One of the foundational wooden beams under the Senior Center is rotting and will have to be repaired, according to Borough Manager Jeff Good. “There is no immediate threat to life and safety,” Good explained, but he hopes to address the problem quickly. “The more you wait with rot, especially with wood, the worse it gets.”
He plans to hire an engineer to assess the damage and design a solution, but he does not yet have details about how soon this assessment will take place. “We typically work with a couple of engineers,” said Good, but since none of them are Wrangell-based, he will have to coordinate with them to determine an assessment timeframe.
The borough has been aware of the need to fix the foundation, but has delayed repairs because of the high volume of other maintenance needs in the community. “It’s an ongoing problem,” Good said.
Though the borough will hire an engineer to assess the problem, Good hopes that the Senior Center can fund the actual repairs using grant money. Once the engineer arrives, Good explained, he or she will provide a cost estimate and the center’s grant application will move forward from there. “Catholic Services has grants they can go after from being a nonprofit,” he said. “We’ll have to look.”
Catholic Community Service operates the programs in the borough-owned building.
The borough assembly will have to approve any repair or assessment spending.
Reader Comments(0)