2/16/2010

It has been a full month since the fire and the fog of how we are to proceed is lifting – if barely. We are on hold for the insurance company to complete their investigation on the cost to rebuild the facility, the value of all contents and thornier issues such as whether rooftop HVAC units need replaced. Our carrier has brought in a building expert and forensic engineer for this purpose.

Originally we had planned on full re-occupation of the children’s wing but that is still a few weeks out and no work has yet begun in the administrative section. This includes the Wilcoxon Fitness Center. Once they finish work in that section we will be able to allow the public back into this building and get everyone back into exercising again. Thank you for your patience if you are one of our many members.

We have been looking at leasing another building for 6-8 months but keep are finding that owners want the option of giving us 30 days to vacate if they find a long-term tenant. It is understandable but we cannot be moving around given the labor involved in any move. So although there are many available buildings the options are more limited for us than we had thought. Work continues on this front and we will post a solution as soon as we get one. Again we fully intend to have a temporary site for the thrift store operating as soon as possible.

1/27/2010

We are moving forward with securing a retail space in Monticello to setup a temporary thrift store. We are set to accept donations from 10-2 Monday through Saturday at a maintenance building on Sixth Street just north of our main facility. The community response has been fantastic – thank you Monticello. We are moving what has been sorted and priced up to a free storage facility we have available in Rensselaer. None of it is going to our Rensselaer thrift store, as some rumors have implied, and it will all be returned as soon as a temporary site is ready.

Right now restoration workers have removed all the ceiling tile, insulation and ductwork in what was the Children’s wing to replace smoke damaged material. The inside is a mess but we are making steady progress with staff working around the construction area. Once they are done we will move administrative personnel into the finished area while the workers do this for the administrative section.

Our best guess is that it will take until late summer before we can re-open the thrift store in its original location. We are working with our insurance company to arrive at a settlement so we can begin this effort – these negotiations may take awhile to finalize. Stay tuned.

1/18/2010

Today the fire restoration folks really began the hard work of removing any smoke and soot from every possible location in the parts of the building undamaged by the fire itself. We now have temporary power from a portable generator, some of the furnace units are operating, plumbing is up and staff worked in the administrative section to pack up for the cleaning process.

It looks as if we will not be able to use the undamaged areas until next Monday. We will be using a temporary phone system until a permanent replacement can be installed. Our architect and an electrical engineer spent considerable time this afternoon surveying the damage. We intend to find a temporary site for the thrift store during the 4-6 month time frame needed to get our facility totally back in business. We will be accepting donations to replenish our stock at the maintenance building on 6th Street 200 yards north of the intersection with Norway Road. Everything in the thrift store at the time of the fire will have to be disposed of because it is wet or covered with corrosive soot and smells of acrid smoke.

We are going to have to install a completely new mechanical area for the electrical and telephone needs of the facility which will hamper us for a while. Staff spirit is high – we are not going to let this get us down.

Wilcoxon Fitness Center will remain closed this week but we may be able to open it up next week depending on how the restoration proceeds. On balance we made solid progress today with the strong support of Heiny Insurance, Hayes Restoration, CenturyLink, Scheurich’s Plumbing, Dave Taylor Electric, Roeing Corporation, Comcast and Schwarz Associates.

Monticello Fire 1/16/2010

Saturday morning an electrical malfunction at the south end of our thrift store destroyed much of this wing. Additionally, the fire destroyed all power, phone services, cdcresources email and cable necessary for normal communication. Fortunately nobody was injured and everyone was able to quickly evacuate from the store. Apart from some water and smoke damage the other parts of the main administrative building were unaffected. Day Service programs will operate normally on Monday from the Workshop building but administrative staff cannot return to work until power is restored.

For the time being you can still reach us using our regular phone line 574/583-8227. All calls are being forwarded to our reception area in Rensselaer where staff will contact Monticello via cell phone or personal email to leave messages. We apologize for this inconvenience and will get back to regular business as soon as we can.

You can email general questions and queries to us at cdc1resources@gmail.com until we are able to restore our email system. Postal mail can be sent to our current address. We will also keep you updated via our website until we can are fully operational again.

The Thrift Store is out of commission for a period of time. Our goal is to find a temporary site as quickly as possible and be open to take donations and contributions from the community very soon. We will need your assistance to completely replenish our stock of clothing, furniture, household items and nick-knacks. Watch for announcements on this as we move to quickly re-open the thrift store.

We are extremely thankful for the tremendous job done by firefighters from Monticello and nearby departments to contain the fire damage to the south end of the former gymnasium. While the temperature was moderate for January it was a very smoky fire and they were exhausted when the job was done.