RUMFORD – Region 9 Board Chairman Norman Clanton told the SAD 43 board and a few Rumford and Mexico selectmen Monday night that the school had researched at least 10 plans to improve the existing building before finally settling on the design that will be voted on in January.

“This was the most cost effective, conservative use of state money,” Clanton said of the $4.9 million project.

And the final proposal was the one the superintendents of the three sending high schools most favored, as well, said SAD 43 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin.

Clanton, several Region 9 board members, and Region 9 Director David Driscoll, gave their presentation to SAD 43. Next month, the same presentation will be made to SAD 44, and SAD 21 will hear the plan as well sometime within the next few weeks.

SAD 43 sends the most students to the vocational school, at nearly 60 percent.

Hodgkin said the proposed project would lead to flexibility of space for the next 20 years. He said, too, that successful completion of the project could lead to some reduction in programs at Mountain Valley High School.

Clanton said Region 9 has until February to designate use of the state’s contribution of $1.7 million in an interest-free loan and a grant. If Region 9 doesn’t have approval to use it, then the money will be lost and used by some other school.

The remaining $3.2 million would likely be borrowed over a 20-year period.

Proposed are new vocational programs in automotive technology and early childhood that would provide slots for about 60 additional students, installation of an elevator to bring the building into Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, extensive renovation that would allow two of the vocational programs now housed in modular classrooms to move into the building, and several major repairs such as roof replacement and installation of an air quality system. About three acres located on adjacent land east of the school would be acquired to make way for construction.

Clanton said the consensus among the board and the superintendents was to go to the voters just once, for both the needed repairs and the addition of two new vocational programs.

Hodgkin said Region 9 currently offers the fewest number of vocational programs in the state.

If approved by voters of the 16-town region on Jan. 9, construction would begin in the summer of 2007, with an expected completion date of autumn, 2008.

In SAD 43 towns, the cost to taxpayers for the project on a home valued at $100,000 would be: Byron, $8; Mexico, $13; Roxbury, $9; and Rumford, $9, during the first year. During the second year of the 20-year bond note: Byron, $22; Mexico, $35; Roxbury, $22; and Rumford, $22. The second year’s figure would decline slightly for several years, then drop significantly for the remainder of the loan.