It’s been seven years since Latrobe’s municipal parking garage received any major attention, but that’s set to change this summer under a contract council approved Monday for repairs to the structure.

Pullman-Services submitted a low bid of $68,692 to address deteriorating items in the garage situated between Weldon and Spring streets in the downtown business district.

“They’ll be repairing little items before they become a bigger problem down the road,” said city Manager Michael Gray. “These are items that deteriorated naturally,” identified during an inspection last year.

The work will include updating expansion joint sealant and rusted handrails, renewing waterproofing on the upper deck, repairing concrete that is peeling or flaking and pressure-washing the structure.

The project was included in this year’s city budget and might begin in late July, Gray said. That would slot the work between two of Latrobe’s major annual festivals — the Fourth of July celebration and the Great American Banana Split Celebration, which occurs in late August.

“I don’t want it to interfere with any functions going on during the summer, even if they come and do a little bit of work at a time,” Gray said.

“Years back we went out on a limb and built this parking garage,” said Councilman Robert Forish. “We have no choice now. We have to dump money into this thing to keep our investment alive… We can keep this parking garage for 25 years as long as we keep up on it.”

Gray said he’s met with some of the business owners in the Courtyard Plaza — located between the parking garage and Ligonier Street — to begin planning proposed repairs to concrete and cement surfaces and improvement of an access ramp to make it compliant with accessibility guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Also, Gray said he’d like to get price quotes for pouring a concrete sidewalk along the rear of Latrobe’s Adams Memorial Library, to replace a brick walk that is old and in poor condition.

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