A significant portion of the Washington County Convention Center’s roof is in the process of being considered for extensive repairs.
During Monday’s regular meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to authorize the county engineer to render specifications for the roof in order to proceed with the process of requesting bids.
Building and Grounds director Jeremy Smith informed the BOS of two bids — one from T&M Contractors, of Brandon, and one from Santucci & Sons, of Greenville — he had received for repair work needed on the east side of the WCCC’s roof.
Smith notified the BOS of a substantial leak in a certain area near the front of the building as a result of a slow collapse that occurred “over time.”
However, the scope of work described, seemed to vary greatly between the two contractors.
The BOS was of the general consensus it would be better to ensure they were comparing “apples to apples” in terms of the bids for the work that would be performed.
One description entailed replacing all of the gutters that were down and another entailed refurbishing some of the gutters and doing some additional wood work.
District 1 Supervisor Lee Gordon asked how big of a spot it was and Smith’s response was “possibly 108×221 feet.”
“That’s just the front part. Eventually the whole thing is going to need to be replaced…this is just the worst part,” Smith said.
Gordon recalled inquiring as to what the cost would be for the entire roofing project before Smith was appointed as director.
Smith said then, the estimated cost was $282,000.
While he had no qualms about moving forward with the immediate repair work, Gordon proposed taking the opportunity to look at the roof in its entirety in terms of necessary repair work.
District 4 Mala Brooks leaned more towards Santucci & Sons’ repair plans as they were comparatively more detailed, but suggested working up specifications in order to yield a better description of the scope of work that will be performed.
Gordon agreed and noted he did not want to stall any progress as the WCCC is experiencing a serious leak.
“But I do think if we’re going to take that step, look at the whole thing because we have had problems for a while. We can just get some specifications prepared and that way will be comparing apples to apples,“ he said.
With that, Brooks made a motion to reject the bids on the grounds that they were not actual specifications and varied significantly in terms of the planned scope of work for the repairs as well as price.
Gordon seconded Brooks’ motion, adding, “I think that’s a good reason to reject them and also, I think we’re in a good position in this county to go ahead and do the whole roof instead of patching.”
The motion passed by a unanimous vote of the BOS.
