A conversation about the failing Town Hall  handicapped ramp will likely spur the formation of a new committee that will look at longterm plans for the ramp and two other stressed structures.

Building Inspector/Health Agent Paul Bourgeois asked selectmen for direction on Monday after a Town Meeting last year voted to allocate $25,000 to replace the Town Hall ramp. Voters opted for the $25,000 rather than the $75,000 or more that Bourgeois requested to replace it with a new concrete ramp.

Bourgeois said he has since discovered that $25,000 will not be enough for a new handicapped-accessible ramp of any kind. A new ramp would face the direction of the sole handicapped spot at Town Hall, rather than pointing in the opposite direction as the current ramp does.

“Town voters said ‘we want a new ramp but we do not want to pay that much.’ That is admirable but I don’t think we can do that,” Bourgeois said.

Selectmen and Bourgeois ultimately agreed to a suggestion by Town Administrator Richard Brown: Fix the current ramp and install a new railing until a long-term plan is devised.

Brown noted that because the ramp was installed in the 1980s by the Lions Club, it is “grandfathered in” and can bypass new federal American with Disability Act requirements until a new plan is devised.

This conversation prompted dialogue about a committee to come up with a plan for a new Town Hall and a plan for the 18th-century Village School House building.

Selectmen Chairwoman Lisa Pacheco said in a few years, the town might have more financial flexibility to repair these structures.

She said by then Stop & Shop’s tax increment financing agreement will change and the company will be paying more taxes. Also, in a few years, the town will have the fly ash lawsuit settlement paid off and will no longer be paying $200,000 a year to businessman Peter Borges and K.R. Rezendes.

Selectman Paul Sadeck, a former town employee, said talks of a new Town Hall were happening when he began working for the town in 1974.

As for the Village School House, the town has raised $30,000, and the state Historical Commission has agreed to match it once all paperwork has been completed.

Bourgeois said that money will repair the roof and other parts of the house so town historical commissioners and other authorities can come up with a reuse plan.

Pacheco asked Bourgeois to begin plans for a committee by the next selectmen’s meeting in two weeks.    

In other town news, selectmen agreed to look into a plan in which collective bargaining plays no role in changing health insurance benefits for town employees.

Brown said many communities have enacted this plan as long as it cuts overall costs by 5 percent or more.

Pacheco said such a plan can translate into a savings for both the town and the collective bargaining unit.