RUMFORD – Selectmen unanimously awarded the contract for major renovation of the Municipal Building to the Auburn firm H.E. Callahan Construction Co. at a special meeting Thursday afternoon.

Callahan submitted the lowest of five bids at $660,000. Contractors from Augusta, Auburn, Lewiston and Portland submitted bids as high as $790,000.

Jim Reuter of the Bethel architectural firm Smith Reuter and Lull said work will likely start on the eight- or nine-month project in October.

Voters approved spending up to $828,000 at a special election in January to bring the nearly century-old building up to life and safety code compliance. Funds were borrowed through the Maine Bond Bank. Because of access, egress and other issues, only 49 people may be in the upstairs auditorium at a time.

The funds will also be used to construct handicap-accessible bathrooms, install a fire alarm system, enclose part of a stairwell, enclose part of the town offices, and address other fire code issues.

Most of the remaining money approved by voters will likely go toward legal and architectural fees, and serve as a contingency fund.

“With an existing building, there could be some things we didn’t see,” said Reuter.

He said he has worked with the bidder before.

“Callahan just finished a project for us at Bonnie Eagle,” said Reuter.

Reuter is also architect of a $4.9 million project at the Region 9 School of Applied Technology in neighboring Mexico. He said the clerk of the works at that project, Jacob Kendall, will serve in the same position for the Municipal Building.

When a pre-construction meeting with Callahan is set up in the next couple of weeks, Reuter said a firmer time line for the project will be made available.

Bidders also supplied numbers for replacing the windows in the upstairs auditorium. Again, Callahan provided the lowest bid, at $112,000. But that project was not approved by voters so will not happen during the current project, although most selectmen agreed it could save money in the long run.

Buccina said the board will make a decision on window replacement as the project progresses. He said voters may have to approve spending whatever is leftover from the project on the windows.