GORHAM – Two town buildings will come under Gorham Town Council scrutiny next month as the panel will reopen talks about the aging Public Safety Building at 270 Main St., and the vacant Little Falls School on Acorn Street.
Additionally, early next year, the council will debate the fate of the historic, town-owned McLellan House at 77 South St.
In the past, the town has weighed various options involving public safety and the old school.
“Each of these items could take up a whole meeting,” Gorham Town Manager David Cole said on Monday following a council workshop.
The council set a workshop discussion about the two buildings for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 18, in Gorham Municipal Center, 75 South St.
The town has several aging buildings on its hands. The Public Safety Building underwent an extensive town study months ago. A study committee earlier this year reported that the Public Safety Building that houses both police and fire departments is inadequate.
The Gorham Public Safety Committee recommended a $6.3 million complex to house police and fire departments be constructed at the site of the Little Falls School on Acorn Street.
But Gorham voters rejected the proposal in a June referendum.
The present Public Safety Building opened as a municipal center in 1974. The council is expected to discuss what the next step might be to address cramped conditions at the building. The committee has completed its work, Cole said.
As an alternative to building a new facility, the committee had recommended a $5.8 million renovation of the present Public Safety Building. However, the previous council had declined to send an overhaul of the building to referendum in November’s municipal election.
The Little Falls School, which opened in the mid-1950s as an elementary school, most recently had been used as a senior citizens’ meeting place and also housed Gorham Recreation Department programs. The building, which needs repairs, has closed.
The school has previously been considered as a site for a fire station, and the town also once mulled relocating the police station there.
Voters in November of last year approved spending up to $500,000 for repairs to the former school, but a future use now remains up in the air. Town officials have reported that the roof, while not leaking, is in bad condition and that the boiler is old.
The town had received bids from two contractors, but the Town Council did not award a contract earlier this month with the workshop pending.
Talks about the McLellan House could be scheduled for January. Cole told councilors on Monday that the house needs repair work.
The town leased the house several years ago to Gorham Land Trust – now named Presumpscot Regional Land Trust – which sub-leased space to the Gorham Times, a nonprofit community newspaper.
Shonn Moulton, Town Council vice chairman, said on Tuesday that the town is seeking information about the condition of the structure.
“It’s a town building,” Moulton said. “We want to make sure it’s maintained properly.”
Town Councilor Bruce Roullard in Monday’s Town Council workshop raised a liability concern about the McLellan House, which is two centuries old. Details of necessary repairs and estimated costs at the house are under review.
“The McLellan House has been leased to the land trust for many years, and they have made repairs over the years,” Cole said on Tuesday. “I had a preliminary meeting and a general discussion with folks representing the land trust. They weren’t sure of the extent of repairs needed or the cost.”
Cole said he advised the land trust that the council would probably have a workshop about the matter in the next few months.
“At this point, I believe the land trust is working to get more information about the repairs needed and estimated costs,” Cole said.
Moulton praised the land trust for the day-to-day maintenance of the building.
“We’ll look for the best solution for everybody,” Moulton said.
The land trust and Gorham Times could not be reached for comment on Tuesday before the American Journal deadline.
The James McLellan House dates to about 1803. It had once been known as the Samson House, and several years ago it housed Gorham’s school superintendent’s office.
The house is one of several buildings on the municipal campus that includes Baxter Memorial Library, Baxter Museum and the municipal center.
McLellan House is among several buildings and homes in the area that the U.S. Department of the Interior designated in 1988 as the South Street Historic District.
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