RUMFORD — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Thursday evening to provide a letter of support to Mountain Valley High School in regards to a grant application for an emergency generator.

Deputy fire Chief Richard Coulombe told the board that he was in the process of writing a grant application for an emergency generator for Mountain Valley High School.

“The snowstorm we had on March 23 was a disaster for us,” Coulombe said. “The last time that the school lost power, it caused $3,500 damage to the school’s electrical system.

“The school is an emergency shelter to the town in the case of a disaster,” Coulombe reminded the board. “If the school loses power, there’s no backup generator to get that power back. I think it’s an important feature for the school to have.”

The town’s share of the emergency generator would be $20,000 after considering the grant money.

Selectman Jolene Lovejoy said that she supported writing a letter for the grant application, adding that “in recent years, you never know when a disaster will happen. It’s better to be prepared.”

The board placed a stipulation on the request that the town had the right to refuse the grant.

In other business, selectmen heard an update from the Maine Department of Transportation about the Haverhill Bridge project.

Project Manager Doug Coombs, who is replacing former manager Ben Condon, gave the board a tentative starting date of April 2014 to replace the Haverhill Bridge with a sloping road.

“We expect to begin advertising by April 2014 and a notice of award by mid-May,” Coombs said. “If all goes according to plan, construction should begin by the end of May, or the first of June in 2014, and the whole thing should be completed by October of 2014. It’s a pretty aggressive schedule, so we’ll have our work cut out (for us).”

During a March 24 selectmen meeting, Condon said MDOT would like to remove the bridge, because it would cost $3.5 to $4 million just to replace it, and then there is the long-term maintenance costs to consider.

The board also heard from Gary Dolloff, the chairman of the Greater Rumford Community Center, who asked the board to set aside “$60,000 to $100,000 from the undesignated funds account to use for recreation and economic development in town.”

“There are 11 empty rents on Congress Street right now, and we have 4 businesses in our building,” Dolloff said. “Something has to be done. We’ll have to lay off our last two employees next week. I have four fundraisers coming up, with three more in the works, but I don’t think that will even be enough to help. I just want to see you act on this or at least come up with another avenue that we can follow.”

Chairman Greg Buccina told Dolloff that he had provided him with other avenues during a previous meeting.

Dolloff replied, “Yes, you told me told me to take out a loan, but how would we pay it back?”

Later, a motion was made for the board to declare a critical circumstance and allow discussion on Dolloff’s request.

Buccina said, “At some point, we have to respect the outcome of the vote. The town voted on this on two different occasions. I don’t think I can support this as a critical circumstance. What we can do is put Mr. Dolloff’s request on the next agenda for the Sept. 5 meeting.”

The board unanimously rejected the motion.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com