SNOW HILL – In spite of varying concerns, the Worcester County Commissioners agreed to move forward with plans to address longstanding structural problems at the Ocean Pines library.
On Tuesday the commissioners agreed to hire the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company to design changes for the library to address its leaking roof and limitations to its HVAC system. The company is already working with the county on the new Berlin library.
“We were so impressed we’d like to employ them,” said John Tustin, the county’s director of public works.
Tustin said the county had been dealing for some time with water infiltration and HVAC issues at the library in Ocean Pines. Because it was completed in 1999, the companies that designed and built it are no longer in business.
“There’s nobody to go back and ask about design issues,” Tustin said.
Commissioner Chip Bertino said he’d grown irritated simply reading Tustin’s report on the building, as it contained words such as “improper” and “undersized” throughout.
“I don’t want to in public session say the words coming to mind …,” he said. “I don’t understand why the county taxpayers paid for a building that quite truthfully is wrong.”
He said that particularly concerned him because the county had other projects planned.
Tustin replied that the library had been built by a good local contractor.
“I think the controls were lacking at the time,” he said.
Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said he thought the contractor had been held to the county’s standards at that time.
“I don’t necessarily hold the builder responsible unless he went outside the design guidelines,” he said.
Mitrecic said he was concerned, however, about the proposed $71,183 design contract with Whiting-Turner.
“I think $71,000 is excessive for design guidelines,” he said.
Mitrecic, who owns a local construction company, also questioned the leaking that was occurring at the library. He said that if the roof wasn’t the proper pitch it would continue leaking regardless of new shingles or similar improvements.
Tustin said the building’s various chimneys were the cause of most of its problems. He said the concept of removing them could be explored during the design process.
“It would change the entire look of the building but it would certainly seal everything up,” he said.
The commissioners voted 5-2, with Jim Bunting and Ted Elder opposed, to approve the contract with Whiting-Turner.
“I think a good masonry contractor can fix this,” Bunting said. “I think it’s a waste of a lot of money.”
