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Commissioners informed of roof issues

The Hot Springs County Commissioners conducted their 2021 reorganization during their January 5 meeting, electing Tom Ryan as chairman and Jack Baird as vice chairman.

In addition, they retained their Tuesday meeting dates, set the holidays for the county and selected their individual areas of responsibility.

The commissioners thanked Dave Schlager for his years of service as the County Road and Bridge Supervisor as they appointed Shane Rankine to the position. Rankine had been filling in for Schlager as he neared retirement and they thanked him for stepping in and doing a fine job.

FBO Nate Messenger informed the commissioners things had been fairly quiet at the airport during December, however, there were 84 total operations at the site including two air ambulances and six aircraft that spent the night.

As is typical for this time of year the traffic was down but, so was jet fuel sales. Messenger said the year was down as a whole.

The precipitation sensor on the AWOS system that tells incoming and outgoing pilots what the weather is is still not working. Messenger said the state does not apparently have the funding to cover a majority of the $20,000 cost for updating the sensor, but he is going to see if COVID funds would help.

Maintenance Supervisor Les Culliton is concerned there are going to be other issues with the courthouse/LEC roof once things are peeled back. There is some structural damage on the section of roof where the HVAC is sitting.

The insurance company has not been back to look at the roof again, but Culliton worries the roofing cost is going to be considerably higher than the initial estimate. He definitely wants the architectural firm to talk with the insurance company before any work begins as there is a lot of detail that needs looked at by a professional.

At the extension building, Culliton says the outside structure of the chimney looks good, however it wasn’t “sleeved” when the new furnaces were put in, so the acid in the condensation has eaten away at the mortar on the inside, causing bricks to fall out.

It is venting fine for now, but it is going to have to be worked on fairly soon.

The building the county owns on Arapahoe between Fifth and Sixth Streets has some serious roof issues. Culliton was on the roof within days of the Las Fuentes fire to inspect it for damage and he told the commissioners he cannot guarantee it will even hold up if we get a good, wet snow.

At this point the commissioners are not sure they are going to continue with WARM, their insurance provider. County Clerk Rose DeSeyn is going to reach out to the other clerks to see which company they are using in their counties and report back to the commissioners on her findings.

 
 

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