Several key issues facing Gorham came under discussion in a Town Council workshop on Monday.

Topics included the re-opening of Little Falls School as a recreation center and whether it could accommodate a seniors’ group; repairs needed for a town-owned landmark; and filling the town’s vacant police chief position.

Town Manager David Cole said the former Little Falls School, which had closed for extensive repairs, would re-open about Feb. 1. Town Council Chairman Michael Phinney said the building would be utilized for recreation purposes.

Cole said a senior citizens group has requested use of a room set up specifically for it.

“We would just love to have a room of our own,” Blanche Alexander, president of Lakes Region Senior Center,” told councilors.

The seniors group had met in the old school before it closed in 2013 for a half-million-dollar overhaul. But, it’s unclear now whether the group would be granted dedicated space in the former school.

Town Councilor Shonn Moulton favored allowing Cindy Hazelton, the town’s recreation director, to decide the matter involving the seniors.

“It’s not something Gorham Rec does,” Hazelton said about authorizing dedicated space.

Phinney said a town councilor could sponsor an agenda item for the seniors in the February Town Council meeting.

Hazelton described the rehab of the old building as “awesome,” and the Recreation Department will return its before- and after-school programs to the building when it re-opens.

“We will expand our own programs,” Hazelton said.

The Town Council also discussed the town-owned James McLellan House, 77 South St., that needs costly repairs. The town leases the house, which is located in the South Street Historic District, to the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust.

To finance repairs, Michael Parker, land trust president, suggested the town could sell the property to a for-profit entity that could take advantage of tax credits. One estimate pegged repairs costing up to $180,000, but Parker said the foundation needs work and he said renovation could run closer to $300,000. The town is budgeting $30,000 for repairs.

Parker presented a letter from Christopher Closs, preservation services adviser at the independent and nonprofit Maine Preservation in Yarmouth, about potential resources available to a prospective buyer of the house. Closs wrote that the building, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, would be eligible for both federal historic rehabilitation tax credits (20 percent) and Maine rehabilitation tax credits (25 percent). Closs said “generally” only a for-profit ownership entity would be eligible to receive tax credits.

Now, the land trust rents out an apartment in the house and previously had leased space to the Gorham Times, a nonprofit newspaper.

If the town sold the old house, which once served as an office for the superintendent of schools, it would also return to the tax rolls. But, the land trust could be left to find a new home. Parker, who wants the landmark preserved, said the land trust has enjoyed its 27 years in the building.

The Town Council could determine the landmark’s future in February or March.

The board discussed in both public and executive session the process of hiring a police chief. Police Chief Ronald Shepard retired in November and the Town Council last fall appointed Lt. Christopher Sanborn as acting chief.

In this week’s workshop, Town Councilor Bruce Roullard recommended hiring a company to start a screening process.

Gorham’s Sgt. Dan Young and Officer Steven Rappold, representing the police union, attended Monday’s workshop.

“We would like to be part of the process,” Young, president of the union’s local, said from the public podium.