RUMFORD — The police department will soon get new floor tiles installed and a small parking area on Route 232 will get new signs to try and curb its use as an illegal park-and-ride site.

That’s what selectmen decided at Thursday night.

Town Manager Carlo Puiia told the board that the police department received a $2,000 grant to replace the dispatcher’s table with an ergonomic desk designed for police dispatching.

Bids were then solicited to replace broken and worn tiles in the dispatching area for safety reasons. After learning from police Chief Stacy Carter that the grant money could not be used to fix flooring, selectmen voted 4-0 to accept a $4,329.98 bid from Floor Systems of Lewiston to complete the project.

During the process of tearing out the current dispatching station and flooring for installation of the new equipment and tiles, Carter said the Oxford County Regional Communications Center in Paris would take over the department’s dispatching duties like it does during the week after 4 p.m. and on weekends.

Officers, however, will continue to be accessible to the public at the station during regular business hours.

On the parking site, Puiia briefed the board and about 15 people in the audience, saying that there is room for about six or seven vehicles just after leaving Route 2 onto Route 232 and prior to the Rumford Point Congregational Church parking area.

“The current posting reads, ‘Restricted parking — Parking between signs for church functions only,’” he said. “Well, we know that it’s no longer enforceable to be that restrictive. What has transpired since that time, is it’s turned into a long-term parking area.”

Church trustee Harry Burns told selectmen that something should be done to restrict parking for a few hours only so as not to prevent churchgoers, most of whom are elderly, from having to park well away from the building for church functions or funeral services.

“You need to give church members a chance to get close,” he said.

A Mountain Valley High School student said that students and their families often meet at that location and leave vehicles there to carpool to athletic events in the Paris and Bethel areas.

Selectmen Chairman Brad Adley and Jeff Sterling then admitted that they were guilty of doing just that.

Puiia and Burns recommended limiting such use to two hours only. Sterling suggested four hours only, like from 2 to 6 p.m. and to block it off for church functions.

“When a family can’t get within a mile of the church, it’s a problem,” Burns said. “There are only about six spots and in the middle of it, there is a road that goes into the back for handicap access and oil deliveries.”

He suggested widening an area on the other side of the bridge over the Androscoggin River for public parking, but Buccina said that land is privately owned. Additionally, he said that during winters, large snow drifts tend to form there.

And then Selectman Mark Belanger motioned to limit parking in the small lot to two hours only.

Sterling continued to press for four hours, suggesting it be tried to see if it works.

“If it becomes an issue, we can reduce it to two hours seven days a week,” he said.

Belanger’s motion was then rejected by a 1-3 tally, with Sterling, Adley and Buccina dissenting. Selectman Jeremy Volkernick was absent.

Sterling then motioned to limit parking to four hours and it was unanimously approved.

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