The Board of Selectmen voted to lease a portion of the Ethel E. Hammond Elementary building to the Boys & Girls Club Tuesday.

The Boys & Girls Club and Wareham Child Care were the sole bidders on the space.

While Wareham Child Care offered to pay $20,000 per year compared to the Boys & Girls Club offer of $11,892 annually, the Boys & Girls club had a higher rating based on a scoring rubric that rated each organization on six factors: Standard of practice, encouraging community coalition, encouraging communication, academic and non-academic supports, span of population served and accessibility of academic and non-academic supports.

Noting that the organization had occupied space in the building for three years before the School Department closed the it for budgetary reasons, Carol Couture of Wareham Child Care said she's hopeful there might still be space for the daycare there.

"We were surprised when we were told we had to leave Hammond School because it was closing," she said. "I have faith that in the end everything's going to work out. ... I just hope we get some gym space."

The rent money collected through the leasing of the building will 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.

Selectman Steve Holmes was the lone vote against the lease, and he stated emphatically that his position does not indicate any ill will toward the Boy & Girls Club.

"I don't support this in its current form," Holmes said of the lease. "I think one of the reasons leases, especially of town buildings, come before us" is so the board can thoroughly vet the lease, and do as much fact finding as it needs to.

Holmes pointed out that there is a clause in the lease that allows for it to be terminated if the amount of rent collected in the previous twelve months exceeds the cost of repairs that need to be done.

"That building [needs] repairs already in six figures," Holmes said. "I could almost call on the termination of lease clause before the lease is even signed."

Holmes said that in his opinion, the School Department ought to turn the building over to the town, and he suggested the Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA) as one potential lessee.

The School Department closed the Hammond school in 2012 due to budgetary constraints, and initially asked that the town take back control of the building. However, the School Committee took back the offer, and that never happened. The Selectmen, however, must approve any leases of the space.

CEDA Director Salvador Pina previously expressed interest in leasing part of the building and hosting college courses there.

Other Selectmen opined that the issue is not so much about dollars and cents, but about providing a safe place for youths to go after school.

"I've gone back and forth on this quite a bit," said Selectman Alan Slavin. "If I was doing this as an accountant, I'd probably say no."

Slavin noted that middle school in particular can be a crucial time in a kid's life.

"If we don't keep the kids occupied and engaged, we lose them," he said.

With regard to CEDA renting space as well, Selectmen Chair Peter Teitelbaum pointed out that "one does not exclude the other," and CEDA may still rent space there. He also echoed the opinion that the Boy & Girls Club's value is not just monetary.

The club was awarded a lease of the building last spring by the School Committee and moved to the school from its former location on Viking Drive in the hopes of expanding its programs and giving kids access to a full playground.

Town officials realized later that, due to state procurement laws, the lease of the town-owned building must be put out for bids to allow any potential tenants to offer a price to lease the space.

The club operated at the school on a temporary lease for the summer while waiting to learn the outcome of the bidding process.

Holmes reiterated that he is a supporter of the Boys & Girls Club and, while he disagrees with the lease as it is written, he has no problem with the idea of the organization renting space there.

"This is not about heartstrings," he said. "This is about the management of our town."