$151K OK’d for new Town Hall roof

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. » Town Board members have approved a $151,000 contract with Titan Roofing to replace the Town Hall roof.

Authorization was given during a meeting last week, with officials saying the proposal was the lowest of four bids submitted for the project.

“The Town Hall roof was replaced in the late ‘90s,” Supervisor James Quigley said. “It was a 15-year life expectancy when it was installed and when I came into office it was leaking like crazy in 2010.”

Officials would like to have the leaks resolved as part of efforts to avoid higher bills for other major work due to water damage.

“We’ve had people up there repairing it and patching it and I don’t think they did anything to the gutters in the late ‘90s,” Quigley said. “The gutters are steel and they have rusted and corroded away and the water has basically been penetrating the walls of the building running down the gutters and going inside the walls.”

Quigley said the work is not part of an effort to bring the town police back into the building after moving out of the basement six years ago due to concerns over mold.

The use of the trailers for the Police Department was supposed to be temporary but the town continues to pay $946 per month to rent them from a company called Mod Space.

The police trailers themselves are replacements of trailers that had leaking roofs, with the town

in March 2016 paying $4,360 for non-leaking units that ultimately also had the monthly fee raised from $860.

Board members in March noted that a plan to move the police and court to the town transfer station property, on Frank Sottile Boulevard about 1.3 miles from Town Hall, has been drafted but is only being kept as an option.

“I’m not ruling anything out,” Quigley said.

Among problems in moving police back into the basement are safety concerns with moving prisoners from the station into court, which would require going past town offices.

Quigley said Titan Roofing still needs to get its insurance paperwork in order before a contract can be finalized but expects the project should begin within 45 days.