Hingham School Committee approves emergency roof repairs at South Elementary; $65,927.55 charged to extraordinary capital repair fund

The Hingham School Committee on Sept. 29 approved using $65,927.55 from the town's extraordinary capital repair fund to cover part of emergency roof repairs at South Elementary School.

Matthew Mann, director of facilities for Hingham Public Schools, told the committee crews discovered extensive corrosion in corrugated structural steel above the south building while vendors were installing new rooftop units (RTUs). Mann said structural engineers from Habib and Associates and the roofing vendor Enterprise opened the roof and found sections where the steel were compromised, including “tiny little dots” of daylight showing through the assembly. Mann said the work was urgent because further winter weather could have produced major failures.

Mann said crews completed the bulk of the field repairs over Labor Day weekend. He described the work as an emergency repair that required change orders to the RTU project: removal of some bathroom ceilings to inspect and repair framing, replacement of the corroded roof sections and related structural and piping work. Mann estimated the total emergency change orders and related costs at about $175,000, and said Enterprise acknowledged responsibility for water intrusion that damaged the building PA system and will credit the district for that repair.

Assistant superintendent/finance lead Ayesha explained how the expense will be allocated: roughly $60,000 will be absorbed by the project contingency; about $50,000 will be charged to the district roofing capital account; the remaining approximately $65,000 is requested from the extraordinary capital repair fund that Town Meeting approved last year. Ayesha said the extraordinary fund has a $500,000 balance and this is the first major charge being requested from it.

Mann told the committee the work was coordinated to avoid any disruption to instruction and that students were not impacted. He said Habib and Associates will complete follow-up inspections and the building department will finalize permits and signoffs.

Committee members asked whether other roof areas could have similar corrosion; Mann said crews plan to open ceilings during Thanksgiving break for inspection of other flat-roof areas and will call Habib for further analysis if additional corrosion is found. Mann said he has provided MSBA (the Massachusetts School Building Authority) with photographs and field reports; MSBA has accepted two packages of documentation into the district's Statement of Interest (SOI) record.

A motion to approve the use of $65,927.55 from the extraordinary capital repair fund for the South Elementary roof repair passed unanimously. The committee did not record a roll-call tally for the vote during the meeting; six committee members were present and one member absent.