LINCOLN, Maine — The town office will stay at 63 Main St. for another year under a deal the Town Council voted 6-0 to accept on Monday.
Councilors emerged from a 45-minute executive session and voted to pay $3,800 per month, $500 more than the previous lease, as part of a one-year lease arrangement made with a local Masons group that owns the building. Councilor Dede Trask was absent.
The increase, council Chairman Steve Clay said, results from Horeb Masonic Lodge No. 93 leaders agreeing to allow the town to house records on the second floor of the three-story building. The records were kept at Ballard Hill Community Center until the town sold it for $1 to local senior center operators in September.
Councilors may seek voters’ approval in June on a recommendation from Lincoln’s town office ad hoc committee to move to a different location. The committee reviewed eight properties before recommending the three-story building at 55 Main St. Lincoln District Court, which is on the building’s first floor, would have to relocate. A formal vote on whether to set the referendum will likely occur within a few months, Clay said.
The building’s purchase cost is $450,000, but the town also could lease the space, an approach that would allow it to use tax increment financing funds. This would not affect local property taxes, officials said.
The committee rejected 63 Main St., saying that the building has problems with water intrusion in its basement, mold and asbestos that needs to be removed.
Town officials have said since November 2004 that the present office is undersized and lacks full Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. Town officials also characterized the Masons as unresponsive landlords who have tried to get the town to finance repairs that landlords typically handle. Masonic officials have denied being unresponsive and said the deal with the town is very good.