JAY – Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to have Bunker & Savage Architects design and engineer conversion of a former restaurant into a new town office.

The choice is pending a legal review of the contract.

Selectmen also gave Town Manager Ruth Marden permission to pay no more than $35,000 for the architects’ fees.

They also voted to keep the town’s Building Committee intact, active and involved in the renovation project.

Townspeople voted in January to buy the vacant Jay Family Restaurant for $270,000 and to renovate it using funds in a reserve account.

Selectmen previously discussed hiring Bunker & Savage do the project since the firm had done work earlier on it but the Building Committee said it wanted input on that choice. The issue was tabled until the committee could review options.

On Monday, committee Chairwoman Pearl Cook said the committee recommended selectmen hire a design professional for the building and wanted the committee to continue to be involved in the design and renovation.

The committee was split on the decision to have selectmen hire a firm to do the service or put the project out to bid, members said.

Craig Boone of Jay, an architect for Bunker & Savage, has been involved in the project all along and is a non-voting member of the Building Committee, He volunteered his services several times.

The firm also was hired years ago to do a study of the existing town office and did design work to build a new town office that was later rejected by voters.

Cook said the Building Committee met with Boone and a design engineer and discovered that they have similar jobs and similar costs for services.

Committee member Tim DeMillo said the committee just wanted some input on the project and explored every option it could, including doing the project piecemeal, and came up with a lot of good ideas.

Selectman Amy Pineau Gould said she appreciated the knowledge she gained from the committee’s work.

Selectman Rick Simoneau asked if the committee was asking the board to hire Craig Boone or to put the project out to bid. DeMillo said the original motion at the committee’s meeting was to put it out to bid but it failed and the next motion was to have selectmen hire a design professional.

All along, DeMillo said, it was about the committee having input.

Four members of the 10-member committee said Monday they should stick with Boone since he knows the wants and needs of the project already. Cook said she didn’t have a problem with that.

“The gentleman has really worked hard for us,” police Chief Larry White Sr., a member of the committee, said.

Selectman’s Chairman Bill Harlow said Bunker & Savage was hired on initially and performed well on the project.

DeMillo said Boone has a vested interest in the project and will do what is best for the town.