Holmes commissioners mull options to fix county jail roof

When it rains it pours, but it shouldn’t be pouring inside one local county facility.

The Holmes County commissioners are exploring options concerning several issues with the Holmes County Jail roof, which has been experiencing leakage due to several areas where water is collecting.

Commissioner Joe Miller said he had recently met with Robert Miller of Tekton Engineering in Berlin, jail officials and a local roofer to gain insight into the issues taking place.

“It’s going to be a big project,” Joe Miller said. “We’re going to have to do a design build, do some drawing, send it to (East Central Ohio Building Authority) to be approved, and it’s going to be far beyond the $5,000 that we can spend.”

A design build brings all members of a project team together early in the process to identify and address issues of cost, schedule and constructability. Proponents suggest design builds alleviate conflict between architects and contractors and reduce owner risk for design errors.

Miller said Holmes County engineer Chris Young has agreed to help work on the proposal for the roof, adding his design expertise into the mix.

Commissioner Miller said once a design build is finished and approved, the county can then hire a contractor who can then subcontract out all the work.

He said the hope is that it all takes place sooner than later.

“We’ve got to finish this project before winter because they’ve got buckets setting around,” Miller said. “It was a bad build initially.”

Commissioner Dave Hall said the issues created in the initial design created the necessary changes because water is gathering on the roof in flat areas that were incorrectly designed, causing major leaking issues.

He said changing the pitch in the roof’s angles will help create a better flow of water.

In other news Miller praised the village of Millersburg for its ongoing growth, noting he has seen a major increase in traffic flow and visitations from outside the county.

“Good things are happening there,” Miller said of HDM. “I came through Saturday, and I’ve never seen it like that before. It was busy, and there are people responsible for that taking place. People are getting things done rather than sitting around talking about it.”

“It’s amazing how the downtown area has grown,” Hall said.

Hall then spoke glowingly about the Holmes County Home Auxiliary family event that took place Saturday, Aug. 10.

He said there was plenty of joy from the visiting families in what he described as a packed house in the pavilion area at the home.

“Deb Miller (executive director) and her team did a wonderful job, and it was a great event,” Hall said. “They are getting ready to kick off their county home auction, and their levy is coming up, so there is a lot of excitement there right now, and it seems like they’re having a really good year.”

Hall said members of the Holmes County Home Auxiliary gave him a quick tour of the addition their group recently made in adding an outdoor kitchenette to one of the buildings.

Miller also said he appreciates the job the Darb Snyder Senior Center is doing of meeting the needs of seniors throughout the county, and its upcoming levy is critical to continuing to meet those needs.