MILLINOCKET, Maine — Sometimes it’s just a drip and sometimes it’s a stream of water, but the roof of the Millinocket District Court and town office has leaked for eight years, according to town custodian Paul Allen.
That’s why the Town Council voted 5-0 on Thursday to award a $42,956 contract to Williams Roofing Inc. of Maine to repair 197 Penobscot Ave., which also houses the Millinocket Police Department in the basement. Councilors Jimmy Busque and Bryant Davis were absent.
“It leaks so bad that it soaks a wall in the bailiff office,” Allen said during the meeting.
Williams Roofing will strip the roof almost down to its cement base, glue down some insulation and then do some waterproofing. All nonfunctioning antennae and utilities will be removed, and remaining roof utilities will be waterproofed, according to the job specs town officials provided.
The company will try to avoid getting too close to the cement base of the roof, which is so brittle that it is almost like plastic and breaks very easily, Allen said.
Money collected from the town’s sales of tax-foreclosed properties and from the court’s $28,000 annual rent will pay for the repairs, Town Manager Peggy Daigle said. The town collected more than $210,000 in property sales, she said in an Oct. 20 memo to councilors.
The roof work is among three projects slated for the building. Penobscot Cleaning Services of Bangor finished its mold remediation work on Oct. 17, Daigle said. The cost of that work was not immediately available on Friday.
Town officials also plan to replace windows to the second-story courtroom, which they use for meetings. The infrastructure repair is among several remedial projects Daigle has tackled since becoming town manager in April 2013.
Several of the windows have cracks that Allen has been forced to seal with tape because the town has lacked or failed to appropriate money for the repairs, he said.
Roof Systems of Maine bid $37,850 and Hahnel Brothers Co. bid $53,120 to repair the roof. Councilors followed Daigle’s recommendation in hiring Williams Roofing, which Daigle called “the most responsible, responsive bidder.”