MARS HILL – Town Councilors hired an independent contractor to seek grants as part of their efforts to create a small park near the town’s new fire station.

The council, during its August meeting, agreed to hire Carolee Hallett, who also served as administrator on the town’s fire station project.

Hallett is to pursue grants on a part-time basis, Town Manager Ray Mersereau said last week.

Officials are in the first stages of developing the park, which would be situated on a 500-by-300-foot parcel near the Hiram Adelman Memorial Fire Station on Market Street.

“We have quite a bit of land donated by the Adelmans and land the town owns to be made into an open space park, but it takes money to do that,” Mersereau said. “We want to see if there is grant money out there we can find.”

The town has shifted its attention to the park now that most of the work on the $600,000 fire station project is done. The 70-by-100-foot structure will replace the town’s 57-year-old station on U.S. Route 1A.

With the contract work complete, officials are waiting for ground work around the facility to wrap up before they move in the fire department. Part of the ground work involves removing a partially torn down potato house and a former redemption center near the new building in order to establish proper drainage for the building and make room for the park.

Town officials are forming a park committee that will decide the appearance and purpose of the public space as well as how much the community should spend on the project. They have invited 20 to 25 people to serve on the committee, which will begin meeting this fall, Mersereau said.

Town officials expect that the municipal park will include trees, flowers, benches and picnic tables and cost $30,000 to $50,000. Mersereau said the space will beautify the downtown and serve as a rest area for those using the snowmobile and ATV trails nearby.

Officials hope to have the park established by next spring.

In other news, Town Councilors:

. Approved a request by the Maine Winter Sports Center, doing business as Big Rock Ski Area, for a 10-year, $43,000 loan from the Mars Hill Revolving Loan Fund. The fund was developed about 15 years ago to offer local businesses loan money for startup and expansion purposes.

Mersereau said Big Rock will put the money toward equipment purchases it made to expand its snowmaking capacity. Mersereau said the loan is the first Mars Hill has approved in about two years.