RUMFORD – Selectmen on Thursday voted to hire, on an interim basis, an expert on municipal finances to help them through the budget season while they continue their search for a new town manager.

They also agreed that they could not share Mexico’s town manager on an interim basis because the town charter requires that the town’s leader be available full time.

Chairman Jim Rinaldo said the board still plans to meet with Mexico selectmen on Monday to discuss the possibility of merging or combining major municipal services such as police, fire and public works. At a meeting of the boards last month, a suggestion arose that the towns could share Mexico Town Manager John Madigan for about a year while committees met to work out a possible merging of major services, or possibly, the two towns.

Rinaldo said a finance expert was needed to guide the town through its budget process, a task that a town manager generall y undertakes.

“We’ve never been through a budget process without a town manager,” he said.

Plans are to contact the Maine Municipal Association to ask for assistance in finding help, he said.

The board appointed four people to assist with the selection of the next town manager from a field of 13 applicants. Appointments were made through a point system decided by each selectman.

The board, along with the residents, will begin the task of replacing former Town Manager Stephen Eldridge at a special meeting set for 4 p.m. on Thursday.

At that time, the hiring committee will begin sifting through the applications sent from the Maine Municipal Association. MMA is assisting the town in finding a suitable candidate.

Rinaldo said as of Thursday, more than 20 people had applied for the job. Friday, March 2, is the deadline for applications.

Chosen to sit on the hiring committee are: David McKivergan, a vice-chairman of the SAD 43 board; Brad Adley, a Planning Board member; Jolan Ippolito, Finance Committee chairwoman; and Rosie Bradley, director of the River Valley Growth Council and Technology Center.

Once the committee meets and sifts through the applications, interviews will be set up with finalists.

Rinaldo declined to speculate on when a manager will be in place. In the interim, he will continue to serve as part-time acting town manager at no cost to the town.

The need for a new town manager was the result of a judge’s decision in January that Eldridge must live in Rumford because of a clause in the town’s charter requiring residency. He managed the town for the past two years while retaining his residence in Monmouth. Because he had a three-year contract, town officials paid the remaining $74,000 of his salary.