April 2024: Winter Storms, Spring Work Day, Gutters, and Steeple work.

I have been reluctant to put away the snow shovels, salt buckets, and snowblower. Call me superstitious, but I did not want to be blamed for the last season snowstorm. Who knows? My thinking about it may have been enough to cause the last storm. We seemed to have been spared any significant storm issues this time. With an abundance of caution, I think I will hold off on storing winter things until the planned workday on April 21! I'm thinking, "My God is an awesome God ... ," and surely would not send us snow after that date. Then again, as they say south of the Rio Grande, Texas, and points north, "Quien sabe?"

Regarding April 21, I am coordinating with Scott Carson to come up with a list of achievable tasks suitable for work inside and outside. As Scott mentioned in his recent item in the Sunday bulletin, we would like to get several outside tasks done, so let us all anticipate a nice warm, dry spring day. If that does not come to pass, we will direct our attention inward ... inside, that is.

The Thursday Group has been trying to schedule an outdoor task to install some rain gutters near the main entry. We have rescheduled the work a couple of times so far, and weather continues to be a challenge. The good news is we have not had any recent basement water issues as we try to get this work done. It all seems to come down to how hard it rains and for how long ... more of that "Awesome God" thing!

We have received three contractor quotes for the work to clean and paint our steeple, clean and stain the exterior wood around the sanctuary and main entry, and to pressure wash the vinyl siding around the entire building. I have reviewed the quotes and recommended one of them to council for their consideration and approval. The cost is well within the funds approved at the last congregational meeting. This work could start as early as June and will take about five days to complete. To avoid any cost increases for crane rental for the steeple work, we will need to do our best to give the contractor access to our facility for about five continuous days. If we cause a delay, the added cost could fall on us. I anticipate that they will be flexible and work with us on the scheduled start date which will likely be controlled by the crane availability. I am excited about this work. I love the steeple, but it has gotten shabby and needs a good cleaning and paint job!

Some of you have mentioned the missing lighting on one side and at the top of the stained-glass window. These lights are installed to make our beautiful window visible to passers-by at night. When the sanctuary is in use at night, the normal room lighting makes the window visible outside. The lights installed around the inside of the window make it visible outside when the normal room lighting is not in use. After some trial and error over the years, we were able to find a LED fixture with strong enough lighting to penetrate our stained-glass window, and we installed one on each side of the window. One of these fixtures has failed and we are seeking a replacement. Unfortunately, the bulb in the incandescent fixture at the top of the window has burned out and we have not replaced it because of a safety concern with doing this work from an extension ladder. I believe the best course of action is to wait for the new replacement LED fixture and then, at a future date, replace and relocate the incandescent fixture at the top of the window so all of the window lights can be safely replaced when they fail. Of course, we could bring in a lift to safely change the incandescent bulb, but I do not think this can be justified. In the event we encounter a need for a lift for other more urgent work in the sanctuary, we can consider working on the incandescent at that time. In effect, this is an abandon-in-place option, i.e., just leave it there with a failed bulb until we are in position to remove it.

David Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro-tempore)

March 21, 2024: The Arrival of Spring

With the arrival of spring the Property Team's emphasis will be shifting to outside work. We will be working with Scott Carson again to coordinate a spring workday to tackle some of the normal spring tasks to get the winter debris off the grass, clean up the various garden areas, trim some bushes, do some mulching and other typical spring grounds work. More information about the workday will be provided as we get the details pulled together.

There is more on the spring to-do-list as well. It will soon be time to put up the tent again. We will be putting away the snow shovels and salt buckets, breaking out the water hoses, de-gassing and storing the snowblower, and putting our lawn mowing equipment back in service for the season. As soon as the ground around our church sign at the Spaulding will support truck traffic, we will have a contractor in to complete a routine interior and exterior inspection of our sign. We will ask our snow removal contractor to come in and do some repair and seeding of turf damaged during the winter plow season.

Over the past several weeks we have been able to make some significant progress to address clutter and storage issues in a couple of locations in the building. A significant quantity of unnecessary materials has been removed, and the basement and one of our attic spaces are neater and safer as a result. As part of this work, we donated three sets of roll-away bookcases to the Restore. There is always more work to be done inside, including window washing, various tasks in the kitchen area, resolution of some lighting issues in the sanctuary, and other things as they arise. We will continue with the inside tasks as time and resources permit.

Once again, we are in the process of gathering bids to clean and paint the steeple, clean and stain the exposed exterior wood around the sanctuary and main entry, and to pressure wash the exterior siding around the entire building. The first of four expected bids has been received and all bids should be received in the next week or so. You may recall that we obtained some bids for most of this scope last year and funds were approved for the work. Those bids were not accepted and are no longer applicable. The previously approved funding may or may not be sufficient, given the passage of time and new bidders. The goal is to complete this exterior building maintenance work this summer.

We would like to replace rain gutters and down-spouts to the right of the main entry. Historically, gutters in this location have been a problem because of the steep roof and winter ice buildup on the gutters. Many years ago, the gutters in this area were severely damaged by ice loading and were removed. Thereafter, substantial water collects along the building foundation after heavy rains and often results in water intrusion in the basement. Contractors tend to have little interest in small gutter jobs such as this, so we have gathered information on material costs and availability and plan to do this work ourselves. If weather cooperates, we plan to complete this work before the end of March and, hopefully, before we are challenged by April rains. I consider this work to be an interim solution that may or may not solve the problem. The cost for the interim work is very modest, probably $400 or so, and is worth trying.

I was made aware that we have recently had all of our available handicap parking spaces filled and another vehicle seeking handicap parking. We will be looking into providing more spaces near the main entry. David Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro-tempore)

February 15, 2024: Storage Barn repairs, Cleaning in the Sanctuary, and removing clutter.

