Yes! But we aren’t there yet. Our building drawings for our new sanctuary for their second review the day after Thanksgiving, which means we hopefully have very few changes left to be done. Our architect is also supplying those drawings to our contractor so they can prepare an accurate bid. Yippee!
Now for the hard part. The Sanctuary Construction Committee and the Board have been watching carefully. Given that it has been almost two years since we got the last bid and that the City is requiring us to add some more improvements than we originally proposed, we are anticipating a price increase. The question is, how much? We won’t know until we get that proposal from the contractor. However, we are getting ready. The contractor is ready to go once we sign a contract. However, we know we may need time to consider the proposal.
On Sunday, December 11th, there will be a Town Hall Meeting to present our current situation. We may or may not have a bid by then, but it should be useful to understand our resources and options. We are also calling a Special Congregation Meeting for Sunday, January 8th after church as necessary. The January 8th date is tentative. If the bid is low, we won’t need it, or if it is very high, leadership may need more time to prepare. Please mark it on your calendar as it is likely.
I’m really looking forward to 2023. In addition to the construction, we have some celebrations to anticipate. It will be ten years since Rev. Sian became our minister and ten years since we moved from Victoria Street to our current site. Don’t miss the service on December 4th – we will be celebrating 50 years of membership for Jeanne Criss and Shirley Thorne. There will be cake!
Nancy Loughrey
Nancy Loughrey is Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church's Board President.