OXFORD – Fewer than two dozen Oxford residents attended a public information session Thursday night concerning the school system’s proposed building project. The meeting was the first of two scheduled by the Oxford Academy & Central School District to allow residents the opportunity to learn more about the $10.16 million Phase II capital project before it goes before voters on Nov. 18.

According to Superintendent Randy Squier, the intent of the project is to renovate and reconstruct the school system’s existing buildings, and will focus largely on classroom and learning spaces.

“It’s part two of the overall long term plan the board has been working on for the last five years,” Squier told those in attendance, explaining that conceptually school leaders view the two phases as one big project.

Voters approved the first phase of the project last fall, authorizing $4.65 million to address the most critical items identified in the most recent building condition survey and by staff. The Phase I project is still on track, the superintendent reported. The project’s design documents are currently being reviewed by the State Education Department. The project’s architects, the Bernier Carr Group, anticipates going out to bid in the spring, with actual construction commencing next summer.

According to Squier, $9,960,000 of the secondary project’s total projected $10,160,375 cost will be funded through a combination of state building aid and EXCEL aid. The remaining $200,375 will be expended out of the district’s capital reserve fund.

“There will no additional local tax increase,” he stressed, a statement which John C. Shehadi of Fiscal Advisors, the district’s financial advisors, was quick to confirm.

Nor will the project drain the district’s entire capital reserve, according to Interim Business Manager Harold Covey. When asked about the account’s balance, Covey reported the reserve fund currently contains between $460,000 and $470,000.

The scope of the project includes $7,150,880 in improvements to the historic middle school building with the remaining $3,009,495 allocated for work at the primary/high school campus.