This time of year the weather dictates that nearly all of the property work involves inside tasks such as cleaning, painting, selected repairs and maintenance, and work to minimize or reduce clutter around the building. We will be working on selected aspects of such items to the extent time and people resources are available.

We continue to be blessed with a skilled and professional volunteer, Jim McKenna, who keeps our heating system in good working order. We are so fortunate to have his experience and skills available to us. I am typically reluctant to call out a volunteer by name, but in this case I think it is completely appropriate to do so. Many thanks to Jim for all his work on the heating system throughout the year.

We were recently able to complete some repairs to one of the doors for the storage barn and to do some sod repair near the storage barn doors to allow proper operation of the doors to get access to equipment such as the snow-blower when needed. Outside work this time of year is rare and an exception to the tasks inside the building.

Over the past several weeks the Property Team has been working on general cleaning, vacuuming and stain removal for chairs in the sanctuary. This work tends to be time consuming and the team is using this experience to see if we can find better methods to get it done. This is a task that may be more suitable for a cleaning service that has the requisite experience and equipment. The team invested some time on cleaning of the tile and grout on the dais at the alter and learned this was also a task better left to professionals. We used Stanley Steemer ... yep, it is steemer, not steamer ... to successfully clean and seal the tile and grout on the dais as well as the tile and grout in the kitchen. Stanley Steemer also cleaned the carpet in the sanctuary and could be a good choice to clean the chairs in the future.

We are always seeking to eliminate clutter, reduce safety hazards and minimize potential fuel for fires. Accordingly, the Property Team has recently been working to get rid of items that appear to be unusable, unused or no longer serviceable. So far we been concentrating on the basement, including the work room in anticipation of doing some floor painting later in the year. We will also be looking at other areas of the building, including storage areas, to see if there are unneeded items that can be removed. We encourage the various individuals and teams in the congregational who may have materials of various kinds stored in the building to review their holdings to see if any of it can be removed. Please contact the Property Team if you have items that can be eliminated and you need assistance in doing so. On occasion, we may spot items that appear to be likely candidates for removal and will make a reasonable effort to find an appropriate team or individual for confirmation before we remove it.

Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro tempore)

January 18, 2024: Adapting to the Status Quo

The Property Team has a "To-do" list (link attached) which is regularly evolving and adapting to the status quo. This edition of the Property Team Tidings presents some thoughts on the list in general as well as some related thoughts ...Riding an iceberg ... A mental image ... A snapshot in time!

As I prepared to write this article for the Tidings, I was trying to think of a single image that might give the reader a sense of my current impression of things in the property sphere at Holy Trinity. All manner of images came to mind, including but not limited to Sisyphus perpetually pushing that giant rock up a hill. I eventually settled on an iceberg as a suitable image. In my mind's eye the portion of the iceberg exposed above the water represents the known, identified property tasks to be addressed at any given time. The much larger underwater portion of the iceberg represents the unseen, unknown property tasks waiting to be identified and addressed. What I find interesting about an iceberg is its typical life cycle. It is born by breaking off of a large ice source ... think glacier ... and floats around mostly harmless, out of sight and mind except for some high impact, high visibility cases ... think Titanic ... where they demand some attention. In my image a smallish cadre of individuals are riding along with the exposed portion of the iceberg, chipping away at the ice and working to diminish it. They chip where they feel it is best to chip at any given time, but there is so much to chip, it is very difficult to pick a spot or even prioritize where to chip. One piece of ice looks pretty much like every other piece of ice when there is so much of it! And for each unit of ice that can be removed, an equal unit of ice rises from the depths to replace it!

The strength and weakness of the iceberg analogy lie in the rest of its life cycle. We know that the iceberg eventually melts away, and no matter how much time and effort is expended on it, it disappears naturally with time. The strength of the analogy is that it depicts what I often think of as "time-sort". Time has a way of sorting out what is and is not important. For example, a task on the Property Team "to-do" list ... our own little iceberg ... includes replacement of rain gutters on one side of the main entry to the church. These gutters were damaged by winter ice and snow load years ago and were removed thinking they were not really needed. The gutter replacement task has remained in time-sort for these many years. Periodically, we have some water intrusion issues in the basement, most recently last week, to remind us of why the gutters were installed in the first place. If the basement water problem had not arisen, the gutter replacement task may well have died in time-sort. The down side to time-sort is the tendency to minimize or obscure the importance or significance of some items on the to-do list. Some items will, in fact, disappear with time, but others will come back to haunt us if they are not resolved in some reasonable time period.

Someone once suggested to me that to-do lists will always grow with time because there are always more folks thinking of items for the list than there are folks to do whatever is needed to get items off the list. There is certainly some truth to that observation. As I have suggested many times over the past few years, we have very limited resources to work down our to-do list, but we keep riding our iceberg to wherever it is bound. Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (Pro Tempore)

November 16, 2023: Ideas for a new concept for the Property Team

My first written communication to the congregation regarding my desire to give up my position as Property Team leader was in my contribution for the Property Team for the annual meeting in 2021. Much has happened in the nearly three years since that time. Yes, you read that correctly … nearly three years!

The number of volunteers addressing property matters in and around the building has continued to be small by past standards. Although, ongoing appeals for more volunteers to commit to regular or ad hoc membership for the team have been mostly ineffective, the more obvious work such as grounds maintenance and work to keep selected spaces neat and tidy has continued to be accomplished with our tiny team of volunteers. But, any time I look through the detailed listing of tasks needing to be done on a regular basis, it is obvious that property management at Holy Trinity has declined significantly over the years and much of that decline has happened on my watch. It is well past time for a change and fresh approaches.

