The Planning is Underway

This information was published in the  restoration news center on April 25, 2012:

We waited for the electricity to be turned back on in the office section of our facility so the elevator could be tested and get underway with the restoration there.  The power was restored on Monday and the elevator turned on.  It runs!  There will need to be some further testing and some adjustments, but we are pleased that the elevator works.  Restoring power in that section of the building also meant we have been able to turn on the lights on the parking lot, making the area safer and more secure. 

Final touches are being completed in the Bugbee Center to get that to 100%.  A lot of little things, like trim work, touch-up painting and furniture arranging take time and are being finished this week.  The Tag Sale and several Board and Committee meetings are taking place in the Bugbee Center rooms.  Champ’s Place is open, refrigerator and freezers are in place and this was the second week clients were able to be served. 

Behind the scenes, designs are being completed for necessary emergency, safety and security alarm systems.   Once the plans are completed requests for bids will be issued and a contractor will be selected to do the necessary work.  The alarms will be installed in the existing facility with a capacity to include the Meeting House when it is completed.  It is wise to be doing the wiring before the sheet rocking and painting are done in the office area.  Necessary wiring will also be installed for data and communication.  These systems are also being designed to include the new building when it is done.

Contact is being made with various individuals and firms who have shown an interest in taking of the position of Construction Manager and candidates will be interviewed in the near future by the Building Committee and Architects.  Once the Construction manager has been selected work will be done with the architects to review plans and begin to put together a clear estimate of cost for the entire project.  A time frame for finishing the work will also be put together at that time.   CHK will have plans ready so that bids can be sought to do the work.  The Construction Manager will work to secure and review bids, and with the building committee, choose contractors to complete construction.

In the next couple of weeks the Building Committee and architects will be meeting with various Boards and Committees of the church to consider the designs for the kitchen, sanctuary, chancel, narthex, meeting rooms and dining room.  They will be considering such things as amenities, layout, furnishings, floor cover and wall colors.  The hope is to include as many of the suggestions and address as many of the concerns expressed by church members as possible.  We cannot stress often enough that all suggestions submitted to the Building Committee will be part of the discussions and an effort is being made to include all the “stake holders” in the various areas of the complex.

The Building Committee has set June 3 as the date for the next presentation to the congregation.  That meeting will include a time for sharing room layouts, sample materials, fairly detailed drawings of what things will look like and the overall appearance of the exterior and interior of the new Meeting House.  The meeting will take place following the 10 o’clock worship service at the JMMC Community Education Center.

Tolland, East Windsor, Union, Manchester (2nd), Suffield (1st), East Hartford, Barkhamstead, Willington, Springfield (Faith) and Somers; this is a partial list of churches in the local area built in the neo-gothic style.  All of them have steeples of the same design as the one that graced our Meeting House, which was common on churches built in the mid-nineteenth century.  They are complete as they stand and the addition of a spire at the top of the steeple would destroy the uniformity of the style, making them something other than neo-gothic.  Although most of the churches mentioned here are constructed with wood, the style was used extensively to build stone churches.  I have not seen anything in the history of our church that discusses why this style was chosen.  A new Meeting House in the neo-gothic style will be constructed to replace the building lost in the January 1, 2012 fire.