WESTFIELD – The City Council voted 11-0 Monday to authorize Mayor Daniel M. Knapik to execute an agreement with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to fund the replacement the roofs of Paper Mill and Munger Hill elementary schools.
Finance Chairman Richard E. Onofrey Jr., said that the MSBA has qualified the city for a 59.84 percent reimbursement.
The City Council approved a $2.1 million bond needed to finance roof replacement projects at two “sister” elementary schools at its Jan. 17 meeting.
The current roofs consist of a rubber membrane over hard insulation, structures that were installed when the two buildings were constructed in 1990 and opened in 1991.
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 of the tornado damage that widespread damage to the Munger Hill roof membrane 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 as roofing companies vie for work.
The MSBA invited the city to participate in the accelerated repair program established to repair or replace roofs, windows and/or boilers in schools that are otherwise structurally, functionally and educationally sound. The goal of that program is to improve learning environments for children and teachers, reduce energy use and generate cost savings for districts.
The City Council’s authorization will allow Knapik to formalize the reimbursement agreement with the MSBA and enable the city 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.
