John Coffelt Editor

After a serious debate and a bit of a standoff, the Manchester Board of Mayor and Alderman finally reached an agreement at its February meeting about how extensive the Manchester Recreation Complex roof repair will be.

Nudging the process along finally came down to Mayor Marilyn Howard sharing a story about reupholstering a couch as a youth.

“We had a couch recovered and we could only afford to do half of it, and that didn’t work out well,” Howard said.

One roof, three options

The new $1.1 million project was bid out with a base bid to cover storm damage and three additional alternatives that would cover additional portions of the roof. The base plus Alternative 1 would be the minimum amount to be done as recommended by the architect, while the entire project would cover the upper roof and some additional sections of the facility.

The lowest bid for the roof came in at $356,707 plus three add-ons that would bump that amount to $1,158,170. The base bid of $356,707 only covered replacing half of the upper roof. Alternate 1 totaling $338,371 would finish that section and addition roof surfaces would tack on $458,531 as Alternate 2.

Alternative 3 for $4,561 covers scraping and repainting corroded ceiling structures in the pool chemical storage area of the pump room.

The whole package

The Manchester Recreation Commission recommended the whole package, which would have cost the city $636,447.30, minus the $521,722.72 from the insurance company for damage to the roof.

However, that recommendation fell short during the meeting, not garnering the four votes required to pass. Alderman Ryan French was absent, Alderman Joey Hobbs and Vice Mayor Mark Messick voted no, citing concerns about pulling over a half million dollars from the fund balance.

A follow-up vote for just the base bid and option one (a total of $695,078 with roughly $173,355 from the fund balance) also failed. The second vote got no votes from Aldermen Bob Bellamy, Donny Parsley, resulting in an 11-hour impasse.

Bellamy expressed concerns that the piecemeal approach is what got the complex in its current situation of needing a range of expensive repairs.

Few repairs in 20 years

Parsley criticized the lack of an ongoing plan to cover maintenance and repairs. Messick supported the repairs, but felt that the additional areas could be covered in the 2023-24 city budget.

Alderman Julie Anderson said that by replacing the whole roof at one time maximizes the city’s investment and minimize problems with the warranty. She noted that other sections of the roof have leaks also.

“We all understand that this is a big sum to ask for … We’re hoping to move towards something more proactive, where we have people putting away money for these types of things and plan for this maintenance. I don’t think that’s been done for the last 20 years,” she said. “If we want to protect the investments inside the building, we have to do something now.”

Parsley asked when the Recreation Commission would have a plan.

“—we’re moving to do that now,” Anderson said.

Hobbs suggested the base bid plus Alternative 1 as a holdover until the next budget.

Architect weighs in

Stacy Slabaugh, a consultant from Hearth Architecture stressed the need to reroof the entire upper roof at one time, as the joint between the new and old portion of the roof would likely be difficult to waterproof.

“You have a multimillion-dollar facility,” Slabaugh said. “You need to do what it takes to protect this facility. If you allow the damage to continue you’re going to have a bigger problem than you have right now.”

Where will the money come from?

“I agree with all that you all are saying, but you want $650,000,” Messick said. “Next month, the police department wants $900,000 (for the Enterprise patrol car lease program). Where’s that money coming from? The point I’m trying to make is, we can’t pay for everything that everybody needs.”

“We talked about the problems, but we talked about not being able to do it all at once,” he said.

“Twenty years is a pretty long time for this roof to have held up,” Anderson said. “We’re fortunate to have the money from the insurance company so we’re not asking for the whole amount.”

Built 20 years ago, the Recreation Center has never had its roof replaced, despite the initial warranty expiring 5 years ago.

Hobbs breaks the stalemate

Director of Parks and Recreation AJ Fox told the board that his budget includes three line items for repairs: grounds, buildings and other machinery.

Howard cautioned that the piecemeal approach would be more expensive in the long run. To resume the project in the next budget would require new bids for the parts left unfinished which would reflect more inflation and additional mobilization expenses from the contractors.

As a vote on the prevailing side, Hobbs was able to reintroduce the initial vote for reconsideration to approve the entire project. That second vote passed 4-1 with Messick offering the dissenting vote.

Parley said, “It is pitiful to have to be put into this situation that we’re in with this.”

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.