OAKLAND — The Town Council will hear an update on hoped-for improvements to the two-century-old school house the town historical society wants to renovate.
The council also is scheduled to award a number of bids for town projects and present the annual library and assessor reports at the meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the fire station.
The Oakland Area Historical Society will present an update on the Old School House, including the fact that paint samples from the early 19th-century building were tested for lead and came back positive, Town Manager Gary Bowman said Tuesday.
The Old School House, used as a school from when it was built around 1804 until 1924, is owned by the town. The historical society is looking at potential grants it could use to renovate the building, but it can’t get them until it owns the building. President Alberta Porter said at the May 11 council meeting that the group hopes to get students to work on the building as part of their community service and that residents or contractors would pitch in.
The historical society also agreed to paint the building, but the lead paint finding might slow that process.
The town last month terminated a lease with Norm Vigue, who had been using it for storage for his business, Central Maine Hydroseeding.
In other business, the council also will act on accepting a stone bench that is being donated by one of the families of a victim of November’s quadruple murder-suicide. Sisters Amy DeRosby and Amanda Bragg and Bragg’s boyfriend, Michael Muzerolle, were shot to death by Herman DeRico at 41 Belgrade Road.
Bowman said the bench will be placed a the town beach off Belgrade Road, near where the Nov. 4 shooting took place.
The council also will consider bids on upgrading town equipment and making capital improvements and award a bid for work at the Oakland Public Library, which needs some maintenance work. Cement is chipping off in the back of the building, posing a tripping hazard to pedestrians, Bowman said.
The 2016 Spirit of America Award will be presented on Wednesday to one of the recipients who was unable to attend the Town Meeting, at which the award usually is presented.
Madeline St. Amour – 861-9239
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