We are so grateful for Larry Alsobrook’s volunteer labor, plant and material donations, and his landscaping expertise on the church campus. He has created such a nice welcoming space between the three benches in the courtyard, laying beautiful slate stones surrounded by matching gravel. See if it doesn’t just call you to sit on one of the benches and chat with a friend! We hope you will also find some moments to go sit in the memory garden and enjoy the renewed serenity of that space now that Larry has pruned and added or subtracted plantings. Together with our handyman, they have resolved the problem of office roof runoff into the memory garden by digging out the area and installing a splash basin and gravel. Larry has continued digging out roots in the courtyard and has laid down quite a bit of pine straw in the eastern part of the courtyard which is a little easier to walk on. He says it will be nicely compacted in a couple more months. Give him a pat on the back when you see him. We love our volunteers!
Our handyman continues to chip away at our list from the house master’s review. We’re down to a handful of items now on his list – yea! We still have the plumbing and electrical lists to complete. He has rectified some downspout issues, repaired some failed siding, replaced rotten wood on the Gaga circular play structure on the west playground, repaired and painted chipped plaster on the HVAC box for duct work in the sanctuary, sealed the northern exposed windows, and will be sealing the southern exposed windows when the weather allows.
We have followed up with Ray French HVAC to make necessary repairs on some of the HVAC equipment and are considering some of the more costly repairs that were recommended since they are for older units.
Glenn Acomb has done considerable work designing a drop-off parking area in the east parking lot, but the expected cost of that is prohibitive at the present time. Folks will continue to have to use the driveway apron at the courtyard entrance despite the challenging slope. If needed, we may consider posting a greeter there to help folks by holding their car door open on the slope and helping them out of their vehicle. If you have mobility problems getting from the disabled parking in the west parking lot, please let us know if you need assistance.
Solar Impact gave Carol Barron and Lisa Goldstein a tutorial about the new solar installation. Erick Smith will be monitoring the usage via an app and will have a report for us in a couple of months when he can more clearly see the impact. Soon you will see our drone footage.
We will be getting more quotes for re-establishing the grade in the retention ponds. In the meantime, Carol has proposed we do some exploratory digging to see if we can create an opening through and around the magnolia roots that have dammed the flow of water so that we can then install a drain pipe to move water from the west to the east.
Doug Kiker reports a pretty smooth operation with the football parking now that the cordoning system has been devised. So far there are no major issues and people are respecting the boundaries of the system. Kudos to Doug for the set-up and take-down for each game, and for the various board and committee members who sign up to help with game day parking. The boards and committees receive a portion of the football parking proceeds as a way to fund their work.