It is clear to me that what worked well in the past, no longer works for us. Times have changed. People have changed. When I first got involved with the Property Team circa 2002, we regularly had a dozen or more folks working on various property team tasks on a given Thursday morning. We could take on about any task that was needed and for which we had the skills to pull it off. How that has changed! A few months ago Scott Carson suggested periodic work days after Sunday services as a means of addressing some of the lingering property needs and to provide an additional social interaction for the congregation. More recently Bobbie Febbo suggested the same thing. I thought it was a great idea, and Scott agreed to organize the first one which was done this past Sunday, November 12. And what a success it was! Much was accomplished inside and outside the building, and a fine lunch was enjoyed by the volunteers. I did not count heads, but I would say there were 20-25 folks, maybe more. Many thanks to Scott and Leslie for putting it all together. This certainly proves that we have volunteers who are willing to work on property matters after church services. Maybe it is time to retire the Thursday Morning concept and move on to what seems to work better. That is something for my replacement to address. As I said before, the time for that change is well past due.

Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro tempore).

October 12, 2023: "It's time for me to move on"

Many years ago, before we moved to New Hampshire, Martha and I and friends from Pittsburgh, PA paid a visit to the former pastor of our first Lutheran church in Pittsburgh. Our former pastor was a graduate of Thiel College in Greenville, PA and was on the faculty of the college at the time before moving on to the faculty at Gettysburg Theological Seminary. Knowing we were all big fans of the Thiel College Choir, he had invited us to visit Thiel and take in a concert by the choir. The venue for the event was, as I thought at the time, Theiloff Center, or that was the name I recalled the pastor telling us years before our visit. Little did we know he was just setting us all up for a future laugh. As it happens, the venue was a large concert venue seating, perhaps, a thousand or so folks. The building was basically hemispherical in shape with a high, open ceiling not unlike our sanctuary. The ceiling featured a grid of large interlocking patterns which, on casual inspection, did not seem to quite line up with itself. The fact was that in the final construction of the building the uppermost section of the hemisphere was placed about 30 degrees out of position and the error was not noticed until it became impractical to correct it. So the facility who's official name was the Theil Center became playfully and unofficially known thereafter as the Thiel Off-Center. For nearly any performance attendee, the error was out of sight and out of mind and had no negative impact on the functionality of the venue. I imagine the facility manager was one of a few people that saw it, but for nearly everyone who saw it, it was just a scotoma, something that we see, but it does not register ... a blind spot.

As the Property Team leader for many years, I can attest to how difficult it is to walk into our building and just enjoy the surroundings without taking notice of things demanding attention ... things that are broken, cracked, scuffed, missing, non-functional, unsightly, unsafe, out of compliance, or whatever. With time, it becomes increasingly difficult to overlook property issues and just enjoy a service or gathering. I can't tell you how much I worried and fretted over the filthy, non-functional ceiling fan in the sanctuary! You may or may not have noticed that a new fan has now been installed and I can focus my mind on something else. And there is always something else. For me, at least, there are very few scotomas to put some of the property matters out of mind. If you cannot put some or most of these things out of mind, the ongoing reminders tend to weigh on a person. That is why, in part, it is time for me to move on. The congregation needs someone with a fresh and vigorous approach to lead the property team. Steve Bauer's recent Tidings article on the transition of the Property Team offers starting points to move forward. I hope all of you will offer your support and suggestions to Steve.

Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (Pro tempore)

September 2023: Finding a new model to maintain our property

Our long period of transition has come to an end with the return of Pastor Luther Ziegler as our full time minister. There is one important transition left for us to address– Property Team.

Holy Trinity has been extremely fortunate to have Dave Mercer as the leader of the Property Team. Dave has help guide many volunteers in maintaining our building in good condition. Thank you for the members of our congregation who take part in Thursday Morning Group which perform tasks inside and outside of our church and help prepare our sanctuary for the various season of our church year as does our Altar Guild. In addition other members perform tasks that might otherwise require outside help. There are many members of Holy Trinity keeping us going. There are many volunteers to maintain our church.

Here is the hard part- transitioning Dave Mercer away from director of Property Team. He is a very tough person to replace. It maybe impossible to replace Dave with any single individual. How do we move forward in maintaining our property without Dave Mercer?

Here are some ideas of how this might occur.

A. Any person stepping forward to help should be for a specific period of time.

B. The various tasks need to be divided among different people. An example might be for one person to handle Thursday Morning Group, someone else might periodically inspect the property to see if everything is functioning as it should, and someone else might be able contact contractors to do tasks that need to be done.

C. There needs to be a way that individuals might volunteer to do tasks on their own time schedules . D. IS IT TIME FOR HOLY TRINITY TO HIRE A PROPERTY MANAGER TO OVERSEE AND MAINTAIN OUR PROPERTY? Has our building and grounds become too complex to be handled by volunteers?

There maybe no magic answer and I sure there are other ideas of how to maintain our property.

It is an important topic and one that requires our thoughts, ideas and prayers. Each of us needs to think about how we maintain our beautiful Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. At some point in the future our congregation needs to come up with solutions.

Steven Bauer

August 2023: Seeking Bids for Repairs and Replacements

Martha and I have been away this past week. On returning home Sunday evening we were surprised to see more than seven inches of water in our garden rain gauge! That's a lot, and I have not been into church yet to see if we had any water in the basement. For whatever reason, I have yet to see water on the basement floor this summer. Given all the rain this season, I would have expected to see some water intrusion. Perhaps something has changed below grade around our foundation and water hasn't risen to the known entry point about half way up the basement wall. Time will tell.

