The town has received two bids on the lease of space at the Ethel E. Hammond School in Onset, and officials are now trying to determine how to accommodate both.

The Boys & Girls Club has been operating at the school on a temporary lease for the summer. Director Kenny Fontes, who also serves on the School Committee, hopes to move the Club there permanently.

"Initially, the Boys & Girls Club had gone to the School Committee and obtained their permission" to use the building on a permanent basis, Selectmen Chair Peter Teitelbaum explained at the board's meeting on Tuesday.

But officials later realized that the lease of the town building, due to state procurement laws, must be put out to bid to allow any interested parties to propose a price for leasing the space. The School Department still has control of the building, but the Selectmen must approve any leases.

The town agreed to allow the Boys & Girls Club to lease space in the school for the summer, and when the lease was put out to bid, both the Boys & Girls Club and Wareham Child Care responded.

As of now, that's where the situation stands.

Teitelbaum said that he recently met with new Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood to discuss the issue, and said she is hoping to work out a solution that will allow both the daycare and the Club to use space at Hammond.

"These are both important things," said Teitelbaum.

Additionally, the Community and Economic Developement Authority is recruiting colleges to lease a separate area of the school.

The Selectmen have the ultimate say over the lease of the building.

"If you determine the lease, for whatever reason, is not a good one, you can choose not to execute it," Town Attorney Richard Bowen explained.

Selectman Patrick Tropeano expressed concern on Tuesday about who would pay to repair and maintain the building.

When the School Department decided to close the Hammond school in 2012 due to budgetary constraints, it initially asked that the town take back control of the building.

But, according to Bowen, the School Committee later had a "change of heart," and that never happened.

"The School Committee was within its rights to say, 'we changed our minds,'" Bowen noted.

According to Town Administrator Derek Sullivan, any rent money collected through the leasing of the building would be put into an account separate from both the town and the schools. The purpose of the account would be, in part, to maintain the building.

Bowen said he has suggested that one of the terms of lease be that if the costs of repairing the building exceeds what is in the fund, the town may back out of the lease.