TRUSTEE UPDATE | Trinity United Church

This is a chronology of events from the time of the fire till now. Questions? Comments? Contact one of the trustees directly – they look forward to your responses.

Date	Description Trustees: Dick S, Maury M, Arnie D, Eric K, Trudy G, Rev Paula
Sept 22, 2015	During the re-roofing, a fire occurs on the roof of the Quonset building.
Sept	Insurer and inspectors identify some asbestos contamination caused by damage to the roof and ceiling.
Sept Business interruption	Business interruption Limit: $50,000 or 12 months Business interruption amount received: $10,000 for immediate business needs; with a further $5,214.35 received as needed
Sept	The trustees and property committee found temporary church office space on 10^th ave across from the post office. Some items were purchased, much was donated locally to get the office up and running again. The Anglican church stepped forward and offered worship space.
Overview	The Stakeholders: 1. Trinity United Church [the Insured] 2. Western Financial Services [the broker] 3. Ecclesiastal Insurance [the Insurer] 4. Kernagan Adjusters [agent of the Insurer and one of the several levels of adjusters assigned to this file by the Insurer] 5. The Contractor [alleged negligent party in causing the loss] (The Contractor denies responsibility. The Issuer can work this out. It will only be a concern for the Insured should there be insufficient funds to cover the loss not covered) How It All Works: The Contractor was hired via contract with Trinity United to do some repair/restorative work on the ‘Quonset Building’. As the Contractor undertook his contracted role a fire ensued on the roof. It is alleged that the loss is attributed to the negligence of the Contractor. Regardless of this circumstance, our Insurer is meeting its responsibility under the claimed loss and has Adjusters working toward a resolution pursuant to the terms of the contract of insurance. The Adjuster is tasked with a number of responsibilities including: 1. Securing the building, 2. Contracting experts to determine ω the potential hazards subsequent to the loss, ω investigate contamination of the contents exposed to the fire, ω investigate the structural integrity of the building. 3. Seeking a List of Contents from the Insured, 4. Negotiate to either restore, replace or accept an agreed to value of the Contents, 5. Begin demolition of parts of the building, 6. Shore the building up over the winter, 7. Based on investigations of engineers and their advice, either rebuild on the present foot print if there is structural integrity or demolish the structure and rebuild on the site.
September	Initial payment of $10,000 received from insurer to begin replacing church items needed to continue doing business. The insurance adjustor requested detailed lists of contents within the Quonset and administrative buildings. The A frame (thrift store) was not damaged by the fire, and thus is not part of the adjustor’s process.
September Thru November	The worship committee was tasked with finding a place for the congregation to worship. These places were checked out as possibilities for rental for Trinity United Church: Anglican Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Legion Hall upstairs, former Saan store, former Quilt Shop, Rotacrest TAPS, Erickson Room, former Munroes Restaurant, five empty buildings on Canyon Street, former TAPS building, Creston Education Center, Presbyterian Church. Criteria considered was availability, suitable space, cost (rent for commercial buildings was high plus required Triple Net – insurance, utilities, repairs), parking, repairs necessary. The Worship Committee presented a Survey to the congregation with pros and cons for two options: continue worshipping at Anglican Church or renting Rotacrest TAPS. A recommendation was given to Executive Council meeting November 18, 2015 that Trinity United Church rent Rotacrest TAPS building starting Sunday, November 29, 2015. A second recommendation was made that council authorize a “building search” committee to continue the search for a suitable location in which to operate all the ministries and activities of congregational life under one roof, seven days a week.
Nov Dec	UCW and others begin compilation of contents lists of the Quonset and administration section of the church building. Content lists need to be identified as to name, description and value in order to determine the amount of content insurance paid to Trinity United by the insurer. Lists were given to council & trustees for forwarding to the insurer.
Nov	Trauma counselling through the United Church of Canada employee assistance program was previously authorised for the people of Trinity United Creston. A full day of one on one counselling sessions was set up as well as a second day of group counselling sessions.
