“Critical” Key West Police station repair angers city officials

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

Without debate, Key West City Commissioners on Feb. 18 agreed to spend almost $200,000 to replace the roof of the 12-year-old municipal police station on North Roosevelt Boulevard.

 

But some city officials are complaining that the building’s roof should have lasted longer, although they acknowledge that any structural warrantiesy may have expired.

 

“It doesn’t seem to me you should have to put a new roof on the building after 10 years,” said Police Chief Doni Lee. “We’ve been having issues with the roof since it seems like the building was first built.”

 

“No, that is not normal or acceptable,” agreed Greg Veliz, Key West Assistant City Manager in charge of operations. “We’ve replaced the windows, too.”

 

The construction company that built the police station, Sarasota-based D.L. Porter Constructors, Inc., also built the city’s Central Fire Station on North Roosevelt Boulevard, which was completed in 1998. In addition, D.L. Porter just finished the $5.9 million Fire Station No. 2 on Simonton Street.

 

Gary Loer, D.L. Porter President, said his company doesn’t retain the plans for projects that are “13, 14, 15 years old” and that he can’t remember the specifics of the police station building, other than construction began in 2001 and finished in 2002.

 

However, he said that because the Key West Police station has a flat roof, it was covered with a rubber membrane to keep water out of the building. And, he said, some of the rubber membrane technology at that time was unsatisfactory.

 

“Some rubber roofs, the technology on some of them hasn’t been as good as others. Rubber roofs usually last 20 years. But it [leaking] happens on occasion,” he said.

 

But the roof leaks at the police station have been persistent, not “on occasion.” Janet Muccino, Key West Project Manager, sent a memo to City Manager Jim Scholl on Jan. 28 outlining the problems and the need to replace the roof completely.

 

“The purpose of replacing the roof is to prevent further leaking that could damage structural and interior components, including recently replaced flooring and drywall. In addition to leakage, the existing roofing material is reportedly not adhering properly to the underlying materials (delaminating). Some areas of underlying material (e.g., insulation) appear damaged,” Maccino wrote, adding that repair of the roof was “critical” because the building houses both the police department and the city’s emergency operations center.

 

Loer said he could not remember what type of rubber was used on the Key West Police Station roof and whether it was the type that used the better technology available in early 2000. And he also could not remember whether the roof was still covered by a warranty. If city officials call him, he said, he would “look up the warranty.”

 

Even if a warranty is still in place, however, it may not help defer much of the $194,427 cost to replace the roof.

 

“It would be in the very latter stages of any warranty. You wouldn’t get full replacement,” Loer said.

 

As for the just-completed fire station on Simonton Street, Loer said there was a 100-square-foot flat portion of the roof that was covered with a rubber membrane. But Loer said he didn’t know what type of rubber was used.

 

“I don’t have time for this,” he said in response to Konk Life’s questions. “If the city has an issue with a building we’ve built for them, they’re certainly welcome to call me.”

 

City Manager Scholl also didn’t hold out much hope for reducing the taxpayers’ burden to replace the police station roof.

 

“That contractor is gone,” he said. “There’s no resource after that amount of time.”

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