Facilities management principles — and strategic budgeting (Statement)

STRATEGIC BUDGETING is about prioritizing funds for the efficient use of capital resources. The Building & Grounds Committee strives to set its own priorities accordingly.

Standard facilities management principles are what determine the order of priorities. And in Mishkon’s case, our sanctuary building’s status as a historic-cultural monument is also a factor. 

Generally speaking, our attention and money is best spent/invested in the following order, starting with the most important.

1. Life-safety (e.g., fire exits)
2. Integrity of the building envelope (against threats from: water intrusion, termites, earthquakes)
3. Important systems (whose failure would greatly disrupt normal activity)
4. Preventative maintenance, and improvements with a good return on investment (e.g., energy savings)
5. “Historic-cultural monument” status: attend to the “character-defining features”*
6. High-priority improvements (that would make the biggest difference)
7. Low-value maintenance

*In other words, which of these distinctive features, if they were restored, would have the biggest positive impact? Which of these features, if they were not preserved, would be the biggest loss to Mishkon and to Venice?

 

Why is this list important? 

Because if it is not followed, we are likely to end up with unhappy outcomes: catastrophes that were preventable, more money spent than was necessary, disruptions in our programs and services, undue burdens on our staff, etc.

Note that any visible “building improvements” — the exciting changes that you may be dreaming about — do not show up until #4 and #6 on this list!

DISCLAIMER: The above statement of principles and priorities is that of our committee only. It has not been officially endorsed by the board of directors. 

Summary status report on our facilities needs

STARTING A NEW fiscal year, with some new officers and directors, let us take stock of where we stand. From this vantage point, our recent accomplishments and imminent projects are taken as givens. What matters most are the challenges that we have yet to address.

The focus in this post is not on making improvements per se, but more simply on attending to what we currently have, beyond routine maintenance. I further restrict my focus here to items that are not obvious. (Which excludes repairing the flood damage in the basement.) This gives us our baseline for moving forward beyond this summer’s projects.

Below the jump, this post sums up the needs of our facilities major areas of concern. The list is not exhaustive. What is listed here alone will cost more than $180K. Most of the expenditures have been discussed by, and authorized by, the board of directors.

Making sense of the year-end financial statement

INTERPRETING FINANCIAL NUMBERS so that they give us an informative picture of our situation is not easy. Having belatedly seen the reports from the most recent fiscal year, I notice that our congregation’s treasurer has made further refinements, compared to previous year’s reports. 

It’s challenging to track the relationship between the capital income/expenditures and the operating income/expenses. Operating income/expenses come and go within a single year. In contrast, the capital can accumulate over more than one year; and conversely several years’ worth of accumulated capital can be spent in a single year. 

The trick is to display those capital spring tides in a manner that sets them apart from the more regular, daily ebb and flow of the operations budget.

Below the jump, this post discusses two aspects of financial reporting where there still seems to be room for improvement.

What’s the grand plan for our facilities?

YES, WE HAVE a grand, multi-year plan for the rehabilitation of Mishkon’s facilities. It is based on the 2003 Historic Structure Report, which offered us a list of priorities largely from a restoration perspective, and the 2019 Property Condition Assessment, which suggested measures based on a standard facilities management perspective.

Below the jump, this post gives an overview of our facilities plans. It lays out recent accomplishments and what is cued up for the future.

Utilities Costs: Electricity and Water

BECAUSE I DON'T have ready access to our utility bills and usage records, I’m attentive when they do come my way. Recently, for a training project, I was given spreadsheets of what Mishkon spent on electricity and water (combined) during the past year. 

Below the jump, I briefly discuss the spreadsheets that I received from our bookkeeper.

How to fund the purchase of new High Holy Day maḥzorim

IN THE PROCESS of research what is the highest and best use for kosher Torah scrolls that Mishkon is not immediately using (a subject for another day), I came across a way to finance the replacement of our synagogue’s outdated maḥzorim with the Conservative movement’s newer (2010) edition — namely Maḥzor Lev Shalem, edited by Rabbi Ed Feld. 

