RUMFORD — Contingent on approval by town attorney Thomas Carey, selectmen last week OK’d a request from the River Valley Technology Center for a $13,000 loan for five years at 6 percent interest to improve the building.

Town Manager Carlo Puiia said Friday that the Urban Development Action Grant program loan was needed to get the interior converted into office space for new tenant Child Development Services, which moves into the center in July.

Under the supervision of the Maine Department of Education, Child Development Services is an intermediate educational unit that provides early intervention for birth to age 2, and free public education for ages 3 through 5, according to its website.

Selectmen at Thursday night’s meeting also OK’d designating three parking spaces in front of the center as loading-zone only during certain times to facilitate moving disabled children into and out of the building.

In other news, selectmen amended the Business Park Lease vote of April 1 after learning they’d approved the wrong lot number, Puiia said. After reviewing the site, it should have been lot No. 6 instead of lot No. 5. Additionally, the tenant at the end of the lease has an option to buy lot No. 7.

The board also:

• Appointed William Porter to the Northern Oxford Regional Solid Waste Board.

• Denied a request to hold flea markets in Strathglass Park. Puiia said that because the town owns common areas in Rumford’s brick-park neighborhood, the town is the authoritative body.

• Approved a radio tower bid of $1,902 to reinstall guidewires to hold the tower on High Street that is used by police and fire stations.

• Agreed to take bids for a used, two-wheel-drive truck to replace the Public Works Department’s utility truck.

In executive session, selectmen reviewed a proposal for union negotiations with the Rumford Professional Firefighters Local 1601. They came out of the meeting and agreed to a contract subject to union approval, Puiia said.

He said the board agreed on the terms it would present but declined to cite specifics. Members of the firefighters’ union are still being paid through the contract that expired in June 2009, because the two sides have been unable to come to terms.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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