Last modified: Friday, May 9, 2008 1:17 AM EDT Painters work on the exterior of the Falls Fire Barn Museum in Attleboro Falls Tuesday, preparing it for a fresh coat of paint. The board of selectmen have voted to put $2,000 from a trust fund towards the project. (Staff photo by Mark Stockwell) North chipping in for paint job BY SUSAN LaHOUD SUN CHRONICLE STAFF NORTH ATTLEBORO - Another side of the Falls Fire Barn can now be painted with selectmen's vote Thursday to put $2,000 from a trust fund into the can. The North Attleboro Fire Barn Preservation Society had requested a donation of $11,000 from the Walter F. Lyons Fund overseen by selectmen to supplement the $9,000 already raised publicly to complete painting of the 1893 building. The town-owned building, which houses a museum and the Cunningham Research Library, is leased and maintained by the preservation society. "We are painting the front because that's the worst and because it's most visible," Museum Director Nancy Campbell said. The plan is to paint one side at a time based on the money available, she said. With the money already raised, the front and tower can be painted "and maybe another half side," Campbell said. "We have 2 1/2 sides we don't have money for." Selectmen said they wished they could offer more, but that they couldn't afford it. Town Administrator Mark Fisher said all of the interest and 55 percent of the principal balance in the fund have been spent over the past 14 years, leaving a current balance of $109,817. The fund generates $5,000 to $7,000 a year, but that is dropping with the current rates, he said. Selectman Michael Thompson asked whether prison inmates could do the painting as in the past. But Campbell said, "The problem is, they're not professional painters." She said the coat of paint applied by inmates was already peeling after four years. Campbell said the painters who did the Freeman House offered a discount price - about the same cost to rent the scaffolding for inmates to paint the building. Campbell said plans were to continue with the museum's letter campaign and turning to other people in the community for donations.