As I look around the rectory now, I am very thankful for insurance. Our insurance, through the Michigan Catholic Conference, has done a great job in helping us with all of the damages we suffered last year. I look around the rectory and it seems like a whole different place (until I go down into the basement and it almost looks the same). Settling back in, and unpacking has taken a little longer than I anticipated as the contractors still wanted to finish some work that they didn’t get to. That also slowed down the process of unpacking things and putting things away. As of the time I write this, I’m still not quite ready to give tours yet. At least I don’t have to commute anymore!
As we remain within the window of opportunity to address any additional issues, we recently identified problems with the fire alarm system in Stanley. The alarm began going off at random times, prompting an extensive investigation over several months involving the fire marshal, engineers, and the insurance company. Fortunately, we have an active insurance claim, and a new system is already in progress. In fact, work on the replacement began over a week ago.
Over the past several months, we have worked extensively with City of Portage inspectors, the fire marshal, and insurance appraisers. Given our mix of old and new structures, several updates were necessary to ensure compliance with current code requirements. Our buildings have been gone through from top to bottom and we already have had to change several things to bring things into compliance. When they were signing off on the rectory for occupancy, the City noticed that we don’t have any building numbers posted on the outside of our buildings. That will be coming next. If you notice new building numbers being installed outside, they are there to help emergency responders and others quickly locate the Stanley Centre or rectory when needed. I appreciate all your patience with the changes we needed to make.