Property Team Annual Report January 2006
Team Leader - Mike Bauml
This year the property team welcomed Tammy Tsiones on board as she took over the Historian Ministry. She got right to work and brought a shot of enthusiasm to the team.
I would like to thank all of the property team members for their hard work and dedication and also for putting up with my meetings and requests for reports and updates. Without their efforts many of the projects at St. Luke's would grind to a halt. At this time I would like to give a special recognition to two of our members Greg Wassilkowsky and Nick Liscowski.
For those of you who do not know, Greg was instrumental in acquiring the tower contracts for St. Luke Parish. He negotiated the deals and monitors the complicated business of cellular communications for us. I believe that without Greg we may have never built the new building. Additionally Greg contracted Com Ed and arranged for us to set up special electric lines and secured for us special rates that have saved us a lot of money on energy costs.
Nick has put in many hours behind the scenes working on various construction projects. From replacing and repairing the lights to doing wood working and trim to painting anything that we ask, Nick helps to keep things running. By using his talents he has saved St. Luke's a lot by not having to hire contractors to complete these projects.
These two individuals have done much provide financial stability to St. Luke's and deserve special recognition.
I would also like to thank those you come our for the work days that we have from time to time. There efforts allow us to not have to pay someone to do these jobs for us. In all honesty however, I have to admit that the number of volunteers for these days has been decreasing especially among our younger members. The average age for those coming to help is probably about 45 years of age. I encourage our youth to take advantage of these opportunities to give of themselves. St. Luke is their parish as well. While they may not be able to contribute financially providing "elbow grease" does in fact save the parish money.
ELEVATOR USAGE: The property team has made several copies of the elevator key and distributed them to the parish members needing one. If we missed you please let us know. It is good that we are making use of the elevator but we have had some problems. Some one apparently while moving things on the elevator broke one of the call buttons and we had to have this repaired. The cost was about 500.00. Also when using the elevator please follow these rules. If the elevator is done being used please return it to the upper level. This eliminates the open shaft and the chance that one of the children could climb up and fall down the shaft. Also there is a panic button with a live phone line to call for help. This line is active 365/24. Please be careful not to hit this button as it will call the authorities. If you do hit it someone will speak to you. Please tell them that it was activated by accident. Also when you are done with the elevator and it is in the upper position, please hit the down button to drop it an inch before removing the key. This locks the front door of the elevator and keeps children from going in the elevator and hitting the panic button.
HALL USAGE: The fellowship hall is available for use by parish members for different functions. It has in fact been reserved several times during the past year. It can be reserved by contacting Mike Bauml and is subject to certain rules and feast days and the approval of Father Andrew.
FINANCIAL STATUS: When the new building was completed, several projects were left uncompleted due to the fact that building costs were higher than anticipated and we did not qualify to receive additional funds. At first the property team had available the tower funds over and above the mortgage costs to complete these projects. Since then we voted to designate a lot of these funds to charity and the prepaying of the mortgage. While I agree with these allocations, it in effect means that there are no additional funds to complete these projects. This is the reason that from time to time we make appeals for funds for specific projects and have begun to take a building fund collection each month. I ask that you remember this and please be generous when asked to help support these projects financially.
TEAM PROJECTS COMPLETED
Purchase of 3 clean air machines to remove mold from the air for the old basement, the new basement and the church area. Waterproofing of the old basement and placement of a new tile floor matching the new basement tile. This project is underway at the time of this report and should be completed with in the next month. The waterproofing is completed and the walls have been removed. The new walls should be up shortly and then the floor can be installed. After this we will purchase shelving and organizers for the storage areas so they can be kept in a neat and orderly fashion. Installation of new water purifier in the fellowship kitchen. New candle stand for the entrance area: This is still underway. The design of the current candle stand is to be enlarged and additional cabinets constructed. The parking lot was repaired and resurfaced. All locks were rekeyed and a new alarm code established following the completion of the construction on the sacristy area.FUTURE TEAM PROJECTS:
The following list of projects are under consideration and if and when they get done will depend in large part on the availability of funds. If you have expertise and can help with any of these or if one of them is something you can contribute funds to; please let use know.
Sidewalk around the back of the building. This hopefully will be completed by Pascha. It is important that we do this as it will allow us to have our processions without going on the main street. When we process on the street, we take the risk that a careless motorist could injure or kill a portion of our congregation. New fence and gates on street side of property. We consider this a priority and have been trying to get at it for several years. The problem is one of funds. The purpose of this is two fold. One to keep the children from running out into the street and two provide a barrier against any cars that might lose control and come up onto the church property. At one point we tried to get the speed limit in front of the church reduced by were unsuccessful. We are looking at a brick and iron fence that would block the children, serve as a barrier to traffic, and beautify the grounds while matching the existing construction. A roll down window will be installed in kitchen window. Carpeting and painting the new stairways Shutters for the secretary room window. Resolve the parking lot issue with the forest preserve. Heater/ AC for Father Andrew's office: This allows for us to not heat or cool the rest of the building during the week to save money. Beautify remaining old walls on east and west sides of the building. New church sign hopefully made in the same style as the projected new fence. Keyless entry system. Repainting of the church area. This will need to be done in the near future.ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED:
Parking lot ownership: We have gained little or no ground in our discussion with the forest preserve. While we will continue to keep our options open, at this point we see little reason to think things will change in the near future. Basement Mold: Resolved with the new air purification system and the waterproofing and renovation of the old basement. Bell Tower Dome: The greening of the copper dome of the bell tower is beginning to run down the brick of the bell tower. We need to find an answer for this and possibly have the bricks cleaned in this area.Yours in Christ, Michael. S. Bauml