Photo by Deb Gau Marshall City Council approved a contractor’s proposal to replace the roof on the Marshall Fire Department station on East Saratoga Street.

MARSHALL — After 25 years, roof of the Marshall fire station has developed some leaks. But a solution will be coming, after the Marshall City Council approved a contractor’s proposal to replace the roof.

Fire Chief Quentin Brunsvold brought three roofing proposals to the city council at its regular meeting Tuesday. The Marshall fire station currently has a roof ballasted with river rocks, which was last replaced in 1996. Over time, organic material like dead leaves has built up in the rocks and kept the roof from draining properly, Brunsvold said.

“It created big issues. The reason why (the roof) leaked the few times it did was because there isn’t a way for the water to get to the roof drains that are up there,” he said.

In addition, tears have been found in the roof membrane. Roof leaks in the past two years have caused damage to the inside of the fire station.

A total of $125,000 for the roof replacement had been included in the Capital Improvement Plan for 2021, city staff said.

Brunsvold said the fire department received three proposals for the roof replacement, from Gag Sheet Metal of New Elm, Horizon Roofing of St. Cloud, and Buysse Roofing Systems and Sheet Metal of Marshall. Of the three proposals, Horizon Roofing’s had the lowest base bid, at $103,200. Brunsvold said Horizon Roofing had also submitted a bid of around $109,000 that would include adding two inches of wood decking around the edge of the roof. Brunsvold said the fire department had included that option in their original request, but Horizon had said that would not be necessary for the roof replacement.

Council member James Lozinski noted that Gag Sheet Metal’s proposal cost was close to Horizon Roofing’s proposal, but it included a 20-year warranty instead of a 15-year warranty. Gag Sheet Metal had a base bid of $103,800.

“What was the option why we didn’t possibly do that?” Lozinski said.

“I wanted to make sure it was a council decision to do that,” Brunsvold said. Otherwise, the recommendation would be to accept the lowest proposal.

Marshall Public Safety Director Jim Marshall said the proposals had been reviewed by city plans examiner Ilya Gutman. Marshall said Gutman was comfortable with the bids, and had noted the warranty on the Gag Sheet Metal proposal. “He thought it was somewhat of a plus to this project,” Marshall said.

Lozinski moved that the city accept the proposal from Gag Sheet Metal because of the extra five-year warranty, but have Brunsvold ask about also taking the additional wood around the roof perimeter out to the proposal.

The motion passed.