HILLSBOROUGH: School board approves bid to repair roofs

By Andrew Corselli, Staff Writer
   The Board of Education approved on Monday a $748,000 low bid for roofing repairs at Hillsborough High and Triangle schools.
   The project, which will replace the entire elementary school roof and part of the high school roof, does not have a projected start date. The board is waiting on a letter of approval from the Department of Education.
   ”We have the county approval financially but we’re still waiting on the Department of Education to give us the facilities approval,” said Aiman Mahmoud, school business administrator and board secretary, at the board’s meeting. “We’ve got approval. We just need that document in hand.”
   The board received eight bids on Jan. 19 and Integrity Roofing’s was the lowest, less than half of the highest bidder, Northeast Roof Maintenance, at $1,644,000. The second-lowest bid was $878,625. Integrity’s low bid raised a question from board member Judith Haas.
   ”I’m happy that they came in the way that they came in, but I’m concerned a little bit with the range,” she said. “(I’m curious why) one company would be capable of doing it for half of what other companies would do it for. Have we looked into the ability of the lowest bidder to perform?”
   Mr. Mahmoud assured her.
   ”(Integrity Roofing) is absolutely competent and has done this type of work before,” he said. “We’ve checked their records.There’s a bunch of references as well. We’re very comfortable that they’ll fulfill their obligations to the roof repair and replacement.”
   The repairs, which carry a guarantee with a “long life span,” will not disturb classes for the students. The repairs will be done after hours and if work needs to be done during school hours in will not be a distraction, according to Mr. Mahmoud. In addition, the supplies that the workers will use will not be harmful.
   ”We’re applying a new type of glue that is odorless,” Mr. Mahmoud said. “One of the fears that we’ve experienced is that the odor doesn’t go away even though you work on it over the weekend. The particular glue in this application is odorless so even if we do the job during evening hours there is no odor regarding the application.”
   The funding for this project, which can be done in any temperature above 32 degrees, will come from the board’s surplus, which is reserved for emergency situations such as this, according to Mr. Mahmoud.