Committee Rejects Sealing a Leaking Roof, Asks for Bids to Replace It

Montgomery County Board Buildings & Grounds Committee Meeting | July 7, 2026

Article Summary: The Montgomery County Board Buildings & Grounds Committee on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, reviewed two proposals of around $25,000 to reseal the leaking metal roof at Animal Control and a third of approximately $29,000 to reroof the building — and asked Maintenance Director Phil Ernst to solicit bids to reroof it instead.

Animal Control Roof Key Points:

• Two proposals came in at around $25,000 to reseal the leaking metal roof; a third proposed reroofing for approximately $29,000.
• The committee asked Maintenance Director Phil Ernst to solicit bids to reroof the building.
• No motion was made and no vote appears in the minutes.
• No bidder is named and no exact figure is recorded; the minutes give only approximations.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Faced with three ways to stop a roof leaking, a Montgomery County committee declined all of them on Tuesday and asked for a fourth.

The Buildings & Grounds Committee on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, reviewed two proposals for around $25,000 to reseal the leaking metal roof at Animal Control, as well as a proposal for approximately $29,000 to reroof the building, according to the minutes. The committee asked Maintenance Director Ernst to solicit bids to reroof the building.

The gap between the two approaches, as the minutes present it, is not large. The committee’s reaction suggests it did not consider a reseal worth what a replacement would cost — but the minutes record no discussion, no reasoning and no vote, and this newspaper cannot report what the committee thought.

Nor can it report exact figures, because the county does not have any in its record. The minutes give “around $25,000” and “approximately $29,000.” They name no bidder for any of the three proposals, give no separate figure for each of the two reseal proposals, and do not say who solicited them or when.

The building’s roof is leaking, which the minutes state as fact.

Two Problems, One Building

The roof was the third item on the committee’s agenda. The fourth was the Animal Control incinerator, which is inoperable and for which the committee recommended a $11,955 replacement from the county’s coal fund. Both are covered separately.

Animal Control Warden Tricia Papin attended. The minutes do not record her speaking to either item.

Ernst’s assignment is to seek bids. That is not a purchase and not a recommendation; nothing about the roof goes to the full County Board until a bid comes back and this committee acts on it. The item was titled “Animal Control Roof Reseal Bid Proposal Update/Approval,” and no motion was made.