RUMFORD — Selectmen decided Thursday night to schedule a meeting with Mexico selectmen and subcommittees formed to study consolidating services for both towns.

That came during the selectmen comment segment on the agenda when Selectman Jeff Sterling, a Libraries Subcommittee member, said that he was quite discouraged after the first consolidation meeting.

Sterling said people who are on these committees are working to serve their own needs rather than the needs of both towns. He said Rumford selectmen want to see the consolidation of services Mexico and Rumford go through.

Selectmen Chairman Greg Buccina agreed.

“We need to try to keep it positive,” he said.

The board set the joint meeting with Mexico selectmen and subcommittees at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, “for candid conversation and citizen input,” Buccina said.

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“We’re going to have some hurdles to overcome,” he said.

In September 2013, Municipal Resources, a New Hampshire-based company, provided Rumford and Mexico with a proposal for a comprehensive study on consolidation of services. The boards approved the proposal.

Part of the proposal, according to Don Jutton, president of Municipal Resources, involves setting up subcommittees for departments within each town. The subcommittees are Police; Fire and Emergency Management; Parks and Recreation; Union Services and Libraries; Public Works; and Budget, Finance and Town Hall Operations.

Each subcommittee has two selectmen, a department head, two residents and a Budget Committee member from each town.

Town Manager John Madigan said earlier this month that the subcommittees will allow selectmen “to look at the data from both towns and their respective departments and review the work that the consultants are doing to see what is and isn’t possible.”

tkarkos@sunjournal.com


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