The MUMC Board of Trustees met Tuesday, March 20th. We voted to proceed with repairs to the parsonage chimney which services the furnace. The chimney was found to be in a poor state of repair when the roof was replaced last year. We are continuing to discuss an energy retrofit for the church. Funding for the project is the main obstacle at this time. We continue to pursue potential resources for this project.

Pastor Elisabeth has been having problems with traffic in the parsonage driveway. Apparently some vehicles are cutting through the church parking lot onto the driveway. Other drivers may be using the driveway as a turnaround. In either case it has disrupted her privacy and disturbed her pets. The board will consider placing a barricade between the parking lot and driveway to help correct the problem. In the meantime, church members are advised to avoid using the parsonage driveway when exiting the church parking lot.

Conserving Energy in Middlebury

In these winter months, it is important for us as a congregation to work towards conserving energy. This particularly applies to heating our building by looking at ways to be good stewards of this responsibility.

The trustees, who are responsible for the care of our church property, have offered some recommendations to achieve our energy concerns. These were presented to the Administrative Council at our last meeting and after some helpful discussion were passed. We share them now with the whole congregation through our newsletter.

It is recommended that we primarily use the building on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday when the temperature will be set to 60 or 65 degrees from its base setting of 45 degrees which will be the setting on the other days of the week. Any exceptions to this are at the discretion of the pastor and the interim chair of the Trustees, Tom Colley.

Church groups (committees, spiritual growth, and others) are asked to try and meet on those days or in people's homes. If necessary, the small room at the front of the sanctuary can be used and heated with a small electric heater.

Non-church groups wishing to use the building need to submit an application which is then approved by the Trustees and the Pastor. Such groups will be encouraged to cover heating expenses and make a donation to the church as well.

It is the hope of the Trustees and the Administrative Council that, by following these recommendations, we can keep our heating costs at a minimum, and be an example of expressing our concern for conservation of our church.

Middlebury Board of Trustees

The MUMC Board of Trustees has spent the last several months exploring ways in which to reduce energy usage and specifically cut the cost of heating the sanctuary and fellowship hall. Kris Anderson has taken the lead on this issue. Thanks to his efforts we have obtained energy audits and an estimate of what it would cost to do an energy saving retrofit on the church. With an investment of about $ 20,000.00, we could see heating costs drop about 35% a year. If these figures are accurate, the payback in energy savings would be about 10 years.

We are also exploring ways to make the basement space more attractive and usable. The expense of upgrading the basement would be high. So far we only have some preliminary estimates. Water ingress has always been a serious issue. When the church was built, the basement had a dirt floor! The first step in making the basement more usable will be to correct the water problem. Our ultimate goal would be to develop a comfortable, healthy and pleasant environment for us or whoever would be interested in having use of the basement space. Stay tuned for further news as we are only starting to explore this issue.

Tom Colley, Board Chair

On Monday August 9th we began work on the final phase of our historic preservation program at the church.  This work focuses on the fourteen stained glass windows in the church.  It will include restoration of the exterior woodwork as well as replacement of sections of the wood frames that have deteriorated; then scraping, priming, caulking and painting to match the rest of the building.  Additionally, the windows will be re-glazed as needed and the unsightly plexiglass storm on the large window in the fellowship hall will be replaced with glass panels.  This will allow this window to now match the two large stained glass windows in the sanctuary!  All of the existing “storm panels” on the eleven smaller stained glass windows will be replaced with removable and properly vented storm/protective panels.

 

Several of the smaller stained glass windows will be stabilized and broken pieces of glass will be replaced as possible.  One of the smaller stained glass windows in the kitchen will be removed and rebuilt.  Additionally all twelve of the small stained glass windows in the bell tower will be stabilized and broken pieces of glass replaced.

This work will not only greatly improve appearance of the exterior, but will stop continuing deterioration.  The work is being done by Jeremiah Beach Parker Restorations and Lawrence Ribbecke Studios.

This project is being paid for with a matching $15,000 grant from the State of Vermont Historic Preservation Program and the balance of the funds raised through the Capital Campaign.  Once again, the Trustees express their deepest appreciation for all who donated to this Campaign.  As God has gifted us, so we have shared our gifts.  Together we help secure the future of our church home for generations to come.

The Middlebury Trustees are pleased to announce that we have been awarded a 2009 State Historic Preservation Grant from the State of Vermont in the amount of $15,000.  This Grant will be used to repair and stabilize our deteriorating stained glass windows.  This grant requires a dollar for dollar match.  We will be using remaining funds set aside for this purpose from our Capital Campaign.

We are very grateful to receive these funds, which will allow us to complete the final phase of the preservation plan that was formulated in 2002.  Thank you to all who contributed to our capital campaign, for without your support this project would not have been possible.