Len Greaney of Protect Rumford Water Alliance presented a petition Thursday to Rumford selectmen, which, once validated, would overturn a Jan. 25 Board of Selectmen’s vote to deny a water petition.

Linda-Jean “LJ” Briggs, formerly the town manager of Waldoboro, began her duties Wednesday as Rumford’s new town manager.

RUMFORD — A petition with 520 signatures was submitted to selectmen Thursday evening seeking to overturn a Jan. 25 vote of the board to deny acceptance of a water-extraction petition.

Len Greaney of the Protect Rumford Water Alliance said 17 volunteers collected the signatures over four days.

If enough signatures are validated, the vote will be overturned. 

Selectmen agreed Thursday night that if everything goes smoothly, a special town meeting to decide whether to enact a six-month moratorium on extracting large amounts of water from town wells could take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 7. Greaney has requested the venue to be Muskie Auditorium at Mountain Valley High School, if available.

Poland Spring Water Co. has proposed a 15- to 20-year contract with the Rumford Water District to draw up to 150 million gallons a year from two new wells on district property off Route 5. In exchange, Poland Spring could pay the district more than $400,000 in annual lease and water payments.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Jeff Sterling said this issue was brought to the Maine Municipal Association.

He read the information the town received from MMA, which included, “If the petition calls for the approval of something that the town cannot legally do, then the Select Board is not required to put it on a warrant which would not be effective if adopted.”

Sterling said he did not know whether this is true in this case. “I’ve always thought that a moratorium enacted by a town would not apply to a water district. But that’s just my opinion.”

He went on to say, “What we will assume at this point is that we will go through the process as stated in the (town) charter.”

Greaney said, “I think our expectation is that we don’t want to have to go through many more hoops.”

Sterling said, “I don’t want to hold you back at this point.”

The petition signatures will be verified by the town clerk and the petition will be reviewed again by Kendall A. Ricker of Boothby Perry LLC of Turner.

Selectman Mark Belanger reminded Sterling that this same lawyer, in a seven-page legal review, said Jan. 25 that this petition did not meet moratorium criteria.

“I just want to keep us out of court,” Sterling said.

In other business, this was the first board meeting for new Town Manager Linda-Jean “LJ” Briggs. Formerly the town manager of Waldoboro, she began her duties Feb. 1, with a salary of $75,000 in an initial contract that expires in June 2018.

“I intend to work diligently for the entire town of Rumford,” Briggs said. “I intend to work with these gentlemen (selectmen) and keep them out of trouble by sharing with them some of the nuances that is municipal government. I look forward to meeting and working with many of you as we go through and deal with some of the bigger issues in town.

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