Diane Adams received a call from someone in the Quaker community stating that the city posted a notice at 601 Union St. in The Dalles informing us that the water meter was running non-stop. Jerry Frazier and I immediately responded and discovered that the yard faucet of the rectory had been left on. This may have happened when the tenant in the house put some insulation and a bucket over the faucet during a recent cold spell. Whatever the cause, we turned it off and the meter stopped spinning. We decided that our next course of action would be to:
We appreciate the Diocese's patience and support through this process. I will continue to update you on our progress.
- Ask the property manager to install a ventilation fan which will allow for intake air through the existing window port across the basement room. Whether or not we decide to move the archives project into the basement, we still need to improve the room's ventilation to help preserve the documents currently stored there. Our goal is to maintain a clean, cool, dry, well-ventilated space, not only for the benefit of our collection but for the well-being of our tenants.
- Next, we need to close a wall opening that is allowing air and moisture to enter the basement (the property manager will do this).
- Hire a plumber to root out the basement drain. When the tenants wash clothes upstairs, suds backup the floor drain, and it also leaves a terrible stench.
- The plumber will also install a shut-off valve to the yard faucet, which will eliminate the freeze problem and to prevent it being inadvertently turned on (as we recently experienced).
- We need volunteers to help transport the furniture in the basement (the furniture once existed in the house before the tenants moved in). This will free up the space we need to improve the storage, and potentially ingest records from other parishes.
- After these somewhat minor repairs and improvements, we will begin exploring ideas on how the basement can become habitable for an archival collection. This will also free up more potential office rentals in the chapel building.
We appreciate the Diocese's patience and support through this process. I will continue to update you on our progress.