At the Fall Town Meeting residents voted against a transfer of $20,000 to be used to study options for the Town Hall and Town Hall Annex and sent the committee back to the drawing board.

At Monday night’s Selectmen meeting, the Finance Committee and Town Hall Annex Committee proposed a new solution to the space issue at Town Hall.

Head of the Town Hall Annex Committee Rich Cutler presented an idea for a new $1.2 million annex.

The cost was decided on in collaboration with the Finance Committee, which used retired debt and the money saved from leasing the current annex to come up with that figure.

“We went back and forth and the Finance Committee has said they could support $1.2 million and it would have no impact on the tax base in Rochester,” Cutler said.

That money could pay for an annex slightly larger than the Woman’s Club, which is where the some departments are currently being housed.

Cutler said the cost was based on a $400 per square foot estimate, a number that can’t get more accurate until an architect gets involved.

“We won’t be able to decide how much it will cost until we have an architect,” Cutler said. “We won’t have funding for an architect until the $20,000” is approved at Town Meeting.

However, Chair of the Finance Committee Kristian Stoltenberg cautioned against introducing an article on the Town Meeting agenda too soon.

“From my point of view I wonder if it makes sense politically to bring it back up again so soon,” he said. “The numbers are out there, but I’m not suggesting we bring it up right now. Our lease doesn’t expire until 2019, we’re not in a dire need.”

Selectmen Naida Parker and Brad Morse agreed that they didn’t want to rush the town into anything yet. However, Selectman Richard Nunes thought the project would have to get moving as soon as possible to be done by the time the lease is up.

“It’ll take two years to build it,” he said. “If we wait two years we’ll be in the position again of having to renegotiate a lease again. So if we try to get this thing moving now, possibly the building could be finished for when the lease expires.”

Planning Board Chair Arnie Johnson spoke up and said he think it’s a good idea to wait a year before putting it on a Town Meeting agenda.

“I wouldn’t put it on [this year’s] Annual Town Meeting,” he said. “I think if we wait another year, the town will have a better revenue projection…We have some commercial properties that are going to be coming on line this year and next year and that will help with our tax base.”

Stoltenberg agreed, and said that with more time both the Town Hall Annex Committee and the Finance Committee could present voters with a more developed plan.

“I don’t think this is a good time to bring it forward,” he said. “…Let us bring out more information.”

While the board did agree to take the information under advisement and forego an article on the Town Meeting agenda in the spring, Nunes maintained his stance that action needed to be taken sooner rather than later.

“Paying rent isn’t going to solve our problems, that’s money just going out the window,” he said. “If we’re going to be financially prudent, paying rent isn’t the way to go.”