WILTON — Selectmen decided Tuesday to obtain an estimate for removing asbestos from the former Primary School before getting bids for demolition.

“Until we know about the asbestos, everyone is gun shy,” Selectman Scott Taylor said, referring to the lack of those interested in either purchase or demolition.

Once again the board struggled with the next step for the school. For more than the two and a half years Rhonda Irish has served as town manager, the issue of what to do with the school has constantly been brought up, she told the board.

A proposal to have Downeast Construction demolish the building never got to the point of negotiations, and Irish was not ready to recommend pursuing that route.

She suggested auctioning the property or going to town meeting to raise funds to demolish the building, but some board members wanted to seek bids on demolition first.

There’s no guarantee on the person who purchases the property during an auction, board Chairman Terry Brann said.

“If someone starts then bails, it’s up to the town to finish it,” he said.

The town has not actively sought bids for demolition, he added.

The fear of unknown asbestos abatement costs could hinder someone’s interest in demolition, Taylor said. He suggested getting a ballpark figure from an abatement company in town. The figure could help contractors decide whether they can take it down and perhaps still earn money, he said.

An idea to allow the company that demolishes the building to retain the property to develop or sell was voiced by Paul Montague, code enforcement officer.

“It’s a white elephant in the middle of a residential zone,” he said.

A representative from the School Neighborhood Association had relayed that group’s preference to have the school demolished, Irish said.

While some selectmen foresee recycling the steel, windows, glass and brick as profitable, Selectman Russell Black suggested there could be quite a cost to demolish the building.

Irish said she would seek the abatement costs and check whether the Department of Environmental Protection could provide any assistance before the next meeting Sept. 20.

The school has repeatedly been broken into and she wants to see the matter settled prior to the next budget process and annual town meeting.

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