Voters turned down the request that the town underwrite the purchase of land from Larry Hebert to build a firehouse.

The proposal had been backed by the selectboard contingent on the town receiving a federal grant to pay for the proposed facility.

Larry Hebert did not vote on the proposal when the selectboard made the recommendation and sent it to the voters for approval.

However, many residents of the town questioned whether the transaction which would have given Mr. Hebert $160,000 for his land was an arm's length transaction since he is on the board.

By a margin of 139 for and 222 against, the measure was defeated.

Even though the selectboard considered the chances slim that the town would get a federal grant to finance the $2.5 million cost of a new firehouse, the failure to secure the land has pretty much ended any chance the town had said Larry Hebert. The land had to be in place and the project ready to go to get the grant, he said. No other land falls into that category, he stated.

Mr. Hebert told the News that he intends to ask the selectboard at its meeting next Tuesday to release his land from the contract which he has with the town to purchase it. He has other buyers, he said, as the land is prime and can be readily used for some other purpose.

There were some in town who believed that a new firehouse was unnecessary. At a special information meeting which had been held prior to the vote, some residents questioned whether the size of the proposed firehouse exceeded the current needs of Williamstown's volunteer department and expressed serious doubts that the town could reasonably expect to land a grant to pay for its construction.

Voters did approve $44,000 in surplus funds to match the $177,000 federal grant that will help pay for the completion of a stretch of sidewalk that has long been planned along Route 14.

Matching funds for the project were approved 244-119, on a day when roughly 15 per cent of the town's 2,000 registered voters turned out to cast their ballots.

Construction of the sidewalk, which will run from Burrell Roofing to Industry Street and include two river crossings, is expected to start in next spring.