RUMFORD — The Select Board approved a bid May 1 to move the Kezal Bandstand from the Veterans Park at the end of Congress Street to Stephens Memorial Park on York and Penobscot streets.

The $6,800 offer was accepted from local contractor Jim Barnett.

Town Manager George O’Keefe said the money will come from discretionary accounts in the budget.

The board initially approved the bandstand move at its Aug. 15, 2024, meeting at the request of Selectman Frank DiConzo.

“The reason is when we have functions down here, and people are crossing the street, we have to close (Route 108 and Bridge Street) all the time. And with any functions with that bandstand, it is a dangerous intersection for the main thoroughfare to have something like that,” he said.

DiConzo added, “The old Stephens site is in the center of town. It’s an ideal situation up there and a safer spot.”

He said there’s also a pole with power available there.

O’Keefe said when this issue came up in August, the town did receive a letter from the Greater Rumford Seniors asking if this was the right place to put it because it’s in a residential neighborhood. “But I think that’s one piece. I’m not bringing it up because I think it’s a concern, but I’m bringing it up because simply to make it a matter of record.”

He said he also wanted to note that Thibault’s Funeral Home is right there and “I’m sure we want to take into consideration that funeral home when scheduling at that site.”

Selectman John Pepin noted that the bandstand would be moving to a site that could make it more susceptible to vandalism, so it would need to be watched.

Selectman Jim Theriault said, “I think we’re just going to have to monitor it and have people schedule when they want to use it.”

He added that at one time, there was a high school in that neighborhood. “Couldn’t get much noisier than that,” he said.

Chairman Chris Brennick agreed with Theriault’s statement.

Envision Rumford obtained a grant that helped fund the bandstand’s construction, built by Bernie Pare, in 2018.

Last year, the town moved the Stephens Memorial from the Veterans Park to the Stephens Memorial Park.

In other business, Public Works Superintendent Dale Roberts provided an assessment of this year’s spring town cleanup.

He said the total number of loads dropped from the last year: 228 compared to 249 in 2024.

“Everything went pretty good except there were a lot of piles out there that people never separated. We still picked them up because if we didn’t, we would have had to gone back. But if people put it out after we went by, we didn’t go back because we didn’t want to make a precedent,” Roberts said.