Trustees Report to the Congregation

In an effort to update the congregation on some of the many tasks that the trustees have been working on this year, I will try to summarize a few of them for you. Many of these items were brought up and thoroughly discussed in the trustees’ meetings and the church council meetings before we moved forward on them. Everyone in the church is invited to listen in via Zoom or to be there at any or all the meetings of the church, save for a some of the of the meetings of the SPPR.

The trustees researched and moved forward on installing new locks on the classroom doors to provide added security for groups meeting downstairs or if we are once again able to have children active again in Sunday School classes. The new locks provide ease of exiting the rooms but will not allow someone to enter who should not be there to threaten the kids.

The trustees also considered the state of our parking lot and determined that it would be less expensive if we sealed the parking lot now versus having it further deteriorate and then having to remove all the old asphalt and replace it later. We also had the contractor revise some of the handicap parking stalls to avoid difficulty trying to get into and out of vehicles. That job has now been recently completed.

The trustees also determined that the windows in Centennial Hall needed to be replaced. In conversations with a local contractor, we found that we have some rotting materials around those windows. The contractor ordered the windows, but a problem supplying the windows arose. That problem has been rectified and the order should now be on its way to the manufacturing company. We hope that this work will be done by September, so when the winter weather arrives, we will not have the wind and the rain blowing through and causing more damage and higher heating bills.

We have also been moving forward on the sale of our rental property, formerly the Scott House. This has been a slow and challenging process that had to go through many levels for approval. We are now awaiting the final hurdle which is the approval of our bishop. The United Methodist Church of the Pacific Northwest is the actual owner of the properties that we have, and this is just the procedure that we must follow to get the permission we need to sell the property to Erin. We gave Erin the right of first refusal as she lives there and previously served as a vital member of our staff, helping to train the young people in our congregation. Although Erin has resigned her position, she is still a vital employee of the local Methodist office, working directly for our District Superintendent, Mark Galang.

The Financial Secretary office was relocated from the old coat closet to room 3 downstairs. This was done for logistical and security reasons. There now exists a much larger room for the finance team to work and to discuss financial topics important to our church. They can now do so without worrying about others, just standing outside the door and hearing what is going on that may be of a very personal nature. Room 3 is an exceptionally large and brightly lit room and they have been working to make it more welcoming with flowers and pictures.

The trustees and the church council have been working with a new church, RiverFlow Church, which has been meeting at Grace by the Sea. They have outgrown their space and Grace is about to begin some remodeling on their building. They approached us and asked about the possibility of sharing our space with them. Their service meets on Saturday late afternoon. We have been working on a building use agreement and have almost finalized the work. They are mostly a church for those who have not been a part of a church family for a while, if ever. Father Mani is: one who likes to go out into the neighborhoods of Oak Harbor, looking for people who might like to learn more about Jesus. Like us, they also meet on Wednesday evenings, so we see this as a time when our two groups can meet periodically and get to know one another over a meal.

This has been a difficult year in many respects, and our apologies for not keeping everyone in the church informed of what has been happening. For that I will take some personal responsibility. Remember, you can visit most of the meetings of the church, or you can ask members of each of those teams if you have any questions or concerns. 

I believe this was one of the first-time audits performed by our insurance agencies. Much paperwork was assembled to document the questions that they had provided for us in advance of their visit. Some work was done to bring deficiencies up to code that should have been corrected earlier, but we all get so used to seeing things as they were, that we do not really see the issues that were before us. It is good and healthy to have an outside set of eyes come in to help us ensure that we have a safe church for all who enter through our doors.

Respectfully yours,

Bob Wallin, Chair
OHFUMC Trustees