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Good/Better/Best Practices for Monitoring and Protecting Buildings and Grounds During Stay-at Home Period


No one should be working at a building under the auspices of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina unless for essential services such as direct services providing food, shelter or housing, or for the purposes of recording or livestreaming worship. Safety practices and physical distancing is to be practiced at all times.

TEMPERATURE
  • Set the thermostats to temps that save energy but also protect valuable property, such as an organ or the candles in the sacristy. One suggestion is 60˚F in cooler weather, 80˚F in warmer weather, but it is best to customize to your property needs. Be sure and check if the system is in A/C or Heat.


APPLIANCES

  • Clear any contents likely to spoil from fridge/freezer, but leave appliances on.
  • Make sure smaller appliances are turned off and unplugges if not in use.
  • Ensure that all gas appliances are properly functioning or turned off safely.


ADMINISTRATION

  • Either stop mail and package deliveries or have a person delegated to check the mail and receive packages.
  • Have calls forwarded to a voicemail that can be checked remotely, forwarded to a cell phone, or include cell contact numbers for appropriate staff persons in the event someone calls the church/mission.
  • No one should be working at the building unless for essential services such as direct services providing food, shelter or housing, or for the purposes of recording or livestreaming worship. Any work that can be done from home should be, especially if there are multiple staff or volunteers.
  • Ensure that there is a clear internal chain of responsibility for building issues, and know who shall fill in for whom in the event that an administrator or minister is unable to perform their duties due to illness.


BUILDING MAINTENANCE

  • Set up a schedule for the building to be checked daily. Avoid, if at all possible, having a single person on the property alone. It is best to have two people checking the premises at the same time but practicing proper physical distancing, along with the wearing of masks and gloves. If practically only one person can make the check, provide a plan whereby that person informs another when the check is beginning, when it should be complete and a check in when the check is concluded and the person is leaving the premises. Don’t take personal safety for granted.
  • Make sure there is no garbage in the building which may rot or create issues with hygiene.
  • Create or monitor a list of known problems (leaky pipes, HVAC issues, etc.).
  • Inspect the whole facility inside and out daily.
    • Check on known trouble spots current or in the past (i.e. see above).
    • Check for buildup issues inside (cobwebs, dust, etc.).
    • Remove trash from lawn.
  • Create a rota of teams checking the facility.
    • Ensure those on the schedule can contact one another in case someone has to miss their day and needs another person to cover for them.
  • Have someone (vestry member, sexton, etc.) responsible for receiving the reports from daily check, including updates on any problems.
  • Consider turning off water to building when not in regular use.
  • Monitor utility use to ensure there aren’t odd spikes that may indicate a problem.
  • Don’t stop pest control if your provider continues to offer these services.
  • Unless essential services are still being performed on campus (i.e. feeding program, 12-step meetings, etc.) consider canceling or paring back cleaning services. (Consider compensation of cleaning staff, if possible.)
  • Continue normal lawn maintenance and care to prevent creating an impression that the buildings and grounds are not being monitored. (Perhaps volunteers can be recruited if professional services are unaffordable or unavailable.)


SECURITY

  • Secure points of entry.
    • Doors, windows, out buildings, crawl spaces, etc., should be locked and secured.
  • Consider notifying local law enforcement to let them know how long building will be vacant, and ask if it can be included on local patrol routes.
  • Some may like to consider additional security services such as cameras to monitor packages, additional timed lights by doorways or poorly lit areas, and so on.

*If there is a building resident (such as a student resident at a campus ministry), they may be able to perform many of the Building Monitoring and Administration functions mentioned above. In such a case, it is all the more important to minimize others coming to and from the building. If someone must enter the building, give the resident reasonable notice about the visit so that they may take the proper precautions.


CHURCH INSURANCE* NOTES

Church Insurance*will not cancel any group benefits or property and casualty insurance nor charge interest for failure to make timely payments until June 30, 2020.

Church Insurance* announced on March 27, 2020 a 90-day hardship grace period for those who cannot make timely payments on insurance

*In this case “Church Insurance” is the actual name of the company that most (but not all) of the churches in the Episcopal Diocese utilize and this information pertains only to this specific company.


HELPFUL INSURANCE LINKS

These links may be helpful for more specific questions pertaining our individual situations

CPG Coronavirus Response Statement

CPG Announcements

Property and Casualty Risk Management

Church Insurance General Handbook

Church Insurance General Risk Management (helpful, with resources for hosting outside groups, protecting stained glass, doing an assets inventory, etc…)

Coalition of Endowed Episcopal Parishes Webinar: "Managing Empty Buildings in the Era of COVID-19”
Wednesday, April 22 at 3:00pm (Free)

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Contacts

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman
XII Bishop Diocesan of North Carolina
The Rt. Rev. Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple
VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman

XII Bishop Diocesan of North Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman was ordained and consecrated as the XII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina in Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham on July 15, 2017. He was elected on March 4, 2017.

Prior to his election, Bishop Rodman served as the Special Projects Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, a role he took on after spending five years as the diocesan project manager for campaign initiatives, where he engaged congregations, clergy and laity, in collaborative local and global mission through the Together Now campaign, helping to raise $20 million to fund these initiatives. Prior to that, he spent 16 years as the rector of St. Michael’s in Milton, Massachusetts, during which the parish established a seven-year plan that included a capital campaign for a major renovation of the church school building.

Ordained in 1988, Bishop Rodman is a graduate of Bates College and Virginia Theological Seminary. He and his wife of 32 years, Deborah, live in Raleigh. They are the parents of two adult daughters. In his free time, Bishop Rodman enjoys basketball, golf, kayaking, crosswords and creative writing.

The Rt. Rev. Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple

VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina

Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple was elected the Diocese's sixth Bishop Suffragan and the first female bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina on January 26, 2013, at the 197th Annual Convention. She was consecrated on June 15, 2013, in Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Bishop Hodges-Copple grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended Duke University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in 1979 with a major in public policy. She earned her Master of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, in 1984.

In the years between college and seminary and then seminary and ordination, Hodges-Copple worked as a community organizer in Massachusetts and Appalachia and as a shelter director for victims of domestic violence in North Carolina. She was ordained a deacon in 1987 and a priest in 1988.

Bishop Hodges-Copple has served her entire ordained life in the Diocese of North Carolina, working 13 years in parish ministry and 13 years as a campus minister. She served as the rector of St. Luke’s, Durham, until she was elected to the episcopate. Bishop Hodges-Copple has a particular passion for shaping mission and ministry to be attuned to the voices, needs and wisdom of disempowered communities.

In her role as Bishop Suffragan, Bishop Hodges-Copple has particular responsibilities in campus and young adult ministries, new mission starts (Galilee ministries), the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission, the ordination process for the diaconate, global partnerships for mission, ecumenical and interfaith collaborations and the pastoral care of retired clergy, their spouses and surviving spouses. In the spring of 2018, she led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, her third such pilgrimage, and plans another in 2020.

Hodges-Copple is currently a member of the Executive Council for The Episcopal Church, the Board of Historic Black Colleges & Universities and the Task Force for Social Advocacy. She served on the Special Legislative Committee for Marriage at the 2015 General Convention in Salt Lake City and chaired the House of Bishops’ Legislative Committee on Social Concerns at the 79th General Convention in Austin, Texas. She is also a member of the Bishops United Against Gun Violence.

During the transition between the 11th and 12th Bishops of North Carolina, she served as Bishop Diocesan Pro Tempore, the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese.

She and her husband, John, have three adult children. John is Director of Planning for the Triangle J Council of Governments.

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