Alna citizens have the potential of settling a growing controversy over ownership of the Alna firehouse and property it sits on this Wed., July 15.
Two different deeds to the property pose a legal question the town needs to answer by voting at a special town meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Alna Meetinghouse. The warrant also includes seven articles on other issues.
The ongoing debate between the Alna Volunteer Fire Dept. and the Board of Selectmen heated up recently with some confusion caused by separate deeds to the property.
Selectmen found a 1950 deed with stamps on it and so re-recorded it at the Lincoln County Registry of Deeds after failing to find a record of it following a “quick” search.
Furthermore, First Selectman Billie Willard said she found a town ledger entry recording payment of $300 to the fire department for the property.
However, fire department attorney Eliot Field questions the action the board made, since the department as the Alna Volunteer Dept., Inc. has a 1950 deed with document stamps indicating the book number and page where it is recorded.
Apparently the former un-incorporated department signed over the deed to the Alna Volunteer Dept., Inc. in 1959 when the group became incorporated, Field said.
A vote in favor of the first article submitted by fire department petition (Article 9) on the sale of the firehouse to the fire department would settle the question of whether the fire department owns the property by town fiat and avoid possible lengthy litigation over the deeds, he said.
A vote against it would mean voters would have the option to approve leasing the firehouse to the department on terms petitioned by the fire department or approving a board submitted article for leasing the firehouse on the board’s terms.
