RUMFORD — George O’Keefe, the town’s economic development director, was named town manager Wednesday night by the Select Board.

George O’Keefe, left, is congratulated Wednesday as town manager of Rumford by outgoing manager Stacy Carter at the Select Board meeting at the Municipal Building. The bust behind them is of Hugh J. Chisholm, who founded the Rumford paper mill and was the primary founder of International Paper Co. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

The board voted 5-0 to approve a one-year contract, which begins Monday. O’Keefe will continue as economic development director for the time being.

The Winthrop resident succeeds Stacy Carter, who is officially retiring June 20 after serving 4½ years.

Board Chairman Chris Brennick said O’Keefe will be paid $88,000 as manager and $17,000 as economic developer under the contract.

In three months the board will evaluate the dual role arrangement and determine if it’s the “right structure,” he said.

“Congratulations Mr. O’Keefe. The board is very excited for you,” Brennick said.

The search for a new manager was carried out by the Select Board.

Selectman Frank DiConzo said there were six applicants for the position. “The board whittled it down to three and gave three interviews. Of the three interviews, we felt that George was the best candidate. The fact that he’s been here for six years. He knew what this board was looking to continue to do to keep progressing forward, and we did not want to lose that continuity.”

The contract was settled this week when voters approved a town charter amendment that says the town manager no longer has to be a resident of Rumford but must be within an hour’s drive of the Municipal Building.

O’Keefe said it’s 51 minutes from his residence to the front door of the Town Hall.

“First of all,” O’Keefe said, “we’re going to reach completion on the projects that we have underway and be able to fulfill the vision that the selectmen and the people have for the town. Second, I had gotten to the point where … yes, I started considering it (town manager post) roughly over the past year, and felt that given the challenges in front of the town to continue to grow, and given the needs of the town for a modicum of continuity, but also some significant continued improvements in all our processes here in our departments and so forth, to continue to help everybody grow and succeed, I was well positioned to do that.”

O’Keefe said, “I knew I could do the job, but I wanted to make sure that the projects that we have underway and the things we have coming are going to happen. I felt I might as well step up to that level and take care of the big picture, and at the same time, be able to forward everything we already have going.”

Carter has served the town for nearly 35 years, the first 30 years as police chief.

“We’ve done a lot of good work in the last 4½ years,” he said. “I think the climate and the culture that was around when I took over was very challenging. There was a lot of negativity and we wanted to see that change. I think, as a board, that certainly has moved forward. This is a real cohesive board that works very well together, and we no longer see the negativity in the newspaper on a regular fashion.”

Looking over his time as manager, Carter said, “For the first time in decades, we have actual population growth. For many years, we were stagnant, and because of the work that George has done as economic developer, we have positive growth on our tax base.”

Carter said that when he was police chief, he believed the way to fix concerns about high taxes wasn’t to cut services, but to raise the tax base. “And we’re not going to attract people or businesses if we continue to diminish our services … We’ve raised the tax base. We provide excellent services. And if you ask anybody that isn’t necessarily from Rumford their whole life, our taxes are very reasonable for the amount of services that we provide.”

He said, “So I leave that in George’s hands, to make good decisions with the board, to keep the average citizen in mind, because I don’t have a problem paying my taxes, and many don’t. But there are some who do have a problem paying taxes and we have to keep them in mind as well.”

A retirement/open house will be held from 3:30-5:30 p.m. June 20, Carter’s final day on the job. It will be held in the auditorium at the Town Hall.