POLAND — Selectmen on Tuesday added three articles to the April 2 annual town meeting warrant: one to fix the Walker/McConaghy house, one to pay for the improvements, and one to spend $30,000 to demolish it if the first two fail.

Resident Barbara Strout petitioned the board to take immediate steps to fix up the house for use as a commercial rental property, or for town use. Voters approved buying in a few years ago.

The large red building on Maine Street, between Ricker Memorial Library and the Town Hall, was seen as an important move toward a unified development of the municipal center. 

At the time, plans called for removing the building from the property, ideally by selling it someone who would move the building to a new location. However, if no one did then the plan was to demolish it.

A few developers have expressed interest in the building, but none offered concrete proposals.

This past year Strout and several other longtime Poland residents supported making the building useable.

Selectmen added a second article to fund the improvements.

Town Manager Bradley Plante said the article lacks a specific dollar number, but a contractor has agreed to prepare a cost estimate for the project within the next few weeks.

Selectmen added a third article that seeks $30,000 to demolish the building if voters reject the first two. 

“That wouldn’t be my first choice for the building, but we have to do something, we can’t leave this hanging,” Plante said.

In other business, selectmen approved releasing $31,981 from the town’s capital improvement reserve account to pay for a new vehicle for the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputy who patrols the town. The vehicle is a 2016 Ford Interceptor, a small SUV designed specifically for police work.