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Membership Committee (Ken Fuentecilla)
Marketing Committee (Vacant)
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Leesburg Facility Committee (John Carter)
Nothing to report.
Purcellville Facility Committee (Dave Painter)
BIG NEWS
After a ridiculously long and contentious Purcellville Town Council meeting the council finally voted to approve the replacement of the roof on the lower building and replacement of the leaking panels on the upper building. This is a process that started last spring!
During the Dec. 6th work day.
Replaced broken/missing clear plastic panels on air compressor sheds for both upper and lower buildings.
Emptied dust collector bags and replaced the broken one and cleaned up the mess left by the broken bag.
Installed 2” rigid foam in both large louvered vents in the kiln room.
Replaced defective door knob on door between kiln room and wet room in Ceramics dept.
Began installation of new Miter saw. This turned out to be a bigger job than anticipated as Dewalt made some changes to the design of the saw which will require a deeper dust collection box. Work is ongoing.
Jim Waldron replaced the defective heating elements in the large kiln along with the dodgy contactors (relays).
Jim also got the small kiln up and running. And has run successful tests with it.
In process
The mini-splits for the lower classroom and the ceramics shop have arrived but we are still waiting for the installation kits that go with them.
Electrical work for the donated mini split is already done and although bigger than needed it can be used for one of the new units.
New electric will need to be installed for the second mini split and we need to source a breaker of the proper size as we don’t have one.
In last months report it was noted that permanent arrangements for cutting the grass and trimming weeds around the buildings and along the driveway would need to be made. I have heard no feedback from the board
It is very important that when we look at renewing the lease in Purcellville that we insist on clarifying the clause about ‘maintenance.” As the lease is currently written Makersmiths is responsible for “all maintenance” in the buildings. This is commonly understood to mean that we are responsible for routine maintenance in and around the building, not repairs to the structure itself. Town Council member, Mrs. Khalil, who stated that she has extensive experience with real estate and rental agreements interpreted this to mean that WE are responsible for repairing/replacing the 60 plus year old roofs and by extension replacing the doors on the back of the lower building.
Presumably her interpretation could also be expanded to include repaving the parking lot, repairing the fence around the property and goodness only knows what else. Happily, cooler (and more logical) heads prevailed and four council members voted to repair the roof leaks while three sided with Mrs. Khalil and voted not to. We need to remember this when it comes time to renew the lease in 2026
Scheduling Committee (Jennifer Chu)
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