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The Troup County Board of Commissioners approved a change order Tuesday for an emergency $42,000 to be used on the government center roof replacement project.

The funds are needed to rent an additional crane needed to immediately remove a rooftop air conditioning unit (RTU) causing the majority of leaking issues ongoing in several offices of the government center.

The center’s roof is leaking around several areas of the unit and penetrating into multiple areas on the third floor of the building, said Special Projects Manager Jay Anderson. Anderson presented a change order to proceed with the removal of the unit on the roof. The removal of this equipment is a temporary repair until the entire roof is replaced later this year, he said.

“Everybody who’s looked at [the roof say] that’s the majority of the main leaks are coming from around that unit,” Anderson said.  “We need to get that off and make [the roof] more waterproof until more materials come in … and then we can do the whole roof.”

Removal of the RTU unit is included in the original scope of work, but this part of the project needs to be completed quickly due to the issues it’s causing to property within the building. With the change order approved, it will take an estimated three to five weeks for the crane to be scheduled. This work will be performed on a weekend to help reduce the disruption of business in the government center, Anderson said. The work is set to be completed that following Monday.

Monique Kirby, chief assistant district attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, said some areas of the government center offices have been experiencing leaking issues for more several years. Kirby’s assistant has also reported allergy issues to her that she indirectly related to the leaking conditions, she said.

“Every time we have a heavy rain year … the water is coming straight into our filing cabinets and storage area where we keep our case files,” Kirby said. “We’ve tried to relocate most of the files, but we’re out of space at the DA’s office. We don’t even have a grand jury room up there anymore, but we don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Kirby’s office has collected the water, which she described as brown, in a large trash can that fills up fairly quickly on a rainy day, she said. In a neighboring office, one wall has water damage, she said, and is spreading to other rooms.

“We have ceiling tiles in that area, and it is saturating the ceiling tiles,” Kirby said. “Some of those tiles, which are pretty heavy, have fallen on the floor. Luckily, no one was back there [when they fell.]”

The roof replacement project was first discussed last September when Diana Evans, purchasing director of Troup County, presented two bids to replace of the roof of the government center and the Juvenile Court Building. She recommended that the board go with the bid which offered a 30-year warranty and was the low bidder for the project.

Anderson gave a history on the life of the current roof of the government center explaining that there has not been a warranty for the last six or seven years.

The board approved the bid of Roof Technology Partners of Woodstock, Georgia with a 30-year warranty in the amount of $1,003,900.

The entirety of the project is expected to be completed by Fall 2022.