County Must Find Answer To Shifting Justice Center

Van Zandt County has itself a chicken-and-egg dilemma at its justice center complex in Canton.

Does the county buy a fix for the building’s roof that is separating in spots, or does it spend money to stabilize the foundation that is leading to the roof problems in the first place?

It is more a question of which expenditure should come first. Friday, the county commissioners’ court heard presentations from two area roofing firms offering solutions to the top side of that problem.

Eric Bartley of Thermo Materials in Lindale, handing out samples of a roofing application, said the roof currently could not withstand movement in the foundation.

"The material on there now is good for reflective purposes and can help extend the life of the roof, but it is not one that has elastic (properties)," he said.

That brought a stern word from Precinct 3 Commissioner Kelles Miller to the rest of the court.

"Until we get that building leveled and stop it moving, we’re going to continue to have problems with the roof," he said. "You can put whatever you want on the roof, but until we get the foundation stabilized, you will still have movement."

Miller agreed, though, that something was needed to keep water from getting inside the building through the roof.

Jail Operations Lt. George Adams said the roof leak situation was "nothing like it was before it was repaired, but we do still have leaks."

Later in the discussion, Phil Engle of SR Products in Rockwall gave a brief presentation to the court. He agreed with the assessment of the problem with the current roofing material.

"You have material on there now that is being asked to do something it was not made to do," he said.

"I’m not saying it will be the end solution," Engle later added about applying a more elastic material to the roof. "That is to stabilize the building. When that happens, the roof has a chance to succeed."

About midway through the discussion, Van Zandt County Judge Rhita Koches lamented what she said was a lack of action on the issue to this point.

"There does not seem to be anybody just taking the ball on this and handling the project," Koches said.

"Somebody is going to have to take charge of the situation," Precinct 4 Commissioner Ron Carroll added.

To that end, the commissioners’ court voted to appoint a committee including Adams, Miller and Precinct 1 Commissioner Ricky LaPrade to come up with a report and make a formal recommendation on roof and foundation repairs.