BETHEL — At their June 17 meeting, SAD 44 directors unanimously approved “authorizing the Superintendent to take the steps necessary to submit the proposed bus garage and transportation facility project to November Referendum.”

In August, board members are expected to vote to put it out to a referendum in November.

Superintendent Dave Murphy said if the project is approved, he hopes it will start in the spring of 2020.

The building will be located where the maintenance building currently stands, next to the adult education parking lot at Telstar.

The project is estimated to cost a total of $2,686,900. The bulk of the money will go toward construction costs (site improvements, new construction, equipment), for an estimated $2,244,000.

Discussion about possibly replacing the garage has been on the school’s radar for more than 20 years, according to district officials. The garage was built more than 90 years ago and the building is in poor condition. The garage has structural damage and the back of the roof has started to leak.

“We’ve been having quite a few issues with our current bus garage,” Murphy said. “It’s getting progressively worse. We’ve had lots of leaks, we’ve had issues with one of the walls and we had some cement cinder blocks come off it earlier in the year.”

The board will determine what happens to the current bus garage. Murphy said the building could be sold, since it was bought after the district was formed.

If the project goes forward the maintenance building would be leveled, but the newer storage building would remain, according to Murphy.

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