OXFORD — Selectmen asked Town Manager Adam Garland to prepare a proposed timeline for setting up portable office space for municipal employees during their rescheduled business meeting last week.
Oxford’s Municipal Center had be closed to business and board meetings were cancelled last month when bursting pipes caused extensive water damage and the building’s furnace suffered a series of breakdowns.
On Jan. 7 Garland had proposed acquiring a portable office building and installing it on the site of the town’s old police department on King Street. At that time selectmen agreed to conditionally approve the proposal, pending confirmation at their next meeting that the structure was still available. That meeting had to be cancelled when the Pleasant Street office was closed for repairs.
Discussion of the matter had to be delayed until Jan. 27. At that meeting Garland again presented the option for a temporary office relocation, and added one that would turn the Station House Community Center into a temporary headquarters. As a third possibility, Garland said they could continue working out of the decaying building for the foreseeable future.
The building at 85 Pleasant Street was placed on the market for sale last summer. The listing contract with the commercial real estate broker Fletcher Group expired in January.
Selectmen agreed that the recreation center should not be used for any temporary purpose. Board Chair Caldwell Jackson suggested delaying any move from 85 Pleasant Street until spring.
The board directed Garland to provide a timeline for razing the building still standing on King Street and prepping the site for a portable one to be done in spring. Selectmen then unanimously voted to approve renewing the real estate contract with Fletcher Group.
In other business, selectmen approved tax abatements for two residences and one business totaling $511.87 and a supplemental tax for $1,714.50. They also approved renewing the marijuana business license for Bog Brook Botanicals.
Selectmen will hold their regularly scheduled 6 p.m. meeting tonight at the town office.
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