Fr. ChasDear Parish Family,

The Building & Grounds Committee have been busy!  With the expertise of Phil Shaugnessy, whose occupation entails related work for the University of Michigan, an inspection of our church and school campuses was completed, which resulted in pages of maintenance issues that need to be addressed.  They were prioritized from 1 to 5 and plotted out for the next ten years.  I have asked the chair of the B&G Committee and initiator of the development plan, Jim Schneider, to give us an update, which you’ll find below.

Thank you for all your work on this, Building & Grounds!  Now, let’s respond to their work by increasing our regular parish contribution, so that we can have the resources to complete the 130 projects identified, beginning with the 44 “Priority 1” projects, which Jim has summarized below.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Chas
 

ST JOHN TEN YEAR PLAN FOR CHURCH & SCHOOL MAINTENANCE

In June 2015 the Buildings & Grounds Committee began to develop a Ten Year Plan for the operation and maintenance of the buildings and grounds for the entire St John/St Joseph complexes.  The intent was to identify physical requirements and estimated costs for the foreseeable future resulting from normal wear and tear and to address potential alternative facility uses.  This would include current school functions (elementary and pre-school), child care services, facility rental opportunities,  liturgical related events, expanded adult educational opportunities, etc.

In June 2015 a comprehensive inspection and walk-down of all St John facilities was begun to identify in some detail the current needs for repair, maintenance and upgrades, and conceptual costs were assigned to each project.  The projects were then prioritized and accordingly scheduled to be completed over the next ten years, pending financial approval for at least the first year of the plan.  At a February 9, 2016 meeting of the Finance Committee, a request for $175,900 was approved to proceed with projects identified as top priority for the first year of the plan.  These funds are coming from the Heritage II Campaign, which had been significantly enhanced by the Fr Francis Murray bequest to that campaign.

The Ten Year Plan looks at all of the needs of St John facilities, from small items such as broken church door replacements for approximately $2,000 each, to roof and parking lot repairs/replacements which will cost into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Projects prioritized as No. 1, which are already completed, or will be considered yet this year, include:

Church & Parish Center
•       Tree removal and landscaping around the church and parish center (complete)
•       Replace exterior security lighting around the parish center
•       New lawn mower for the church and parish center grounds (complete)
•       New lighting in parish center kitchen
•      Develop a plan for a Heritage Hall, including upgrading existing restrooms and bridal room
•      Upgrade lighting and light controls in Church
•      Replace Church door hardware for better security (complete)
•      Replace exit door at back of parish center near food pantry

School Building & Grounds
•      Upgrade domestic water supply lines inside the boiler room (complete)
•      Remove/replace asbestos tile floor covering in balcony of gymnasium and at least one classroom
•      Remove asbestos pipe insulation inside heating and plumbing tunnels
•      Replace asbestos chimney flues in elementary wing (complete)
•      Install hot water lines to bathrooms in south wing (formerly JCMS)
•      Upgrade unit heater controls for south wing
•      Repair/replace broken windows and doors

Specific plans and schedules for projects beyond “Priority 1” have not yet been finalized, pending a plan for funding the remaining work which has been preliminarily estimated to exceed $1,000,000 over 10 years, and includes major parking lot and roof repairs/replacements and HVAC upgrades.

Submitted by:  Jim Schneider, Chair of the Building & Grounds Committee