MEXICO – People in the 11 towns served by Med-Care Ambulance will have a chance to learn about plans for a new $2 million facility Tuesday, Oct. 9.

Dean Milligan, director of the service, and Steve Brown, chairman of the Med-Care Board of Directors, have been visiting selectmen during the past few weeks describing the proposal.

Residents will have their say at the public hearing at 6 p.m. Oct. 9.

Milligan said the service was established nearly 20 years ago in a dilapidated building in Mexico then moved to its current site, a former Dairy Queen restaurant, in 1990. Since then, the need for additional space to house the service’s nine emergency vehicles and its staff has grown. Some of the vehicles are stored in temporary enclosures while others remain outside, uncovered.

Additional administrative space is also needed, he said.

The Med-Care board approved the project last week.

The original plan was for a $2.4 million building, but that cost was lowered by switching from concrete and brick to prefab steel for part of it.

Other details may also change, and the entire project may not be paid through a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan if grants can be found. Now, the service is looking into low- interest loans from the federal agency for 40 years.

Milligan said the Med-Care board may also explore other repayment schedules.

If the 40-year plan is chosen, towns would pay the following annually: Andover, $5,346; Byron, $798; Canton, $6,966; Carthage, $3,120; Dixfield, $15,234; Hanover, $1,542; Mexico, $17,892; Newry, $2,100; Peru, $9,288; Roxbury, $2,316; and Rumford, $38,988.

The Med-Care board is looking for letters of support from towns’ selectmen. They also want people in the service area to know why the proposal is being made, Milligan said.

If all goes as planned, he said bids for the project, scheduled for siting on a 5.8-acre parcel adjacent to the Region 9 School of Applied Technology on River Road, would go out in early- to midwinter, and construction would start in April or May. Completion is estimated for late next autumn.

In addition to Med-Care board and management members, also fielding questions or providing information will be architect Paul Augusten of Phillips and a representative from the USDA.

Anyone with questions may contact Milligan at 364-8748.