Lehighton Area School District will interview candidates to fill its school board vacancy at a 6 p.m. meeting on Jan. 20.

The vacancy was created by the Jan. 1 death of director William Hill Jr.The remaining eight board members voted Monday night to advertise for letters of interest, including a brief background and why the candidate wants to join the board. The letters are due back to the district by noon Jan. 19.“I think we should see how many interested residents we get and see if we can come to a collective decision,” board member Gloria Bowman said.Lehighton’s solicitor, William Schwab, said past vacancies have been filled with and without advertising the position and conducting interviews.If the board can’t come to a consensus by Jan. 31, a Carbon Court of Common Pleas judge could make an appointment.“After the 31st, the board has very little input in the matter and it’s up the court to decide what procedure it uses to fill the seat,” Schwab said.Future of building projectOf the remaining board members, four including Wayne Wentz, Andrew Yenser, Bowman and Stephen Holland voted in favor of borrowing $32.5 million for a new K-5 elementary center. Hal Resh voted against the borrowing, while Byron Arner, Richard Beltz and Maryanne Dwyer campaigned on supporting renovation of the four existing elementary schools: East Penn, Franklin, Shull-David and Mahoning.Hill had also voted against the borrowing and was part of a board majority that last month passed a three-month moratorium on any new PlanCon filings regarding the elementary center.Beltz said Monday night that necessary renovations at the four buildings, all over 60 years old, total $12 million, according to a 2014 feasibility study.“We’ve looked at three of the four schools and so far there are no structural deficiencies that I can see,” Beltz said. “Franklin has a leaky roof that is under warranty so that will be fixed and we don’t have to pay for it. We could spend half the money that the interest on the elementary center bond would cost to make those necessary repairs.”Earlier in Monday’s meeting, Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said that if the district lost consolidation savings from not moving all K-5 students and staff to an elementary center, it would leave a 3.23 mill gap in its financial plan.That funding shortage could jump to 4.49 mills if the district loses state reimbursement for the elementary center project and renovations to the middle school. The middle school money would be in danger if the board moves away from its plan to take fifth grade from the middle school to the elementary school.“I can tell you right now, I’ll never vote to raise taxes to renovate 65-year-old buildings,” Wentz said Monday night.The $32.5 bond was taken out with a 30-year-term and Schwab said the district would have to wait at least 10 years to pay it off early.“You could use it for another building project such as renovations, but you would have to jump through some hoops,” Schwab said. “The district is probably locked into a building project though because that is how it was shopped to the bondholders.”Beltz said an ad hoc committee tasked with looking into what renovations are needed and how much they would cost would likely have a report at the Jan. 25 board meeting.