Last week when I was in Ohio and anticipating a small-ish Thursday Morning Group, my weekly email to the group recommended we cancel our regular Thursday gathering for the week. Much to my surprise, the Thursday folks had a better idea and went ahead with things. We even had some new faces to lend a hand. Thank you Dick and Yvonne Topping and thanks to the regulars who chose to ignore my offering of a day off. You are all the best! "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". Who said that?

Since my last report, Portsmouth Sign Company completed a routine inspection of our new sign on the Spaulding Turnpike side of our property. They found no problems with bulbs, no indications of electrical issues, and no indications of water intrusion. They removed the lifting lugs at the top of the sign per my request and sealed the bolt holes. This should have been done when the sign was initially installed. They found and repaired a damaged (bent) track at the top of the sign which was preventing one of the sign panels from seating properly in its track and could have allowed water entry for some extreme weather conditions such as wind-blown rain or snow. They also observed a grouping of bubbles within the material for one of sign panels. These bubbles do not appear to show up when the sign is lit at night and is likely to be a stable condition that will not worsen with time. At this point, I do not plan to pursue any relief within the warranty provisions. We can continue to monitor the situation in future inspections and pursue warranty provisions if the situation begins to impact functionality.

In my Tidings article for June I provided information of potential projects to be funded from the $15,000 approved for such projects at the last congregational meeting. Projects included:

1. Steeple refurbishment
2. Staining of the exposed wood trim around the main entry and the soffit area around the outside of the sanctuary
3. Replacement of the ceiling fan in the sanctuary
4. Repair/replacement of the skylight windows in the sanctuary
5. Repair/replacement of up to three exterior fire doors

Since that time, I have been actively seeking bids for item 3, the ceiling fan replacement, but have yet to obtain any acceptable bids. To date, potential bidders have been unrealistically low, did not show up to evaluate the job, or have not replied at all. It is a small, but complex job, and bidders do not seem to be excited by the prospect of working on it. They seem interested at first ... just a fan replacement ... but the fan being 40 feet above the floor and 30 feet above a large hanging chandelier seems to put them off a bit! Wimps!

Regarding item 4, I have decided not to pursue this work at this time. We can work around the issue (spurious closure). The potential vendors to work this job (including Velux, the window manufacturer) have little or no interest in resolving the problem with the existing windows and consider the windows to be beyond their expected useful lifetime. Also, parts for these windows are difficult to find. I am convinced that the problem involves a malfunction in the control unit, and will continue to seek a replacement unit.

Regarding item 5, I requested the Newington Fire Department to come in and check out all of our fire doors. They pointed out to me that the problematical doors were, in fact, not fire doors, but emergency exit doors. Of course, these doors still have to open properly, but the closure requirements were less restrictive than fire doors. I have also had a contractor come in to work on the problem doors so that they can be opened, closed and latched. The fire department does a complete walk-through of the building annually to check on all of the fire safety features. The next walk-through is scheduled for August 24. Unless the fire department has additional issues with our doors, I will conclude we do not need to consider major door repair or replacement at this time.

All that said, it now appears that we only need to pursue items 1, 2, and 3. I am inclined to accept a bid for $7200 to complete items 1 and 2, and will recommend to council that we proceed with this work promptly while the weather remains amenable to outside work. My best guess is that item 3 can be completed for something in the range of $1500-$2000, although I have yet to receive a realistic bid for the work. I will continue seeking bids for this work which can be done later in the year if need be since the work will be done indoors. The total for these three items will be well below the the $15,000 approved.

Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro-tempore)

July 2023: An unusual summer for the Property Team

It has been an unusual spring and summer period for the Property Team. Normally, our outside work would have slowed down quite a bit by July, but that has not been the case this year. The ongoing wet year has kept things growing vigorously and has presented a challenge to keep up with our normal grounds work. This year our numbers and capabilities have been reduced due to physical impairments and other matters, but we have been blessed with support from summer volunteers. I especially want to thank Scott Carson who has generously given up many hours of his summer vacation from his teaching position to help us out in this busy period. Martha was a teacher for many years, so I know just how precious this summer vacation time is for a teacher. Thank you Scott! You are the best!

I recently invited the Newington Fire Department to come in to review the various fire and emergency doors in our building. The review went well and I have better insight into the door requirements. The Fire Department suggested we keep one of our normally open interior doors near the kitchen closed except for normal passage. We will add appropriate signage and, perhaps, a closer on this door to encourage compliance. There is another interior door into the basement that should also have a door closer. We will add these tasks to our work list. I recently had a contractor in to complete some repairs to two exterior emergency exit doors, and I also changed the lock hardware on a third emergency exit door to bring the doors into code compliance. The fire department also pointed out that some combustible materials stored in the back emergency stairway from the second floor should be removed. The Property Team will take care of this as well.

I am continuing to solicit bids for some work I discussed at the congregational meeting in June. I have bids for the steeple painting and for staining of the exterior wood around the main entry and sanctuary. I am in the process seeking a contractor to replace the ceiling fan in the sanctuary. I am hopeful that the steeple work, staining work, and fan replacement work can be completed this summer or early fall. The fan replacement project is a small job, but relatively complex due to its location, and I am seeing limited interest so far from contractors, particularly those who deal mostly with residential work.

I have retained Portsmouth Sign Company to complete the first periodic inspection of our new highway sign. This is a routine inspection recommended by the manufacturer and is scheduled for July 25. I anticipate completing two such routine inspections each year. The inspections will focus on any water intrusion issues, failed bulbs, and component degradation. This work requires a boom truck and specific knowledge of sign component details, so it is not suitable work for property team volunteers.

Dave Mercer, Property team Leader (pro tempore)

June 2023: Bids

Some bids discussed at the congregational meeting on June 11 are provided in the material that follows below.

