Warren County officials know they need to fix the jail roof.

But the first step in that process will be a study so the county can properly craft a request for proposals for the project. The jail roof project is one of several deferred maintenance projects included in a bond issue commissioners approved in April.

“We’ve known for some time that we’ve had a faulty jail roof or a not functioning well jail roof that leaks,” said Commissioner Tricia Durbin. “We decided that it’d be important to hire an engineering firm to actually understand the specs of what we’re going to need before we send it out for RFP. We’ve selected E&M Engineers (of Bradford, Pa.) and they are asking for a lump sum cost of $17,000 to do that.

That shall make our ability to get RFPs and understand exactly from the commission’s perspective what needs to be done to help support the jail roof construction.”

Leaks in the roof have caused mold-related issues in the jail that pose a threat to both inmates and staff. The roof project is included in a $6.8 million bond sale that will be paid back in the coming years by the 1.25-mill increase included in the 2025 tax bills.

The $5.2 million emergency radio tower upgrade will include installation of three new towers – one in Sugar Grove, one in Elk and one in Sheffield. County officials have known for some time that it wasn’t finished with its emergency radio tower project. The new project will resolve gaps in emergency communications that exist in areas like Sugar Grove, Scandia and other areas that border New York state. The county’s older tower sites, some of which can be described as “structurally deficient,” are connected by copper lines instead of fiber or microwave. That presents functionality issues whenever it rains. But the county is also paying for that connectivity and, ideally, will be able to cut copper connectivity out of the system with this project. The plan includes the county vacating a couple of its existing tower sites and is looking at developing the three new tower sites.

Other deferred maintenance that will be part of the project include the exterior of the Warren County Courthouse. Several years ago, the county undertook a project to restore the slate roof on the 1877 portion of the courthouse, as well as a painting above the roofline. While some painting was completed in-house last summer, additional work remains including brick and stone repointing on the 1877 portion as well as some of the subsequent additions (1925, 1980, 2003). The bond issue will also pay for a new computer server system to replace decade-old servers that are past the end of their useful life and in critical need of replacement.

Durbin said the county was able to secure an A+ bond rating that helped the county quickly sell its bond with an interest rate of about 4.5%. The average taxpayer will pay roughly $50 more a year in taxes to pay for the bond issue.

“Probably I could say that we’re the only one that has an economic decline that received that particular bond rating and we were able to fill that order for funds of $7 million within 15 minutes,” Durbin said. We preserved an interest rate of 4.8756 so there will be some major positive things going on in the county. …It’s going to go a long way to make sure that our community is safe and secure as it relates to 911 communication, so that’s a big positive.”