RUMFORD — Selectmen OK’d appointments to municipal boards and committees and a General Assistance ordinance revision Thursday night.

All appointments were approved by 4-0 votes. Selectman Frank DiConzo was absent.

Susan Milligan was appointed animal control officer and Jane Clukey as the position’s alternate to serve when Milligan is unavailable. Both are one-year terms.

For the Finance Committee, Richard Greene and Jeffrey Roy were appointed to three-year terms but incumbent David Kimball chose not to reapply. Town Manager Carlo Puiia said people interested in filling that three-year position should submit an application at the Town Office.

Health Officer David Saphier was nominated for reappointment to a three-year term. However, selectmen balked on approval when Selectman Jolene Lovejoy said Saphier lives in Mexico and asked whether Rumford’s laws would allow a nonresident to serve in that position.

Selectmen said Saphier has served as Rumford’s health officer for years and no one raised the issue.

Puiia consulted town law and suggested tabling that appointment until he can get a ruling. Selectmen tabled it.

For three-year terms on the library board of trustees, Maureen Cook and Linda MacGregor were appointed.

William Porter was appointed to a three-year term on the Northern Oxford Solid Waste Board and Richard Kent, the code enforcement officer, was appointed to a one-year term as plumbing inspector. David Errington of Peru was appointed as the alternate plumbing inspector.

Selectmen also approved Puiia’s nomination of Jennifer Kreckel as town attorney, a one-year term.

As for the General Assistance Ordinance revision, Puiia said it is a state-mandated ordinance and the state has adjusted income levels down for applicants. That means they must have less monthly income to qualify for General Assistance than they used to, he said.

Selectmen unanimously approved it.

During a 60-minute public hearing on the proposed municipal budget that preceded the selectmen’s meeting, most of the few who spoke urged people to vote for the Finance Committee’s recommendations.

Selectmen have recommended a $6,526,077 municipal budget that is $1,075,459 less than the initially-requested amount of $7,601,536 . The Finance Committee’s recommendation is $7,171,500, which is $430,036 less than the requested amount.

Finance Committee Chairman Dieter Kreckel was the first to speak.

He said that whether the paper mill stays in Rumford or leaves, people should be building for the future and vote accordingly for desired services.

“The mills are our past and not necessarily our future,” Kreckel said.

He said Black Mountain Ski Resort is a necessity to future economic and residential growth, as well as an attractor for new employees at Rumford Hospital, the town’s second-largest taxpayer.

The Finance Committee’s recommendation funds the ski area and the Greater Rumford Community Center; the selectmen’s recommendation does not, because both were initiated-article requests that weren’t approved by voters.

Police Chief Stacy Carter urged voters to choose the Finance Committee recommendation for the Police Department. Of the initially-requested amount of $817,656 that voters rejected on June 11, selectmen now recommend $716,274 and the Finance Committee, $761,274.

The committee added $50,000 back in to allow Carter to keep a second detective position that the selectmen’s recommendation eliminates.

Local contractor Kevin Knox sought answers to questions about extra excise tax money and why the town hasn’t had money for any road projects. The latter is hurting his business, he said.

Gary Dolloff, chairman of the Greater Rumford Community Center Board of Directors, voiced his displeasure with proposed budget cuts eliminating the dispatching center at the police station, and reducing safety for residents during the winter when roads do not get sanded, salted and cleared as they have been.

He urged people to vote for the Finance Committee recommendations.

Town Manager Puiia responded to Dolloff’s winter roads concern and said that with the selectmen’s cuts, there will be times when the roads won’t be plowed.

“People are going to have to expect black ice,” he said. “There’s going to be less sand and salt (applied). I hope (voters) choose the higher number.”

Selectmen recommended raising and appropriating $458,250 for the Winter Roads account; the Finance Committee chose $554,000. The initially-requested amount that voters defeated was $615,332.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com