MEXICO — Shortly after their workday ended Wednesday, nearly every town employee showed up at the town hall to express concerns about their jobs, the town losing its identity and being “swallowed up” by a larger town — fears brought on by continuing merger talks with Rumford.

The gathering was called for and attended by the Board of Selectmen after several employees expressed uneasiness with what the future might bring if the towns follow through with plans to share services.

Fire Chief Gary Wentzell told the board, “You guys should be to the point right now where you could actually say it is going to remain the little town that it was with what we’ve got. And I know you’re looking at saving money, but in my mind, it’s not practical and I don’t see any cost savings whatsoever, especially on the Fire Department side of it, without losing most of your identity.”

Noting that many of those in the audience were firefighters, Selectman Reggie Arsenault asked, “I want you to be honest with me and rest of the selectmen. If it was decided that they wanted to join (Rumford Fire Department), how many would stay, or not?”

Wentzell interjected, “You’re not going to know that until it happens.”

Arsenault continued, “Why wouldn’t you stay? I want to know the real reason why. Is it the way people are going to be treated with Rumford Fire Department or their philosophy over there?”

Wentzell said they would have to see the agreement and how it was put together.

A couple of firefighters said they didn’t want to be put on the spot. However, Lt. Allen Chartier did speak.

“Personally, I’d stay on if we merged and it worked well. But I have my own full-time job,” he said. This Fire Department is just a part-time thing for me. I don’t do it for the money. But I don’t have to put up with b*** ***t either. So if it gets stressful, I’ll just get done.”

Police Chief Roy Hodsdon said his officers are concerned about their jobs.

“They’re concerned about their future. I’m going to throw it out there,” he said. “My guys are afraid to get bullied around. They get bullied around by Rumford all the time. They’ve come to me personally and told me this.

“We do get along when we work on calls together. We’re professionals. That ends once that call is done. My guys, from that point on, are Monday morning quarterbacked and back-stabbed as soon as they leave that scene. They’re concerned that when they go over there to work, that that is going to continue and they’re going to bully them out.

“They work here in Mexico because they like working here in Mexico. They like the citizens. They like their bosses and they like the fact that they can do their jobs and do it the way they like to do it,”Hodsdon said. “They’re dedicated. We all put our hearts and souls into this place. We have some great community service programs that we do. And I don’t care what they say, they’re going to go away.

“How many community service programs (does Rumford) have right now? How many do we have?” he asked. “It’s because we’re dedicated. To say that they don’t have enough time, is BS. We have enough time because we’re here,” he said.

“If I wasn’t here right now, I’d be at an Explorer meeting interviewing 10 new Explorers who want to join our program. I don’t have the heart to tell them that that’s probably going to go away,” Hodsdon said.

Selectman Byron Ouellette said, “That’s why we called this meeting; finding somebody who stood up and told it the way it’s supposed to be because you’re supporting your department.”

Road Foreman John Blais asked if jobs would be lost if public works merged with Rumford.

Town Manager Madigan said, “If we just merged today, guess what? You, Phil, Tobey, you guys would still have your (snowplow) routes over here in Mexico cause you know how to do it.”

An employee asked why Mexico is always being talked about falling under Rumford?

Madigan said that resulted from the first report made by Municipal Resources Inc., which Rumford and Mexico paid to conduct a study about sharing services.

“One of their recommendations was that Mexico contract with Rumford for police services. But all the discussions and the scenarios that they’ve been talking about are either stay the same, like we are now, or a new entity, but one department, not a Rumford department, but a combined, brand-new organization. And the other option for police was talking to the sheriff,” he said.

Madigan said selectmen have met several times, but so far, it’s only been about the details of the Police Department.

“I have given them all a final report on the Fire Department, and all 10 selectmen agreed that they wanted to finish dealing with police before getting absorbed by fire. And I also have a draft report on public works,” he said, adding that then they will discuss other departments.

“From what I see, both sides are facing reality,” Madigan said. “We’re both getting hit now with higher taxes, lower state revenues and more demands. The consultant, his main premise was, you’re not going to do this overnight, but you’ve got to look down the road five years, or longer. This is part of a long-term solution to where we’re heading.

“I came here in ’85 and I’ve wondered why isn’t this one town?” the manager said. “It never made sense to me that this is two towns because it all evolves around the one major employer we have. But this might be the only way either one of us is going to survive long-term, unless some big industry comes in and starts putting back some of the tax base that was lost and provides jobs so that people can move back into town,” he said.

The next joint meeting with Rumford to discuss merging the police departments will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, in Rumford Falls Auditorium.