RUMFORD — The Board of Selectmen bid farewell to Town Manager Carlo Puiia on Thursday, the day before he retired.

“I just wanted to thank you, Carlo,” Selectman Brad Adley said at the start of the board’s regular meeting. “I’ve learned a lot from you, and I’ve made a friend along the way. It’ll be sad to see you go, but I get it, and I’m with you all the way.”

Selectman Jeff Sterling said, “I’m going to piggyback off of what Brad said. I want to thank Carlo for his guidance, his counsel and his friendship. I think we’ve become pretty good friends over the last few years.”

However, Sterling said what he would miss most about Puiia as town manager is “some of the phone calls we had.

“They would always start off with something serious, and then would go off on a tangent,” Sterling said. “We’d end up laughing at situations, which is always healthy.”

He said, “Tonight, I can say truthfully, and with great conviction, that we can add the name Carlo Puiia to the list of outstanding leaders in our community.”

Chairman Greg Buccina followed Sterling, simply saying, “Ditto.”

As the audience laughed, Puiia smiled at Buccina and said, “Thank you, Greg. That was nice and easy.”

Buccina replied, “I won’t piggyback off of Brad, but I think we all feel the same way. I wish you nothing but success, my friend.”

Envision Rumford! member Jennifer Kreckel provided Puiia with a certificate in recognition for the assistance he provided the group.

“We wish you the best, and you will be missed,” Kreckel said.

Puiia submitted his resignation Sept. 19, citing personal reasons. He agreed to stay until selectmen hired a new manager or until the end of the business day Dec. 20, whichever came first.

At Thursday’s meeting, selectmen from Mexico and Rumford unanimously voted to sign a contract to share Mexico Town Manager John Madigan for the next six months.

In other business, the board voted to include an article on the annual town meeting warrant asking voters whether the town should award a quitclaim deed for an unused lot on Maple Street.

Puiia said the lot is next to Mark Davis’ property.

“Mr. Davis came to us with the request to grant him a quitclaim deed for that lot,” Puiia said. “It’s a lot that we don’t know who the owner is. Mr. Davis owns the land on Lot 22. Lot 21 was either left out of the deed, or something happened in the past where someone overlooked it.”

Puiia said Davis was asking the town to surrender any rights to the land.

“We really don’t know if we even own the land or not,” Puiia said. “However, if we do this, the lot will become taxable to the town of Rumford, and Mr. Davis would become the holder of the deed. This requires a vote from the legislative body, not the Board of Selectmen. As the board, you do have the authority to place it on the annual town warrant in June,” he said.

Selectman Jolene Lovejoy asked Davis if anything was on Lot 21.

Davis said it has equipment that belongs to him.

Selectmen voted 5-0 to include the article on the June warrant.

The board also unanimously approved renewing a liquor license and a special amusement permit for the Rumford Lodge of Elks, and taxi cab licenses for Gilbert Gary Scott of EZ Taxi and Ruth White of Road Hog Express.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com