Other projects that will be moving forward are the classroom hall restoration and the bulkhead replacement.

Leading our search for an Interim Minister our Interim Task Force made up of Pat Artis, Beth Cook, Clyde Cortright, Karl DeBisschop, and chaired by Claire Fitzmaurice, has begun meeting. They are organizing around the various steps to hire our new Interim Minister for the upcoming two church years. If you have thoughts or concerns about this process please contact any of the task force members, or me, to discuss them. This is a critical phase in defining our congregation’s future and your input is important to its success.

Each year at this time we review our membership roll and file the count with the UUA. Including our two newest members joining earlier this month we will report a count of 87 Full-Voting members. Of course we serve many more in addition to our members including many active friends of the congregation. We also serve the wider community through our Visitor’s Tour program, Hot Lunch program, Prison Book program, English as a Second Language program, Food Pantry, weddings, funeral/memorial services, and city ceremonies.

Despite all we serve our “official” membership count puts us right in the middle of the “small church” category according the UUA. While one of our goals is certainly congregational growth we can almost double our size and still be a small church. As we move forward towards our new ministries, interim and called, we must keep this in mind. I’m sure our interim ministry will support us in defining a vision and developing a mission statement that guides us in our future.

Happy 2012 to all!

The bell tower restoration project first phase (UFPC contractors) has been successfully completed. We have just officially launched into the second phase (City contractors) of replacing the bell and restoring the clock faces. The bell and clock project timeline will see the work finishing up at the end of January 2012.

The recently installed new boiler is running well but added some unexpected urgent work to the already crowded UFPC repair list last week. The steam return lines revealed leaks which necessitated tearing up the lower level corridor floor and walls. Once opened, asbestos on the pipes was discovered and had to be removed by a special contractor. The leaks have been repaired and Rev. Bennett reports that the heat is now distributing well including to the parlor. Closing up the opened areas must now be done. We are hoping that all or most of this repair work will be covered by our insurance.

We are now getting quotes on several smaller repair projects so you should expect to see work beginning in various areas around the building.

On another front the most important work we are facing has just begun. Rev. Beth Miller from our UUA local district met with the Board of Governors to launch our process for hiring an “interim minister” for the next church year or two. She explained the overall process and answered questions.

We have established an “Interim Task Force” as recommended in the UUA’s “Transitional Ministry Handbook” headed by Claire Fitzmorris. It will be their work to communicate with the UUA and vet the interim minister candidates before making their recommendation to the UFPC Board. Unlike with a settled ministry an interim minister is hired by the board.

We expect the interim period to last two years. During this period our interim minister, based on their special training, will work with us in understanding our past and our related feelings. She or he will also help us develop a vision of our future. That will help form the basis upon which we select our new settled minister. To quote interim minister Robert T. Latham, “…the goal of the interim process is to empower the congregation to arrive at a maximum state of spiritual health.” Also, as part of this process, I hope we will develop a congregational mission statement.

We will be communicating more on this but for now know that we have started the process. You can learn more about it by reading the information available on the UUA’s web site. I have created a web page that has links to the useful information I have discovered. It can be seen at http://jppcrtt.com/UFPC. Please feel free to discuss this further with Claire or me.

See you at UFPC!

Happy Holidays!

We are also thankful for the new boiler that is exuberantly pumping the heat through the church. Once a few glitches such as a faulty new zone valve are dealt with we will be very comfortable.

On a more personal note; Thanksgiving has come to mean a great deal more to me as I progress through the years. Not surprising but worth considering for a moment.

As time passes and experience hopefully leads to greater awareness and wisdom, perspective and the things we value are refined. The holidays trigger recollections of events and more importantly the special people of my life come to the forefront.

This year the last of my parent’s generation passed into history with the death of my uncle. I am now the patriarch of the family and it is an odd concept to digest! This Friday I will visit his home for the last time as it is prepared for sale. I am anticipating a rush of emotions. We celebrated many family holidays and special occasions there, starting when I was very young. The spirit of all my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles will feel close around me there. I am looking forward to that but know that there will also be the melancholy that they live now only in memory.

So, I will go forward reminded that I need to savor each passing moment, especially the ones spent with loved ones and the special people I call friends. These are the good old days!

Enjoy the people of your Thanksgiving!

John tells me, “It is an incredible view from there!” He is very pleased to have been able to have touched both the newly restored weathervane atop the dome and the center lotus flower on the ceiling of the church sanctuary! He was able to accomplish that when staging filled the sanctuary to support the roof and ceiling during their restoration project.

