For The Times Leader

BARNESVILLE — Village Council on Monday reached a stalemate over the only bid that was submitted for repairs to the roof of the historic B&O Depot building.

During a scheduled council meeting Mayor Jake Hershberger announced that a bid of $211,770 had been submitted by Durable Slate of Columbus, and that it was for a “lift and relay” in which the individual roof tiles would be removed and reused where possible and bad tiles replaced with new.

Hershberger said the firm had also submitted photographs of other work it had done to demonstrate the consistency of color between old and new tiles since that had been an issue of concern expressed by several village officials when the company had previously given a $196,000 estimate to repair the distinctive Spanish Revival-style red tile roof.

Hershberger said he felt the photos showed that there was not a huge variation between the tile colors.

Councilman Tim McKelvey, who has been vocal about his desire to move forward with getting the roof repaired, asked if the bid was compatible with the $75,000 capital funding grant already in place for the project.

Hershberger, who is also the current president of the B&O Depot Committee, said that even though the bid would have to be submitted to the state agencies responsible for the grant, those agencies had signed off on the previous quote, so he was confident it would be approved.

B&O Committee member Bruce Yarnall voiced his agreement with this sentiment.

Council President Tony Johnson asked about a different $164,000 quote received in May from a company in Texas to replace all the tiles. Hershberger responded that it had not submitted a bid due to prevailing wage requirements.

“They said they’ve never done it and wouldn’t entertain it,” Hershberger said.

Councilman Brad Hudson agreed with Johnson’s apprehension over reusing tile that is over 100 years old, and while McKelvey agreed as well he said he thought they were out of options.

“We only got one bid. Does that tell you anything?” he asked.

Councilman Les Tickhill asked if there was a way to split the job up to get around the prevailing wage requirements. Yarnall said there was not and also explained that the old tiles could last “forever” and reminded everyone that Barnesville Presbyterian Church had been able to sell the old tile off its roof when they were replaced with synthetic tile a number of years ago.

Patti Napolitano, who has been working through the grant process with the village, said these kind of grants will always carry a number of caveats.

McKelvey again said he thought they were out of options, and his motion to accept the bid from Durable Slate was seconded by Tickhill with Hudson chiming in that he wanted to look for other options.

Mckelvey responded, “Here’s the thing, if you want to wait for more, that’s fine, you can find it. I’m ok with that. We’ve been talking about this forever.”

McKelvey and Tickhill both voted in favor of accepting the bid, while Hudson and Johnson voted against with Councilman Terry McCort and Councilwoman Robyn Misner both being absent from Monday’s meeting leaving a 2-2 tie.

Village Solicitor Richard Myser explained that when the votes on such a motion are tied it would be up to Mayor Hershberger to cast the deciding vote, and when Hershberger asked if his position as president of the Depot Committee resulted in a conflict of interest, Myser replied, “Probably so.”

Myser went on, “If you want to disqualify yourself then we are at a dead heat and it does not pass.”

McKelvey said to the others, “If you can come up with a better deal, I will vote for it.”

In the discussion that followed the vote, Tickhill pointed out the price increase between their previous quote from Durable Slate and the current bid, which Yarnall explained was due to the prevailing wage criteria, while Johnson and Hudson both maintained that they did not want to spend that much money and not have new tile on the building.

Yarnall also laid out the current available funding for the project noting that besides the $75,000 from the state there was an additional $5,000 grant from the Belmont County Tourism Council and $10,000 from the Depot Committee funds, “So it’s not $200,000 out of the village coffers at the end of the day.”

Hershberger noted that the money from the county was supposed to be spent this year while the grant from the state is supposed to be used by September of next year.

In related business, Hershberger said that they had received feedback from state agencies concerning a proposed reworked lease agreement that would be between the village, the Barnesville Community Foundation, and the B&O Depot Committee.

Council had held the first reading of the ordinance establishing that agreement during the July 28 meeting before submitting it to the state agencies administering the $75,000 roof grant to make sure the provisions of the agreement would not violate the conditions of the grant.

Hershberger along with Myser explained that they wanted the initial term of the lease to be 10 years after the roof work was complete, that they wanted a notarization requirement be added, and a requirement that no alterations be made to the building without prior authorization.

Myser said that he would add those items to the ordinance and that the discussion could be deemed the second reading of the ordinance so they could have the third and final reading during the next meeting, which is scheduled for August 25.