January President's Report

My post content

Greetings Cattailers, near and far —

Because our power is still on and temperatures in our little valley have already climbed into the low 50s this morning, I thought I’d take advantage of the moment to get my January President’s Report out early—especially since there is some genuinely good news to share.

After months of fact-finding and quiet, steady work by the Building Committee, the CCHOA Board has voted unanimously to move forward with the Hall restoration. The Board authorized payment of $40,000 to Heiko Baran for Phase 1. These are funds which we currently have on hand, with an appropriate reserve cushion.

This phase of the work includes the following:

1. Temporarily relocating the Rose of Sharon bushes for later replanting

2. Freeing the chimney from the roof structure and tarping it to minimize water damage

3. Removing the existing pantry, kitchen, and deck structures from the main building

4. Constructing two load-bearing walls running the full length of the building, positioned approximately ten feet in from each exterior wall. These walls will sit above the steel beams and extend up to the roof structure, supporting the roof as the building is lifted.

As Heiko explains:

“I hope this helps with understanding the work involved in lifting our community center. Once it is safe to work beneath the building, we can excavate footers, tie in steel rebar, connect mechanical steel to existing boulders and solid material, set foundation walls, reinforce, and place concrete.”

The next phase of the project—which will require fundraising—will involve significant planning by the Building Committee. As you can imagine, there will be much to consider and decide once the Hall is raised.

Speaking of fundraising, one small but important step also accomplished this past week was establishing a dedicated postal address and delivery point for the Hall. There is now a mailbox on site where checks can be mailed or dropped off directly. This is a meaningful improvement, as it is not ideal for CCHOA correspondence to be routed through a private address that may change over time.

A formal fundraising letter will be going out shortly with details related to the next phase. In addition, the Cattail Creek Community website is coming together nicely, though it will need some polishing and review before going live. Once launched, we hope members will be able to contribute photos, notes, and other materials directly.

In the meantime, here are two unedited “test” videos that Dennice, Kerry, Danny, and I put together for Facebook. An ongoing project, these will eventually be lightly edited for inclusion in the History section of the website:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CQ2rfeTCY/
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DzbESmJGt/

Enjoy—and as always, thank you for being part of this remarkable community.

Stay warm and safe,
Worth