POLAND — Selectmen on Tuesday authorized Code Enforcement Officer Nick Adams to process a building permit application for the Poland Historical Society’s proposed Memorabilia Barn.

The board’s action was an attempt to resolve apparent strife within the historical society that threatens to delay the project.

Adams told selectmen he hadn’t begun his review of plans submitted by Barbara Strout and Reginald Jordan, members of the historical society’s building committee, because Fred Huntress, the president of the Poland Historical Society, had told him to hold off until after Huntress could call a business meeting, which he has scheduled for June 20.

Strout and Jordan attended Tueday’s meeting and told selectmen Huntress didn’t like the design of the proposed project, even though a large majority of the building committee supported it.

They said they were surprised when Huntress attended a selectmen’s meeting three weeks ago and presented a negative assessment of changes to the project that had been agreed to.

Huntress also had expressed concerns that the historical society was going forward with the project before it knew where the money to construct it would come from.

Jordan told selectmen Tuesday that site constrictions had caused them to change the barn from being a free-standing structure to being an attached addition that would be six feet narrower and 10 feet shorter than the original plan.

Jordan said that as originally presented, the completed project would cost about $80,000; he gave no estimate for the new proposal. He said the historical society had received a $15,000 grant and had another $8,000 of the society’s own money that had been given with the intention that it go toward the barn.

“Fred is old-school, he doesn’t want to do it until he has all the money. And he doesn’t like the design,” Strout told selectmen.

Jordan said the building committee had agreed to begin the project, put in a frost wall and slab foundation, and go as far as existing funds would allow.

“I’m not above asking for help. We’ll ask somebody for five pounds of nails. We’ve got carpenters willing to help. It took us years to get the schoolhouse moved over here. We’ll get it done,” Jordan said.

Huntress did not attend Tuesday’s meeting.

Selectman Larry Moreau noted that because the building and land are owned by the town, selectmen have the final say.

“It’s too bad about the internal strife, but we are the owners,” Moreau said.

Selectman Lester Stevens motioned, and the board voted unanimously that Adams proceed with his review of the project.

In other business, selectmen approved revisions to schedules for fees for town services. They also decided not to proceed with a plan to allow an online, rapid renewal program for automobile registrations.

Noting that the town has received new Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance maps, selectmen said townspeople have 90 days to question the accuracy of the maps. They urged people to inspect the maps at town office to ensure that the inclusion or exclusion of their properties from flood-prone areas is accurate.