City hall roof bid comes in $27,000 under estimate
The City of Du Quoin has received one bid for the repair of the roof at city hall and it is $27,000 under the engineer's estimate.
The bid of $161,700 is from Les Marlow of Perry County Roofing, Inc. The engineer's estimate was $188,000
The Du Quoin City Council is expected to review the bid and approve it at next week's August 24 meeting
The west third of the roof on the large building--constructed in the 1960s as a furniture store--was replaced two years ago after latent damage from a spring storm started appearing. The city's insurer ultimately agreed to pay for the repairs.
Untouched was the middle and east two-thirds of the building, which was actually in worse condition.
The decking on the roof has grown mushy and water during heavy rains is leaking into the critical communications center at the Du Quoin Police Department.
In fact, when Les Marlow and city personnel climbed to the roof to inspect the problem areas, Marlow has had to instruct personnel where not to step for fear of breaking through the soft decking.
The work will involve decking replacement where needed, removal and replacement of any rooftop utilities where required and the installation of guttering to complete the work.
Mayor Guy Alongi said the size of the building and the fact that the front third of the building has already been re-roofed precludes the possibility of putting a pitched roof on the building.
Mayor Alongi has worked it out with the loan departments at the Du Quoin State Bank and Banterra Bank to share in the financing. "One bank was at 2.44 percent interest and the other was at 2.47 percent interest," he said. "It will be a participation loan," he said, extending his deep appreciation to both lenders. He said the proceeds will be placed into a separate roof project account with 30 percent of the cost being paid up front, another 30 percent being paid midway through the project and 30 percent being paid at the end of the project. The final 10 percent will be withheld until all parties feel comfortable that the project has been successfully completed.
Perry County Roofing has also made a commitment to donate the time and materials on a modest roof repair at the Du Quoin Fire Station No. 2 on Rt. 51 south of the city. Making the repair will allow city employees and various police, fire and emergency management personnel to get into the building and start painting and laying in new drop ceiling tiles so the building can be used as used for classroom work and training.
The long term plan is to relocate the emergency management storm center from the upstairs of the old water filtration plant on North Division Street to Fire Station No. 2.