Scope: Clean and paint the steeple

Robert Morgan Company of Errol, NH $8100 (gold paint option) $9900 (gold leaf option) (Two options for treatment of cross and globe, one with gold paint, one with gold leaf)

LFP Company of Boston, MA $4425 (quoted only gold paint option)

Jovet Pros of Fall River, MA $4050 (quoted only gold paint option)

Scope: Clean and re-stain the exposed stained wood structures around the soffit area of the sanctuary and around the main entrance to the church.

LFP Company of Boston, MA $3370 (see note 2)

Jovet Pros of Fall River, MA $5200 (see note 2)

Notes:

1. Robert Morgan Company has been around since 1906 and specializes in church steeple and building restoration work. The bid is from October 2021 and would have to be updated. The bid is higher in part because their approach is to build a scaffold structure to gain access to the steeple. Correspondence with them indicates they plan the coming season's work early in the winter, so they may or may not be available to do this work in 2023. The other two bidders would use an aerial lift to get access to the steeple. These are smaller companies that do mostly smaller scale residential and commercial remodel and restoration. LFP has experience with church steeple work. Jovet is a new company with no specific church steeple experience, but the principal for this company has some church steeple experience in 13 years with a previous company. Review of these companies is continuing. Both LFP and Jovet are available to complete the work in the 2023 season.
2. I asked both LFP and Jovet to quote the two scopes separately. Jovet initially provided a quote of $7200 to do both scopes. When I asked Jovet to break this total down into a quote for each scope, they provided $4050 or the steeple scope and $5200 for the soffit and entry staining scope, for a total of $9250. Jovet also confirmed that they would do both scopes for a total of $7200 (in other words, a volume discount of $2050). LFP has confirmed that their quotes apply to either one or both of the work scopes (total of $7795)
3. After the congregational meeting, a member of the congregational suggested another potential bidder for consideration. I am attempting to get bids for the steeple and soffit scopes from this company as well.

There are other work scopes for which I will be seeking bids with a goal of getting some additional work done in 2023. The congregational meeting approved a total of $15,000 for unbudgeted 2023 property maintenance and repair work such as the refurbishment work on the steeple, the stained exterior work around the sanctuary, and others that I discussed. In accordance with the approval at the meeting, council will still have to approve the work for each identified scope as I receive bids, select a service provider, and propose the work to the council. My goal is to present bids for the following additonal work scopes:

1. Replacement of the ceiling fan in the sanctuary
2. Repair or replacement of the two skylight windows in the sanctuary
3. Repair or replacement of up to three fire doors

The ceiling fan in the sanctuary is not functioning and is very dirty as can be observed from the floor. The operational problem could be the remote control receiver unit in the fan itself, but this is not certain. The fan has been in service for about thirty years, so it makes little sense to pay for an aerial lift and a service technician to diagnose, repair, and clean it. Given its age, it makes more sense to replace it.

I have previously advised the congregational that the skylight windows above the ceiling fan are not fully operable. These windows are motor operated by remote switch and closed either manually from a remote switch or automatically if a remote sensor detects rain. There is a malfunction of some sort in the overall window controls that causes the windows to close a few seconds after they are opened to either a partial or full-open positon. I have spoken to the manufacturer as well as two local service companies. They have no suggestions on a cause or corrective action. Given the age of the windows, parts availability and time in service, they recommend replacement. Because of the uncertainty for the controls, I have kept the windows closed and removed power from the windows. We do have a work-around if we decide to open the windows … for example, to get hot air out of the sanctuary during particulary warm periods. The windows can be powered, opened to any desired position, and then de-powered again before the controls spuriously close them. We would have to remember to power them again and close them after each use.

We have two, possibly three, exterior fire doors that are marginally functional in terms of Life Safety Code requirements. I have been successful in keeping these doors operable and they have periodic inspections by the Newington Fire Department, but it has been an ongoing challenge. A qualified door expert may or may not be able to repair them, so replacement may be in order for these doors.

With all of this having been said, I doubt if the just-approved $15,000 will be sufficient to address all five of these issues, so my plan will be to get the quotes for all five, make a recommendation on a service provider, take a position on priorities, and present the recommendations to council for their consideration. I know that some may apply the old razor, “Out of sight, out of mind” so there might be a tendency to push for resolution to the highly visible matters such as the steeple and the ceiling fan. That thinking may not serve us well. We don't typically see functionality issues with fire doors, but the ramifications are very important and consequential. I would tend to give the fire door issue highest priority and cosmetic issues lowest priority, but priorities are ultimately a council matter.

Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro-tempore)

May 2023: Just a snapshot in time!

Spring and early summer are always a busy times for the property team. There is the normal cleanup of winter debris and such around the grounds as well as the mowing, trimming, pruning, garden care and other routine lawn and garden tasks. As always, we continue to be heavily reliant on our property team volunteers. In practical terms this means the degree to which the team can tend to what needs to be done is dictated by the number of volunteers available at any given time. Each spring we also know we are competing with Holy Trinity members and friends who often have these same tasks to do around their own properties. The team is grateful for the regulars who serve nearly every week with the Thursday Group, and also grateful for those who lend a hand as they can on Thursday or at other times as their situations allow. Some things we will be addressing in the near-term as resources allow include:

• Getting our lawn mowers serviced
• Raising the tent
• Obtaining a service provider to complete routine maintenance on our new highway sign
• Disposing of a basketball backboard, basket, pole and hardware (Available for free to anyone who may be interested ... we can deliver!)
• Obtaining quotes for cleaning and staining exposed exterior wood around the sanctuary and main entrance
• Obtaining quotes for repair of two exterior fire doors
• Obtaining quotes for cleaning and painting of the steeple
• Complete carpet cleaning in selected areas
• And ... and ... and

There is always something on the list to do.

Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader, pro tempore

April 2023: Property Team Tasks

Late in 2021 I let it be known that I would like to retire from my position as leader of the Property Team. A replacement has yet to be found. About a year or so ago I was asked to put together a listing of the various duties for the Property Team to serve as guidance for the next team leader. Over the years I have tried to characterize what the team does, but not in the detail needed to shed meaningful light on the nature and scope of things. I sent the first detailed task description to council in May 2022 and I have just updated the document which is attached with my report to Tidings this time around. Read Here.

I know it is not a particularly effective tool to recruit a replacement because it certainly has the potential to discourage potential candidates. There is a lot to take care of for sure, and these days our numbers force us to let some things slide. We have some wonderful and dedicated property volunteers, but I no longer have the time or energy to do all the things an effective team leader needs to be doing. It is time for a change. Perhaps one of you readers will be inspired to step forward with fresh insights and energy for the team.

Dave Mercer

March 2023: Who are the Thursday Morning Group?

From time-to-time I find it necessary to remind everyone what the Property Team is and how it works. For whatever reason the congregation has generally adopted or accepted the view that the Thursday Morning Group and the Property Team are one in the same … just different labels. I imagine this view persists regardless of my occasional crusades to clarify the point because the Thursday Morning Group is the most visible of the overall components of the Property Team. It is also true that the Thursday Morning Group in its earlier days was substantially larger than today and would have been even more visible working on various property projects on Thursday Morning and at other times as well. This past history probably also contributes to the label confusion. The problem with the label today is that is does not serve us well in as much as it fails to recognize significant and valuable property work done by property volunteers that provide their service primarily, and even exclusively, at other days and times as best suits their individual preferences and availabilities.

Property Team is the proper and appropriate label for what our overall body of property volunteers do. The Thursday Morning Group is what it is … a subset of property volunteers that choose to do their volunteer work primarily, but not exclusively, on Thursday mornings. The Thursday Morning Group is an important and vital part of the Property Team, but the Property Team has a much broader scope. When you give it some thought, it is clear that the Thursday Morning Group must limit its scope to work that is amenable to the short period of time when they are gathered each Thursday. Often projects such as painting and others cannot be completed in a couple of hours and can be disruptive to church activities if left in a partially completed state. Some basic property tasks can take days, not hours, to complete. A few years ago, the Property Team took on the task of getting the exposed aggregate floor in the sanctuary cleaned. Even using a professional cleaning service to do the cleaning work, a significant team of property volunteers was needed to move the chairs in the sanctuary. The work was done over a period of about three days, during which time the sanctuary and gathering areas were not available for normal use. This is just one example of a Property Team task that would have been impractical for the Thursday Morning Group to tackle. Other examples include the removal of the old organ and related rearrangement of the sanctuary, reconfiguration of the Wiggle Room and creation of a new conference room, oversight of the parking lot maintenance work, and oversight of the installation of the new church sign. These days it is also not unusual to have more tasks to do than can reasonably be done by the Thursday Morning Group alone. Also, some property tasks, such as maintenance of the heating system, require specialty experience that the Thursday Morning Group does not typically have available. That's where the balance of available property volunteers step in to do their thing, on their schedule, as time permits. Property volunteers may work individually or in teams or groups as the needs of a given task may dictate.

The point of this whole discussion is not to resolve some fine point regarding a team description or terminology. The more important message is that the various property related tasks needed to keep our building and grounds operational, safe, and presentable require a wide range of volunteers, sometimes working in conjunction with professional outside service providers. The needs vary with the seasons, but there is always something to be addressed. We are not a standing team with regular team meetings or the typically trappings of a team. Everyone involved in this effort is part of the Property Team. The number of volunteers who self-identify with this team effort today is smaller than it has been in many years. If you are such a volunteer, I personally offer my thanks to you on behalf of the congregation. If you are not involved with the Property Team, but may be interested in helping in some manner, I would be interested in discussing possibilities with you. David Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro tempore).

February 2023: Cleaning Tasks around our Building

For this Tidings contribution I want to feature an aspect of Property Team work that can easily go unnoticed. Nearly every Thursday morning, property team volunteers work on a variety of tasks to make our building, inside and out, as neat, tidy, and presentable as can be reasonably done given time and people resource limitations. I know that many of you assume these matters are taken care of by the congregation's professional cleaning service, but that is not the case. Many cleaning tasks are outside the scope of our cleaning service. Thursday Group volunteers regularly clean up discarded paper and other items left in the Sanctuary, clean furnishings in the Sanctuary, clean the glass doors at the Sanctuary entrance, clean doors and windows at the main church entry, and the entry doors on the office side of the building. The group also targets cleaning of all windows, inside and out, twice each year. The Thursday also regularly does what is needed to keep the kitchen, kitchen cabinets, refrigerators, stoves and other items neat and tidy. From time to time the group does cleaning in other parts of the building that are not in the scope of the cleaning service (stairwells, basement, classrooms, offices). In season, some of these same volunteers also work outside on plants, flowers, and other grounds tasks.

We are a group of equal opportunity volunteers. We do not have a list of work for men and a list for women, although some types of work seems to fall more heavily on one or the other. In the spirit of full disclosure the vast majority of work in the cleaning category discussed above has fallen on the women and we all need to thank them for their service and ongoing contributions. David Mercer, Property Team Leader (Pro Tempore)

January 2023: That pesky virus. Advent. Christmas. Epiphany. Steeple Lights.

