Theatre has no additional issues

The Sussex Borough theatre building doesn’t have any additional issues, Business Administrator Toni Smith reported at the borough council’s May 3 meeting.

Smith said the building’s elevators were recently passed inspection, and an appraiser was expected to come in and take a look at the building sometime last week.

However, the building will need a new roof.

Smith said she called five companies about the room. Two of them got back to her. One didn’t give an estimate, while the other said it does not repair flat roofs and that it would have to be repaired. However, that wasn’t a prevailing wage company, and expected the project would be over the bid threshold.

“They didn’t even put a toe in the water,” Smith said. “I called another one back today and they’re busy. No one is getting back to me.”

Borough Council President, who ran the meeting in the absence of Mayor Edward Meyer, said the borough needs to take care of the roofs on its properties, and the borough needs to deal with these problems immediately.

Borough Attorney Francis McGovern said if the borough were to sell the theatre building, it could put certain conditions on the sale, such as fixing the roof.

“And if somebody were to buy it, they will be able to go and put a roof on without having to follow the procedures you would have to follow. Of course, that would make it a lot cheaper.”

Councilman Mario Poggi said he had received an email last week from a professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology, who happens to reside in Vernon, saying the school may have programs to help remediate some of the mold in the building.

The college has a Brownfields Assistance Center, which names sites that need to be remediated. Poggi said it’s possible the site could be identified for remediation, and they could get funding.

Poggi said after the college’s graduation, she will be invited to talk to the council about the possibility.