RUMFORD – Robert Chase objected to pay cuts for call firefighters Thursday night, citing, among other things, the lack of input by the volunteers when the decision was made.

“We learned on Aug. 6 that the pay cut was retroactive to July 1. No part of the call force was contacted,” said the six-year Rumford Fire Department call force member.

He said the pay cut amounts to between 87 cents and $1.83 an hour reduction for the call force’s 14-member contingent.

“We have 25- to 30-year volunteers who are taking pay cuts,” he said.

The cuts were made, according to selectmen, because the rate paid to volunteers in Rumford was higher than that paid to volunteers in surrounding towns.

“Why were 8 to 15 percent cuts made when the Fire Department budget was cut by only 3 percent?”Chase asked.

The call force pay is yet another fire department matter selectmen are grappling with.

On Aug. 21, a special selectmen’s meeting will be held to discuss overtime pay provided to staff members of the fire department. The department has 14 full-time firefighters. Four are on duty at all times. But selectmen voted to freeze hiring for an open position last month until the overtime issue was settled. It isn’t likely that the call force pay issue will come up at the August meeting.

However, Chase, fire Chief John Woulfe and Town Manager Jim Doar plan to meet within the next few days to discuss the pay issue for call force members.

“We will continue to respond to calls, but a good number of the members felt disrespected and hurt. We would have liked an active role. That would have given us more of a buy-in,” said Chase. “We are asked to respond at all times of the day and night.”

Also on Thursday, selectmen heard a request from local lawyer Seth Carey to consider building exterior fire escapes on the town hall as a means to meet Office of the State Fire Marshal requirements instead of constructing an interior tower.

The change, said Carey, could save the town hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Board Chairman Greg Buccina said the decision to spend $828,000 had been voted on by townspeople, bids have already gone out for the work, and the town has secured a five-year loan from the Maine Bond Bank.

“This is something that was studied for one and a half years by a nine-person Building Committee. It’s a little bit too late. It’s a done deal,” he said.

Carey argued that there is no law against external fire escapes, according to the state fire marshal who met with the town several months ago to discuss the needs for bringing the nearly 100-year-old Municipal Building up to fire and safety codes.

Jim Thibodeau, however, chairman of the Municipal Building Committee, said the state fire marshal said outside fire escapes were not acceptable.

He said, too, that the $828,000 project included more than fire exits. These include such things as handicapped accessible bathrooms, enclosure of the entrance into the auditorium and other items.

Doar said Carey’s request to investigate other means for meeting state fire codes was too late. He said the town is locked into repaying the $828,000 loan to the state bond bank.

Buccina encouraged Carey to put his wisdom and efforts into a future town project.

Bids will be opened on Aug. 30, and the contract awarded at the Sept. 6 selectmen’s meeting.