RUMFORD – Selectmen have decided to reconsider the hiring of a new firefighter until after a special meeting is held Aug. 21 to review the Fire Department’s overtime expenses.

At Thursday’s board meeting, Selectman Mark Belanger said his study of records show that $2,500 to $3,000 a week is spent on overtime for the 14-person department.

“Something is going on at the Fire Department. No company in the world can get away with that. This needs to be resolved,” he said.

The Fire Department has been advertising for a utility firefighter position, a position that Chief John Woulfe said helps reduce overtime pay.

“Any (extra) overtime now is because of that open position,” he said, adding that federal law mandates that emergency personnel be given a certain amount of overtime each week.

He said firefighters receive pay each week for 53 hours of straight time and three hours overtime. Belanger said his study showed that the extra overtime began before the resignation of the previous utility firefighter.

Woulfe said filling the open position wasn’t planned before September.

In other department matters, Selectman Brad Adley said he had received comments from volunteer firefighters whose pay had been cut.

Town Manager Jim Doar said the new pay scale for volunteer firefighters went into effect July 1. The new scale pays according to the level of training completed by the firefighter.

Also on Thursday, Doar said plans are under way for Central Maine Power to install two spotlights at either end of Morse Bridge that will light up the Androscoggin River’s reflection pool and part of the falls.

He said the cost will be $80 a month for electricity, maintenance of the poles, and pole rental.

The idea came up more than a year ago when some involved with the revitalization of downtown suggested that such lighting would have a positive benefit to the town.