City council votes to give Crim a new roof
By KATHRYN MARTINEZ news1@kilgorenewsherald.com

Downtown Kilgore's historic Crim Theater will finally get a new roof.

In a special meeting yesterday, council approved roof repair in the amount of $48,037.07, by Dallas firm DK Haney Roofing.

The project at the theater includes tearing-off existing roof and re-decking with three-quarter inch plywood. Decking will then be prepared for installation with more than 9,000 square feet of Duro-Last roofing, includes three-eights inch insulation and a durable membrane and custom trim work, installed to manufacturer's specifications. The roof will come with a 15-year warranty.

In other business downtown Kilgore is slated for $15,000 of field topographic surveying of sidewalks along Kilgore Street and Main Street, by KSA Engineers of Longview, in preparation for the downtown streetscape set to begin by January.

Council also agreed not to install a pre-engineered fire suppression system at the city's new record storage building. The system that was considered is designed to extinguish fires with an inert gas instead of water or foam.

Jeff Howell, city manager, suggested installing the system to save records from damage. When the cost estimate came in at more than $26,000 Howell decided it would be in tax-payer's best interest to forgo the additional cost.

Council agreed that money saved by not installing the system could be useful in a possible fire suppression system at the new Emergency Medical Services building that would actually house people.

Council closed the meeting with an executive session to follow up on Howell's evaluation, which was also done in an executive session earlier this year. No action was taken following this closed activity.

The next meeting of Kilgore City Council is 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25 at Kilgore City Hall in Council Chambers.