Work continues this week on the exterior handrails along the ramp and exterior stairwell on the Cherokee Road side of the building. Painting of the hand railing did not begin last week as planned, but will take place soon. Work also continues on our baptistery plumbing which is still experiencing some leaks.

The Implementation Committee met Monday evening, September 15, to review project budget, as well as make some final decisions about signage and furnishings. We also reviewed the project closeout list, which is a long list of 100+ detailed items that still remain to be completed. Some of these are completed by the Owner (which is Highland). Some are completed by Schaefer, our contractor. Some are completed by the Architect, Bruce Rogers in concert with consulting other subcontractors for opinions and action decisions.

One item that we had hoped would be installed this week are the glass presentation boards in our children and youth spaces. These will be beautiful additions to our space, and will have the look of artistry if they are blank but are flexible enough for many uses as well, such as serving as a marker board for planning and creating, or a magnetic board for documenting a class’s learning process over time. Unfortunately, we learned yesterday that the team transporting these glass boards did not secure them in the truck appropriately and all were broken on arrival. Our design team is working hard to expedite the shipping of new glass boards in light of this setback.

As we move into these final and very detailed stages of the project, as a whole we become less and less affected in our daily rhythms and routines. Rest assured that your Implementation Committee and I are working hard to see all items to completion, including these most detailed items! –Renee Purtlebaugh