PARIS — Selectmen on Monday, March 28, agreed to hold an executive session April 11 to discuss proposals for future use of the Mildred M. Fox School.
Interim Town Manager Sawin Millett said it came down to the wire Friday, March 24, when requests from those interested in using the property at 10 East Main St. were due. This includes two lots voters approved at the last town meeting in June 2015.
Millett received two proposals, “one of which is very comprehensive — 41 pages in length. The other is more focused on parking access.”
Millett said since there’s pending real estate transactions, he can’t share too much information in public and suggested holding an executive session to discuss the matter. Selectmen set the session for 6 p.m. on Monday, April 11, before their regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m.
Selectman Robert Wessels said he would be out of town on April 11, but the rest of the board could still meet to discuss the issue.
“We need to start that discussion,” Millett said. “I suspect this is not going to be the last meeting, Bob. There’s a lot of complicated issues involved.”
Millett said he might “bring in one or more of the proposers so we can have a clear discussion on what’s in the back of their minds.”
In November 2015, selectmen agreed to put the school on the market. They advertised for requests from those interested in the historic three-story brick building. Millett and Glen Holmes of Community Concepts Finance Corp. penned the document.
Millett also said Monday that the town has “reached the end of the line” in its efforts to restore central heat to the building. In January, the pellet boiler went down and multiple attempts to get the boiler and an oil boiler up and running were successful.
The tenant, Oxford Hills Christian Academy, has been holding classes nearby in the South Paris Baptist Church since January after canceling school for a few days. In February, Millett said the town would no longer charge for rent since the academy had been out of the building for two months.
Also in his manager’s report, Millett said academy officials put a thank-you ad in the local paper and sent a card to the town, signed by students and staff.
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