LINCOLNVILLE — The grand exit from the Lincolnville Town Office is under way, as employees pack files into storage units, haul broken furniture to the dump, and organize papers to move to the Lincolnville Fire Department, where municipal staff will set up quarters for approximately seven months. The $532,560 renovation of the town office is due to begin at the end of this month.

Selectmen agreed Monday evening at their regularly scheduled April 8 meeting to pursue a contract with the Penobscot Company, of Camden, to complete the overhaul and addition to the existing town office in Lincolnville Center. The Penobscot Company was one of 23 contractors that expressed interest in bidding on the project, and then one of 10 that submitted bids. The company submitted the lowest bid of $532,560, and said it would invite a list of subcontractors to participate.

Town Administrator David Kinney and architect Amanda Austin of the Rockport-based 2A Architects,  interviewed the three lowest project bidders last week, and subsequently recommended to the selectmen to pursue negotiations with the Penobscot Company. Other bidders included McCormick Builders, Bruce Laukka Inc., Broad Cove Builders, S. J. Wood Construction, Aaron Newcomb Building, Nickerson & O'Day, King Construction Services, J. Richard Construction, and Ganneston Construction.

"I'm looking forward to the completed project," said Town Administrator David Kinney, in his office stacked high with paper.

During the seven-month construction phase, the town office staff will conduct municipal business at the Lincolnville Fire Station on Route 52 in the training room there. There will also be a trailer where the police, assessor and code enforcement officer will set up shop. Kinney estimated the temporary move and occupation at the fire station to cost approximately $5,000 to $6,000.

"We are going to be open for business until April 19," he said. "When we close the doors at 4:30 p.m., we're going to be pulling our hair out."

Town office staff will then move entirely over to the fire station, and set up shop. The town office will be shut Monday, April 22, and reopen Tuesday, April 23.

Town custodian Roman McDonald had already begun making trips to the storage unit on Route 173, or to the transfer station in Rockport, with, "things that no longer serve a municipal purpose," said Kinney. "Like my old office chair that was broken and wobbled, and for some reason made its way to the town office attic instead of the transfer station."

Employees are methodically going through files now, taking with them to the fire station just the documents that will keep the town in business.

"This is what everybody should do with their house, periodically," said Kinney, suddenly jumping up from his chair and running out to make sure McDonald was moving the right load to the storage unit.

Lincolnville has been wrestling with the future of its town office, constructed in the 1980s just west of Lincolnville Central School on Route 235 in Lincolnville Center. While it was spacious two decades ago, the meeting room was subsequently appropriated for police and town manager offices, and storage room. The building is too small and unable to meet building and compliance codes, according to a 2009 Municipal Buildings Committee report, which recommended expansion.

But with a recession and skeptical town sentiment, the selectmen opposed placing more fiscal strain on taxpayers and chose not to place the $522,188 project before voters.

In March 2010, the selectmen asked the committee, which had been busy requisitioning contractors for a new fire station, to turn attention back to the town office project. The selectmen figured that lower interest rates and recession-priced construction costs signaled the right time to jump-start the process. They asked the committee to reexamine options for the town office. This year, the committee said that 10 years of discussion has been long enough and the town should pursue making its town office compliant with federal regulations, and serve community needs for the next 20 to 25 years.

In November, voters approved appropriationg $470,000 from the Capital Investment Reserve Account and authorized issuing up to $220,000 in bonds or notes for the renovation.

The expansion calls for an additional 3,744 square feet of new space for public and office functions. The new space will include an assembly area for public meetings, a conference room, map room, counter space, break room, and toilet rooms. Exterior work entails reconfiguration of parking lot, a new septic system, and replacing existing siding and roofing.

The Penobscot Company said in its bid package that it invited local subcontractors to participate. Subcontractors include those specializing in concrete placement, masonry, metals, woodwork, insulation, roofing, supply stores, painting, paving, earthwork and landscaping.

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Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 706-6657.