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The Manchester Board of Parks and Recreation will seek city funding to completely replace the Recreation Center’s roof after it was partially damaged during a windstorm late last year.

A.J. Fox, Parks and Recreation director, said during the regular Parks and Recreation Board meeting Thursday, Jan. 12 that the total estimated cost to completely replace the 20-year-old roof is expected to be just over $1.1 million.

“What we asked them to do was to bid the project essentially three ways,” Fox said during the meeting.

The base bid is only repairing the damaged section of roof, while Alternate 1 is for replacing the damaged section of the Recreation Center roof through the top section that covers the gym and one half the building. Alternate 2 involves replacing every rooftop of the facility located at 557 N. Woodland St. Alternate 3 involves completely replacing every roof surface, in addition to completing some repair work in the facilities chemical room in the pool area.

Fox said it was recommended at the bare minimum, the facility complete the base bid and the Alternate 1.

“The insurance company will give us $521,722 for the storm damaged part, so that will definitely cover the base bid of replacing what was damaged,” Fox said. “If we go beyond the base bid, what insurance has given us, there is going to be some additional funding from the general fund or somewhere that is going to be required.”

Fox said he discussed the matter with Mayor Marilyn Howard, who asked Fox to bring up the matter before the Parks and Recreation Board as a first step.

Board Chairman Brent Parsley said it is not as if it is a surprise that the aging roof would need to be replaced at some time.

“If it had not been for the storm this would have been coming with everything else that you are going to be doing, that you are going to be looking at,” Parsley said. “I don’t think this is apples-to-apples in a sense, because of the storm.”

Board of Mayor and Alderman Representative Julie Anderson said the deferred maintenance on the Recreation Center hasn’t been considered, and is not a part of an existing city plan.

“Now we are making a plan,” she said.

Fox said the ideal situation would be for the entire facility roof to be replaced.

“We do have roof leaks in the other sections of the building that weren’t storm-damage related they are just age related,” he said. “It is just a matter of how much money the city is willing to invest at one time. Eventually it is going to need to be done, whether it is done now or in the next year maybe two years.”

Fox said out of the bids submitted for the project, Don Kennedy Rooftops of Nashville would be the most affordable option to replace the entire roof.

Parsley said a separate fund is needed that would be used for improvements such as the roof replacement, but one has never been established.

Board members agreed to make a presentation to the city with a goal of having the entire roof replaced, rather than just what was damaged during the windstorm.

“Because of the age of the roof and for warranty purposes we are going to maximize our investment if we do the whole thing at once,” Anderson said.