​Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church

The Raleigh Church’s Expansion Plan frequently referred to as our Capital Campaign, consisted of three Phases.

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PHASE I

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Phase I was the starting point. This phase dealt with meetings of the Long Range Planning Committee chaired by Randy Edwards in late 1989 and culminated in the dedication of the finished building in January of 1998. The Long Range Planning Committee dealt with meetings of the various user groups and the development of outlines of what they would like to have as improvements to their areas. This consisted of, but was not limited to, Sunday School Groups, Pre-school, improvements to the physical plant, development of a Congregational Hall meeting facilities, the development of a fully functional commercial grade kitchen, a flower garden/court yard area, a Columbarium, and many more.

 

Once Phase I requests were received, reviewed and approved by both the Session and the Congregation, we moved on to Phase II.

Phase II addressed the list of the above requirements, and developed a plan as to how we were to approach those items listed in Phase I.  Phase II dealt with, but was not limited to, selecting a Phase II committee, meeting regularly with the selected Architectural and Engineering Company, developing blue prints, keeping the Session as well as the Congregation appraised of our progress through meetings and several dinners, meeting with several financial organizations and selecting one, developing a financing  program which addressed our needs, selecting a law firm to represent our legal needs, meeting with professional financial program developers, obtaining Session Approval, and making a final presentation to the Congregation and asking for their vote of approval.

 

Phase III was by far the most intense, time consuming phase, requiring an almost daily on- site presence of one of the Phase III committee members. Phase III was frequently referred to as the “Build Out” Phase and took more than a year to complete.

A detailed review of Phase II and Phase III follow.

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CAPITAL CAMPAIGN PHASE II

 

Early - 1996

            

The Phase II Committee as of early 1996 consisted of:

           

            Legal                        Jim Guynn, Mark Williams

            Finance                    Byron Yost

            Awareness               Frances Blair, Carol Brash

            Continuing  Ops.      Steve Wicks

            Treasurer                  Dick Wagner, Sam Pritchard    

            Fund Raising            Molly Kelly, Randy Edwards     

            Engineering              Bill Nunn, John Spyhalski, Glenn Barranger

            Admin.  Assist.          Debbie Nash

            Project Leader          Dale Hanslik

            At Large                    Tupper Garden, Pastor

 

Each Committee Chair selected their respective team members. Over the 21-month Phase II period, the total number of committee members varied from 15 to 20 members. Bill Nunn and John Spyhalski assumed responsibility for the Engineering space with the assistance of Glynn Barranger.

 

The Session approved the recommendation of the Phase II Committee to contract with Motley and Associates – Architects. The Phase II Engineering Committee met with various Session Committees to finalize their objectives and priorities. Numerous joint meetings with Motley ensued throughout the entire Phase II project, with initial project costs estimated to be $2.4MM.

 

Many members of the congregation expressed both pros and cons of undertaking such a large Church Expansion project. However, the Phase II Committee, with the support of the Session, continued providing consistent progress updates and emphasized that the final review and vote of the Congregation would take place before the final decision was made. The outcome of this vote would determine whether our Church would move forward into construction Phase III or whether the capital expenditure to increase the size of the church would be terminated. 

 

 

MIDYEAR – 1996

 

By midyear 1996, after the initial discussions of church expansion had taken place in 1994, the Phase II Committee had dedicated thousands of man hours of organizing, planning, reporting to Session and the Congregation, meeting with user church committees, organizing and defining a plan of what the church wanted, interviewing various architectural firms (and negotiated a contract with one), and fielded hundreds of questions from all involved. The committee had also reached a point of selecting a financial institution to fund the project and selecting a construction contractor to implement the plan. The Finance Committee, chaired by Byron Yost, reviewed several proposals and after meticulous scrutiny and personal interviews, selected First Citizens Bank and Trust Company, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, with offices in Roanoke.  Meanwhile, the Engineering Committee, chaired by Bill Nunn and John Spyhalski, conducted interviews with potential construction firms.  Numerous meetings and reviews were held over several months. With efforts of both the Engineering and now the Legal committee chaired by Jim Guynn and Mark Williams, a detailed contract was negotiated and agreed to with Martin Brothers Contractors pending final congregational approval.

 

FALL – 1996

 

With all the pieces now in place, the time had arrived for the Congregation to decide if this project would go forward to Phase III (construction and completion). Tupper wrote a letter to the Congregation calling for a Congregational meeting and vote in late August.  However, due to some last-minute cost change issues, the meeting was postponed until September 22, 1996. At that meeting, a brief review of our long journey was presented by the Phase II Chairman, along with all pertinent details on which to be voted. It was estimated construction would take approximately 15 to 24 months, that original construction costs had been negotiated downward from the original estimate of $2.4MM to $2.1 MM (a savings of over $300,000 - 12.5%) and that the Church would borrow up to $1.7mm from First Citizens Bank.  By silent vote (slips of paper), the Congregation voted YES 179 to NO 78.

 

After the results of the Congregational Meeting were known, the Session instructed the Phase II Chairman, Dale Hanslik, to negotiate the construction contract with Martin Brothers Contractors, for execution by the clerk of the Session. The Session then notified all other companies involved of the Church’s decision. In early November 1996, they officially dismissed the Phase II Committee members of any further activities and took steps to move forward to construction, Phase III.

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PHASE III

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October, 1996.

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As previously noted, the Capital Campaign was comprised of three phases. Phase I was the definition phase. Phase II was the planning phase. Phase III was the implementation and “build-out” phase.

 

Phase III was by far the most difficult and stressful of all the phases. In a Session Meeting of October 28, 1996, Elder Glenn Barranger motioned for the clerk of Session, Mr. Harry Shannon to write a letter of appreciation to Chm. Elder Dale Hanslik and to members of the Phase II committee for their 21 months of service in completing the Phase II portion of the Capital/Expansion. At the same Session meeting, on the motion of Elder Barranger, the Session voted to appoint the members of the Phase III Committee:

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                        Molly Kelly Koon     Administrative Chair

                        John Spyhalski       Construction Coordinator Chair

                        Bill Nunn                 Assistant Construction Coordinator

                        Steve Smith            On-site representative

                        Harry Shannon       Session’s Property/Maintenance representative

                        Additional members were:

                        Carol Brash            Susan Clark

                        Martha Edmunds    Dick Wagner

                        Byron Yost

 

For the next 15 months, the Phase III Committee was engaged in the construction of the addition. It is of no surprise that a project of this size ($2,100,000), had many challenges. The coordination of Architects, Construction Companies, Contractors, and Building Inspectors was just the beginning of their responsibilities. They were frequently on site several times during the week and both Molly and John were involved on a daily basis. Frequently, they attended meetings several times a week to resolve difficult impasses. At the same time, in the midst of all of this disruptive activity, Raleigh Court Church continued to conduct regular activities and services. Review of the Phase III Reports indicate that, in addition to the above concerns, they dealt with the size and heights of bubbler water fountains, sinks in both regular and children’s bathrooms, the height and size of shelving, plumbing hardware, various furniture sizes in the preschool, and the list goes on and on. Members of the Congregation were very much a part of the project and frequently wrote letters and raised questions. Of major importance to the Committee was keeping the Church members appraised and aware as Phase III progressed.

 

At the Session Meeting of October 27th, 1997, on the motion of Elder Carico, January 4th, 1998 was selected as Building Dedication Day. In addition, it was decided to have copies of Dr. Allison’s newly published book, with proceeds received from the sales assigned to The Allison International Mission Fund. A time capsule was also placed in the exterior of the new building.

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