Town of Osoyoos council voted in favour of a staff recommendation on Monday to conduct a thorough building evaluation before tendering a Request for Proposals (RFP) to replace the roof at town hall. Council heard contractors weren’t willing to submit a bid to replace the roof until the building evaluation is completed and the extent of damage to the roof is revealed. Council has already approved $100,000 towards fixing the roof, which has been experiencing leaking problems for several years. The building evaluation isn’t expected to take place until this fall. (Richard McGuire photo)

Town of Osoyoos council has agreed a thorough building evaluation will have to be conducted before the necessary repairs are made to the roof at town hall.

At a meeting on May 15, council instructed the operational services department to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to repair the entire roof at the existing town hall.

On Monday, Jim Dinwoodie, the director of operational services, said only two contractors contacted him about this project and neither company submitted a bid to perform the work.

“It is suspected that the uncertainty of the scope of work involved in this project made it unappealing to roof contractors,” said Dinwoodie. “Not being able to determine the extent of possible damage structural members of the existing roof have suffered over the years makes it extremely difficult to estimate costs.

“The completion of a proposed building evaluation scheduled for later this year might provide additional information about the condition of the roof, which could then be used by potential contractors to more accurately estimate the cost of this project.”

Council unanimously passed a motion that stated once the building evaluation of town hall is completed, council will then instruct the operational services department to re-issue an RFP to replace the town hall roof.

Dinwoodie said the worst leaks from the roof are taking place near the main entrance, but it’s impossible to tell just how badly the roof infrastructure is damaged until a thorough building evaluation is completed.

“We don’t know where the water is coming from,” he said.

There have been issues with the roof leaking in various places at town hall over the past several years.

Barry Romanko, the town’s chief administrative officer, said with construction season in full swing and many projects underway, he doesn’t anticipate the building evaluation to be completed until some time this fall.

The only solution in the meantime is to continue to patch holes to try and limit the amount of water that leaks from the roof, he said.

Council has approved putting aside $100,000 to repair the entire roof and that money will be available once the building evaluation and RFP process is completed, he said.

Mayor Sue McKortoff said she understood that this project can’t be completed right away, but she’s hopeful that the building evaluation and roof repairs can be completed as soon as possible.

If the building evaluation isn’t completed until the fall, it’s not expected that construction to repair the roof would take place until the spring of 2018.

If that’s the case, the only option over the next several months is to continue to  patch holes as they become an issue, said Dinwoodie.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times