BELGRADE — Select board members have chosen a Waterville company with a low bid of $13,753 to insulate and vent the Community Center for All Seasons roof.

Seven contractors bid on the project. The bids ranged from $13,753 submitted by Care & Comfort of Waterville to a $50,089 proposal from Weatherize Northeast Co. in Lewiston. The center also needs a new roof.

Selectmen on Tuesday said they may hold those bids until after the annual Town Meeting on March 17. A contractor will be chosen to install a standing mechanical seam metal roof.

Voters at Town Meeting will be asked to spend $100,000 for repairs to the community center roof, which includes venting and insulation, a new roof and building an entranceway over the kitchen door.

“What we have to do is accept this bid and then just see what goes through at the Town Meeting,” said Selectman Daniel Newman at Tuesday’s meeting.

Newman said the roof’s asphalt shingles are in such bad shape the it needs to be replaced.

He said the shingles are ruined from workers chopping at ice buildup. The town has already had an energy audit done to see where heat is escaping the building.

“The lower roof is already leaking,” he said.

Selectmen agreed before any work begins someone has to make sure the top section of the roof isn’t leaking.

Town Manager Gregory Gill said the roofers who bid on the project told the board a new roof alone would not fix the ice build-up problem. The building first needed to be vented and insulated correctly.

“There’s been a lot of backlash on this, so we need to make very sure that there’s nothing leaking before we throw that money at it,” Selectman Bruce Plourd said.

Some residents oppose using money from the town budget for recreation programs.

At the March 17 town meeting they will be asked to pay $139,302 to support the center’s recreation programs, much of which is remimbursed through fees for the programs; $59,907 to support its operational budget; and use $150,000 from the town’s undesignated fund to buy property adjacent to the center to give the town ownership of a right-of-way through the center’s property.

Penny Morrell, who opposed the recreation building when she joined the Board of Selectpersons, called the cost of the building horrendous.

Gill said the center may have to close for a day when the work begins. He said another possibility is for the work to be done in sections so the building can remain open to the public.

Valencia Schubert, the recreation director, said, “We’re going to work around that so we don’t have to interfere with our programs.”

Mechele Cooper — 621-5663

mcooper@centralmaine.com