From Shepherd Larry Todd

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Hello church family,

I wanted to provide you with an update on a few administrative items:

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1. Heating system - as we are all probably (thankfully) aware, the building heating system has been replaced and repaired. Big thanks to Dave Cogswell for overseeing the process on our behalf. Total cost of the project, including tear out and removal of the old equipment, was just over $50,000. This cost was funded out of our building maintenance fund and not through the weekly contributions. Over 20 years ago we thought it would be prudent to establish a building maintenance fund to pay for building upgrades/repairs that occur from time to time so that money would be available without having to scramble in an emergency and/or utilize our weekly contribution. This fund has been funded through the years with extraordinary items, other sources of revenue, gifts… but has mainly been funded the monthly lease payments from the state of Arkansas, on behalf of UAFS, for parking usage of our parking lot. This fund has been utilized over the years for such things as new asphalt in the parking lot, painting the exterior of the building, and now replacing the heating system. Therefore, no operational funds from our weekly contribution were utilized as the building maintenance fund was sufficient, along with a very generous gift from a member targeted specifically for this purpose.

 

2. Sale of the 2nd Lions for Christ (LFC) house - in 2018 we purchased the house adjacent to our current LFC campus house with the intention of converting it to a group meeting space and even obtained approval from the city to proceed as planned. However, as I mentioned in a previous update, with COVID along with the destruction of the main campus house by a vehicle this past summer we reevaluated our options and our plans and decided that it made more sense, physically and fiscally, to add the group meeting space to our existing campus house. As a result, the second house was no longer needed and became surplus. We purchased the second house in 2018 for about $151,000 and the sale was finalized on Friday February 11, 2022, for $175,000.

 

3. The proceeds from the sale of the house will be set aside and utilized for the construction of the LFC group meeting space. Currently, final design drawings are being prepared by the architects to include building code requirements, any engineering requirements, site plan, etc. and will be delivered to the construction company so that construction can begin on the main campus house to repair and refurbish after the accident this past summer. We received the insurance settlement of about $32,000 last fall and, with some modifications and upgrades we intended to make, we think the total cost of the repair/remodel of the main campus house will be about $50,000, the bulk of which will be covered by the insurance settlement. After this project is completed, we will begin the planning, costing and fundraising for the group meeting facility.

4. Security system upgrades - the recent break-in we experienced allowed us to evaluate our current system, identify gaps in our coverage, and suggested ways to improve. As a result, we have installed a new camera surveillance system. There are three separate zones or systems with 16 cameras each therefore we have a capacity for 48 total cameras. A camera has been installed in every room utilized by our Children's Ministry, every room utilized by our Youth Ministry, all the areas in the building that need coverage including the auditorium, building entrances, and the parking lot also has full coverage. It was more cost effective to install the new equipment, which is modernized to include the most up-to-date technology with very high-resolution images, than it would have been to upgrade our existing system. The total cost of the upgrade is about $16,000.

 

Sorry for the length of the post but I wanted to provide you with a detailed update.

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-- Larry Todd