SALEM TOWNSHIP — Directors of SAD 58 on Thursday night were told that their recent secret-ballot vote for chairman was illegal.

Presenting a letter from the school system’s legal counsel, Superintendent Quenten Clark advised directors that their election of Alan Morse as board chairman was not an approved procedure.

“Very simply, secret ballots are not OK,” he said. “The chair has to sign documents and be a representative for the board, and we could be challenged.”

Voting again Thursday, all directors signed their names to ballots, which then became public documents. Judy Dill was elected chairman and Alan Morse was elected vice chairman.

Directors also reviewed the latest plans to keep school buildings open and meet safety and energy upgrades. Costs to convert the Mt. Abram High School to a districtwide K-8 elementary school for 600 students carries a price tag of at least $3.6 million, said Craig Boone, a representative of Bunker and Savage Architects of Augusta.

Some cost-saving possibilities include have meals prepared and served in one location, rather than individually in Kingfield, Eustis, Strong and Phillips cafeterias.

“We could save $100,000 in those staffing costs,” Clark suggested.

However, moving high school students to another building presented problems.

“The Strong Elementary School is a possibility, and we also looked at Phillips, but we ruled that out because of the size of some of the classrooms and other building issues,” he said.

Both Strong and Kingfield schools could support classroom additions to convert to a high school.

“They both have the capability (for future expansion), but Strong would have to purchase land on either side of it,” Clark said. “Classrooms would also have to be torn out and rebuilt to accommodate these students.”

Clark asked directors to consider the means of funding the effort.

“If you were going to do this, you’d have to bond it. We are a non-complying school district, so we aren’t going to get any help from our friends in Augusta,” he said. “The state does have some revolving renovation funds available, and we’d only have to pay back about half of that at zero percent. We could do some renovations and meet some of the safety upgrades.”

Morse expressed his frustration with the scope and cost of the proposed alternatives.

“This is a mind-boggling argument to keep things the way they are. I’m trying to get some sense from you how I might be wrong,” Morse told Boone. “I can’t imagine any building project that would commit us to a huge capital outlay to bring students from good schools in their towns to a new facility that would take up to 30 years to pay off.”

In other news, Dill announced that Poland Spring Water Co. offered to donate $12,800, the amount cut from the middle school athletic program budget.

Directors voted unanimously to accept the donation.

They also have continued talks with SAD 74, headquartered in Anson, on sharing services such as bus maintenance and food.