RUMFORD – The Downtown Revitalization Committee appointed a subcommittee to work with fire Chief John Woulfe to find ways to bring apartment buildings and other structures up to life and safety codes.

The decision to form the subcommittee followed a 45-minute presentation by Woulfe to the committee late Monday afternoon.

Volunteering to serve are Linda French, Jennifer Stowell, Tony DaSalle, Carol Parise and Seth Carey.

The subcommittee will meet soon after the June 12 elections, at which some changes to the Board of Selectmen will likely be made.

Woulfe said the town has 243 apartment buildings, 70 percent of them built prior to 1930. Most do not meet life, safety or building codes, he said.

The Fire Department has begun inspecting the apartment buildings, Woulfe said.

“A lot of them wouldn’t be practical or feasible to get into compliance,” he said.

He said some landlords have attempted to modernize some of the buildings, but by doing so, have made the life and safety issues worse, such as enclosing open porches.

“This is a huge expense for the building owner. They must look at the whole building,” he said, adding, “There is no such thing as grandfathering by the state or town in life and safety issues.”

He said the process to study the town’s apartment buildings and to find ways to implement action began under former Town Manager Stephen Eldridge. He said the steps are there, which are inspection, follow-up and plan of correction, or other steps for vacant buildings that should be removed, but funding isn’t available.

He added that not having a full-time code enforcement officer to partner with the Fire Department has been a hindrance in carrying out the building inspections and completing correction plans.

“I’m here asking for assistance,” he said to the committee. “The selectmen need to take an aggressive role in this.”

Committee member Stowell said she is working with Ernie Robichaud, a local landlord, on a cable access channel program that will focus on apartment building issues from the landlords’ point of view.

Carey said many of the buildings are owned by out-of-state landlords who come to the area for cheap housing.

“The codes need to be enforced to the letter of the law,” he said. “If we don’t do something now, those buildings are fire hazards. If one of them goes up, there will be death and destruction.”