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Bridge club dealt a lucky hand to miss storm's wrath

The club canceled to make way for another event, thus avoiding a roof collapse caused by the big rains Feb. 3.

By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published February 12, 2006

TREASURE ISLAND - Recreation Director Cathy Hayduke asked the local bridge club to cancel its Feb. 3 meeting because an antique show was scheduled in the same building. If she hadn't made that call, the bridge club members would have been sitting underneath the roof when it collapsed during a recent torrential rainstorm.

"I realized that immediately," said Hayduke. "I was so grateful they weren't there."

For the time being, the bridge club will meet in the clubhouse at the nearby Treasure Bay recreation center. And Hayduke is busy shuffling community organizations to City Hall and other buildings. Those changes will affect the March 14 city elections as well. Treasure Island voters from precincts 406, 407, 408 and 409 will cast their ballots in the City Hall auditorium.

Meanwhile, city officials are trying to figure out why the 5-year-old roof caved in over the Garden Room.

"We just don't know," said Public Works director Don Hambidge.

"The roof was never designed to handle that kind of weight," Hambidge allowed. But, he said, it's possible drains were clogged.

Hambidge was on his way home from a beaches conference in Sarasota when actingpolice Chief Tim Casey called just after lunch to tell him about the roof.

"I knew the bridge club was supposed to be there and my heart was down in my ankles," he said.

No one was injured and city crews worked throughout the weekend to clean up the debris and cover the ceiling. When the roof fell in, it also broke a pipe for the sprinkler system, sending more water streaming into the community center.

City officials are still waiting for insurance adjusters to assess the damage.

"I don't see the city being out any money for the roof at all," Hambidge said.

The collapsed roof was part of an addition to the Community Center completed in 2001. Unlike the adjacent roof over the large meeting room, the Garden Room roof was flat with a slight pitch, designed to help drain water.

Before repairing the damaged roof, Hambidge said the city is having the original architect redesign the building to meet the newest building codes.

Hayduke said the city will lose some money from organizations that rent the Community Center. She had to return a little over $2,000 to sponsors of the antique show, that was canceled the weekend of the rain, as well as a shell show planned for the end of the month.

[Last modified February 12, 2006, 00:26:20]