RUMFORD – Selectmen unanimously upheld the denial of a firefighters’ grievance by Town Manager Len Greaney following a closed session Thursday night.

The grievance was the third made by the department in recent months.

Union shop steward Mark Tripp said Friday afternoon that the department lodged the grievance because new staffing reduces the number of firefighters to three per shift, and occasionally two per shift, contingent upon vacations and sick leave.

He said firefighters will wait for the formal decision to be issued, then the union will regroup and decide what steps to take next.

“I’d like to say no to future grievances,” he said Friday afternoon, but he said he couldn’t do that right now. “We’re in a hold pattern.”

Selectmen upheld two other grievance denials by the union in recent weeks that involved financially penalizing firefighters for writing a letter in support of the election of two selectmen candidates in June.

In other fire department matters, selectmen unanimously voted Thursday night to hire a utility firefighter in an effort to reduce overtime. It will bring the department’s force up to 10.

Also, newly appointed fire Chief Gary Wentzell said he plans to begin inspecting abandoned or potentially unsafe buildings next week. The department plans to send letters to building owners asking them to secure at least the first floors as a safety measure.

A building committee made up of the town manager, police and fire chiefs, health officer, code enforcement officer and two selectmen will begin meeting on apartment building matters within a week or two.

In other matters, Linda Walbridge, director of Western Maine Economic Development Council for Community Concepts, appeared before the board to discuss her efforts working with the town and area’s economic development committees.