A drone is helping to fix the leaky roof at the Courthouse

Still shot taken from drone video

Water leakage has been creating intermittent problems at the Winneshiek County Courthouse, but county officials have relied on a high tech solution to figure out the problem.

A drone has been used on two occasions to take video of the bell tower roof on the Courthouse, where problems with the metal cladding at the base of the tower have let in some moisture.

Now that the drone has shown county officials there are problems that need to be fixed, a contractor which can handle repairs to large buildings like the Courthouse will be hired to come to Decorah with a large crane to take a look at the bell tower and make permanent repairs--or at least an emergency repair until a permanent repair can be done.

Meanwhile, county supervisors are proceeding with plans to re-roof the Courthouse, but first are studying which of three surfaces to use--a membrane, some shingles, or architectural shingles.