By way of update, I thought I would take a few lines to let you know what is being done around the parish facilities:

Roof Issues: Recently we contracted with BENCO of Torrington, a roofing company, to make some additional repairs to the Church roof ($1,406.50). We sought quotes from three companies ranging from a complete replacement of parts of the roof to "fixes" where we suspected some of the leaks were coming in. The project costs ranged from $1,406.50 to over $60,000. BENCO provided a targeted repair and offered a warranty, and informed us that the leaks were stemming from the vents on the roof?vents that were required by the Town of Simsbury and were improperly installed (no flashing was every placed around the vents at the time of the installation!). This additional fix has now been accomplished and we have completely flashed the vented areas and ?the project cost came to $798.00;

Old Air Conditioning Units: Age takes its toll on us all and on everything! The air conditioning compressor for the vestibule has gone home to "air conditioning heaven" and will need to be repaired. We are getting quotes for that. Future concerns are that the AC system for the church proper is nearly 40 years old and it is a mix of systems or patchwork setup. The newer system that supplies AC for Russell Hall, the atrium and the rest of the 2007 addition has its own issues. Unfortunately, according to EMCOR NEW ENGLAND, our maintenance firm, the system was poorly designed in that the Freon runs underground from the alongside the shed to the building. First, it is never good to have Freon run underground; secondly, any leaks in the system requires extensive searches and digging to get to the possible leak sites, and finally, the system is much larger than is needed to cool the square footage we operate. But it-is-what-it-is. So a long-term plan will need to be considered before any changes or adaptations are made;

Parking Lot Expansion: We have received the quotes from all four paving contractors for the parking lot expansion and they have been sent to the legal firm for the Archdiocese of Hartford to review them and then provide us contracts with all the specifics and the responsibilities of all parties involved. It is my that the contracts will be signed in the next week and we anticipate a start date of 21 July 2014 for Phase One;

Sanctuary Renovations: We are working on designs (for presentation to the parish) by Amenta Emma Architects of Hartford/Boston for the proposed changes to the sanctuary of the Church (enlarging the floor pattern, wall alterations and new pieces relating to the altar, ambo, tabernacle altar, and presider?s chair). It is my hope that we will have drawings and ideas in the near future for parishioners to see. Be advised, this project work is being completed by way of donations and not from money collected in the offertories; and,

Grounds: this past winter?s snowfall and cold winds did some minor damage to the plantings around the church and rectory. The dead plants have been removed and some are being replaced. A few parishioners who have lovely plant-ings at their homes are offering some cuttings for our use. Some of the changes to the parking lot expansion will require us to do some "exchanges" for wetlands and open spaces ? thus we are required to set aside some land (a few hundred feet) for wetlands/open space with native plantings. That will happen at the end of the project.

This update is just to keep everyone in the loop as to what issues we are facing as a parish and what the ave-nues of recourse are that are open to us. As always, I appreciate your support by way of the Repair and Refurbishment Collection and want you to know that everything is being done to make appropriate and smart-headed, long-term decisions