By Rich Palzewic
Staff Writer
DE PERE – Deemed a safety risk because of icicle problems in the winter, the De Pere Community Center, located at 600 Grant St., will be receiving a repaired roof.
At its Tuesday, Sept. 1, virtual meeting, the De Pere Common Council unanimously approved spending almost $86,000 to fix the roof and insulate it properly.
Because officials believe the roof wasn’t insulated properly during construction about 20 years ago, heat loss in some spots of the roof is causing snow to melt, which freezes into large icicles that could fall on passing residents.
A low bid of $85,770 was awarded to Milbach Construction Services, which includes a base bid of $65,770 plus an alternate bid of $20,000 to furnish and install fabric-covered acoustical panels in the Pine Room.
These panels will replace the ones currently located in the room due to water damage and repairs to the ceiling as part of the scope of the project.
COVID-19 update
De Pere Health Department Director Deb Armbruster gave the council an update on COVID-19 in the city.
“We’ve been giving our elected officials in the city a daily update,” she said. “We’re working with businesses daily on their questions and trying to make everyone unified. We’re also working closely with the schools. We were almost on speed dial (Sept. 1) helping with questions.”
Armbruster said St. Norbert College currently has six active cases.
“St. Norbert is doing a great job with testing and working with us,” she said. “Everything has been well-thought through and planned. Once students get back on campus or live somewhere within the City of De Pere, that is their residence. So, if a student normally lives outside of De Pere but comes to college here and tests positive for COVID-19, he or she would be counted in our positive numbers.”
Armbruster said there’s been a spike in cases recently, but she won’t attribute it to anything specific.
“I’ve been asked what it might be contributed to, but I don’t think we can tell,” she said. “Schools and colleges have come back, but I don’t think we can necessarily blame that for the increased cases. From my view, people are becoming more active in the community, so that might be a reason we’re seeing a spike.”