ASHLAND — The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center shows most of Ohio has about a 40 percent chance of above-normal precipitation for the next three months.
The forecast does not agree with leaky roofs.
The Ashland County Board of Commissioners on Thursday accepted a $410,572 estimate from Ontario-based Worner Roofing to replace the county office building roof.
Funding for the project will from the county’s capital projects fund.
Commissioner Denny Bittle said the replacement is part of the county’s roofing program, ongoing for about the past decade.
Roofs on county-owned buildings are inspected and listed based on which is in the most need for attention, he said. This process has prevented the county from needing to replace multiple roofs at one time.
“This (county office building) is the next roof up (on the list),” Bittle said Thursday. “We do have leaks in there (the roof) now.
“I think we put a cover on that like seven or eight years ago to try to extend it (life of the roof), and now it’s just too far gone to do anymore repairs on it,” he said.
The county office building has an upper roof and a lower roof, which covers the garage located in the rear of the building.
Bittle said commissioners considered splitting the project into two parts — only replacing one roof at a time — but ultimately decided against dividing the work due to estimated cost differences.
“By the time you look at the additional expense by not doing it all at once, it got to be way more expensive if we did part of it this year and part of it next year,” he said.
Commissioner Michael Welch said there is no firm timetable for the replacement project as of Thursday. But Welch said he expects work to begin around late spring or early summer.
Generator repairs, bridge replacement and second administration building
In other action Thursday, commissioners accepted two estimates from W.W. Williams for generator repairs at the county highway garage ($1,526.38) and the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office ($3,483.65).
Repairs at the garage will be covered by buildings and grounds funds, while work to the sheriff’s office generator will be paid for by the county’s jail operations fund.
Bittle said Nick Lamp, the county’s maintenance superintendent, had all of the county’s generators inspected and identified small repairs were necessary for these two.
Commissioners also approved an amendment to a previously accepted contract with Shaffer, Johnston, Lichtenwalter and Associates for the design work related to the replacement of a bridge in Perry Township.
Ashland County Engineer Ed Meixner said the original contract was approximately $139,000, but some difficulties in citing the bridge and putting it in the right place caused the price to balloon to $166,313.
A $405,300 deduction from the total cost of the county’s second administration building was also accepted by commissioners Thursday. Wooster-based Campbell Construction’s base bid of $6,532,000 was accepted by commissioners on Feb. 20.
The contractor’s alternate bid included the six-figure deduction, dependent on the scope of the project — specifically related to replacing an existing underground (water) detention system at the future site of the new building, 345 Cottage St.
The project will now cost the county about $6.1 million. A groundbreaking ceremony at 345 Cottage St. has been set for March 20 at 1 p.m. The ceremony is open to the public.