In order for this Torah scroll to be usable again,
this passage had to be patched in 4 places.
(As usual, click/tap on an image to enlarge it.)

Given that acquiring such prayer books has been high on our synagogue’s wish list for some years now, let me share what I just learned. It involves certain of the Torah scrolls in our possession, and ironically it relies upon their status as imperfect and otherwise unusable.…

South wall: Opinion of a stucco repair contractor

TODAY I MET outside the south wall with Brian James, who works for a stucco repair contractor. He has 17 years of experience in dealing with aging and decrepit stucco surfaces in the L.A. area. While awaiting his bid for restoration, I will write up what I learned from our conversation.…

(As usual, click/tap on an image to enlarge it.)

Board authorizes south wall projects

LAST NIGHT, the board of directors approved an enabling resolution stating that two related B&G projects should be undertaken as reserve funds become available. 

• Repair and waterproof the exterior south wall of the sanctuary
• Repair the damaged pilaster base on that wall

Expenditures of up to a certain stated amount* were authorized, provided that the usual procurement procedures are followed. Due to the uncertain nature of working on poorly maintained older buildings, an allowance for contingency was included.

Already the funds equal to the authorized amount are either in the Capital Improvements Fund, or verbally committed by donors specifically for these projects.

So the ball is now back in the court of the B&G Committee, for the execution of these projects.

*I prefer not to post the total authorized amount online until our vendor negotiations are completed.

 

Enabling motions: Status report

THIS IS A FOLLOW-UP to yesterday’s post about the importance of enabling motions. This post documents the actual authorizations and the resulting spending to date.

• For a summary table of the 16 project categories approved so far, click/tap HERE.

• For a bar chart that compares the $$ amount authorized with the amount spent, click/tap HERE. (The image above is a detail from the bar chart.)

• For a fuller status report on what has been done, and what remains to be done, category by category, click/tap HERE.

Enabling motions: The key to restoring our facilities

WHEN IT COMES TO the repairs and restoration of our facility, we seldom know in advance what a project’s final cost will be. Unforeseen circumstances — otherwise known as surprises — are so common in poorly maintained older buildings. Consequently, it is not practical to ask the board of directors to authorize a precise amount (as would fit the purchase of a commodity item). That approach would probably result in halting the project in midstream, in order to get a reauthorization. And that requirement, in turn, would risk not only the success of the project, but also alienating our hard-working vendors.

So how can the board carry out its fiduciary (stewardship) responsibility to maintain the facility in good order? Find out below the jump.…

A look ahead at my final 6 months as chair

WHEN I TOOK ON THE MANTLE of chair of the B&G Committee, my initial commitment was for the second (i.e., last) year of my term on the board. About halfway through that period, I announced my willingness to remain as chair for an additional fiscal year — so that Cindy’s successor could enjoy the continuity while growing into the job of being president. (Little did I know at the time that my own dear spouse would decide to stand for office — and get elected as president!) Indeed, that decision has proven to be helpful to Carole.

Now, as I am on the cusp of my final 6 months in this post, let me share my vision for the remaining period. (Aside from certain termite-related work that is discussed elsewhere on this blog, which is already scheduled for January.)

South Wall: Incremental Steps toward Test Cuts (rev. 11/13)

MAKING TEST CUTS into the south wall will be an adventure in discovery. (Best case: we find that the wall’s structural integrity is in good shape. Worst case: we find that there’s significant structural damage due to water damage, dry rot, termites; and maybe there’s mold, as well.) The point of this exercise is to be able to develop reliable cost estimates for structural repair and waterproofing later this year. 

There are many issues to consider in advance, in order to ensure that we get useful and reliable answers to our questions. To me, the pending discovery stage feels a bit like sending an unmanned mission to Mars—we’ve got to get it right long before the probe lands on the unexplored surface of interest.

