PARIS — Residents voted at a special town meeting Monday to sell the old fire station building on Pine Street for $25,000 to Terry and Sandy Swett of Swett Signs.

The fire station has been empty for years since the town built a newer, much larger station on Western Avenue. In 2011, selectmen voted to advertise the building for sale rather than demolishing the building or remodeling it for town use, which would have been costly.

The Swetts plan to move their sign business from its current home in Bridgton to the lower level of the building. The couple plans to turn the upstairs into an event center, which will be available for rentals.

The board agreed to make the large lot behind the fire station a public parking lot so that the Swetts’ customers could park without denying parking space to other businesses at Market Square.

There were about a dozen residents in attendance, and most voted for the article.

At the Feb. 12 meeting, Town Manager Amy Bernard said the town’s attorney informed her that residents currently needed to approve such town contracts.

The second article at the meeting was to give the Board of Selectmen permission to sign contracts for services and to sell property, such as the fire station. The board thought they already had permission to do so until an attorney pointed out that residents had to give permission first. Bernard said the board only had permission to sign single-year contracts.

“We wouldn’t need this article if we weren’t looking for multi-year contracts,” Bernard said.

In response to questions, Bernard clarified that the contracts applied only to products and services the town pays for. The town manager still handles employee contracts.

That article was overwhelmingly supported. The special town meeting took place at 6 p.m. Monday, before the regular Board of Selectmen meeting.

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