Sneak Peek

Clinton County funds roof with emergency funds

​When Second District Commissioner Larry King and First District Commissioner Gary McCrea leave office in December, they’ll do so having tackled one of the county’s more pesky problems.

​The commission – including Presiding Commissioner Patrick Clark – recently voted to accept a bid to replace the Clinton County Courthouse’s flat and failing roof, essentially putting to rest one of the county’s bigger tripping stones when it comes to its property limitations.

The commission approved a bid from Kramer Construction for $168,560 for a 24-gauge metal roof that will be gabled and sloped. The bid includes all soffits, downspouts and gutters, and includes prevailing wage.

The county received four bids for the work, and Kramer’s wasn’t the cheapest of the four; another bid was slightly cheaper at $165,000 but did not include prevailing wage.

The commission will be dipping into the general revenue budget’s emergency fund to pay for the project, which isn’t much of a stretch considering the roof’s long march toward obsolescence. For well more than a decade, the county has nursed the roof along, with its failings becoming more and more obvious. Just this year, the county had to deal with mold in the recorder’s office, replacing sheetrock and carpet due to heavy leaking.

The commission said that Kramer’s crews have already placed metal over the capstones where water was getting in to help alleviate the problem ahead of construction. McCrea said the county’s ability to get the roof taken care of is huge. King, who has spent 16 years on the commission, said they’ve talked about it for a long time, and he is happy to get it done without a tax. 

The commissioners also reported that they’ve distributed some of the monies from the CARES program, for which the county received $2.39 million for local entities. The county is giving the money through a grant-like system, in which groups apply for the money. Those groups have to submit invoices for items and work related to COVID-19 mitigation and fall out. The county is giving the money in phases: the first includes the health dept., police depts., fire depts, and the like, followed by small businesses, schools and others in the second phase.