Roof leaks at the Columbus Police Department have gotten so bad they are flooding part of the building, according to Chief Fred Shelton.
Shelton, speaking at the city council’s Thursday work session, said leaks, which have been present for years, are getting more and more dire and that patching problem areas isn’t cutting it anymore.
CPD is housed in the municipal complex, along with municipal court.
“This time last Thursday we had a flood at the police department,” Shelton said. “This time the water went further, from the patrol division all the way to the lobby. We have estimates for patching and replacing, and if we patch then water is just going to find another way to get in there.”
Shelton characterized the leak “not as a drip-drip, but as a flood.” He said floors were damaged, as was some equipment.
CPD does not have the money in its budget to replace the roof, he said.
City Engineer Kevin Stafford said one of the main problems was the points of penetration for the HVACs, which have all been patched “numerous times.” He also said the roof was poorly maintained.
“There are leaves that have landed on the roof,” he said. “There was a tree growing out of some of the leaves up there that had decayed over time and formed good enough soil that birds brought in a seed and planted a tree there. (Maintenance) once or twice a year should take care of that.”
Stafford gave three estimates, depending on the scale of the repairs the city wanted to undertake. The cheapest is patching the roof again, which will solve the immediate problems at a cost of $10,000 to $12,000.
“That will buy you potentially a year, potentially five years depending on how the work holds up and how storms go,” he said.
The second option is to overlay the existing roof, which would cost about $220,000 to $240,000, he said.
“Because you have this penetration, the decking has gotten wet,” he said. “It’s cheaper, and it’ll stop your leaks, but then you have the possibility of all that decaying under there.”
The final, most expensive option is to remove and replace the existing roof, he said, which would cost around $590,660.
“All three of these options have been run past a contractor as of February of this year,” he said. “There are areas that are worse than others, and obviously that’s what you would prioritize if you (patch).”
Mayor Keith Gaskin suggested looking at roof leaks at the city-owned strip mall adjacent to the municipal complex as well.
“Prices are going to keep going up,” he said. “They have bad leaks at (the crime lab), too. I’ve been in there and seen their buckets. We should work on a plan to do both.”
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene said he thought the council should patch the roof to address the immediate needs, and then come up with a way to reroof the building.
“If we pass the $10,000, it’ll at least stop it from getting worse,” Greene said. “Then we’ll address how to come up with $600,000. If we pass this Tuesday night, can they start the next day?”
“It’s under $50,000 so we can just get two quotes,” Stafford said. “We can probably throw the crime lab in and it will still be under $50,000.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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