RUMFORD – Rumford and Mexico officials decided Monday at SAD 43’s board meeting that they must begin finding representatives to sit on a regional planning committee.

The decision came during a meeting of the SAD 43 board with Bob Connors, the Department of Education representative who will likely facilitate a regional planning committee of people from SADs 43, 21, 44 and Union 37 as they work on a merger plan.

Representatives must be chosen quickly. The planning committee has just over eight weeks to submit a plan to the state Department of Education by Dec. 1.

Rumford Selectmen Chairman Greg Buccina said the matter will be brought up at the Oct. 4 selectmen’s meeting, with a target date of appointing interested people during the meeting of Oct. 18.

Mexico Selectmen Chairwoman Barbara Laramee said her board will discuss appointments at the Oct. 10 selectmen’s meeting. The two towns said they may take out a joint advertisement in their quest for panel volunteers.

According to state law, each community of a potential new school unit must be represented by a town official, a school board member, and a member of the public.

SAD 43 Chairwoman Linda Westleigh said committee members must be committed to a heavy schedule of meetings, perhaps as many as two or three a week for a time.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said the first meeting will likely take place in early November.

With the number of communities taking part in a possible merger, more than 60 people might sit on the planning panel.

Because of the potentially large number, Hodgkin said the committee will likely break into subcommittees to work on components of a consolidation plan. The meetings will likely rotate among the four districts.

Connors, a former Lewiston School Department superintendent, said following the meeting that besides facilitating regional planning meetings locally, he expects to represent communities in SADs 17 and 39, South Portland, Sanford, and a union on the mid-coast.

Connors is slated to appear at the SAD 21 board meeting in Dixfield next Tuesday, Union 37 in Rangeley on Oct. 15, and at the SAD 44 board meeting in Bethel on Oct. 22.