The Carbon County Correctional Facility’s roof has a few areas of water damage, a recent inspection found, but officials have questions before deciding on spending upward of $1 million on the roof project.

Last week, the county prison board heard from Warden Timothy Fritz regarding a recent inspection of the roof by TREMCO Roofing and Building Maintenance of Beachwood, Ohio. The inspection cost $3,867.

Fritz said that of the four roofs on the prison facility, TREMCO found “that there was very little water damage to the insulation.”

He noted that the company found six areas where there was water damage down to the insulation that would need to be replaced and the project could possibly just be a restoration rather than a full replacement.

A few questions remain regarding parts of the roof, and Fritz said the prison is currently looking for the original drawings to see if any conduit lies between the insulation and roof decking. If it does, that could mean replacing the entire roof.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner asked several questions regarding the report, and Fritz said that representatives from TREMCO could be at the board’s next meeting for further discussion.

In December, the board spoke about the inspection being needed because the cost for replacing the prison roof would be approximately $1.9 million, while a roof restoration, which is repairing the problem areas and resurfacing the roof, would cost roughly $850,000.

No formal action on the matter was taken.

In other prison matters, Sheriff Anthony Harvilla, president of the prison board, said that the prison study that is going to be completed at the facility will probably begin in about six to eight weeks.

He said the people who will be completing the study are currently in the process of getting vaccinated, and once they are fully vaccinated, the study will begin.

The prison board also reactivated fingerprinting operations and the work-release program this week. Both operations had been temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 infections, but Fritz said that all inmates who had tested positive are now cleared and a few inmates brought into the prison with symptoms have been quarantined.