Although I dutifully got my recommended vaccine shots and boosters, I suppose it was inevitable that I would have to do battle with the COVID-19 virus sooner or later. I tested positive in December. It was a mild case, but I was unable to work with Thursday Group for a couple of weeks. Some other of our regulars also were hit with the virus, so our numbers were impacted. Still, the team was able to get the seasonal decorations up on schedule and to get them down and stored as well. How about a shout out to the "Who Does What, When" document which we regularly follow to keep the right things happening at the right time.

Council has agreed to proceed with the work to replace two failed LED light fixtures for illumination of the steeple. As I mentioned in Tidings last month, these light fixtures have been out of service for a long time, possibly as a result of the lightning strike and power surge we experienced in 2020. It is also possible that these LED units were knocked out by a separate lightning event. It is difficult to establish when the lights failed. I have been aware of this for quite some time, but I have to say no-one has mentioned the problem to me. Our electrician/contractor told us that the power supplies/controls for these units clearly showed indications of overheating consistent with a power surge of some sort. The units are out of warranty at this point. We will evaluate whether or not any portion of the repair cost of $800 is covered by insurance.

Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro tempore)

December 2022: The normal routine and also seasonal decorations, pear trees, replacement lighting.

It has been a challenging fall season for the Property Team. Our numbers on any given week have been limited for various reasons, yet we have managed to take care of most of the basic tasks on our plate. The normal, inside routine of tidying up things here and there has continued. A few burned out light bulbs remain to be changed as time permits. Nearly all of our bulb replacements involve a ladder of some sort, and sometimes, a reach rod. The ceiling fan in the sanctuary is currently out of service, most likely because of a communication problem between the remote control unit and the signal receiver unit in the fan. We are working on a solution. The problem and trouble-shooting are aggravated by distance since the fan unit and remote are at about the maximum recommended distance apart. If any of you readers have experience resetting fan control receivers and/or remote controls, please contact me. I suppose the good news is the fan light is now out! The added bad news is that the very dirty fan blades are now visible for all to see and we are also trapping nice warm air at the top of the sanctuary.

The lawn equipment has been winterized and stored, and the snow removal contract has been signed. The snow-blower has been test started and we have stabilized fuel ready to use. We should be ready for the inevitable snow. Some outside grounds work did not get done before winter this year and will have to wait for spring. I can't recall that happening before. We do what we can reasonably do, given our numbers.

You may have noticed two new, decorative pear trees recently planted near the lighted information sign and the prayer garden. These trees have replaced two older and larger decorative fruit trees that had become diseased and were progressively failing. The replacements were generously provided by Byrl Short and installed by Byrl's son, David, who operates Stratham Circle Nursery.

We have been gradually putting up seasonal decorations as the Advent season has progressed. To date this has included garlands, bows, door wreaths, and the Chrismon Tree.

A portion of the exterior lighting unit above the main entry doors failed requiring replacement of the entire unit. We also replaced two interior emergency light units, both of which were functional, but damaged. The test button for one unit had failed and the Fire Department could not verify that the light worked properly. A portion of the second unit was held together by duct tape, which is not a violation, but did attract Fire Department attention. We also have a quote to replace the two exterior lighting units for illuminating the steeple. These lights have been out of service for a long time and were probably damaged in the lightning strike we experienced in 2020. The problem went unnoticed at the time because they were on the same circuit as the parking lot lights which were not impacted.

Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader (pro tempore)

November 2022: Turn, Turn, Turn.

How does the song go? Turn, turn, turn, turn … The season has surely turned. Thanksgiving and the Advent seasons are ready to call. Those seventy-degree-days in November are gone, but not forgotten. Property matters are reasonably under control and ready for another winter, although I have not yet seen the snow removal contract for renewal. We still have some work to do on leaves that linger in certain of the trees and a couple of outside fall chores to do, but ice buckets and shovels have been staged and are ready when needed. We have our various property tasks scheduled through Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Bring it on!

From time-to-time, when we have heavy rains, we have some water buildup along one of the basement walls and experience some water intrusion (typically 5-10 gallons or so) that tends to flow diagonally across the basement floor, from the far side of the right wall to the near side of the left wall, where it mostly finds its way to the sump in the workroom. If you have need of going into the basement after heavy rain, be aware of the potential for wet and potentially slippery floors. There is no easy solution to this problem, though replacement of a missing gutter to the right side of the main entry may help. I have placed some water absorbing tubes on the floor at the base of the right wall where the water intrusion is known to occur. This may or may not keep water from flowing across the floor. Just be aware of the issue and also recognize that items stored directly on the floor may incur water damage.

I procured a new remote control for the ceiling fan in the sanctuary. My initial attempt to control the fan was unsuccessful with either the new or the old remote. We will keep working on the problem. I have another possible solution to attempt. If that one fails, we may have to resort to a circuit breaker to turn the fan and its light on or off. The possibility of a failed control unit in the fan itself cannot be ruled out. Replacement controls are available. Unfortunately, we cannot access the fan without staging or a lift. Should that extent of repair be needed, we would most likely elect to replace the entire fan unit.

October 2022: Property matters are an ongoing challenge!

Where to start? I have no central theme for the report this time, just some updates on this and that.

Parking lot and driveway maintenance work started on October 10, but the schedule has changed due to the weather. Cleaning of vegetation from cracks and around the perimeter has been completed as scheduled, but sealing of the cracks could not be done on October 11 as planned because of rain. Crack sealing was completed on October 12, but the remaining major surface sealing and line painting has been rescheduled to the week of October 17, again, due to weather considerations. As of this writing, the surface sealing will be done on Tuesday, October 18. The lot and driveways will be closed to vehicle traffic and parking October 18-October 20. This estimated schedule is subject to change if weather dictates.

