RUMFORD — The Board of Selectmen voted 3-2 to approve the recommendation by Fire Chief Bob Chase for a firefighter appointment.

Chase said Lee Hough of Rumford is being hired as a probationary firefighter for one year. The position had been vacant for several months.

Hough is enrolled to complete a fire science degree and has an EMT license. He has been with Rumford’s call force for over a year, Chase said.

Selectman Mark Belanger, reading from the advertisement placed for the position, said it was desired that the person have a Firefighter I, a Class D license and be an EMT.

“Does he qualify for all of those?” Belanger asked Chase.

“He doesn’t have a Firefighter I license — that’s desirable in the ad, as far as requirements in the candidate pool,” Chase said. “He has not completed the basic fire school, which is the preliminary step to Firefighter I and II. He has one year to accomplish that.”

Board Chairman Jeff Sterling and Selectmen Peter Chase and Chris Brennick voted for the measure, with Belanger and board member Jim Windover casting no votes.

With this appointment, the Fire Department is back to full force with nine firefighters, providing the town with three shifts of three firefighters.

Chase said the budget provides for shifts of three firefighters two-thirds of the time.

In other business, the board unanimously supported Town Manager John Madigan’s recommendation to reappoint Jennifer Kreckel as the town’s attorney. The appointment is made each August.

Madigan said an offer made by Black Bear Industrial of Rumford to donate aluminum handrails toward a project to replace municipal office entry stairs will result in a net savings of $1,639.

At the previous meeting, the bid for the project was awarded to contractor H.E. Callahan of Auburn, not to exceed $103,500. This includes replacing the concrete stairs with granite.

Madigan said the finished project will include lampposts, reminiscent to a picture of the building back in 1935, which showed lampposts next to the pillars. A small roof over the entryway will be replaced and a new downspout will be installed. The work would also include stair treads, railings and a new retaining wall around the front.

Selectmen voted 4-1 to donate $1,000 from the town’s cable franchise fees to the Tri-County Babe Ruth 14 and Under team, most of whom are Oxford County residents. The team is making a return trip to the Babe Ruth 14U World Series. They came within a victory of becoming national champions in 2015.

Because this was not an agenda item, the board had to declare a critical circumstance to allow the vote. Windover said he was asked Thursday by a grandparent of a player to request the donation to help defray expenses for the trip.

“This really is not a critical circumstance,” Belanger said.

Sterling said the board took the same action last year when it made an identical donation for the 2015 Tri-County Babe Ruth 14U trip to the World Series.

Chase voted against the request because he felt a representative of the party making the request should have been in attendance. He said when requests are made during initiated articles, if an agency isn’t represented, funding requests are denied.

Two days earlier, the Woodstock Board of Selectmen voted to donate $1,000 to the same cause.

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