2024 was another good year for the Hillcrest facility as we had a year filled with ministries and activities. A busy building means the Facilities Team and I are busy trying to stay on top of cleaning, room setups, room scheduling, the never ending maintenance and seasonal jobs. It keeps the team busy but it doesn’t make for interesting or exciting yearly reports.
I am thankful for the staff team that I have to work with and for the great volunteers that I can call on for help and advice. It continues to be my privilege to serve as Facility and IT Director here at HIllcrest Church. Please reach out to me if you have an questions or concerns with the facility or property.
Grant
Solar Project Update:
2024 was a case of “no news is good news” for the solar system. Everything is working properly with no maintenance issues and the system is generating as expected. Any extra solar production is sent to the City grid and held as a credit. That credit is then used when we need electricity from the City electrical grid. Our solar production was large enough we did not have to pay for any electricity from the City we were able to use the stored up credit balance.
The question that I get asked often is “does the solar system pay for itself” and the answer is yes. It is saving Hillcrest more then the cost of the loan. How I can make that statement is that we have an extra electrical meter that tracks what our facility consumes. We can then calculate what we would have spent monthly on electricity if we didn’t have solar system. We saved 51.75% of what our utility bill would have been without solar. In addition we did sell our carbon credit from the 2023 which helps to pay down the loan faster.
If you want more specific information related to the solar system please reach out to me at the church office.
Gym Entrance Trees:
The 3 trees by gym had done well over the years but were too close together and were causing some building concern like rubbing on the building, causing icing problems with the roof, gutters and sidewalk. A tree service was hired with the plan to trim as needed and remove two of the problem trees. What we found was the third tree had suffered more than anticipated from the other trees and looked bad by itself so it had to be removed. With these trees gone we planted new grass and were able to improve the sprinklers in that area.
The long term goal is to develop a landscape plan to improve the curb appeal of the building taking into account things like security, cost, low maintenance and the climate of each location. If that is something you enjoy or have experience with I would love to talk with you about what we can do.
