WOODSTOCK — Selectmen have agreed to offer $50,000 for the former Franklin Grange Hall, after their $35,000 proposal was rejected by the Maine State Grange.

The board on Tuesday authorized Town Manager Vern Maxfield to present the higher amount but not to go beyond it.

The town has first option to buy the 1892 hall at market value, he said previously.

The Grange property in Bryant Pond village fronts on Route 26 and goes back to a brook. The town owns an old stable and the land it sits on behind the two-story hall.

The Grange property also provides access on one side to the adjacent Whitman Memorial Library, and there is a public right of way that goes behind the stable to an old mineral spring.

In other matters:

• The Fire Department got $23,000 on a trade-in for an older truck and received a $200 donation from a grateful local fire victim;
• The board announced Bill Coolidge has resigned from the Planning Board, and the position will be advertised in local papers;
• The Maine Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. May 14 at the Town Office to discuss reconstructing Route 26 through Bryant Pond village;
• The town will do maintenance work on Rumford Avenue this spring; and
• Bids for mowing and weeding town properties are due at the Town Office by May 6.

The next board meeting is at 5 p.m. April 16.