KINGFIELD – Residents this week approved negotiating to buy a building and land from Jordan Lumber for a fire station.

In a special town meeting Thursday, townspeople voted to use $300,000 to buy the property and take $50,000 from the firetruck reserve budget for a down payment.

John Dill, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said approximately 45 people attended the meeting and voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of the proposal.

The property is on Commercial Street, just north of town off Route 27. It is a private road, which elicited some questions from attendees. Selectmen intend for the town to take over maintenance of the road but cannot do so until it is brought up to town standards, Dill said.

The lumber company agreed to do this and has done some of the required work. Dill said he believed the company will make the necessary alterations.

Clinton Knapp, a member of the Budget Committee, said in a telephone interview that though the committee members did not have the opportunity to make a recommendation on the issue, they had been informed of it at their last meeting. He believed that the committee supported the measure. He was not at the meeting Thursday.

It would be significantly more expensive to construct a new building, he said.

The town Budget Committee has an advisory role only and, therefore, makes recommendations to the selectmen but has no ruling authority on budget matters.

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