Both the Pike County Courthouse and Pike County Jail could see improvements in the near future.

County commissioners were notified Monday that the jail’s ceiling is leaking. Chairman Homer Wright said the newer portion of the jail was in danger of being damaged from the leak. Commission Administrator Harry Sanders proposed three different plans to commissioners during their meeting and asked that commissioners give him, Sheriff Russell Thomas and the jail administrator authority to review the situation and “come back with a recommendation at our next commission meeting.”

The commission has two proposals so far, including a $56,000 estimate from Pierce Roofing Inc. to reroof the existing roof and a $46,400 from Southern Roofing company.

The final company would not give a proposal, Sanders said.

The repairing of the jail’s roof has been mentioned in passing, but Sanders said now was the time to take action.

“It’s an old jail as we’ve already mentioned to you, and as Commissioner Wright as already said, it’s not something we can choose to ignore,” Sanders said. “We have people in that building. We also have county employees in that building as well.”

Probate Judge Wes Allen also proposed improvements to one of the county’s buildings.

After studying the ingress and egress at the Pike County Courthouse, Allen proposed the installation of a low-energy swing door operator that would assist elderly customers or those who have difficulty opening the doors.

“On a daily basis the Probate Office renews car tags and drivers license, record vital documents and attend to probate court cases,” Allen said. “Some of our customers are senior citizens with disabilities. I have seen many instances where some of these customers have had a difficult time opening the front doors.”

Allen recently had an estimate done on the hardware and installation of a swing-door operator from Daniel Cone of Door Control, Inc. and Cone estimated the cost would be $2,800 to install this door.

“This does not include running the electricity, paint or potentially finishing the flooring, if needed,” Allen said. “With your approval, I am offering to pay for the hardware and installation of this low-energy swing door operator.”

No action was taken on either of the proposals at the meeting, but the agenda items were forwarded onto the next commission meeting agenda and will be placed under current business.

The commission also received a proposed plan for the Rock Building from Steve Brown with estimates of how much it would be to repair the roof.

Brown proposed two separate plans with one totaling $634,000 from Whaley Construction. The debt would be paid over a period of 10 years, but no further work could be done to the building until after the payment was received in full, Brown said.

Brown’s other proposal was with ESMAC Roofing, and would cost approximately $125,000 but could be paid for over the time span of two years rather than 10, Brown said.

Commissioner Jimmy Barron, District 3, proposed that the commission have a certified appraisal done of the building.

“Mr. Brown came to us with this proposal tonight, but I have talked to Administrator Harry Sanders about getting a certified appraisal on the Rock Building if we decided to sell it,” Barron said. “Harry and I have been talking and emailing the Mayor of Troy about donating it to the City of Troy. We haven’t contacted anyone with the historical society.”

Brown’s proposal simply presents another option. “We need to look at it, but this is just another idea I had about what to do with the Rock Building if the commission does not wish to keep the building.”

In other items of business, the commission approved the minutes from the previous commission meeting, approved the claims, approved the engineer’s request to advertise for a temporary part-time position with the department and moving two employees to classified status.

The commission’s next regularly scheduled meeting was moved from Monday, May 25, to Tuesday, May 26 at 5:15 p.m. in observance of Memorial Day.