing has been scheduled before a judge in Oxford County Superior Court in Paris on Jan. 2 to hear a complaint by 20 Rumford residents who allege the town issued an invalid contract to the town manager.

The hearing is the result of claims, counter-claims, briefs and motions filed by Thomas Carey, attorney for the 20 residents, and Jennifer Kreckel, who represents the town and its selectmen.

Kreckel argued in a motion to dismiss the case last month that the suit was not filed in a timely manner, citing laws that state such claims must be made within 30 days of hiring.

Town Manager Stephen Eldridge was hired on Jan. 7, 2005. She further argued that plaintiffs cannot claim they had no knowledge about the circumstances surrounding the hiring because one of them, Robert Bradley, was a selectman at the time. Also, she stated that people cannot sue the town if they cannot prove that the alleged harm was done only to the plaintiffs and not to the general public.

She asked for dismissal of the suit and reimbursement of legal fees to the town.

Eldridge said earlier this week that the town has spent about $2,000 on legal fees associated with the case as of the end of the October; however, he said many more fees are expected because most of the briefs and motions were made after that time.

Carey rebutted Kreckel’s motion to dismiss arguing that selectmen failed to uphold the charter’s residency requirement. He called for the board to declare a vacancy for the town manager position until Eldridge agreed to move to the town, or appoint someone else.

He asks the court to deny the motion to dismiss and to award plaintiffs their costs.

Kreckel responded on Nov. 29, saying in part that the town manager can only be dismissed for cause, and if the act was done incorrectly, the time to file a complaint had long expired.

Had the special election to amend the town charter been passed on Tuesday, the issue would have been moot, Carey said.

“The people have spoken and now it’s time to move on and to reconcile the issues. This could easily be done by Steve joining us in Rumford,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

He said, too, that the Charter Commission should deal with the part-time positions that also require Rumford residency.