Selectmen appoint three to Charter Commission

RUMFORD — The Board of Selectmen voted Tuesday evening to appoint Michael Peter Chase, Amy Bernard and Kevin Saisi to the town’s Charter Commission.

The votes were 4-0 with Selectman Frank DiConzo abstaining.

The Charter Commission will have nine members, Town Manager Carlo Puiia said. Selectmen have authority to appoint three of the residents who submitted applications. The remaining six will be elected Nov. 5.

“As far as I know, at least two of the applicants who were not appointed tonight will also be on the Nov. 5 ballot,” Puiia said.

In other business, the board unanimously voted to approve a grant application for the Rumford Polar Bears Snowmobile Club.

Resident and club member Robert Stickney said, “It’s that time again for the snowmobile club to start gearing up for the winter and part of that process is applying for grants.

“We have 90 miles of trails that we take care of,” he said. “The grants we apply for help us take care of those trails.”

Stickney reassured selectmen that the grant would bring “no financial risk to the town.”

“We would handle the paperwork and would do all of the work on the trails,” he said. “We just need you guys to approve the grant application so we can move forward.”

Stickney said the club was also looking into adding a trail to downtown Rumford.

“We’ve been trying to add one of these trails in for awhile now,” he said. “There used to be a trail leading to the downtown area, but we lost it when the power companies changed hands and they closed the trail.”

The club had a walk-through on land Brookfield Power owns, Stickney said. “Right now, it’s looking like it’ll be OK.”

Selectmen unanimously voted to approve DiConzo as warden for the Nov. 5 election, and Selectman Jeff Sterling as deputy warden.

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: Robert Stickney of the Rumford Polar Bear Snowmobile Club talks to Rumford selectmen Tuesday night about applying for a grant to help pay for trail maintenance.