WESTFIELD – The City Council voted last night to approve a $2.1 million bond needed to finance roof replacement projects at two “sister” elementary schools.
Ward 5 Councilor Richard E. Onofrey, chairman of the Finance Committee, urged the council members to approve the bond to replace the roofs at both Paper Mill and Munger Hill elementary schools. The current roofs are rubber membrane structures that were installed when the two buildings were constructed in 1990 and opened in 1991.
“The roofing material has degraded over the past 25 years and the roofs are starting to leak,” Onofrey said. “The Paper Mill roof is in a little worse shape.
The damage to the membrane was discovered following the June 1, 2011 tornado which ripped a 2,800-square-foot section off the Munger Hill building over the kindergarten wing. The city received funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make emergency repairs to the kindergarten wing of the school. It was during the emergency repairs to the tornado damage that widespread damage to the Munger Hill roof was first observed.
A local roofing company was hired to make an emergency repair, installing a temporary cover over the section of roof torn off the building during the tornado, until a permanent patch could be installed after the school year ended. The roofers discovered that there was extensive damage to the membrane of the entire roof caused by algae and acid rain, compromising the membrane with pinholes that allowed water to “weep” through the roof.
The city then hired Tighe & Bond, a Westfield-based engineering consultant, to examine the roofs of both sister schools, which were built at the same time, and based upon the identical design. That examination found that the Paper Mill Elementary School roof was also compromised.
Each roof is 68,000 square feet in area, with an initial replacement estimate of $2.4 million for both buildings, although several roof replacement projects have come in below estimates at roofing companies vie for work.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority “invited” the city to participate in its accelerated repair program for roof replacement at Munger Hill and Paper Mill elementary schools. The MSBA invited the city to participate in the accelerated repair program established to repair or replace roofs, windows and/or boilers in school that are otherwise structurally, functionally and educational sound. The goal of that program is to improve learning environments for children and teachers, reduce energy use and generate cost savings for districts.
Onofrey said that the MSBA has qualified the city for a 59.84 percent reimbursement.
“But we need to put money up front to do the work,” Onofrey said. “Then as the work is completed, we submit for reimbursement with a turn-around time of about two weeks to get that money back.”
The project manager selected for the roof replacement effort is Vertex of Weymouth, while the designed is Knight, Bagge & Anderson (KBA) Inc., of Charlestown. The city plans to bid the roof replacement project this spring, with work to start immediately after the close of school and to substantially complete the replacement by the opening of school next fall.