I previously reported on an operational problem with the skylight windows in the ceiling of the sanctuary. My discussions with the manufacturer and some local window service companies did not identify any solutions. The general consensus seems to be that the windows are old and, perhaps, at the end of their useful life. The windows are functional as permanent skylights (closed and not leaking), so I have decided to unplug the power supply for the windows to eliminate any possibility that the windows might open inadvertently or in a spurious manner. In the event we encounter any leakage, we can plug in the power supply temporarily and cycle the windows open and closed to, hopefully, resolve any leaks.

On occasion, someone will ask me why the light on the ceiling fan in the sanctuary always seems to be on. The answer? It is always on, because the light no longer responds to the remote control unit. It has not been a high priority problem on my to-do list. Some research indicates that the remote units do malfunction with age. Another possibility could be a problem with the electronic controls in the fan unit itself. I plan to buy a replacement remote control and see if that will solve the problem. Another workable solution may be to wait for the bulb to fail. We do not really need the light. Yes, I know. The bulb is consuming energy for no good reason.

This summer, the Newington Fire Department completed a routine annual inspection of our facility and identified several deficiencies, the most significant of which involve operational issues with a couple of our emergency exit doors. I believe the problems have been resolved, and I am hopeful that the Fire Department will be satisfied when they return for a follow-up inspection later this month.

I'll close this report with a reminder to the congregation regarding the precarious nature of ongoing property team work that depends so heavily on volunteers. Nearly all of our property volunteers have gained experience over the years (gotten older) and the ongoing demands for our time are increasingly challenging. I can recall when we routinely had a dozen or more volunteers available on any given Thursday morning to tackle things that needed done. These days, it is not unusual to have half that number ... some days less. Some weeks even the basic minimums do not get done. Certainly, not all our work gets done on Thursday mornings, and we still have some very reliable, skilled and helpful volunteers doing important work as their schedule permits, but, overall, we operate largely in a reaction mode, taking on issues that find us in the course of time as our facility ages. Perhaps I should say the "curse of time" if I can be allowed to take liberties with Robert Pollok's famous poem. I think my personal skills regarding planning as well as ongoing use and recruitment of volunteers are at least partially responsible for the current situation. I am hopeful that the next Property Team leader will have the skills, insights, and energy to turn this all around. Perhaps it is time for a new and different approach. What worked well twenty years ago, is probably not appropriate today.

David Mercer, Property Team Leader (Pro Tempore)

September 2022: Driveway Maintenance and Skylight Windows

Parking Lot and Driveway Maintenance

We have accepted a bid from Armor-Guard of Dover to complete maintenance work on our parking lot and driveways. We do not yet have a firm schedule for the work, but we anticipate the work will be done later in September or into October. The first phase of the project will involve cleaning and filling the larger cracks in the pavement. This phase will likely be done in one day, but could extend into a second day. The second phase will involve preparation for sealing (removing vegetation from the edges, any treatment of oil/gas stains) and the application of surface sealant. This phase will likely take two days and could extend into a third day. The final phase will be repainting of the the various parking demarcation lines, handicap markings, and direction arrows. This phase will likely be done in a day. With the work taking four or so days to complete, there will be some impacts on access to the property and we will coordinate with the vendor to minimize these impacts. More information will be provided when the schedule becomes firm.

Skylight Windows in the Sanctuary

As mentioned in our last report, the skylight windows in the ceiling of the Sanctuary are not operating correctly. These windows are opened and closed remotely from a control switch in the sound system closet. This summer we noticed that the windows can be opened (fully or partially), but will not remain open (fully or partially.) A few seconds after being opened, the window motor controllers close the window. We have contacted the manufacturer (Velux) who suggested some possible reasons, but they could not resolve the problem. They suggested that the windows are well past their useful life. They do not have parts for these older windows and do not send out service personnel unless they have the parts to fix the problem. We have also contacted a local company that installs and services Velux skylight windows. They do not service older Velux windows such as ours. We will continue to seek a solution, but for now, the windows will remain closed. Questions to ponder. Do we really need skylights that open? Do we really need skylights at all?

August 2022: The summer doldrums

Even in the summer doldrums there is always something demanding the Property Team's attention. Things that were working fine a week or so ago are presenting with problems and need care ... loving or otherwise. The skylight windows in the Sanctuary overhead which were operating normally until recently now refuse to stay open when we really could stand to have them open for ventilation. On two recent occasions the emergency exit door near the Chapel has failed to perform as required. At this writing, the door is working in an acceptable manner, but I anticipate more problems with it.

The lawn always tends to be stressed this time of year due to heat and lack of water. This summer it is browner and drier than most. I am optimistic that conditions may soon become more favorable.

As evidenced by the plant growth coming up through various cracks in the parking lot, we will need to have some parking lot and driveway maintenance done this fall to seal cracks before the winter freeze. For crack repair I have typically used the company that last did re-sealing and re-striping of the parking lot and driveways. I believe they have given us honest assessments of when re-seal work is appropriate. The last full re-seal work was done in 2018 and has held up well.

I hope many of you have had an opportunity to see our new sign at the boundary of our property and Spaulding Turnpike. I think it represents us well and is nicely visible day or night. We do need to cut back some of the tall Sumac growth between our property and Bernie and Phyl's in order to reduce some of the line-of-sight obstruction of the sign for northbound traffic on the Spaulding.

I recently had the opportunity of chatting with our dear friend, long-time Property Team Leader and property mentor, Byrl Short. Among other things, we discussed most of what I have written above as well as how big the tree near the church office has grown, and I acknowledged his gentle reminder to keep the overhanging branches off the roof. It is an insect control issue. Once a Property Team Leader, always a Property Team Leader. Thanks, Byrl for keeping me on my toes!

David Mercer, Property Team Leader