PILOT MOUNTAIN — The Pilot Mountain Board of Commissioners accepted the lowest of three bids for roofing repairs to their portion of the roof of the Pilot Center Thursday night at a special meeting.

Mayor Dr. Earl Sheppard summed up the feelings of the board by saying it made sense to address the leaking roof now while the town had money for repairs after the recent sale of a portion of the property to Otay LLC.

Town Manager Homer Dearmin said the town and county had agreed to split the profits from the sale of part of the center which amounted to a total of $134,280.68, leaving the town’s share at about $67,140 to be applied towards repairs in addition to the county’s share.

“This will solve this issue for 15 to 20 years,” said Sheppard. “It is great that the commissioners voted to help us out with this and I commend them for that.”

Professional Roofing Services Inc. of Mount Airy’s bid of $123,000 was accepted by the commissioners. Dearmin set the area of roof to be repaired at 39,274 square feet. Hayco Inc. of Pilot Mountain had the next lowest bid of $133,500, and Triad Roofing Inc. of Winston-Salem’s bid for the project was $142,285.

Dearmin said the roof over firms in the building including Surry Community College’s Pilot Center and Pilot Mountain Pride was in bad need of repairs. He characterized the roof as a flat roof of rubber membrane materials.

“There are several places that are leaking in areas where we have dealt with before,” said Dearmin. “If you walk on it, the roofing feels like carpet with marbles underneath so it is in need of work sooner than later.”

He said the project could begin in the next two or three weeks and could be finished in three weeks. Professional Roofing’s bid included costs of replacing old gutters, the old membrane and flashing. The old insulation and stone ballast will remain. Dearmin said the firm will replace the old flashing and downspouts and labor, and materials carry a 15-year warranty.

Earlier renovation costs included separating the electrical and sewer systems and setting up the legal structure for a building housing different firms under one roof. Otay LLC agreed to have its portion of the roof repaired as part of the purchase of its half of the building and is having the same firm repair its side of the structure.