measures members hope will help the town decide whether to keep the old Westport High School, whether it would be a suitable home for the town's aging municipal offices, and how much it might bring on the open market if the town decides to sell.

The old school, which currently houses Westport Community School administration but has otherwise gone unused for a year, has been the focus of discussion in Westport for some time. Members of the Long Term Building Committee have been studying its possible fate and requested recently that the town fund a $20,000 appraisal process, and a municipal re-use analysis, which will cost just over $15,000. The select board approved both studies last week.

Using the studies to inform them, "we hope to come to a solution before next year's town meeting," select board member Brian Valcourt said.

Apart from an appraisal of the property, the re-use study would look at whether it would make economic and organizational sense to move all of the town's municipal offices to the old school. The town's municipal offices at Town Hall and the Town Hall Annex are old, expensive to maintain and inadequate, some have said, and it might make sense to move them to the old school.

"If we were to move all of our offices ... and town functions there, what would that cost? We're also looking at what it would cost to maintain these buildings that are currently housing all these offices," Valcourt explained.

Earlier this year, town officials sought and received several proposals to re-use the building. They include:

* Westport's non-profit food pantry wants to move its operation, currently housed in the Westport Grange basement, to the old school.

* Recreation Director Dana Stewart wrote that the high school gym would be a welcome addition to her facilities and could host fitness classes, sports, camps, children's programs, special events and gym rentals.

* Westport's affordable housing trust proposed developing the school into mixed-income housing, while preserving existing sports fields and open space. Officials wrote that the site could support 55 to 110 apartment units, plus 12 to 16 townhouses.

* Main Road resident Gay Gillespie said it makes sense from a planning perspective to keep the school for the town and school offices, and relocate the town's administration to the property.

"Its location in the center of the town, close to the schools and library, makes it easily accessible from all parts of our community," she wrote.

"As such, it would be an ideal location for all the town's administrative offices, including the school department. Having all the departments in one location alleviates the current back and forth driving from town hall to the annex to the different departments. The former high school is already wired for Internet, has ample parking and ADA accessibility, and an auditorium that is large enough for town meetings."