GORHAM – Gorham is trying to figure out a permanent use for a former elementary school.

Tuesday, the Gorham Town Council agreed to spend $10,000 to hire PDT Architects for a feasibility study about future reuse of the former Little Falls School on Acorn Street. Potential uses include either a police or fire station that would alleviate cramped space at the town’s Public Safety Building on Main Street, which now houses both the police and fire departments.

Town Council Chairwoman Brenda Caldwell said she wants cost figures for both scenarios. Even if police were re-located to the school, an option could add two more truck bays to Central Fire Station at the current Public Safety Building.

Town Councilor John Pressey said he thought re-locating police to the school would likely be the more viable solution financially.

But, Caldwell doesn’t expect a project any time soon in the present economy, and the entire project would require voter approval in a referendum.

“We can’t afford to build right away,” Caldwell said after Tuesday’s meeting.

The single-story brick school sits on 6.5 acres. Gorham’s assessing department lists value at $1.4 million. The area is served by public water and sewer.

Several years ago, Gorham rehabbed its former Shaw Junior High School on South Street into the present Gorham Municipal Center.

The Little Falls Elementary School was built many years ago to replace the former Robie School, now a community center. Little Falls School also has served as a kindergarten school and in 2003 was utilized for a short time as a sixth grade before its new middle school opened.

More recently, the Little Falls School served Sebago Alliance before it relocated to Buxton last year.

But the former Little Falls School took on new life in the community. Now, Gorham Recreation Department and a senior citizens group are making use of it while the town weighs a permanent future use.

Gail Platts, administrative assistant for the Gorham Recreation Department, said this week it operates a before- and after-school day care program for grades 1 through 5, an all-day Kindercamp, a basketball program for kindergarten and first-graders, and dog training classes on Monday evenings. The Recreation Department utilizes several classrooms, the gym and office space, Platts said.

Town Manager David Cole previously said that operating costs of Little Falls School are covered by Recreation Department program fees and not budgeted separately.

The Lake Region Senior Center also functions in the old school as a meeting place and for special activities like a blood pressure clinic next week.

“We now have 100 members,” Blanche Alexander of Wilson Road, secretary of the seniors group, said in Tuesday’s Town Council meeting.

Town Councilor Suzanne Phillips said Tuesday the Gorham Clothes Closet is also located at the school.

Besides the former Little Falls School, Gorham will face a decision about fate of the White Rock School, which closed when the new Great Falls Elementary School opened last fall.

James Hager, chairman of the School Committee, reported to the Town Council Tuesday that the committee had unanimously voted to return the White Rock School building to the town effective on Saturday, June 30.