A listing of items related to the maintenance and upkeep of the Albuquerque Friends Meeting House.

History of document

• First issued: October 16, 2004

• Updated: 10/1/06

Other windows

The library has double hung windows that need to be opened and tested at least yearly. The basement has 2 bay windows that are rumored to open, but noone knows how!

7. Inside lights

The meeting room bulbs in the round fixtures are a specialty item that must be installed by an electrician. Max Rice has done this work for us in the past. Most of the other fixtures in the building have been maintained by Bill Gross. In 2003 we replaced all the fluorescent fixtures downstairs with electronic ballast fluorescent fixtures.

8. Front hallway

The front hallway serves several importance functions: the guest book is on the table, literature is available on the table, a name tag board and supplies for making name tags. The Guest Book is kept in the right hand drawer under the top of the table. Items on the table are free for the taking. After items have been left here awhile, they will be thrown away. There is a water fountain that works but does not cool.

9. Meeting Room

The Meeting Room contains plants that need to be periodically watered. Several members water the plants, as needed. There is also a piano in the meeting room. Under the piano is a huge metal tank used by the previous church as an immersion baptismal tank. This room also contains a mechanical closet where the swamp cooler controls, circuit panel and phone wiring is located.

10. Childrens rooms downstairs

All the rooms downstairs are used by the young children during Meeting. The teenage Friends- of whom we have about 8- occasionally use one of the rooms. There is a closet labeled “Zen Group” in the kitchen where the Zen group that uses our building keeps their materials. The big closet downstairs is used as storage for art and other supplies of the children and should not be used for anything else.

11. Trees, maintenance, pruning and watering

We currently have no coordinated plan for maintaining the trees. The trees all have a sprinkler emitter next to them and do get watered. Some members have taken upon themselves to trim the trees, weed around them, etc.

Infrastructure systems

1. Irrigation system, timer, zones and controls

The system is controlled by a timer located at the top of the stairs next to the kitchen. There are 2 zones: one for a drip line covering the trees in the parking lot and West side of building and the other for the lawn and lower area in front. The zones can be set for different lengths of watering. The timer is user friendly to set and must be changed twice or three times yearly: in the fall to cut back to minimal watering, beginning of spring and in July for the hottest months. Karen Reagan and Minor have been setting the timer and have followed no set pattern for changing the settings.

The drip hose is delicate and seems to break at least once a season, or more often. Ways the system can be damaged: an emitter plugs up, an emitter gets pulled off, the hose gets cut, the hose gets stopped up. If an emitter falls off or the line gets cut our water bill goes up and trees past the break start to wilt. We have also used Marks Creative Landscape to maintain the system.

Vendor: Mark’s Creative Landscape, PO Box 6796, Albuq, NM 87197, 8426999,

Mark Radoslovich

2. Outside electrical box.

Our junction box, meter, and circuit breaker panel are located outside on the East wall of the building, near the South end of the building. The box is locked with a combination lock and the combination is on a piece of paper in the Meeting House worship room closet- the closet with the swamp cooler controls in it. This room also contains the circuit breaker electrical panel.

3. Outside gas line.

The gas line enters the building on the south side of the building and the meter is located here also.

4. HVAC

swamp coolers

There are 2 swamp coolers for the building. Both units are located on the roof. One unit blows out of the main outlet in the meeting room and the other unit blows out vents in following locations: 3 vents in the meeting room, Meeting office, library and entry area. The controls for both are located in the meeting room closet. We recently added a timer to the controls so that both units can be turned on with the timer and they will automatically shut off. The coolers are shut down and heat turned on in the fall and started up in the spring. Anderson Air Corps does the conversion twice yearly. They maintain all our units for a fixed contract price. We intend to type up a sign that clearly indicates how to use the timer.

Heat/AC

The swamp coolers cool the upstairs only. Downstairs is cooled by a heat/ac unit. Both gas heating and air conditioning are in the same unit. This heat/ac unit is operated by a thermostat in the downstairs area. The one thermostat controls both heating and air conditioning. Heat for the upstairs area is controlled by a heater in the front hall closet. Heat comes out of the vents in the meeting room, library, office and entry area. This is controlled by the thermostat in the meeting room.

Fans

There are 4 fans in the meeting room, with controls next to the closet.

Operable skylights

There are 2 skylights on the East side of the meeting room. Both can be opened. The rod used to operate the opening mechanism is located in the meeting room closet.

Vendor: Anderson Air Corp, 3435 Vassar, NE, Abq. 8842121. Michael Salmon

5. Plumbing

Hot water heater

The hot water heater is located in the basement SE corner adjacent to the kitchen in a closet. The hot water heater is 18 years old- installed when the building was originally purchased by our Meeting.

City water line shut off

The water line shut off is underground on the W. side of the building near the curb.

