RUMFORD – Selectmen voted 3-2 to place four residents on the town manager hiring committee, changing the number from two earlier in the month.

Deadline for submitting an application to sit on the committee is Feb. 23. On Feb. 27, selectmen will review the applications using a point system. Then, at the March 1 regular selectmen’s meeting, the four people will be named.

The board took the action Thursday night after an extensive discussion of how to choose the advisory members. Selectman Arthur Boivin wanted the names of all applicants placed in a hat, then four chosen.

“I’ve had experience seeing agendas pushed. The fairest way of doing this is pulling names out of a hat,” he said.

The board had originally wanted to place two residents on the hiring committee, as had been done more than two years ago when former Town Manager Stephen Eldridge was hired. But following a vote with Chairman Jim Rinaldo breaking the tie between Boivin and Selectman Mark Belanger to place four on the committee, and Selectmen Jolene Lovejoy and Greg Buccina for staying with two, four was agreed upon.

“The day after we hired the previous town manager, everyone seemed pleased and we had two community members,” Rinaldo said.

Belanger said having more community representation could add more variety to the committee.

Residential input will be purely advisory, with the Board of Selectmen making the final choice.

The deadline for town manager candidates to apply is March 2. All applications are being sent to the Maine Municipal Association for screening before the hiring committee reviews them.

Selectmen accepted the resignation of Eldridge late last month after an ongoing debate, and court decision, that he must move to Rumford. The town paid the remaining $74,000 of his contract, which would have extended through the end of this year.