BETHEL — A Lewiston roofing company won the contract to repair the leaking fire station roof, Town Manager Jim Doar said Tuesday afternoon.

The IRC Group will have to wait until next month to do the work, because Bethel residents must first vote to appropriate the money from the undesignated fund balance at a special town meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, in the Crescent Park School auditorium.

The industrial roofing company was one of five companies that submitted bids to repair, replace or retrofit the existing metal roof to stop water leaks. They also offered four options ranging from $16,178 to $132,776.

Selectmen on Monday went with IRC’s bid of $82,000 to reroof the station with new metal panels, board Chairman Stanley Howe said early Tuesday evening.

The station was built in 2004.

According to the IRC bid report by Metal Division manager Eric Hodgkins, the station’s metal roofing panels are structurally intact, but the installation, design and workmanship “is extremely poor.” He said the flashings were designed and installed backward allowing water to enter the roof, and the panels were provided “too short and poorly spliced.”

  Additionally, previous attempts to patch and repair the roof’s defects “have been shoddy and flawed,” Hodgkins stated.

Other bidders were Hahnel Brothers Co. and Gladu Roofing Co. Inc., both of Lewiston; Roof Systems of Maine of Bangor; and Glen Builders Inc. of North Conway, N.H.

In other business, selectmen approved having Doar enter the town’s name into a Maine Department of Transportation lottery to borrow MDOT’s radar speed trailer for two weeks “to promote speed awareness.”

Doar said 17 towns will be chosen from Western Region 3, which includes Bethel.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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