A half-million-dollar town office project had no support in Alna March 1, on either side of the selectmen’s table. Board members and other residents said projections to either redo the Route 218 cape or make a new town office at the fire station were higher than what the town would need or want to pay.

“This is not Trump’s house we’re building, with gold leaf,” resident Brittney Morgan Bardo said.

No proposal will go on the March 18 town meeting warrant; however, selectmen discussed possibly asking for a show of hands on whether or not people are attached to the 1794 cape. Its razing or partial razing was among ideas floated at the board meeting.

Third Selectman Doug Baston said the figures were not what he expected or hoped, but that the consultants’ work served its purpose; and it didn’t cost the town a cent, Baston added. A $2,000 Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission grant funded it. If the town had gone straight to hiring engineers and then found out later the plan was more than the town could bear, the town would have been out that money, he said.

Lincoln/Haney Engineering Associates’ and Lewis and Malm Architecture’s early projections ranged from $427,500 to $604,500. Morgan Bardo said those numbers were a big concern in town. A whole house would cost as much, and a town office wouldn’t need some of the things a house does, she said.  She opposed one concept the board had the consultants explore — to house the town office at the fire station across the road. The town funds but does not own the station, she noted.

She and resident Kathy Zuppa told the board they favor keeping the town office separate. It would avoid possible issues with future select boards, Zuppa said.

Some project will have to be done, due to the cape’s needs, Baston said. “We can’t just sit here. We have to fix here.” He will ask the consultants how they arrived at the numbers. That will provide some closure, he said. The draft material they gave the town notes the numbers could be adjusted. Selectmen said even if pared by 20 percent, the costs would outweigh savings from sharing costs at the fire station.

Participants brought up the idea of a modular in place of the cape, or on the remaining acreage the town owns with the cape. Maybe the part of the cape with the vault and handicap accessible bathroom could be kept, Second Selectman Melissa Spinney said. Modulars are now made that look like old capes, Morgan Bardo said.

“I think we all believe the cost is too high, and even if we can knock off 20 percent, it’s still high,” Baston said. First Selectman David Abbott reiterated the board will not call a special town meeting about the town office. So a vote would be a year away, at the March 2018 annual town meeting, he said.

The board meets next at 6 p.m. March 15 at the town office.