Nov	Trustees were advised that our $156,000 content insurance is intended to cover the costs of replacing contents, as well as the costs of restoration. The costs of restoration can be prohibitive and it begins to seem likely that only objects deemed irreplaceable will be able to be restored. These items were identified as communion table, baptism font, war memorial plaque, and possibly the piano as long as there was no irreparable damage to the piano caused by the aftermath of the fire.
December January	A notice ran in the weekly bulletin, emailed and power point announcements requesting volunteers for the “Building Search Committee” recommended to council by the worship committee at the end of November. Two volunteers came forward: Pat C and Merla P
Dec 3	On December 3rd a meeting was held at College of the Rockies Creston campus with members of the Trinity Church Board, Trustees, Kootenay Presbytery Chair Frank Lewis and Mark Graw who is assisting the insurer on the fire loss. Next steps identified as follows: 1) list contents of each room, (Trinity) 2) evaluate value of contents, (Trinity & Adjustor) 3) contractor to safely remove and dispose of contents, (hired by adjustor) 4) demolition and abatement of remaining structures, (hired by adjustor) 5) structural engineer to examine foundation to determine if we rebuild on existing footprint or a new one. (hired by adjustor)
January	Content lists completed and sent to insurer. Value of contents identified as $131,400
January	The insurance adjustor obtained quotations for demolition and abatement contracts, and selected the winning contractors. Contract signed by council and trustee representatives with Nucor to begin removal and safe disposal of church contents. Start date anticipated to be the week of April 4^th, pending an updated structural engineers report. The adjustor was advised of the need for a new report.
January 21	Group council process to name the ministries of the congregation, and the building attributes needed to serve those ministries. The results were: Ministries: · Wednesday Lunch · Soup and Sandwich · MS Dinners · Special Olympics Dinner and Dance · Funerals and Tea · Parties · Worship · Thrift Shop · Book and Bible studies – adult and child education – Sunday School · Prayer Circle · Men’s Breakfast · Meeting Spaces · Catalpa · Various renters · Choir – music · Meditation – healing room Building & other Attributes: (this forms the basis for the “building search committee noted above, as well as the needs for the new church building) · Commercial Kitchen · Tables & chairs · Open hall · Accessibility · Bathrooms (m x2, fx2, child x1) · Meeting rooms (small, medium, large) (moveable dividers?) · Meditation/healing room · Piano (other musical instruments?) · Choir space · Private office x 2 (minimum) · Admin office · Sunday school space · Parking · Memorial garden
January February	Conversations with the insurer regarding loss of income coverage ongoing. Difference of understanding precisely what is considered church income keeps the conversation going.
February 12 Council	Adjuster valued contents at $125,464 minus 20% depreciation. We have the option of claiming content insurance item by item, or settle for one final payment which was agreed upon (insurer-trustees-council) as $100,441.43.
Feb 12 Council	It was agreed that a process for purchasing new church contents needs to be established, and the Trustees were asked to do that.
March	Separate bank account set up to process all insurance payments and fire related costs. It was felt that this would greatly simplify tracking.
March 9	NuCor & Pacific Blasting & Demolition representatives met with TUC trustee representatives to assess the site and establish a start date for removal/remediation of contents and demolition of building. They proposed a start date of March 21, later revised to the week of April 4 pending an updated structural engineers report. The insurer has been advised of the need for this report, and the timelines. After meeting with the restoration and demolition contractors on March 9, we were advised that they feel it is possible to protect the memorial garden with plywood cribbing. This means there is no need to relocate the memorial garden urns.

March 18	Trustees met to determine the Criteria for expending content insurance funds. This criteria will go to the April 7^th council meeting for ratification. 1. Wait until Visionary Process April 2, 2016 before any purchases. 2. Finalize design for new building before any purchases. 3. Requests for items to come from Ministry groups; identify needs and wants; consider new vs replacement items. Chair, Arn Deboon will be the contact person for the Ministry groups. 4. Priority items given to new or existing ministries.
March 28	Trustee representatives met with Ellis Don Construction at the church building site. The company was hired by Ecclesiastical Insurance to scope out the building site and make recommendations for the rebuild.
April 2	Visioning workshop held to hear the suggestions, ideas and questions from the people of the church. Workshop led by BC Conference personnel.