North Stonington — Members of the boards of selectmen, finance and education moved one step closer Thursday night to the revival of the town's School Ad Hoc Committee, which came into existence late in 2008 to investigate the condition of the district's school buildings.

Since January, members of the three boards have been meeting about once a month, addressing what might have caused two school project referendums to fail last year and what might remedy the issues.

Some attending the tri-board meeting, including Board of Education member Christine Wagner, questioned whether the committee should start with a clean slate or take into account information discovered by the previous group. Others, such as Selectman Bob Testa, wondered if having the same group deliver a similar message would be effective.

Selectman Mark Donahue said some of the 11 members of the first School Ad Hoc Committee have expressed an interest in continuing the job, but others have not. The town never technically dissolved the committee.

The three selectmen, who ultimately are responsible for appointing members to the committee, are expected to discuss names at their June 9 meeting. The committee is mandated to have at least seven members.

Outlining a conceptual timeline for a school project submittal, whatever the proposal may be, Donahue suggested the ad hoc committee be set and fully operational no later than mid-August. In his timeline, the committee has about four months to fulfill its first role of coming up with a draft proposal of the changes the school district needs.

Members at the meeting decided the committee should be in charge of coming up with a communications plan, too.

Donahue stressed that the outline, which would send a school building project proposal to referendum next May, is just an estimate.

"The purpose of putting this together is so we're all on the same page in terms of what has to happen," Donahue said. "This is something we can change, we can modify ... but now we have a starting point."

Members in attendance Thursday night also heard from Information Technology Director Greg Pont and Ashis Roychowdhury of Eagle Environmental Inc., an environmental consulting group out of Terryville. Pont discussed some of the district's ongoing and completed security and technology upgrades, while Roychowdhury gave an overview of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and the middle school. PCBs, though the manufacturing of them was banned in 1978, still exist inside and/or outside many buildings that were constructed prior to that date.

The boards are scheduled to meet again at 7 p.m. June 25 at the Wheeler High School Media Center.