Bathrooms

There are 3: 1 upstairs and 2 downstairs. These are cleaned every week by Roy. Occasionally the handles or other part of the toilets break and must be repaired. We have used Khalsa Plumbing in 2005. Prior to that we used Allied Plumbing. In 2003 the water feed line to the upstairs toilet developed a small leak that went undetected for several weeks. Water ran under the linoleum floor and get into the wood floor substrate, swelling the wood. We discovered the leak and repaired the line but there is still a large bump in the floor where the floor swelled up. The door knobs and locks on the downstairs bathroom doors are marginally functional. All bathrooms have a vent fan.

Kitchen

The downstairs kitchen has a sink, refrigerator and 2 stoves. Every few years one of the appliances needs to be replaced or upgraded. There is a food coop that uses the kitchen on a monthly basis as a drop off point for food/supplies. The food is usually piles up in the middle of the floor and members come and pick it up over a period of several days. There is a kitchenette upstairs used by meeting. Next to the kitchenette is a wooden coffee mug cabinet handmade by Dick Heckman. This beautiful cabinet contains community coffee mugs for use by all.

Gas

The gas line enters the building on the South side next to the building. Meter is located here.

Vendor: Khalsa Plumbing, 10813 Claremont Ave, NE, Abq. 4402440. Davinder Khalsa

Allied Plumbing, 2967742.

6. Roof

Roof seems to be in good shape- no leaks. It was reroofed in 2006. The roof is not flat- it is actually 2 peaked roofs with a high parapet.

7. Telephone

The telephone line comes into the building from a pole in the East vacant lot. The telephone box is on the outside of the East wall. There is one phone in the library and a second downstairs in the kitchen. The library phone has an answering machine.

To change greeting on the answering machine

press Menu; the machine says “Set outgoing message”

press Rec/Memo; the machine says “record your greeting”

record it, then press Mailbox 1 to stop

Fire, Safety and Security

1. Outside big light.

The outside light on the pole is controlled by a timer located in the front hall closet, next to the heating unit. It is an old style mechanical timer and requires resetting twice a year. Mechanical pins on the timer must be moved. This control also controls the front porch light. The lights come on at dusk and go off in the morning. Every few years the bulb in the outside pole light burns out and has to be replaced by an electrician. In the past we have used Max Rice from Maxum Electric. Max is the husband of Nancy Rice and he always gives us a fair price for work performed. The outside pole bulb needs to be replaced.

Vendor: Maxum Electric, 9404 Arvilla, NE, Abq, NM 87111. 3235539. Max Rice

2. Outside front porch light

Every now and then the bulb must be changed. This light is on the same timer as pole light, and comes on at dusk and goes off at dawn. (See above)

3. Fire safety issues

Basement exit areas.

There are 3 means of exit from the basement area. The stairway leading from the kitchen goes directly outside and is equipped with a one way push-exit mechanism. The stairway leading down to the basement has an exit door at the first floor landing. This door is kept locked with a draw-latch that must be manually moved before opening the door. There is also a 2^nd latch located at the base of this door that must be opened. In a panic, it is entirely possible this bottom latch would be overlooked. Both of the basement rooms on the North side of the building- used by the Childrens Committee- have windows that exit to the outside. For security and safety purposes, these windows are covered with a latching grate that has a release mechanism located inside next to the window. The latching mechanism should be tested at least once a year and adjustments made to assure that it functions properly.

In 2003 Minor conducted a fire drill with the children to evaluate the effectiveness of the windows for escape. The windows are very small and an adult would have a difficult time getting through them. In fact, it was virtually impossible to climb out of them, having to twist your body in various ways. These window exits are not functional for older or disabled individuals.

First floor exit areas

The main floor has 3 exit doors: on the West side of the building at the top of the stairs leading to the basement (same as above). Also the front entrance door and finally, on the South side of the building on the platform stage.

Fire extinguishers

Fire extinguishers are located throughout the building as required by Fire Code. Every year the extinguishers are inspected, receiving a green tag noting the inspection date and condition. The extinguishers are required to be recharged every 3 years. We contract with a fire safety company who inspects the extinguishers yearly. This company also inspects the exit signs and smoke detectors.

Fire exit signs in bldg

There are several illuminated fire exit signs located throughout the building (2 in the main room, one in the kitchen). There is also a fire light without an exit sign in the stairwell. Each of these has a battery back up in case of power loss. The battery must be changed every 3-5 years. Occasionally the bulbs in the sign burn out and must be replaced. These bulbs are readily available at Home Depot- just take in the burned out one and ask them to match. Out fire safety contractor tests the bulbs and battery every year and replace the battery as needed.

