News Photo by Michael Gonzalez Atlanta’s District Health Department No. 4 enterance is pictured on Monday afternoon. Atlanta’s District Health Department No. 4 and Secretary of State offices and Ace Hardware all are closed because of a structural failure of the roof on the building they occupy.

ATLANTA — Atlanta’s District Health Department No. 4 and Secretary of State offices and Ace Hardware all are closed because of a structural failure of the roof on the building they occupy.

Montmorency County Building Inspector Tony Dawson said several of the structure’s trusses broke, which made the building unsafe. He said the owner of the property and a contractor were at the scene Monday and hatching a plan to repair the damage.

“It is an old building, which has had a lot of snow on the roof for many years and the trusses broke,” Dawson said. “It is not going to fall down, and an engineer is coming up with a drawing to fix it, which I will look at and then they can do the work. I think it could be a week or so and it could open again.”

A post on Sunday night on the Atlanta Ace Hardware Facebook page from the Clouse family, which owns the store, said the building sustained extensive structural damage to the roof and would be closed until a structural engineer could help plan out and make repairs to the building.

Cathy Goike, certified health education specialist for the Health Department, said on Monday the department learned Sunday night about the condition of the building and the need to move operations away from it, at least temporarily. She said the Health Department didn’t have a lot of details about the situation, but officials had already formulated a plan to accommodate Health Department clients.

She said clients who have appointments scheduled will be contacted and have their appointments rescheduled at the Health Department’s Alpena, Rogers City, or Cheboygan offices. Goike said staff will also be diverted to the other offices to help handle the extra work. She said Monday that officials weren’t sure how long it would have to operate out of its other facilities.

“All we know was the building was deemed unsafe and we’re still trying to find out more details,” she said. “All of our appointments and other services will run out of the other offices, at least for the time being. We’re still trying to learn more and in the planning stage, but it’s going to be a hardship for some people. ”

Dawson said that, if and when he approves the design plans for the repairs to the building, he will also inspect the work when it’s completed to make sure it is safe for the public and employees to enter.

“It has only been a few months since Ace moved in, and I can tell you they didn’t make any major renovations,” he said. “All they really did was paint and do shelves. But it is an old building. Probably 45 or 50 years old, and the weight of the snow on the flat roof probably weakened the trusses.”