A K-5 primary elementary center design Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver unveiled in a presentation earlier this month will be sent to the state for approval after a 5-4 board vote Monday.

The district will also be submitting current project estimates.The 146,000-square-foot building would house K-2 primary classrooms on one end of the building and the 3-5 elementary classrooms on the other side. Core areas would be centrally located.It is currently estimated to cost $34.5 million."This allows us to move forward and start land development process," Cleaver said. "We're nowhere near ready for construction documents or putting this out to bid."Board members Gloria Bowman, Andrew Yenser, Larry Stern, Wayne Wentz and Stephen Holland voted to submit the documents to the state, while Rocky Ahner, William Hill, Hal Resh and Lori Nothstein voted no."I don't understand why we're rushing this," Ahner said. "This is going to affect jobs and the community. Any mistake we make is going to cost the taxpayers money. We need to look at this closer."Lehighton is also planning to renovate its middle and high schools. General construction bids for those projects came in over estimates."I think we should worry about rebidding that before we look at the elementary center," Resh said.An elementary center design committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday night at the district administration building."We're going to start to look at the layout of the classrooms and the shared facility areas," Cleaver said.East Penn Township resident David Solt asked when the proposed elementary center would actually be open for students."It depends on a lot of factors such as how long it takes the county and borough to review plans, make comments and for us to address those comments," Cleaver said. "We're not even at land development yet."The district also approved payments of $13,439 to Barry Isett and Associates for work on the multi-purpose stadium; $13,500 to Pagoda Electric for work on the stadium; $205,200 to CMG of Easton for work on the stadium; $2,063 to EI Associates for design and construction of the middle school renovations; $19,500 to EI Associates for design and construction of the new elementary school; $10,160 and $2,861,50 to JMSI for asbestos abatement at the middle school; $148,249 to Sargent Enterprise Inc. for asbestos abatement at the middle school and $56,800 to Bellview Pump LLC.The district also hired Gross McGinley LLP to assist its solicitor, William Schwab, in dealing with constructionrelated legal issues during Lehighton's ongoing building projects,The action stems from a vote the district took on Aug. 3 to pay $116,597 to Lehighton Borough for the permit and building fees related to a multipurpose athletic stadium project currently under construction.District officials said at the time they hoped the money could be recouped from the contractor, CMG of Easton."It is my intention to attempt to resolve this," Schwab said Monday. "What I want is to be able to go to this law firm and be able to get instant answers rather than go through 350 pages of documentation. It's my responsibility to monitor and keep their fees as low as possible. If I never call them, they don't get paid."Per the board's motion, total payments made to the firm won't exceed $15,000.With his abstention, William Hill was the only board member not to approve the measure."I think our architect and construction management group should split the cost or give us credit toward future services," he said. "Someone dropped the ball on this and we're taking it on the chin."