Other reports that I’d like to pass along:

Bell Tower Restoration Project: Work is progressing well. The rotted timbers, blocking, and other wood elements previously concealed by the copper cladding and exterior wood trim have now been replaced. The weathervane restoration is nearly complete, the dome was stripped and prepared for the gilding and is nearing completion, the copper work is nearly complete, and the mahogany column casings were hoisted Oct. 10, up to the scaffold decking and are being installed.

Bell Replacement and Refurbishing the Clock Faces: The City Council has voted $100,000 in CPA funds for this work, which is now going ahead. Structural engineering, scaffold modifications, and some carpentry work will be done by UFPC with its engineer and contractor, for reimbursement by the City. Most of the work – clock faces including masonry and window repairs, bell, rigging, mounting, and controls will be done directly by the City.

Our UFPC.org web site is continuing to grow and become more robust under the guidance of Communications Chair Michele Frost and assisted by Pat Artis and the many content contributors. Contact Pat or Michele if you have content or questions about adding content and please visit the site frequently because new features are appearing regularly.

Bell Tower Restoration:
Work is progressing.  However once the copper sheathing of the stepped tiers at the base of the dome and other wood trim was removed during the past two weeks, extensive areas of rotted wood were uncovered in the previously concealed structural elements of the dome.  These conditions have been carefully studied by our preservation and structural consultants on 8/23 and again on 8/30 and 9/1 as the uncovering work progressed.  Specifications for the repair work have been agreed upon, and the contractor has submitted two contract change order proposals covering the extra work to replace and repair the rotted timbers and other wood elements.  The extra work will add approximately $101,000 to the base contract of $326,000 and extend the contract completion date by one month to mid-November.  But, it has also been decided that the copper sheathing of the hemispherical gilded upper dome is in very good condition and does not need to be replaced, which saves $52,000, plus another $5,000 in savings for not removing and replacing the covered pedestrian walkways for weddings or special events.

 The possibility of UFPC securing $100,000 in additional grant funding is currently being explored.

Bell Replacement and Refurbishing the Clock Faces (City responsibility):  Rev. Bennett has been working with Architect Jim Edwards (retained by the City), the Verdin Bell Company, and Les Tyrala (regarding the clock mechanism) and our contractors in cooperation to move these projects forward, which is Mayor Koch’s strong interest.  Verdin has located a nearly identical previously owned bell – same size, weight, and tone – cast by McShane in 1895.  At the Mayor’s request, our structural engineer, Arthur MacLeod, is preparing a proposal for engineering services in connection with replacing the bell, fees to be paid by the City.  The City is also requesting $100,000 from the Community Preservation Committee for the bell and clock project.  Some coordination is required between the City’s contractors and UFPC’s contractors and consultants.  Moving such large bells out and into the belfry is not a simple problem.   The old cracked bell must be removed as a safety hazard.

 Boiler Replacement Project:
Our contractor MacFarlane Energy Co. has removed the old boiler, after first removing asbestos which had been inside the boiler and between the boiler sections.  The new boiler, very much smaller, has been delivered and set up on a new concrete pad.  It is a thing of beauty (depending on one’s tastes).  About two weeks of work remain to complete the pipe connections, install the controls and new oil burner, connect the flue, and insulate the boiler.  The work is in progress and will be complete in plenty of time for the autumn heating season beginning mid-October.

Front Portico Railings:  Architect Jim Edwards is obtaining bids.  Installation is on hold until bell tower staging is removed.

Please remember our UFPC Visitors Program and Partnes in Preservation joint Open House tomorrow, Sept. 17, 2011. See the UFPC web site, http://ufpc.org, for more details.

It will be helpful in keeping you informed about what is going on behind the scenes at UFPC and to hear your thoughts. I believe this is central to democratically governing ourselves successfully.  Your elected leaders depend on you staying informed and actively dialoging with us. It also helps prepare you to migrate comfortably into leadership roles in the future. It is crucial that we be continuously cultivating effective leaders.  

We are involved in some major projects and about to embark on a transformative period for UFPC.  As Rev. Bennett retires at the end of this church year and we move through the interim ministry period and on to selecting a new called minister we will need to share much important information frequently. This whole process will likely take about three years. I will talk about it in more detail as we go.

For now the focus will be on our projects and programs. I will bring you up to date in my next posting (tomorrow) and will continue to do so after each Board of Governors (BOG) meeting (2^nd Tuesday of the month) and as important news develops. Please check back here frequently or subscribe to it via RSS (link on the right of this page). You can also follow new posts via email by clicking the “Follow” tab at the bottom right of the page.