Belleville Henderson welcomes new roof early

BELLEVILLE — Belleville Henderson Central School has a new roof, coming in more than $730,000 under budget and finishing more than six months ahead of schedule.

"It's not often, but sometimes you just get lucky," district Superintendent Rick T. Moore said.

Replacing the school's leaky roof was the first phase of the district's capital construction project. The roof wasn't scheduled to be finished until next summer, but roofers put the finishing touches on the project today. The old roof dates to when the school building was completed in 1991.

Mr. Moore attributes the early completion of the roofing project to good weather this fall, and the job done by W.J. Farley Roofing Corp., Gouverneur.

"We're in heaven right now to have this new roof and not to have water flying all over the place," Mr. Moore said. "Before, every time it rained there would be 30 or 40 buckets lining the halls to catch water. It was embarrassing when there was a basketball game or something and people had to see that."

The leaky roof caused a lot of problems with the building's suspended ceilings. Whenever it rained, the water would come through the roof and stain the ceiling tiles, which had to be replaced frequently, Mr. Moore said.

When the district originally accepted bids for the new roof, those that came in were much lower than the $1.75 million that was budgeted for the project. W.J. Farley Roofing Corp. bid $1,019,936, leaving extra funds that likely will go toward facility upgrades as part of the second phase of the capital construction project.

Exact uses for the leftover funds haven't been decided, but the money likely will be used to replace windows, Mr. Moore said.

The total cost of all phases of the district's capital project is $8,165,000. The project was approved by voters in February.

As part of the second phase, set to begin in the summer, the art classrooms will be enlarged and new facilities for agriculture and technology programs will be installed.