WILTON — Selectmen unanimously agreed Tuesday to put the former Wilton Primary School out to bid and hopefully get it back on the tax rolls.

“I’d like to see the issue resolved,” Selectman Paul Gooch said.

Finding a solution for the School Street property has eluded the board the last few years.

The town inherited the building from Regional School Unit 9.

The board has tried selling it and the half-acre property and met with developers to consider plans for creating elderly housing or an alternative school. Selectmen also gave a group of surrounding neighbors, The Neighborhood Association, six months to research and present a prospective plan.

The neighborhood group was unable to find a resolution. They considered using it for a recreation center, a new combined town office/police station, day care or even tearing it down, but there’s no great option, a group representative previously told the board.

After grappling with what to do with the school for about four years, costs associated with asbestos removal, demolition or development, the issue has left the board and the town with no easy answers.

Town Manager Rhonda Irish and Selectman Tom Saviello met this week with a representative from Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, Saviello told the board.

AVCOG’s recommendation was to put the building out to bid again, where is, as is, he said. This time there’s no stipulation on the potential use of it.

A prospective buyer will need to bring any plans for the 7,500-square-foot building before the Planning Board.

Preference will be given to the person with a plan that brings the property back onto the tax rolls, Saviello said.

Jan. 20 is the deadline for sealed bids returned to the town office.

Gooch and Saviello agreed to serve with Irish on a committee to review the bids and bring a recommendation to the board.

In other business, the board meeting was preceded by a public goal-setting workshop, the first step in creating a plan for town departments to work on during the upcoming year. Irish went through each town department, describing issues each is working on or needs to tackle. Everything from grants for computer software and vehicles for the Police Department to the town administrator’s work on ordinances for blight and nuisance buildings are included, Irish explained.

Nearly a dozen residents attended to voice items they would like to see considered. Sue Atwood asked selectmen to consider appointing a committee to research and upgrade the town’s website.

“Our online presence is vitally important. It’s our signage to the world,” she said.

Other ideas included establishing a historic district downtown and creating housing standards, a community day for volunteer painting perhaps combined with the United Way’s Day of Caring, and a board review of the comprehensive plan.

The board will mull over the ideas suggested during the holidays and is expected to pinpoint goals during their first meeting in the new year on Jan. 3.

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