GORHAM – Gorham Town Council on Tuesday delayed a decision whether to ask voters in a November referendum for a $5 million overhaul of the Public Safety Building at 270 Main St.

The town’s Public Safety Building Committee earlier this year reported the existing Public Safety Building is cramped and inadequate. But, Gorham voters in a June referendum rejected a proposal to build a new, $6.3 million public safety complex to house police and fire departments at the site of Little Falls School.

So, town officials still face the dilemma of solving working condition woes and space shortages at the present building. But the June defeat has councilors worried.

“I’m afraid if we put this out in November, it’s going to lose,” Council Vice Chairman Michael Phinney, who favored a June referendum next year, said in Tuesday’s meeting. “This is going to be a difficult sell.”

But Councilor Sherrie Benner said, “I think it’s our best shot to do it in November.”

With six of the board’s seven members present on Tuesday, Councilor Suzanne Phillips wanted a full council to decide the referendum matter and moved to postpone the item. The council voted 5-1 (Chairman Phil Gagnon opposed and Councilor Matthew Robinson absent) to take up the issue at the council’s September meeting.

A public hearing is also required on the issue and the council’s delay doesn’t preclude a possible November referendum.

The Public Safety Building opened in 1974 as a municipal center, housing town offices along with police and fire departments. Town offices relocated several years ago to a new municipal center in the renovated Shaw School at 75 South St.

A 1999 facilities study called for expanding the public safety facility. The Public Safety Committee, appointed last year, in a printed report identified a list of problems at the aging Public Safety Building, which has two levels.

“The police department really suffers,” Phinney said.

The committee reported that the building’s deficiencies included lack of overall space, no sprinkler system, no elevator, inadequate locker rooms, and no separate overnight facilities for men and women, who now share a unisex bathroom and shower.

“The place is nothing but a dive,” Hans Hansen, a resident, told councilors on Tuesday.

Renovating and expanding the building was a study alternative, and a second choice to relocating the facility to a new complex in Little Falls. Town officials have hoped that a project would take care of public safety needs for the next 25 years.

In a 13 percent turnout in June, voters by a wide margin, 1,190-415, rejected the Little Falls proposal recommended by the Public Safety Committee.

“It got defeated pretty handily,” said Councilor Shonn Moulton.

Councilors have been left guessing whether the referendum’s defeat was attributed to cost or location. Some opposition to relocating public safety to Little Falls feared moving the facility away from Gorham Village would impact emergency response times.

The latest proposal to upgrade 270 Main St. would keep both police and fire departments in one facility downtown.

Under a renovation and expansion project at the present facility, 19,610 square feet would be renovated and add 14,332 square feet of new construction, according to the Public Safety Committee study report. The study pegged cost at $5.8 million.

If the public safety rehab measure goes to a referendum asking voters to borrow $5 million, total cost counting $963,125 in interest over 20 years would be $6.9 million, according to town figures.

Jim Means of Beatrice Drive urged councilors to stay within $5 million.

Hansen likes the central location of the existing facility and said the project is needed.

“I think you’ll get a favorable vote,” Hansen said.

But another pricey issue facing Gorham is a multi-million dollar renovation proposed for Gorham High School. The school renovation would likely go to referendum next year. School officials have said the state would not participate in the school project, leaving Gorham taxpayers to foot the entire bill.

Benner said a June public safety referendum would compete with a school project. Voters in June are also asked to ratify the annual school budget.

Councilor John Pressey suggested a phase-in plan to upgrade the public safety building.

“I think it would be a responsible way of handling it,” Pressey said.

But Benner opposed a phase plan.

“We can’t do it in bits and pieces,” Benner said.

In other business, the council appointed Deputy Town Clerk Jennifer Elliott as acting town clerk effective Saturday, Sept. 7. Elliott replaces Connie Loughran, who retires on Friday, Sept. 6. Loughran attended her final council meeting on Tuesday.

The Public Safety Building, at 270 Main St. in Gorham, houses the police department and the central station for fire and rescue. The Gorham Town Council is considering a $5 million overhaul of the facility.