It is Spring again and our parking lot islands have been cleaned up and mulched by the volunteers watching over them. We again want to extend our appreciation to them, as well as, the other volunteers who helped clean up our site on our April 2 work day. Turnout was less than last year, but we were able to accomplish about 80% of the work we had scheduled. We still have some islands available for landscape adoption, if anyone is interested to take responsibility. They include:
- The landscape strip along the sidewalk in front of the nursery
- The landscaped area in front of the multi-purpose room
- The landscaped area along the connector hall
If anyone is interested in taking on the duties of adding Spring mulch, seasonal weeding and adding seasonal flowers to beautify these areas of the churchyard, please contact Mike Arthur (Facility Manager) or the church office.
Other projects completed or undertaken, since our last report, include purchase and installation of a new ice machine in the kitchen, replacement of all water faucets with auto on/off faucets, painting of the lobby and hallways in the North Building and a new handicapped accessible water fountain, also in the North Building. We have contracted for the second phase of our security and fire alarm system upgrade. Once complete, we will have new electronic access to our building through the use of key cards instead of keys. This summer we hope to add new gutters to our pavilion and then regrade the area around the edges of the pavilion to eliminate the ponding of water after a rain.
We have been talking to contractors about our plans for the “porta-cochere” (driveway cover) at the access door of our North Building, but at this point we have been unable to secure any interest in doing our project. We also have been waiting for over 6 months for a response from the City of Dover on the approval process we will need to follow to get a Building Permit with no response. We are still hopeful that we can find a contractor and get the necessary permit this year.
Our Financial Report shows that we remain within our allotted budget ($33,800) for the year, with $19,171.75 costs to-date for the first 7 months of our Fiscal Year and we should have sufficient funds for the remaining FY (ending 8/31/2022). Likewise, we are within budget ($42,600) for our utility and insurance costs with expenses through March totaling $19,613.10. We have $52,330.73 in our major project reserve savings account, which will help pay for our security project this year and the rest of our South Building siding project next year. We also have $47,228.74 in our emergency contingency fund. In addition, members have now contributed $48,880.44 into the Future Growth Building Fund, which has enabled us to go forward and try to secure bids for the construction of our porta-cochere project.
Questions on any Building and Grounds project can be directed to Mike Arthur (Facility Manager) or any of our committee members; Holly Pfeifer, John Tullis, Jay Pearson, Robert Jones, Dave Brown, Fred Janssen, Dona Kauth and Ray Harbeson (Chair). New Committee Members or Building and Grounds email advisors are welcome at any time. Please contact Mike Arthur, Ray Harbeson or any of our pastors, if interested.