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 even though our Spring cleanup days were both rained out. 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 parking lot island formerly cared for by Bobbi Braksator.
If anyone is interested in adding Spring mulch, seasonal weeding and adding seasonal flowers (if desired) to beautify these areas, please contact Mike Arthur (Facility Manager) or the church office.
Since our last report the one, major project undertaken is the repair of our front door on the South Building. The door fell off its hinges due to the settlement of the concrete slab under our front entrance. Mike Arthur is working with a contractor to have the slab raised back to its original elevation and the door reset. The committee had also intended to finish the new siding project on our South Building this year, but we received only one bid far in excess of our budget for the project. The committee decided to wait another year and hopefully get more competition and better prices for the project next year. Since our annual rates for the church insurance policy increased by 62% this year, the committee also began negotiations with other insurance carriers to see if we could get a lower price or better coverage. This work is still ongoing. We also submitted a grant application through DEMA, the Delaware Emergency Management Agency, for $119,250 to fund the second phase of our security upgrade for the church. We will know if we received the grant this September.
This Spring we also rebid our Porte-cochere Project for the North Building. We received only two bids, with the lowest bid being $133,591. Although much higher than our Building Fund Balance, the committee determined that this is probably the current true cost of the project. The Session approved the committee’s request to transfer $65,500 from the church savings balance (mostly accumulated from Scott Dillon’s absence) to the Building Fund and allow the project to proceed. The contract has been signed and work will be done this summer with most activity in July and August, after VBS. Completion of the project will deplete the Building Fund and we will need to start saving again for our next Future Growth project.
Our Financial Report shows that we remain within our allotted budget ($34,500) for the year, with $14,203.13 costs to-date for the first 8 months of our Fiscal Year and we should have sufficient funds for the remaining FY (ending 8/31/2023). Likewise, we are within budget ($42,600) for our utility and insurance costs with expenses through March totaling $23,329.48. We have $66,735.61 in our major project reserve savings account, which will help pay for our South Building siding project next year. We also have $50,000 in our emergency contingency fund. In addition, members have now contributed $68,534.42 into the Future Growth Building Fund which will now all go toward the Porte-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, Bill Spady, James Markoya 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.