OTISFIELD — Selectmen have agreed to spend up to $5,000 to install gutters on the Town Hall to prevent icing on the walkways into the building.

“The gutters seem expensive but it’s a huge building,” Selectman Rick Micklon said.

Micklon said at the board meeting last week that finding gutters may be a challenge due to the building’s metal roof overhang and the age of the structure. The town will also have to provide blocking and brackets for the gutter.

The problem, selectmen said, is the walkways that go into the lower level of the building in the back pose potential safety problems. When rain and melted snow slides off the gutterless metal roof,  it will cause a slippery situation for pedestrians.

“I’d rather do that so no one falls” Selectman Len Adler said. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

The work is expected to take three or four days to complete.

The board recently agreed to put a light on the back lower level parking lot that leads into the Annex and one on the opposite side entrance to enhance pedestrian safety.

The work is part of an overall renovation project that is wrapping up at the Town Hall. The renovations created two offices and a meeting room on the upstairs level, new lighting, outlets and exit signs.

Some of the renovations were paid for with the sale of tax-acquired land on Moosewa Trail for $15,500. Jerry Bowers, one of two bidders, was awarded the property at the Nov. 29 board meeting. The low bid was $14,521.

The board will put $2,000 away to pay off the taxes owed and use the rest of the money to replace Capital Improvement funds used in the upstairs Town Hall project.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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