LEC ramp, stairs need replacement

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Replacement of the stairs and ramp at the Weston County Law Enforcement Center should be top priority, after years of pushing off the replacement, according to Steve Price, a county maintenance employee. 
“They are slowly deteriorating more and more all the time. I am not an engineer, but it is getting worse,” Price told the board of Weston County Commissioners on April 6. 
“When I was there yesterday, what I saw, I would be replacing it,” he said.
Discussion of the project began in March 2019 when Chairman Tony Barton reported that Structural Dynamics had recommended that the stairs and ramp be replaced before the 2019-20 winter season. The commissioners asked Structural Dynamics to draw up specifications for the job. 
Months later, on Aug. 20, 2019, the commissioners voted 3-2 to begin the bid process for installing a heated concrete ramp at the law enforcement center, a project with an estimated price tag of $250,000. Commissioners Marty Ertman and Nathan Todd voted against the motion, citing the need to seek state funds for the project. 
Less than a month later, on Sept. 16, 2019, the county received a letter from Structural Dynamics outlining reasons the county should postpone the bid process, despite the company’s earlier letter stating that the ramp and stairs were “unsafe.” 
On Dec. 17, 2019, the board discussed a possible elevator at the front entrance of the law enforcement center, but the project was halted when no contractors bid on the elevator installation. 
According to Price, no money has been put into repairing the stairs or the ramp during his years of employment with the county. 
The issue was once again brought to the commissioner’s table on March 16 when
Todd reported that the ramp at the center had been shut down all winter. 
“The problem isn’t going to go away. … It is the one thing we haven’t done anything with,” Todd said, asking that the board keep the topic on the agenda to prevent putting it off again. 
On April 6, during the board’s discussion with Price, various replacement options were discussed, including a metal ramp, an elevator, a covered ramp and stairs and several variations of the three. 
The commissioners asked what the requirements would be regarding emergency egress from the building. 
“In my mind, we have to replace the stairs and the ramp with something,” said Commissioner Tony Barton, asking if a ramp alone, similar to the one located at Newcastle City Hall, would meet egress requirements. 
“We would have to talk to the fire marshal. We have to have two accesses, and I’m not sure if it would be legal with just a ramp,” Price said. “If we are, then go with a ramp. Why would we need the stairs if it is okay with the fire marshal?”
The commissioners then decided that a meeting with the fire marshal to determine what is legally required would be their next step. 
“That will set us down the right path,” Ertman said.