Woolwich residents serving on the committee for a potential addition to the town office will pay an architect to help develop a plan they can present to voters. During their October 1 meeting, selectmen approved spending $8,000 to pay Bath architect David Matero to design three or four options for a town office addition, on which residents can comment.

Matero designed a plan for the town last year, but in the wake of protest from some residents, selectmen pulled the proposed plan from the annual town meeting ballot. At the annual town meeting, Board of Selectmen Chairman David King asked residents if the town should proceed in researching other possibilities for a town office addition. He received a unanimous show of hands in favor of moving forward.

Currently, the town office meeting rooms are too small; the room where selectmen had been meeting up until recently could safely accommodate just a handful of people besides the selectmen. The board now holds their regular meetings in the Woolwich Central School cafeteria. 

Since this year's annual town meeting, a new nine-member committee has been discussing potential solutions. Committee chairman Dana Lindsey told selectmen that committee members want to conduct a community survey using some design options they formulate with Matero's help. Lindsey said they would like to create a Web page that has these options available to the public for perusal. Their plan is to show the estimated cost, the dimensions of a project and how each proposal would suit the needs of the town. 

Once committee members have heard from residents, they intend to use that information to develop a proposal for the next annual town meeting.

When selectman Allison Hepler suggested the committee hold public hearings, another committee member said they intend to have informational materials available at public functions. 

“I support this,” Board Chairman David King said. He added that while the school cafeteria provides ample space, “It would be nice to have decent office space for town staff and a meeting space for selectmen.”

Selectman Jason Shaw agreed, but with some hesitation about funding the project without further public comment. He said that while the money is fully justified, “My only concern is that at the town vote there was no dollar amount attached to it.” 

Selectman Lloyd Coombs said he was in favor of funding the architect, but somewhat reluctantly. While the consensus at town meeting was to move the project forward, he said he did not expect the town will need the additional space. 

“While this building (Woolwich Central School) belongs to the RSU, it comes as no cost to the town,” he said.

King's question to voters indicated that if they were to move the project forward, it would require some commitment of funds to get needed information. He said the $3500 the town spent on a topographical survey was not wasted and the information gained is still useful. 

Additional commentators from the floor advised that selectmen should approve allocating the funds to pay Matero.