Building Update
/by Rev. Eric Folkerth
Summer will see ongoing changes to our building as we prepare for the expansion of “The Kessler Park Day School.”
You may recall that we updated you on this expansion in a March newsletter and at a church potluck that month. Since then, we have more details on the expansion to share, and we wanted to give you an update as to the specifics of the projects underway and completed as approved by KPUMC Trustees and Church Council.
Things are happening you’ll want to know about!
1. Playground Renovations: As we trust you’ve seen/heard, the renovations to our three playgrounds are complete! The last batch of “mulch” was delivered today. The church and neighborhood response to these upgrades has been extremely positive. These upgrades were the first part of the renovations necessary to expand The Kessler Park Day School. These upgrades were approximately $100,000.
2. Room Renovations: The ground floor room renovations we detailed during our March potluck/email update will be underway this Saturday!! This means that Sunday School and “AA” Groups will move to a new, temporary location. The work for these renovations will be done by Nichols Construction and the total bid for the work is $60,000. (That said, it could be that the construction comes in under budget…)
3. Fire System Upgrade: We’ve been working with ADT to upgrade and expand our systems in order to meet requirements for the City of Dallas. This upgrade will involve new smoke detectors, “strobe lights,” and a controller box. We are being told by ADT these are necessary to receive the Dallas City fire inspection.
The bid for this work is: $12,558.
4. Security System Upgrade: Recently, several church leaders and staff met with a retired Dallas Police Sergeant to tour our building and begin development of a “Security Plan” for our church and day school.
Over the past months, we’ve also met with several security consultants and have settled on McKinney Security Solutions. This group has done extensive work with churches, schools, and other nonprofits. Upgrades to the security system will include the current doors on our current system, and also expand to include the sanctuary doors. There will be a new “controller” to the system, as well as new “cards” for entry to the building.
This new system will allow us to schedule automatic locking/unlocking the building for worship, meetings, school, and other activities. It would also allow emergency remote “lock down” of the building in the event of an emergency.
This will be invaluable to increasing our security during worship, week-day school hours, and nighttime church and community meetings. New “access cards” will allow us to regain control of who has access to the building.
The total bid for this upgrade is: $28,105.
We anticipate the switch over to this new system happening on or around July 1st following the departure of The Kessler School. Please be aware that this change is coming, especially the fact that old access cards will likely not work after this time. We will keep everyone updated of the exact change-over time as it approaches.
Funding This Work.
Now would be a good time to remind you of the current financing for these renovations. Our church has received a $48,000 grant from the “Childcare Expansion Initiative” of the Texas Workforce Commission. That grant must go specifically to upgrades that will benefit The Kessler Park Day School.
Additionally, we have multiple other potential sources of funding these projects; including some remaining funds in our “construction” account, reserve funds, or operational funds available as a final back up.
Said another way, while these are big numbers for these renovations, your past and ongoing generosity to Kessler Park UMC has allowed church leadership the confidence to green light these projects now, given the current cash and grant funds we have available on hand today.
Ideally, everyone agrees that preserving our reserve and operational funds would be best practice.
Therefore, should you feel inspired by this project and feel led to contribute to these capital expenses, we are happy to talk with you about a gift to these major projects. And your church would be deeply appreciative of any gifts to help fund these exciting plans.
I trust and hope the you are excited to see these projects underway now as the reality of our “Phase One” moves from ideal-to-reality.
And I hope you appreciate the many hours that your KPUMC Church Council, Trustees, Finance Committee and staff have spent working toward these projects, and I trust you are as grateful to all of them as I am. We share this update in an effort to both communicate transparently and also share great excitement about our church’s future ministry in North Oak Cliff.
As we continue to say, Kessler Park is leaving our pandemic years behind and moving into the future God is opening to us.
Grace and Peace,
Eric Folkerth