Usually, the earliest indication we have of the coming season is our snow plow service contractor sending the contract for the coming year. I have not seen the contract yet, so the early leaf fall this year is our first harbinger of what is coming. I didn't get any input from the dead elm tree! It is down and, by the time you read this, gone.
The leaf removal activities, late season grounds work, and fall cleanup are always solid reminders of other seasonal tasks on our routine list of work to do. Soon we will be removing and storing the window air conditioners, draining and putting away hoses, striking and storing the tent, putting our snow blower back in service, preparing our mowers for winter storage, breaking out salt buckets and shovels, and other matters I have probably forgotten. Martha and I are not going to Florida this winter season, so I have to say I am not really looking forward to the preparations and a long winter in New Hampshire. I will probably have to learn again what goes on at Holy Trinity in the January to April period!
All that said, I anticipate a busy time between now and the end of the year. Work to install the new fire alarm system will begin soon. The new system has been approved by the Town of Newington and equipment procurement is in progress. Equipment installation will begin as the equipment becomes available. One of the first things to be done will be installation of smoke detectors in the sanctuary. That work will require an aerial lift of some sort to allow access to the ceiling areas. I also anticipate temporary removal of some of the wood trim in the sanctuary to facilitate routing of sensor wiring. Some of you may recall we did this same thing to route sound system cables a few years ago. There will be quite a bit of work going on throughout the building as work on the fire alarm system progresses. I am hopeful that this work can be completed in November. I have been working with the fire alarm system contractor and the electrician who will be installing a new main electrical distribution panel and power surge protection. The new electrical panel and the new fire alarm panel will be located in close proximity on the same wall in the basement work room, so the work requires close coordination. At this point, installation of the the new electrical panel is tentatively scheduled for Friday, October 16, so electrical power will unavailable for all or most of the day.
Where it is reasonable to do so, the Property Team will take on some tasks to support the fire alarm system work. We have already relocated a wall-mounted cabinet unit in the basement work room to free up wall space for the new fire panel and electrical distribution panel. Another example is the temporary removal of some wood trim in the sanctuary. Another possibility is pulling a new electrical power cable from the basement work room to the overhead area in the vicinity of the administrative office door. The need for this cable arises because the Town of Newington required one component of the new fire alarm system to be relocated from the basement work room to a wall beside the entrance to the office area. The property team did a similar cable pull a few years ago to support a new printer installation, so we know how to do it. An electrician would make the cable connection to the distribution panel. It should be noted that Property Team resources (people) are stretched very thin these days, so these support tasks will be pursued only to the extent we have the resources.
For Property Team planning purposes, I wish I had a crystal ball to tell me when we would likely be moving back into the building, because there is quite a bit of work needed to put the building back in order. Over these many months the building use has been significantly restricted, a lot clutter has arisen in various places in the building. This will need to be dealt with (items returned to storage, disposed of, whatever). Also, time will tell if the fire alarm panel work introduces any additional work to get us back to normal. We will need to be flexible as the work on the new fire alarm system proceeds. This work has to have priority since a functional fire alarm system is required to allow us to return to full, normal building use.
Dave Mercer, Property Team Leader