The Shawano Park and Recreation Commission is recommending Bontrager Carpentry to replace the roof of the small chapel at Woodlawn Cemetery after voting unanimously June 26 in favor of the $56,900 bid.
Four companies expressed interest in the project, but only two of them sent bids for the work, which city officials have said is long overdue. The project was part of the city’s capital project plan for 2024, and Bontrager’s bid came well under what the city budgeted, $80,000.
“Both of them met the intentions of what we’re asking for, which is full removal of the existing cedar shakes, a new half-inch OSB (oriented strand board) going down, putting in a metal roof, which will look as close as it can to cedar shakes,” Hendricks said. “We’re not doing asphalt, and we’re not doing the standing seamless metal. We’re doing something that will try to replicate the architectural look of what the cedar shakes. A metal roof will last a good, long time, and we won’t have to mention the chapel roof again in our lifetime.”
Hendricks said that $40,000 of the budgeted amount came out of the cemetery’s perpetual care fund, which is set up to take care of Woodlawn’s upkeep. He noted the fund does not cover all of the cemetery’s needs annually, but the city found it was essential to take care of the chapel roof now.
The other half of the funding comes from the capital improvement funding the Shawano Common Council approved last year.
The chapel is used only two or three times a year, according to Hendricks.
Alderman Kevin Barkow questioned if the city should also be looking to see if there’s mold at the chapel caused by the leaky roof currently in place.
“If the roof is really leaking that bad, we may have some mold issues,” Barkow said. “If people are going to be in there, especially for funerals, we should spray in there.”
Hendricks said recent checks haven’t show any mold in the chapel.
The bid must still get approval from the city’s finance committee and then the council. The city is hoping the roof replacement will be finished by Oct. 15.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Chapel roof at Woodlawn Cemetery being replaced
