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BELLEFONTE -- Centre County's Willowbank Building will be getting a new roof.
On Tuesday, the county approved an advertisement of an invitation for bids for the Centre County Roof Replacement project at the Willowbank Building.
Lee Shaeffer, Director of Facilities Management, talked about the need for a new roof. The current roof is 33 years old.
"The age and the condition of the roof … we have a manufacturer in place. We worked through a timeline that will be included in this to have a pre-bid meeting on Oct. 22 and then proceed from there," Shaeffer said.
While the work won't be done until the spring, Shaeffer said that it's important to get the ball rolling on the project.
"As we know, supply chain is making things difficult out there. We want to ensure that we get in the queue with some scheduling for the spring," Shaeffer said.
Chair of the Centre County Board of Commissioners, Michael Pipe, said that the time has come to replace the roof.
"We know how important this is and we know that it's going to be a large expense. It's a generational investment, so it's about time we take a look at it," Pipe said.
Over the course of the past couple of years, black vultures have caused significant damage to the roof, ripping up the rubber roofing material. In 2019, the county installed an elevated vulture deterrent system on the roof of the Willowbank Building.
Now, the time has come for replacement.
"It's a brand new roof. Total replacement," Pipe said.
The county is hopeful that the new roof will deter the black vultures from gathering atop the Willowbank Building and causing damage.
"It's a new kind of material. We're test driving a portion of it," Pipe said.
County administrator Margaret Gray said that the material, along with the color, should deter the black vultures.
Commissioner Steve Dershem echoed those sentiments.
"The material that's up there now is an old rubber roof … this is actually a poured composition. It will be much more difficult for the birds to actually get through or probably be attracted to. But, also at the same time, we're going to have to beef up our network of wiring up there that keeps the birds off the roof," Dershem said.
In other business Tuesday, the commissioners:
-- Adopted Proclamation No. 32 of 2021, proclaiming October 2021 as "Centre County Protects Kids Month" in Centre County.
-- Allocated $73,441.27 in American Rescue Plans funds. The funds were allocated as follows: Microsoft Office 365 licenses ($31,000), miscellaneous administrative and programmatic expense fund ($20,000) and temporary walk-in freezer pod at the correctional facility ($22,441.27).
-- Approved a quote from Delval Equipment Corporation to provide boiler plant service for 502 E. Howard St. This includes the annual cleaning, onsite technician for support during facility cold startup, combustion tuning and post-season dry layup of boilers. The quote total is $11,930 for the 2021-22 heating season.
-- Approved amendment one to the Master Services Agreement with Global Tel*Link to comply with current Federal Communication Commission order, which mandates rate caps on certain returning citizen telephone and ancillary services. The contract is for the period of Oct. 26, 2021 to Sept. 20, 2025. The item was moved to next week's consent agenda.
The Centre County Board of Commissioners will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 12 at the Willowbank Building. The meeting is open to the public and masks are required. The meeting will also be televised live by C-NET.