Smoke alarms

Smoke alarms are located through out the building and are hard wired with battery backup. Correction: they appear to be residential grade units with batteries only, no AC power. One is by the front door, one in the downstairs hall, and one near the kitchen. Occasionally the battery will go bad and begin emitting a chirp. The battery must be replaced.

Vendor: Fire Safety Industries, 3428 Stanford, NE, Abq, NM. 8884494. Marie.

4. Locks and keys.

We have no clear key policy. Many people have keys to the front door including some outside groups that use the building. The building scheduler manages the outside groups that use the building and arranges for them to get the key. An extra key to the front door is kept in the Buildings/Grounds mailslot. The accounting office in the main meeting space is locked at all times. The key is kept on a plastic rod that is kept on the top shelf of the upstairs kitchen area. This is the only key to the office and should always be returned to this spot. One key operates both locks. The accounting office is used by the accountant and recorder and also for storage of old books and other valuable items. The other 3 exit doors- South side Meeting room, kitchen stairway and front stairway- do not have keys.

Administrative

Utility bills.

A copy of the utility bills- gas/electric, water/refuse, phone- are placed in the buildings/grounds mailbox after the bills are paid by the treasurer, who keeps the original bills and a records of all payments. Currently no one on the buildings and Grounds committee closely inspects the bills to assure that we are getting the best deals, no mistakes, etc.

Property and building insurance

Our insurance is thru Brotherhood Mutual, the agency is J.A. Sunderland, 2431 San Pedro Dr, NE, Abq, 87110. 8846000. Our agent at Sunderland is Dee Bryan. Then Treasurer pays the premiums once a year and provides a copy to Buildings and Grounds.

Building use schedule.

Our building is used by a variety of folks for events. All events are scheduled thru the building scheduler, including Meeting events and events by outside groups. Allison Abraham has a spare key for access to the Meeting House which she keeps at her home.

Cleaning and contract services

1. Weekly cleaning of building

For many years our building has been cleaned once a week by Roy Robinson. He comes to the building every Saturday as scheduled by the building scheduler, and does the following: empties the garbage cans, vacuums the carpet in Meeting room, replaces paper towels and maintains the bathrooms. Roy takes the garbage home with him to Belen and puts it out with his own garbage. Paper towels are stored downstairs in the kitchen in the cabinets. Cleaning supplies, mop, broom, etc, are stored in the closets in the bathrooms. North bathroom has most of cleaning supplies and South bathroom has miscellaneous equipment.

Communication with Roy is very important and something we have not always done well. Occasionally Roy has come to the Meeting House to clean and there has been an event. Roy will leave and come back after the event is over. He has even come back at midnight on occasion. Roy takes pride in his work and wants the Meeting House to be clean for Sunday morning. On the occasions Roy has come and gone and returned, we have paid him extra. Roy is paid a flat monthly fee. The other major need for communication with Roy is to arrange for buying supplies. We have an open account with McClintock Paper Co. for paper goods and about once every 4 months Roy will need a supply of paper towels, garbage bags, etc.

Typically Roy will call and request supplies. (Nancy Rice has gone to McClintock (?) and bought the paper goods, even though recently Roy has purchased items himself and given us receipts for reimbursement.) This is an area we could definitely improve in. About once a year Roy will wax the wood floors in the Meeting Room. The Buildings and Grounds Committee is responsible for recommending to Business meeting the compensation for Roy, making recommendations for salary increase, etc and notifying the Treasurer when special payment is required.

Vendor: McClintock Paper Co, 1823 Commercial NE

Roy Robinson- 866-1390

2. Carpets

The carpets are vacuumed every week by Roy and are shampooed once or twice a year by Don Bell Carpets, who has been cleaning our carpets and upholstery for years. The rug in the meeting room is shampooed on an as-needed basis thru Don Bell. Don also cleans the upholstery on the chairs approximately once every 2 years, or as needed. The dance group will sometimes roll the carpet up and forget to unroll it.

Vendor: Bell Carpet Cleaning Specialists, 8415 Plymouth Rock Rd, NE, Abq. 8239565

Don Bell

3. Building furniture

The stackable chairs used for meeting are stored on movable dollies located on the platform. Occasionally a seat comes loose and must be screwed back on. About once a year or as needed, Don Bell can clean the upholstery. The foldable tables are stored on the platform also. Some of them need repair. There is also some furniture in the library that needs repair.

4. Pest control

We have a contract for quarterly pest control. This is to control roaches and other pests. Minor has been at the Meeting House late in the evening, around 1-2 a.m. and the downstairs area is literally covered with roaches. This is potentially a serious health problem. Members have expressed a preference for environmentally sound pest control methods, rather than traditional chemicals. Our vendor, New Mexico Pest control, uses only environmentally safe chemicals.

Vendor: New Mexico Pest Control, phone: 1-800-2848285