PARIS — Selectmen officially want parties interested in purchasing the Mildred M. Fox School to submit their plans.

Selectmen on Monday approved the request for expressions of interest form penned by interim Town Manager Sawin Millett and Glen Holmes, director of lending at Community Concepts Finance Corp., for the brick building at 10 E. Main St.

The board voted in November 2015 to put the 1882 three-story historic school on the market, hoping to get it back on the tax rolls.

“It essentially gives us an opportunity to avoid a broker and (Requests For Proposal) process,” Millett told selectmen.

Millett proposed having the plans submitted by March 1, saying it was fast-tracking the process a bit, but selectmen didn’t have to make a decision immediately.

“I personally thought the form was good for what we need,” Board of Selectmen Chairman Mike Risica said. “The sooner this thing gets off our plate, the better off.”

“To a degree, I am thinking it’s a little too quick to have it by March 1,” Selectman Robert Wessels said. “I think for anybody who knows it’s coming … they may be able to be prepared to have it done in time.”

But he worried about those who weren’t aware of the call for interest in the building and thought three weeks wasn’t enough time for candidates to pull together a proper plan.

“This wasn’t an attempt to force this thing too fast,” Millett said. “Some people would say it’s not moving fast enough.”

Selectmen voted to have the proposals due by 5 p.m. Thursday, March 24, so they can review them before their meeting March 28.

Millett also gave selectmen an update on the heating system at the school, which is home to Oxford Hills Christian Academy.

“This has finally come to pass,” he said. “Five weeks to the day the pellet boiler stopped. It is now started and running.”

Millett noted the temperature was at 65 degrees and Steve Healy, who’s been working on the unit, has been checking in on it daily. The boiler is now running on automatic, he said by email.

Christian Academy Administrator Steve Holbrook had to cancel classes for two days in early January and moved 50 K-12 students to the nearby South Paris Baptist Church.

Holbrook indicated the town should reimburse its tenants for the time spent at the church, Millett said.

“The bills they’re paying for the Baptist Church aren’t totally in hand right now,” he said. “I should have that information by the time of our next meeting, so I can bring in a draft at that time.”

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