RUMFORD — Selectmen will discuss a proposed wind power moratorium and an abandoned properties declaration at their meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the municipal auditorium.

According to former Town Manager Len Greaney, who is representing the Rumford Wind Turbine Petition Committee, the group will ask selectmen to convene a special town meeting this fall.

Its purpose is to allow residents to vote on a proposed 180-day moratorium on any commercial wind farms in Rumford to give voters the opportunity to better understand and evaluate advantages and disadvantages of wind farm development, Greaney said by e-mail Wednesday.

“Advocacy for the use of renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and even hydrogen) to decrease our carbon footprint is admirable, but it should be accompanied with adequate knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of creating industrial wind farms on our local ridgelines,” Greaney said.

Driving the petition is a proposal from wind power giant First Wind of Newton, Mass., formerly UPC Wind, which has proposed the 40- to 55-megawatt Longfellow project in Rumford.

“During meetings with the First Wind consultant, we agreed that the Internet is flooded with contradictory information by each side of the issue,” Greaney said. “We owe it to our taxpayers to understand the facts.”

“We need to understand ‘What’s in it for Rumford taxpayers,'” he said. “We can learn together as we provide the common sense, no spin, factual information for public consumption.”

The committee has suggested that should selectmen agree that a 180-day moratorium is needed, one selectman should be assigned to a proposed regional analysis team comprising advocates and opponents within the River Valley region, along with a representative from Buckfield.

The other unusual agenda topic of the abandoned properties declaration involves a new ordinance that town meeting voters OK’d in June.

Town Manager Carlo Puiia said Wednesday that the board will decide if it wants to start the process of acquiring abandoned buildings per the ordinance.

“If they want to acquire abandoned buildings, the ordinance requires selectmen to declare a building abandoned, like the Hammond Lumber property that was formerly Puiia’s Hardware,” Puiia said. “It’s an unsightly building now.”

Reading from the ordinance, Puiia said that only unsightly and unoccupied commercial or residential buildings of three units or more, can be considered as abandoned if their owners don’t present a plan of management to Puiia within 30 days of being declared abandoned.

“Any building shall be considered unoccupied if it is not used for residential or commercial purposes, or is not under active construction or renovation for a continuous period of 120 days or more,” he said.

Should the property owner fail to present a plan of management within the allotted time, or should selectmen by majority vote declare the plan inadequate, they can order the code enforcement officer to inspect the building to determine if it is unsafe according to Maine law.

If so, the ordinance states that selectmen can act to remove, renovate or restore to active function any buildings declared a public nuisance.

“If they’re a secured property and there’s no blight, we will leave them alone,” Puiia said.

An executive session is also scheduled to allow Puiia and Rumford fire Chief Bob Chase to continue union negotiations.

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