By David Fenker
david@nmpaper.com
ROANN, Ind. – At their Monday, June 19, meeting, the Wabash County Commissioners approved a contract to repaint exterior of the Roann Covered Bridge.
Wabash County Highway Superintendent John Martin presented the $9,500 contract with Larry Carroll Painting to the commissioners, who approved it unanimously.
The work should be done in time for a sausage and pancake breakfast at the bridge on Saturday, July 1.
In addition to repainting the exterior, the painting company will apply a fire retardant to the interior of the bridge for an additional $7,500.
“That would be just the timber itself; it would not include the roof… I believe it would be a very good idea,” Martin said. The sprinkler system is getting very old, and it either will need a lot of work, or we’re going to have to think about abandoning it at some point,” Martin said.
Commissioner Brian Haupert noted that the Manchester Covered Bridge received a similar fire retarding coating.
Vonell Krom, representing the Roann Covered Bridge Association, said that the association will cover the cost of the fire retardant.
“They say once that’s sprayed on, you can’t catch it on fire, but I don’t know how long that’s guaranteed for,” Krom said.
“Does it last a year? Does it last four years, 10 years?”
Martin did not give a definitive answer, but said that the coating should last as long as the paint job.
“It lasts longer than [10 years], because it soaks into the wood itself. Probably by the time it’s ready to be painted again, it’ll be ready to be fireproofed again,” he said.
Krom also brought up the graffiti inside the bridge, and asked whether the graffiti would need to be removed before the fire retardant was applied.
Chairman Scott Givens asked if Krom had a suggestion for removing the graffiti.
“I have worked down there several times, with wire brushes and everything. The best thing is a high-pressure washer. If you sand it, then you get into the wood… and you can’t get it off with a wire brush,” Krom said.
The commissioners asked Martin to look into having Carroll clean the graffiti off before applying the fire retardant, and said that they will cover any additional cost for such a cleaning since the Bridge Association is paying for the application.
Krom also informed the commissioners that there are several repairs that the association will be paying for in the next couple weeks, including a replacing a floorboard and patching bullet holes in the roof.
“We appreciate all the work the Bridge Association does. That’s above and beyond, thank you very much,” Givens said.
Additional news from the commissioners meeting included the weekly jail report from Sheriff Bob Land.
“As of this morning, I have 88 in our facility. We’re holding 49 in Miami County. We’re holding eight in Elkahrt County and seven in Wells County, for a total of 152,” Land said.
He noted that last week, there were 29 new book-ins and 12 transfers.