The Hennessey Public Library building will get $13,500 in silicone roof coating, tape and patch seam repairs instead of about $70,000 for a new roof and repairs for interior leaks.

That’s what the Hennessey Board of Trustees decided in a 3-1 vote after Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman said $70,000 “would be a very good down payment on a new library.”

Library Director Ruth Ann Replogle asked if that was something the board had envisioned for the library. It wasn’t apparent if she got an answer.

Replogle said she assumed they would build on the current site, and Tillman said they hadn’t gotten that far yet.

The bids came from Eagle Heritage Roofing Inc., Enid. That’s the same company that put a new roof on Town Hall.

“They did an excellent job,” said Tillman.

“I hate to just put a bandaid on it,” said Clif Vogt, vice mayor, who later voted for the $13,500 fix.

The lone dissenting vote came from new board member Richard Simunek, a self-proclaimed preservationist.

Board member Keith Meek said before the vote that he didn’t think Simunek would go for a new structure.

Meek and Wes Hardin joined Vogt with yes votes and Mayor Bert Gritz was absent.

“The roof itself is in decent condition,” Replogle told the board in early discussion. “The problem is between the wall and the sealant.”

She said there is water damage on the walls along with mold in some places.

There are 13,000 “usable” square feet in the library, not including the auditorium, but including the History Museum, said Replogle. Both bids included all of it.

Tillman said there wasn’t enough money in the library budget to do the work and Replogle asked how much there was.

Tillman said $14,760.The library also receives a portion of county sales taxes.

When contacted by the Times and Free Press, a county official said there is $12,499 in the library’s maintenance and operation account, and $12,043 in capital outlay.

The Main Street library is next to the fire station and was built in 1928 as a high school.

It was later used as an elementary school.

The school vacated the building in the late 1970s then the town purchased the property sometime in the 1980s.

The town clerk’s office was housed there, along with the town board chamber, until 2009.

That’s when the town bought the former bank building at its current location on the northeast corner of Main and First streets.

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