By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — This winter, a leaky roof shut down the Naples Gymnasium.

On Monday, Naples Town Manager John Hawley announced cost estimates of between $35,000 and $40,000 for repairing that roof. Additionally, he said those funds are already being included in the proposed 2018 budget.

Hawley talked briefly about the roof damage update during the Naples Board of Selectmen meeting.

Industrial Roofing, a commercial roofing company, inspected the roof by getting a core sample sometime last week, he said. The news from the experts was not uplifting.

“Everything up there has to be taken down to the wooden decking,” he said.

Industrial Roofing representatives provided the town with two options once the damaged and/or rotten wood is replaced, Hawley said.

The first option is covering the deck with flat insulation, which would cost $35,000, he said.

For $40,000, the town could invest in the tapered system that slopes toward the roof drains, he said.

“We are looking at a $5,000 difference. So, I am putting $40,000 in budget,” Hawley said.

Chairman Jim Grattelo suggested that the town come up with a new plan for snow removal that doesn’t involve shovels, since shovels have a tendency to poke holes in membrane-covered roofs.

Selectman Bob Caron II advocated for a pitched roof, thus eliminating the need to worry about damage from a shovel.

“It shouldn’t be a flat roof, especially in Maine. Put a pitched roof on there. It should be a pitched roof,” Caron said.

Town Manager Hawley asked, “And, we are shoveling because it leaks?”

Chairman Grattelo said, “Yes, and because of the weight” of the snow.

“We don’t know the load limits,” Hawley said.

Grattelo said that repairing the roof and installing the same roof system as before might not be the best idea — considering the issue of doing damage by shoveling.

Caron said the town should install a metal, pitched roof that allows the “snow to slide right off so we don’t have to worry about shoveling.”

Selectmen Jim Turpin spoke.

“Which way would the snow slide?” Turpin asked.

Caron said whichever way the snow slides, plow crews can remove it from the sides of the building.

“The town has its own plow truck. We can clear around the building after a snowstorm,” he said.

Caron said the selectmen should consider a roof better designed for Maine’s weather.

Naples resident Roger Clements said it would be a good idea to select a roof that doesn’t require shoveling. Often, shoveling snow from a roof can leave behind a ding that later turns into a leak.

“You cannot win that battle,” Clements said.

Several months ago, in January, Town Maintenance Director Steve Merkell told the selectmen that the gymnasium roof was leaking and all activities in the gym had been postponed.

The roof of the gymnasium is about 15 years old; and the problem with leaking surfaced only a few years after it was replaced, Merkell said.