ROYALSTON — After lengthy discussions and some creative budget juggling, it appears town officials have come up with a path forward for the construction of a gazebo in South Royalston, the replacement of the roof at the former Raymond School, and for a study on how best to proceed with the renovation of the school. Articles seeking funds to pay for these projects will be included on the warrant for the annual town meeting, currently scheduled for 10 a.m. on June 27. The meeting will take place under a tent to be raised on the Town Common.

At a recent meeting, the town’s Selectboard voted to place an article on the ballot which, if approved, will allow the transfer of $75,000 into a new Municipal Buildings Fund. Those monies were set aside seven years ago for the purchase of a generator for the Royalston Community School. For various reasons, those funds were never expended.

Plans call for using some of the monies from the Municipal Buildings Fund to cover the cost of replacing the roof at the Raymond School, which town officials hope to transform into badly needed municipal office space. The cost of replacing the asbestos shingles has been estimated at about $45,000.

Meanwhile, the Community Preservation Act Committee has voted to seek the transfer $45,000 from the Community Preservation Act Fund Reserve to also be applied to the roof replacement. Any materials used for the work will need to be approved by the Historic District Commission.

In addition, voters will be asked to approve the transfer of $6,250 from the Community Preservation Act Historic Reserve Fund and another $12,500 from the Community Preservation Act Fund balance. The total amount will be used to allow the town to apply for matching grants, which would cover the cost of undertaking a structural and architectural survey of the Raymond School. The survey will give the town a better idea of how to proceed with the renovation and rehabilitation of the building for town offices.

Finally, the CPC is recommending that $18,000 be transferred from the Community Preservation Act Fund Budgeted Reserve, with another $7,000 transferred from the Community Preservation Act Fund Open Space Reserve. The total of $25,000 would pay for the design and construction of a gazebo in the South Village.

The gazebo is being promoted by members of the South Village Revitalization Committee, a group of volunteers working to breath new live into South Royalston. Once a busy section of town, the neighborhood suffered a setback when the popular Pete and Henry’s Restaurant was destroyed by fire in August 2018. The group has worked to beautify the area around the King Street Bridge and, last September, held its first Fall Festival.

Plans originally called for the cost of the gazebo project to be taken from the funds initially targeted to the RCS generator, but it was obvious from the start that the $75,000 would not be enough to cover the Raymond School roof project, the matching grant commitment, and the gazebo. When the Selectboard began looking for other sources to pay for the gazebo, some members of the SVRC became concerned the board no longer considered it a priority.

Selectboard member Roland Hamel, who also sits on the Community Preservation Act Committee, sought to assure the SVRC that the entire board, as well as the CPC, are “100 percent behind the building of the gazebo. We know how important it is to the South Village, to the whole town.”

Regardless of where the funds for the project come from, Hamel pointed out, they must still be approved by town meeting.