At the August board meeting, the Board of Directors approved a meeting of the members to discuss and vote on proposed solutions for necessary replacement and repairs to our building's roof. This meeting will take place over two meeting periods. Three viable options will be presented on behalf of the board of directors at the first meeting and during the second meeting, members who are present may vote, per our congregational bylaws.

Please register below to receive the Zoom information. If you have any questions, please contact Aaron Robbin (aaron@mycec.org) and we will incorporate any questions into the board presentation.

For those who would like to revisit the discussions from our last meeting, the recording is available for review here.
 

Roof Project Information
Over the past year, our leadership has been aware that portions of our roof are beginning to fail. We knew this because there were leaks in twelve rooms in the building within the six months following the mortgage payout.

The Facilities Committee evaluated the issues and contracted an independent roofing consultant, RCL Engineering, to understand the needs and specifications to obtain bids from six roofing companies. This is the process used during the prior roof replacement phase in 2010. 

Before the reported leaks, the Facilities Committee conducted a bi-annual review of the roof with the same engineering firm, RCL Engineering, In their report in the Spring of 2022, they anticipated the cost of replacing the roof at $160,000-$210,000, significantly lower than the bids we received due to rising costs and inflation and possibly additional damage.

RCL Engineering determined three sections of the roof needed to be replaced or repaired to preserve our property in the long term. The roof over the office and the social hall, which both have damage from the removal of the solar units, (Areas A & B), and the area surrounding the sanctuary (Area C), excluding the shingle pyramid. See the attached photo.

Their report from February 2024 is linked below. The Facilities Committee, along with input from the Board of Directors, has reviewed all the bids and recommendations by RCL. It was determined O’Hara’s Son Roofing at the $360,000 bid would be the selected contractor. They were the lowest bidder that passed the referral and evaluation stage by RCL, the Facilities Committee, and a portion of the Executive Committee. One portion of the bid included a guestimate to contract a company to move any rooftop HVAC units for the roof installation, which we will use our long-standing relationship (service agreement and purchase of all units for more than three decades) with Midwest Mechanics to do this work to maintain the warranty and overall protection of the units. 

The Board of Directors, based on recommendations from the Budget Committee and approved by the Congregation at our annual meeting, allocated $20,000 within our operating budget. This decision was determined by the results of a building reserve study conducted by the Executive Committee to prepare for maintaining our aging building. One of the key items in this report was the mention of the roof. 

The congregation currently has ~$250,000 in an emergency reserve fund (built from surpluses over time) in addition to the $20,000 budgeted this year to build up the building maintenance fund (designed for capital maintenance expenses beyond general operations), and ~$5,000 remaining in the building fund (previously used to pay mortgage payments).

So here we are, the Board of Directors formulated three solutions to pay for the replacement of the three roofs to avoid further damage to the infrastructure of the building and ongoing threats of water damage and leaks.

Take out a commercial line of credit at the current rate of ~7-9%

Use all the emergency reserves plus a gift from the Etz Chaim Foundation (currently being considered by the Foundation BOD).

Use a hybrid approach, using a portion of our emergency reserves, expensing some monies directly to the project and some as a loan to be returned on a planned schedule back into the emergency reserves. The remaining balance to be funded with a smaller commercial loan, obtaining a loan and a gift from the Etz Chaim Foundation (currently being considered by the Foundation BOD), and fundraising efforts by the Ways & Means Committee.

Roof Bid Review

Comparison Tally Chart