By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON – The village could be starting from scratch to get bids for new Municipal Building windows and doors after a first round of bids came in higher than they planned.

“Our estimate never took into account mitigation of the asbestos and PCBs in the current caulking,” which adds to the expense of the job, Mayor Mike Dalton said.

Dalton said three bids were received ranging from about $197,000 to a low of about $184,000 while they thought the job would cost between $100,000 and $120,000.

The mayor said they want to do the job whether or not they get any offers on the building, but improvements will make it more attractive to any developer that looks at it.

The village and town boards are arranging to get an appraisal on the building in the hopes that some developer will see value in the downtown location, right next to another available lot where the former McDonald’s Restaurant was.

The board is also considering improvements to the Municipal Building to make it compliant with the standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, but no decision has been made yet about putting in handicapped access.

“We talked at the meeting about meeting ADA standards and the value of the building versus what upgrades are necessary, and that’s all information we need that we are gathering,” Dalton said.

“If someone does approach us with an offer, we have to have that information in place, and in order to be fair to the public, we have to talk about fair market value,” he said.

In the meantime the board will be reviewing the window and door bids received to see what their next step will be.