SAXONBURG — History will continue to be preserved in the Saxonburg Museum. The borough is sparing artifacts from Mother Nature by replacing the building’s deteriorating roof.

Borough manager Mary Papik said work on the roughly 7,700-square-foot roof is expected to begin in mid-September.

Borough council last week awarded a $59,744 contract to SRI Roofing & Sheet Metal of New Castle to replace the roof’s wood shingles with ones made out of ceramic-and-asphalt-coated fiberglass.

The next lowest bid was $82,041.

Papik said the new shingles and a rubberized sheet installed underneath them would provide better water protection than the current roof.

“It’s not as functional,” she said about the original roof.

Multiple water leaks in the roof were fixed in the past few years, including nearly $6,000 worth of repairs in 2015.

The borough is paying for the project with a $125,000 loan from the First Commonwealth Bank. The five-year loan has a 1.9 percent interest rate.

Council agreed to use the rest of the loan to buy a new SUV for the police department to replace an aging sedan and to do stormwater management work.

Papik said the loan would not affect property taxes in the borough.

The museum opened for the 2016 season with new exhibits, including the Saxonburg Theatre and a replica of a KDKA transmission facility called the Dog House.