STRAFFORD — Residents rejected a plan to renovate and expand Strafford’s Town Office building in Australian ballot voting on Monday.

The proposal failed by 16 votes, with 205 opposed and 189 in favor of committing up to $1 million to fix up the historic town building, according to results provided by Strafford Town Clerk and Treasurer Lisa Bragg.

The plan voters rejected Monday called for adding on a 1,200-square-foot addition for around $1.4 million, as well as renovating the two-story office.

In addition to a bond, other funding would have come from a federal grant, as well as $250,000 from the Municipal Building Reserve Fund.

Currently, town officials cannot use the second floor after a state fire marshal said the stairs leading to the space were unsafe. The town’s listers are working out of a room at the Upper Village Fire Station.

“We especially want to thank the Town (clerk) and Assistant Town Clerk and Treasurer, Listers and others for persevering with the deteriorating conditions of the town office,” Selectboard Chairwoman Toni Pippy wrote in an email Tuesday after the vote. “We will be pursuing how to make the second floor usable so that our listers can come back in the building and to keep the discussion going so that we resolve the lack of space for any others working in the building.”

It is the second time since 2022 that voters have rejected a plan related to the Town Office building. Two years ago, residents voted down a proposal for a feasibility study to see if converting a single-family home on Justin Morrill Highway would be a good fit for a new Town Office building.

During an informational session about the proposal held on Saturday, residents raised some concerns about the building’s proximity to the floodplain, said Curt Albee, the Town Office Committee’s chairman.

“I think folks are concerned about putting that much money into that building on that site, that old building,” Albee said.

The Town Office building, which is part of part of the Strafford Village Historic District’s National Register of Historic Places listing, was built around 1863 and has been used for town business since 1969.

“The bigger problem is where else? The town owns no suitable property for a town office located elsewhere,” Albee said. “There’s no real estate available that lends itself to a town office. We’re kind of up against it.”

Albee said that he hopes the Selectboard will poll residents who were opposed to the proposal to find out why they voted the way they did.

“We need to poll people who had objections to that project and see what there objections were and moving forward on how we can deal with those,” he said.

The Selectboard is next scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 13.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.