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City Hall roofing project almost complete

The estimated $1.6 million interior renovation of Marietta’s 76-year-old city hall is expected to begin by late December although some final work related to the building’s roof, replaced earlier this year, still remains to be done.

“The roof project is about 98 percent done, but we’re still not satisfied with the roof drainage,” said city engineer Joe Tucker.

He said the roof drains are actually part of the building’s interior plumbing, and were not part of the roof replacement contract with Canton-based Buxton Roofing.

“We’ll get it corrected before the renovation begins, but part of a plaster wall inside the building will have to be knocked out in order to access the necessary plumbing,” Tucker said. “And that will require addressing any lead paint issues as we’ll have to disturb the wall paint.”

“Lead paint shouldn’t be a surprise as the building was constructed in the 1930s,” Tucker said.

He noted a test performed to determine the amount of lead paint in the building was within 0.1 percent of the tolerable limit, meaning a crew certified for lead paint removal, wearing masks and other protective gear, will have to perform the plaster removal work.

The building renovation actually began with the $216,000 re-roofing project in July of this year which was plagued by heavy downpours during construction that resulted in major ceiling leaks developing the building’s interior.

Police department offices, including the dispatch center, had to be moved to the front of the building because of the leaks, and potential mold from a leak into the kitchen area of the fire department, which shares a wall with the city hall building, forced officials to close the kitchen until the mold issue could be investigated and cleaned.

“The kitchen is back in use, it’s been remediated,” safety-service director Jonathan Hupp said Wednesday.

“In fact they just held a steak fry Oct. 24 for fire department retirees and the food was prepared there,” he said. “There have been no more leaks, and the fire department is satisfied with the kitchen now.”

Hupp said repair of the roof drain piping will begin soon with Carver’s Electric Plumbing and Heating doing the work to re-route the drain plumbing away from the kitchen area.

“Buxton will then return one more time to tie the roof drain into the plumbing,” he said.

The city has been working with Buxton and the company’s insurance provider to recover costs associated with the roof leaks that occurred over the summer, and Hupp said both have been more than cooperative during those negotiations.

The city is currently advertising for bids on the interior renovation project, and the bid opening is scheduled for Dec. 6, he said. Construction is slated to begin Dec. 23.

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