RUMFORD — Requests for changes to the town charter and town ordinances must be made by Feb. 1, two weeks before a public hearing on them, Town Manager Linda-Jean Briggs announced recently.

Requests will be posted on the town website, rumfordme.org, for people to read before the hearing at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, at Rumford Falls Auditorium. The hearing is to answer questions and identify changes that seem reasonable, she said.

“They’ll come in, knowing what’s in the document and be able to make reasonable comments on it,” Briggs said.

A second public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, let residents know what the amendments are.

Previously, someone could “come into the second night with a new document, without ever having been heard at the first night,” Briggs said. “I don’t believe that’s the intent of the hearings.”

Last year, at the second public hearing, the group opposed to Poland Spring Water Co.’s deal to draw 150 million gallons of water annually from two of the Rumford Water District’s wells showed up with their ordinance, Briggs said.

“No one had read it,” she said. “And the expectation was that you’re now going to put that on the warrant. I don’t think it’s good government to not read something before you’re ready to put  it on the warrant.

“I know it’s a change for Rumford, but I think it’s a good, reasonable change,” she said.

Requests can be sent by email to mcollette@rumfordme.org.

bfarrin@sunmediagroup.net

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