RUMFORD – Selectmen agreed Thursday night that in the future any residents involved in the hiring process will serve in a purely advisory capacity.

The decision followed a grilling by local lawyer Tom Carey, during which it was revealed that the combined selectmen and advisory members at one time overruled a majority of selectmen during its town manager search.

Carey said he would drop any potential lawsuit against the town if the board agreed to his request.

Selectman Greg Buccina said just prior to the vote that the board did not at any time during the town manager process violate the town’s charter.

And town lawyer Jennifer Kreckel advised the board during the nearly hour-long questioning by Carey that they did not have to answer any questions related to what occurred during an executive session.

She also said that all the town’s charter requires is that the board appoint a town manager.

“All five selectmen voted unanimously last Friday to appoint Mr. Doar,” she said.

Selectman Mark Belanger said during the sometimes-intense questioning Thursday night that he had asked that a third candidate be interviewed. Selectmen Arthur Boivin and Buccina agreed. However, the majority of the combined four residents and five selectmen who made up the Hiring Committee, with one person absent, voted 5-3 not to include a third person to interview.

The Hiring Committee then conducted interviews of two finalists, and at a special selectmen’s meeting last week, unanimously appointed James G. Doar as the town’s new manager. Doar is a Maine native currently working in New York who wants to return to his home state. He is a budget analyst for the state of New York.

He is scheduled to begin work June 7, then is expected to be appointed for a year’s probationary period at the board’s organizational meeting following the June 12 vote. Two new selectmen could be elected at that time, but even if there are and they disagree with the town manager choice, Boivin, Belanger and Buccina said they would uphold last Friday’s vote.

That third candidate was Jennifer Stowell, a Rumford resident who has served in the military and is a former Downtown Revitalization Committee member.

She appeared at Thursday’s meeting to say she had applied for the position and interviewed separately with Belanger. She said after looking at Doar’s resume, she believed she was highly qualified.

She said she was concerned with the town manager hiring process, adding that she had no connection with Carey.

“I’m real people. I want to be town manager of this town,” she said.