Frenchville voters OK funding for new town office

FRENCHVILLE – Residents have been talking about a new town office for years in this St. John Valley town and now they could be moving into new facilities by the fall, all at a nominal price.

Residents, 30 to 35 of them, approved the project at a special town meeting Tuesday without one dissenting vote and very little discussion. Residents agreed to spend up to $175,000 for the project. They will repay the loan over 20 years.

Residents have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project at several meetings during the past year.

Municipal officials have been thinking about replacing their tight quarters for years. Some years ago, the town purchased two homes located on both sides of the present town office-fire station-public works garage with the intention of building a new town office.

The new facilities, a modular home built in Canada and purchased through Riverview Homes of Fort Kent, is expected to be in place by early fall.

“We’ve been talking about this for years, but more so in the last year,” Town Manager Philip Levesque said Wednesday. “There were few questions Tuesday night and not one vote against it.”

“We will renovate the present office to house an emergency vehicle for the fire department,” he said. “We have been in this tight space for many, many years.”

The new office will be located at 285 U.S. Route 1 on a 100-by-206-foot lot that formerly held the post office and apartments. The old building was demolished a year ago.

The 30-by-61-foot long modular building is being built to locally developed specifications. The building will be on a 6-foot high foundation that will house the heating system and some storage space.

The building will include a reception area, two offices for the town manager and the economic development director, a conference room for board of selectmen meetings and other local agencies, storage and bathroom facilities.

Levesque said the building should be in place by August. After it is on its foundation, the town will be adding exterior siding, a front porch with a handicapped-accessible ramp and a vault to store municipal documents.

The building will be facing the parking lot of the present town office with many parking spaces available up front.

The modular building is estimated to cost $131,000. Local construction is expected to cost an additional $20,000, and flooring, furniture, paving and incidentals will add $10,000 to $25,000.

“Economic Development Director Paul Bernier did an excellent job of outlining the project for residents Tuesday night,” Levesque said. “He told residents about the cost of constructing a conventional town office, estimated at $400,000 to $500,000.”

Levesque said it has been estimated that the local payback will be about $13,500 for 20 years. Residents having property valuations of $50,000 can expect an increase of about $23 a year to pay the loan, he said.