ROCKLAND - At its agenda setting meeting scheduled for Monday, March 6, the Rockland City Council discussed a letter from RSU 13 offering the McLain School Building at 28 Lincoln Street to the city. John McDonald, superintendent for RSU 13 said in a letter to the Rockland City Council that the school board will hold the offer until noon on May 1, 2017.

"When a current school building is vacated by the RSU, by state law they are required to offer it back to the city," said McDonald. "That's what we've done and that was pending the successful outcome of the vote."

McDonald said a formal letter was sent to the city offering them the building.

"We are waiting for their response," he said. "They can either accept the building, or turn it down. If they turn it down, the building still belongs to the RSU and we would need to decide what to do with it, whether it means sell it, lease it, or something different."

Acting City Manager Audra Caler-Bell said a building inspection had been scheduled for next Wednesday.

"We are hoping to get a really good sense from the inspection in terms of what are the long-term investments we are looking at in regards to the building," she said. "Once we have that report we'll have more information on the building as it stands and what its needs will be into the future."

Councilors Adam Ackor and Ed Glaser will be part of the inspection team.

"We've invited some other community members who have expertise in various areas," she said. "The only type of expert we don't have coming is someone who knows a lot about masonry. We will need to organize that because we want to know about the condition of the masonry on the building. We have electrical, roofing and HVAC."

Mayor Clayton clarified that it will not be a report that is coming next Monday at the council’s regular meeting.