RUMFORD – Selectmen have to decide Thursday how to proceed with a plan to share a town manager with Mexico after the town attorney determined a proposed charter change next month doesn’t legally meet the timeline.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Auditorium.

Town Manager Jim Doar, who is leaving his job next month, said attorney Tom Carey notified him Wednesday that a last-minute municipal charter amendment submitted by the Charter Commission that would allow John Madigan to serve as town manager of both towns can’t be put on the June 10 town meeting warrant. A requirement for a public hearing and a certain number of days between that and the vote can’t be met.

However, Doar said selectmen can decide to hold a special town meeting a few weeks later on the charter amendment to allow voters to take up the matter.

Selectmen from both towns agreed to try sharing Madigan for one year. During that time, Madigan would work toward combining the police, fire, public works and other departments from both towns.

In other matters, the board must decide how to fill a position on the SAD 43 board. Diane Paterson resigned earlier this month.

Doar said the board could shorten the number of days potential candidates would need to gather signatures for a run in the June 10 election, or they could ask the SAD 43 board not to accept Paterson’s resignation, then appoint someone to finish her term.

Other agenda items include:

• a presentation by SAD 43 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin on the fiscal 2009 school budget;

• announcement that the town received $2,600 from Project Canopy that will be used to create a downtown landscaping plan; and

• appointment of election warden and deputy warden, ballot clerks, and other election-related actions.