In a decisive 6-1 vote, Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors on Monday rejected a high school roof recoating project.

The board was presented with three estimates for the work with the lowest coming in around $485,000.

Discussions during Monday’s board meeting revolved around the potential benefits and drawbacks of recoating the roof, including its impact on the district’s ongoing solar panel initiative.

The district was confronted with the choice of either recoating the roof now or potentially facing the need to remove solar panels, at an estimated minimum cost of $150,000, in the event that future roof work became necessary.

Director Nathan Foeller expressed skepticism about the necessity of recoating the roof at this juncture, calling the project “largely unnecessary.”

“My suspicion is when you get to the end of the warranty period, if this roof needs anything it will be a recoating of some of the fasteners that are not covered up by the solar panels,” Foeller said. “Given the fact that it is a standing seam roof, I’d be surprised if we could come up with a way to spend $400,000 on maintenance over the next 20 years.”

However, Barbara Bowes stood as the sole advocate for the recoating project, contending that the potential costs of not taking immediate action could outweigh the immediate expense.

“If the roof needs work after 2029, we would have to remove the solar panels and recoat in order to have the warranty,” Bowes said. “We’re in the 30th year of a 50-year roof and my concern is that it will be more cost prohibitive to not do the recoating now. If we do the recoat now, we have 15 years before we have to remove the solar array, which puts us more than halfway through the life of the solar array.”

The roof had previously undergone recoating in 2017 at a cost of $435,000, with the current warranty set to expire in 2029.