County preparing funds for new roof over sheriff’s operations facility

The roof at the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office DeSoto Operations facility is leaking, and County Commissioners will consider the transfer of $225,000 to fix the problem.

According to an agenda set for a budget amendment meeting Tuesday, the county is set to discuss the transfer of $225,000 from the Board’s Reserve for Contingency for roof membrane replacement at the facility after leaks cause “significant impacts.”

It’s all part of the routine, said Charlie Bishop, Manatee County Property Management Director.

“This is the original roof (on the building) so it’s time. It’s like a house or anything else,” Bishop said.

The two-story building is “fairly large,” Bishop said, though the leak is only in the portion of the roof over the sheriff’s office operations department.

The amount to be transferred is based on an estimate, it’s preliminary work now until the budget amendment is put in place, Bishop said.

For right now, the county is just working on passing the budget amendment so they can put the job out to bid and start the repair process. But Bishop wasn’t immediately sure how long it could take.

The need for the roof replacement was discovered over the past several rains. Leaks in the second story of the building were discovered but officials couldn’t find where they were coming from, Bishop said.

He added there isn’t noticeable damage to the building, but they want to rectify the situation before much more rain falls.

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 11:37 PM with the headline "County preparing funds for new roof over sheriff’s operations facility."