GORHAM – Costly capital improvement projects that could be decided by local voters were topics when the Gorham Town Council met with school department representatives Tuesday.

School officials presented three priority projects topping its list of needs for capital improvements. The list comes after town voters in June rejected a $3 million plan that included a sports stadium and traffic safety upgrades at Narragansett School.

In Tuesday’s meeting, Norm Justice, director of the Facilities Department for Gorham schools, said roof repairs were needed at the Village Elementary School. Justice said the flat roof at the school is 26 years old and had exceeded its life expectancy.

Roofing repairs to replace three of the nine sections of roof would cost $234,000. Matthew Robinson, Town Council chairman, said Wednesday the roof repair could be handled as a budget item next June. “I’m not anxious to go to another referendum real quick,” he said.

Also, the area where school buses are parked on Gasoline Alley near the Public Works Department off Huston Road needs pavement and lighting installed. Robinson said the total cost including drainage, a base and extra thick pavement to support buses is an estimated $655,000. But the project could be done in two phases, with the first costing $350,000.

The department has a fleet of 30 buses now parked on a gravel lot, where employee vehicles are also parked.

School officials say the gravel lot is dangerous and that a paved surface would be safer for its employees. Dennis Libby, chairman of the School Committee, said the current bus parking situation has led to workers compensation cases.

Town Councilor John Pressey suggested that school buses could be parked along the long driveway, Justice Way, which leads from Sebago Lake Road to the new Great Falls Elementary School that opens in September.

But Justice stressed the importance of parking with the availability of electrical outlets to plug in engine block heaters on school buses during winter months.

Justice also said at Narragansett Elementary School, which is nearly 30 years old, the heating system needs to be replaced. The School Department would like a geo-thermal system costing $900,000 that would provide both heat and air conditioning. Justice said the payback period in energy savings would be nine years.

Without air conditioning, replacing the existing system, which is fired by oil, would cost $335,000.

Gorham Middle School and the new Great Falls School both have geo-thermal systems that feature deep wells with water heated by the earth and circulated by electrical pumps.

The Town Council would evaluate capital improvement projects and determine which ones it might send to voters.

“It’s wants versus needs,” Town Councilor Michael Phinney said to school officials in Tuesday’s meeting.

Following the School Department presentation, the Town Council discussed town road projects costing an estimated $3 million to repair Flaggy Meadow and Barstow roads. Robinson said Wednesday talks about handling future road repairs would continue in a September workshop.

Discussion about converting the former Little Falls School into a Public Safety Building would also be on a September agenda.

Before the workshop meeting, town councilors met at 5 p.m. with William Dale, town lawyer, in executive session to discuss litigation with Plan-It-Recycling.