The Faithful Steward: Notes From Your Trustees
December 2011
Progress on Fellowship Hall
Work continues at a frantic pace for your trustees as we do our best to get Fellowship Hall, the Kitchen, and the PADS area back in operation as quickly as possible.
The good news to report is that we have completed all the base renovation work and what remains to be done now is the painting (currently under way); door replacement; carpeting, tiling, and cabinetry work; and last, selection and installation of kitchen appliances. We are very excited that this project is moving toward completion earlier than anticipated. The base renovation work was considerably more effort than first anticipated. Many thanks to our contractors, Residential Consulting & Management LLC, for the terrific job they have done.
In Fellowship Hall
The waterproofing mentioned in the last report was completed, including excavating the concrete floor all around the edge of Fellowship Hall, replacing the concrete with drain tile, and adding a runoff to the existing sump pump in the boiler room. This should eliminate the ongoing moisture problem that was evident when we removed the carpet and paneling.
New electrical circuits were added and all the old electric circuits were traced and repaired. The ceiling lighting now works as designed, with the recessed spotlights now able to be turned on and off as
desired.
The coffee area cabinets were all removed and moved to an unused storage closet at the south end of the hall; they will now be available for additional storage. We envision the least used serving plates and crystal to be stored in kitchen cabinets being relocated to this space.
The walls have all been tuck pointed, repaired, and replastered and low-voltage piping and electrical outlets added on the south wall.
In the Kitchen
This was a major effort. Everything in the Kitchen had to be dismantled and removed. All the existing gas and water lines were properly terminated and shut-off valves added. New electrical circuits were installed and the existing electrical lines removed and replaced where necessary. Our camera work on the drains found that two of our drains from the dishwasher and the sink were crushed, and runoff was basically seeping into the soil. We had to excavate the concrete around these pipes, remove all the contaminated soil, put in new four inch drain pipes, and re-lay the concrete floor around them. The only good news was that the main drain does connect directly to the street sewer and its pipe is in good shape. We replaced all the ceiling lighting fixtures with new, up-to-code fixtures with enclosed light bulbs.
In the PADS Area
All the fixtures and cabinetry were removed in the PADS kitchen and bathrooms. Plumbing was repaired and replaced where necessary. The lighting and exhaust fans in the bathrooms have been removed and replaced with new. New electrical circuits were added so that now plugging in a microwave in the PADS kitchen will no longer blow a fuse! All the accordion doors were found to be barely functional and in bad shape; some were only staying upright due to the fact that they were resting on the floor. All were removed, the ceiling above them strengthened with proper blocking, and all rehung so they now hang above the floor. The large, extremely heavy folding walls that separated the PADS area from Fellowship Hall could not be saved. They were removed and will be replaced by new accordion doors similar to the ones used for dividing the other areas.
Current Activity
As painting continues on the walls and ceiling, all the doors into Fellowship Hall are being reworked to allow them to be closed properly and meet fire safety requirements. We continue to evaluate where to use tile as opposed to carpet on the flooring; we are evaluating proposals for the Kitchen appliances; and we are working on selecting carpet and tile color.
All this work has to be paid for and we believe the insurance will only cover a little more than a third of the total costs. The Board of Trustees has opened a line of credit with Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney, the bank that currently holds the church’s endowment money. We will draw on the account as needed to get the work completed. We have provided Session with options to recover this financing—more to come on this in the coming months. The trustees feel strongly that the work we are doing is all very necessary. We have spent considerable time looking into various options to help reduce the costs and are very mindful of the total expense burden to the church. These areas of the church are some of the most used and we want to make sure they are a pleasing and functional space for years to come.
