WALES — Regional School Unit 4 residents will hear details next week of a proposed $1 million roof project at Oak High High School before voting later this month on whether to accept state funds for it.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said in a news release that the Department of Education has selected the project for funding and would cover two-thirds of the cost: $629,400.

The district would cover the balance, $370,600, with a 10-year, no-interest loan, starting in 2018-19.

A public hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, at the high school.

Hodgkin said Hahnel Brothers, which won the contract from among four bidders, will be at the hearing to answer questions.

The project will next go to a public referendum April 25 at town offices in Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales.

“This is an incredible opportunity for the taxpayers of RSU 4 to get a significant project done for a tremendous reduction in costs,” Hodgkin said in the release.

“This work has to be done in the next few years, regardless, and this is an amazing financial opportunity for our taxpayers and district,” he said. “If the voters of these three towns vote this money down, the DOE will simply give the money to the next school on the list and eventually the RSU 4 taxpayers will have to foot the whole bill for this work.”

The project includes structural upgrades and bringing the roof up to “snow load” requirements.

“Our board supports it 100 percent,” Sabattus Town Manager Tony Ward said. “All the dialogue (this week between selectmen and the school district) was very pro-repair — they think it’s a wise decision.”

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