Easter has come and still no new church sign at the highway! The sign has been quite a challenge. Let's review things. The company we selected for the new sign is Stewart Sign, based in Florida. They have done church sign projects all over the country. The sign configuration, layout and such are done in Florida. The signs are manufactured at their factory in Alabama, then shipped to a local installer (typically another sign company or a contractor with experience working for sign companies). Stewart Sign selected New Hampshire Sign in Auburn, NH as the installer. The installer has visited our site, has the required permits from the Town of Newington, and is waiting for the sign to be delivered to their facility in Auburn. Stewart Sign initially told us the sign would be manufactured and shipped by April 7. They have since revised that date to May 13, saying materials availability issues have delayed manufacturing. With the coming of warm weather our installer is hoping to get some site work done before May 13 if certain of the required sign mounting details are available before then. I would have thought that information would have been easy enough to obtain, but apparently not. I and our installer have been having difficulty getting timely information from Stewart Sign. These days, it seems everyone, including Stewart Sign, claims to have been impacted by COVID in some manner. Patience seems to be the order of the day!
Regarding the normal, routine property team matters, we have completed the painting of the walls in the sanctuary and walls on the left and right side of the entry to the sanctuary. The warming weather means we will soon be outside and working on the grounds again when the weather allows. The snow shovels and ice-melt buckets have been put away (hopefully, not too soon), and our riding mowers have been serviced and are ready for the new mowing season. We will be getting the other power equipment ready to go soon. We will continue with our inside projects such as painting and cleaning and such, particularly when the weather forces us inside.
It is also worth mentioning that several people have approached me since January with some property related question and wanting to know who to contact now that I am no longer in charge of the Property Team. Everyone needs to know that my replacement has not yet been found, so I still remain as your Property Team Leader until this is resolved. Happy Spring to you all! Dave Mercer