MEXICO – An apparent glitch in the state law that mandates school district mergers has an unanticipated effect on vocational schools that are financing construction projects.

At Tuesday’s Region 9 board meeting, Chairman Norman Clanton said the $3.2 million needed for the vocational school’s $4.9 million project expected from the Maine Bond Bank won’t be coming from it, at least until the law is changed.

But that won’t affect Region 9’s expansion project.

After a 20-minute closed session on a conference call with attorney Rob Nadeau of the Portland firm of Drummond and Woodsum, the board voted unanimously to borrow the money from Municipal Services Group Inc. of Colorado. A second board meeting may be held to approve final documents that include the interest rate.

Clanton said the bond from the Colorado company will be for 20 years, as planned previously, and may offer a lower interest rate than the 5.48 percent levied by the Maine Bond Bank.

“This should save us some money, and it removes the delay of getting the technicality out of the law,” Clanton said.

He said the potential funding difficulties have no effect on the construction project, which includes more than doubling the River Road school’s space. It is scheduled for completion before the start of the next school year.

Board members learned of the possible loan problem about a month ago from their attorneys and held a lengthy closed session at their Sept. 24 meeting, Clanton said.

The glitch in the law would modify the amount of money each member district and town would pay. With the potential mergers of at least three districts in the region, that could be a problem until the technicality is worked out, Clanton said.

When the board learned of the problem, it wasn’t happy.

“When you get a surprise and it doesn’t have a ribbon on it, it’s not great,” he said.

“We had a process all set up,” added Region 9 member Keith Farrington representing SAD 44 in Bethel.

The rest of the borrowing plan is going as expected. The remaining $1.7 million for the project comes from the state. About $635,000 of that total from a grant and just over $1 million from a no-interest, 10-year loan.

In another matter, the board set Nov. 7 as the date for the annual open house.

An official ground-breaking ceremony for the construction project will also be held on that day.