MEXICO — Selectmen voted unanimously Wednesday night to list the former SAD 43 central office building with a commercial real estate agent.

The decision was made after Med-Care Ambulance Service eliminated the site as a possible future home of the emergency service. Selectmen had delayed seeking a real estate agent until after Med-Care representatives made an on-site visit last week.

Selectman Reggie Arsenault, who is also a member of the Med-Care board, said that although the two-story building would serve some needs, there is not enough open land for a base station.

Town Manager John Madigan said the building, which is in very good condition and is wired for telephones and Internet, would make a good place for an office business, such as a call center.

The board will also list the building with Maine Biz, a statewide business newspaper, and ask the River Valley Growth Council to include it in its compilation of available business or industrial sites in the area.

The former school district central office was returned to the town after SADs 43, 21 and 39 consolidated to form the Western Foothills Regional School Unit 10 this past summer. The new central office is located in Dixfield.

The board also approved the relocation of the Mexico police chief office from the basement of the recreation building, to an office located adjacent to the police department on the first floor of the building.

Once the police chief moves to the first floor, heat will not be necessary in the basement.

In other matters, selectmen voted to ban smoking from the outside areas of the Recreation Department and the Recreation Park beginning Jan. 1, 2010. Smoking inside a municipal building was banned many years ago, according to state law.

A second smoking-related policy, which will adhere to new state laws, will likely be adopted at a future date. This will include, among other things, banning smoking closer than 20 feet from a door, vent or other means by which smoke could waft into a building, and prohibiting smoking in municipal vehicles.

River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition Director Patricia Duguay said her organization will provide “no smoking” signs and assistance with the development of a new municipal smoking policy.

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