One of the improvements we have made over the past several years is to develop and implement a planning process for major changes for the campus of St. John, ensuring any critical issues or items as identified, hopefully before a catastrophe occurs. This Capital Budget process has been accomplished with the hard work of dedicated volunteers from our Councils: Paul Dell Uomo and Barbara Kuryea from the Finance Council, Bill Sjostrom from the Buildings and Grounds Council, and Rick Beebe from the Pastoral Stewardship Council. I want to thank them all for sifting through the stack of improvement requests and being excellent stewards of the gifts of our Parish Family.
We are now able to manage these large efforts, called Capital Projects, both in terms of funding availability as well as schedule. For example, last year we determined it was essential to completely replace the flat roof of the Parish Life Center and we articulated why it was a priority, even over the church roof, to complete. Given all the rain this week, I am sure the Vacation Bible School volunteers are extremely happy that we accomplished it both on time and below budget. That included work being done around major events like our Parish Picnic, and we were able to seamlessly replace the roof without any impact to events and activities on campus (other than a few days of “pardon our dust” signs in the main office).
We have approved a small set of Capital Projects for this coming fiscal year, based on the anticipated start of the Life Center and other renovation projects (see Page 2, our Capital Campaign Update Page, for a discussion of the design plans). I would classify these projects into three categories: repairs/replacement of essential equipment, improvements for current programs, and future planning.
Repairs/Replacement:
- Front Desk Office Chairs: Falling apart, our Front Desk volunteers and staff deserve new chairs so they can be ergonomically supported.
- Prayer Garden Fountain: Due to design and engineering, the current fountain is not stable. We will need to lay a new foundation and rebuild this centerpiece of one of the most serene areas on our campus
- New Utility Carts: With more materials needing to go between the buildings and all around, new carts will replace the broken ones we currently use and add a few more for groups like Faith Formation.
- PLC Table Replacements: We will cut down on our linen costs by replacing the Ballroom tables with new, single-piece rounds and durable long tables.
Improvements:
- Complete TV’s for all Classrooms: We started adding TV’s to the classrooms for the new video-based educational material for both youth and adult Faith Formation. These can be used for various activities.
- Renovation of Library: Please see Page 2 for more details on this wonderful renovation.
Future Planning:
- Event Management Software: With over 4,800 events going on in our facilities already, and the new programs starting in the Fall, we need an enterprise-grade tool to manage the rooms, the resources, the ticketing, and the experience of events and activities here at St. John. It will save time, effort and money every single day for the Parish Family.