An American probe sent to Mars

Below the jump, this post discusses the various considerations.…

Air Purification on the Bimah

OUR BIMAH REGULARLY HOSTS the highest concentration of people, and the lowest circulation of air, of any space within our sanctuary. Arguably this is where an air purifier (or two or three) can really make a difference in preventing the spread of infection.

In this post, I recommend a particular brand and model of commercially available air purifier for our bimah. And I report on the research that led me to this recommendation.

NOTE:  Air purification on the bimah is one of three parallel avenues that are being explored to reduce the risk of airborne infection in the sanctuary, for the sake of public health during the pandemic. The other two avenues are: air conditioning filtration, and fans in the windows.

What Is a “Capital Improvement”?

THE TERM “CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT” is perhaps more controversial than it needs to be. There’s a widespread misconception that an “improvement” must be something new and different. Yet that’s not what the IRS says — which matters because Mishkon’s Policies cite the IRS’s regulations for business expenses as its model for determining what qualifies as a capital improvement.…

Safe Ventilation for Our Smaller Indoor Spaces

WHAT DID IT TAKE to provide sufficient purified air in our Chapel earlier today, in order to allow it to be used again safely for an adult group event? 

Air Purifier #1

Below the jump, I give you the skinny, which includes a recommendation. Then I explain the source article, my engineering calculations, and the configuration. 

Termite Perimeter Treatment of the Sanctuary’s Long Walls

HOW MANY HOLES does it take to fill the Albert Hall? I honestly don’t know—ask Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band! 😉 But I do know roughly how many holes it takes to perform a perimeter termite treatment on the long walls of our sanctuary hall. 

Namely, more than 250! That’s the number of holes that were drilled and filled this week in our sanctuary. And that was for the upper half of those walls only.

Below the jump, this post explains the why, how, and what of the treatment. Of course, with accompanying photos (courtesy of Ruben Carrillo).…

Workers Compensation and the Hiring of Contractors

WHEN WE LOOK FOR SOMEONE to do a maintenance/repair job for us, occasionally we come across a self-employed licensed contractor (or even an unlicensed one) who seems qualified and willing and affordable — except that they don’t have workers compensation insurance. (A small contractor who has no employees is legally exempt from the requirement to carry workers comp.)

This post discusses how to proceed in such a case.…

Are We Going to Tent and Fumigate for Termites?

THE CONSENSUS AMONG EXPERTS is that for a big ol’ building with a history of serious termite infestation like ours has, the only sure way to ensure that the termites have stopped digesting our wood is to throw a temporary tent over the entire structure and then fumigate inside the tent. 

That might seem like a straightforward matter for our sanctuary building, because it’s unoccupied most of the time. However, in our case we need to accommodate not only our school building—which is attached to the sanctuary building along a shared wall, and occupied by the preschool—but also our attached neighboring building, which is owned by Soheil Darvish, a real estate developer who resides there. 

This post discusses the complicating factors.… 🤔

Safety Improvement Made This Week

BACK IN DECEMBER, the board had voted to approve the installation of 2 seismic gas shut-off valves: one for the school, and the other for the sanctuary. I’m pleased to announce that the first one was installed today! (Hopefully the second one will be done tomorrow.) This is a capital improvement, in that it has resulted in a betterment to the facility: a safer synagogue. Thus it’s to be paid for from our Capital Improvements Fund.

The new inlet pipe downstream from the meter
features a bright red earthquake valve.

This post treats the history of this issue and its resolution.…

The Most Urgent Maintenance and Capital Improvement Expenditures

OUR LIST OF SPECIAL PROJECTS is growing: non-routine maintenance-related or restoration-related expenses that are warranted in the near term. This post is intended to inform the board, the membership, and prospective donors about those needs, so that we can now work together to raise the necessary funds. (These tasks are not among the restoration projects that the board has previously approved, conditional on the availability of funds.)