EATON — Work continued last week on the installation of a new roof at Eaton High School.
Roof replacement on the building began earlier this summer, after the district’s board of education declared it a necessity to replace the roof due to hail damage.
Eaton Community Schools Treasurer Rachael Tait said the damage occurred during a storm last Aug. 3, 2015.
“Insurance determined that we would need roof replacement,” Tait said. “The existing roof on the high school was a 10-year roof. We had replacement coverage, so it would have covered replacing a 10-year roof. What we as a district decided to do, looking capital improvement wise — longevity wise — was to replace it with a 25-year roof.”
Insurance is covering the portion that would have been a 10-year roof, and the additional 15 years is costing the district approximately $160,000, according to Tait.
The new roof should be complete before school starts on Aug. 17.
“The big bulk of the cost of that we were going to have no matter what, was labor. The great thing for us, and for the taxpayers, is that a larger portion of this is being covered by insurance, and we’ll end up with a 25-year roof.”
“It takes several months for hail damage to show up,” she said. “That’s why (we are just now completing the project) and with the large dollar amount of that claim they had to have additional adjusters come in to access it instead of just the initial.”
During a Monday, May 9, board of education meeting, ECS board members passed the resolution declaring “an urgent necessity” to enter an agreement to replace the roof. Due to the hail damage, “a new roof is required to ensure the safety of all students, staff members and other community members,” the resolution read.
Because of the timing of the issue, and the time which would be incurred in going through a competitive bid process, time which officials noted “could cause the project to not be finished before the start of the 2016-17 school year, leaving the district vulnerable to exposing students, staff members, and other community members to a potentially dangerous condition at the high school.” By declaring the urgent necessity, Eaton BOE was able to enter into a contract with BK Contracting for the high school roof replacement project, after getting estimates but without going through a formal competitive bidding process.
