Rumford Selectman Frank DiConzo, who asked a firefighter to “step outside” during a recent meeting about department overtime, says his statement was not intended to be a threat.

“What I saw was blatant disrespect of the board’s authority and its responsibility to be fiscally responsible with the taxpayers’ money,” DiConzo wrote to the Sun Journal, following the incident. “I responded by telling him to take his attitude outside. I did not challenge him to a fight.”

In the interest of clarity, we obtained an audio recording of the meeting, held Aug. 21. About 20 minutes into proceedings, DiConzo clearly, and angrily, states to the firefighter, “Do you want to step outside?” Then what he says is muffled, followed by the declaration, “Do you?”

“You think you’re smart,” the selectman then adds, in a sarcastic tone. “You’re one of the abusers.”

Despite his protests, DiConzo clearly addressed the firefighter in a threatening tone. Others in the audience thought he was spoiling for a fight. So do we.

Readers can decide for themselves, by listening to an audio clip of the outburst on sunjournal.com.

For a selectman to believe the fire department is too generous with its overtime budget is fine.

Talking like that, however, is not.