July 10, 2019 Church
Safety Update
In a
series of tests being conducted in the church by our public adjuster (see the
mailed letter for more details on that), mold tests were conducted in the
Sanctuary and throughout the church. It
was found that the levels were so high in some parts of the building that
immediate steps needed to be taken.
The
parts of the building where this happened were in the area around the
Sanctuary, where we have had water leakage for an extended period of time. Westminster Hall, the area that Harborview
uses, and the church offices are at normal levels. But with the ongoing heat and humidity of the
summertime, if nothing were done, levels would rise throughout the building.
The
Session has approved a proposal for a containment strategy that will be carried
out this morning. It will be in three
parts.
1 .
The Sanctuary will be sealed off with plastic
from the rest of the building so that mold cross-contamination will not occur.
2.
The roof leaks will be tarped down properly to
prevent any more immediate water leakage and mold increase. (A more permanent fix looks to be part of our
insurance claim for the damage we sustained in the building this past winter)
3.
Atmospheric scrubbing machines will be put into
the church building. Creating a negative
atmospheric flow, these machines will scrub the air of the mold particulates
and bring down mold levels in the affected area to acceptable margins. Thus, if someone goes into those areas of the
church, they will not be affected.
The plan was to move the worship
services of the church to Westminster Hall this Sunday regardless because of
the ongoing testing and work we anticipated beginning in the next few
weeks. When I received the reports of
the high mold levels on Friday, July 5, we moved Services over a week early.
The church is safe. Harborview and the church offices are being
protected. This containment is the first
step in remediating the problem and removing the mold from the church. If you have any questions, please email
me. As more information becomes
available, we will send it out to the congregation in this same manner.
Peace,
Pastor
Peter
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