This arvo I met with Christine and Kai from the Housing Registrar to show the around Romana and for a general catch up in regards to all things Servants. It was a low-key, quite informal meeting; but all very positive. The meeting lasted 90 minutes so there was plenty of ground covered. And a sign of the continuing good relationship with the Registrar was perhaps best exemplified when Christine advised me that she will be putting a person from another housing group in touch with Servants in regards to a specific item ‘as Servants knows how to do these things better than anyone.’ I tried to appear humble – but what she said was true!
Category Archives: Romana
Site meeting
The first site meeting at Romana was held this morning involving the builders, Architect Steve and Mark, Brian and me from Servants. It was full of mostly very good news. At this stage the builders are talking of a handover date to Servants of Tuesday 22nd April. In general the builders are ahead right now of where they had anticipated being. There were/are of course a few little issues to sort out along the way – but nothing that looks likely to cost us significant time or too many additional dollars.
Establishment grant
I contacted DHS today to ask them about the possibility of an Establishment Grant for beds/mattresses etc for Romana. They usually only deliver this grant to properties that are DHS owned. However, I was told that I could expect an answer within a few days. Even a few thousand $$$ would be of great benefit.
Rotarians, Romana and Mark
14 Rotarians spent many hours this morning/arvo working alongside Brian & Pat and Mark on the bathrooms at Romana. A huge amount of tile removal was accomplished. I am hopeful of posting a picture or two to the Servants Facebook page tonight. The community support we have for Romana is remarkable. It’s so lovely to finally be showing off Romana to people – all are stunned at just how terrific the place is. There are many more work days ahead for volunteers – I cannot even begin to imagine how many tens of thousands of $$$ this might be saving us – let alone continuing to develop mighty relationships and opportunities left, right and center!! In fact, whilst considering how many $$$ of labor we are receiving it would be remiss of me not to mention the work that Mark Hislop continues to give us, as project manager, in getting Romana ready for occupancy. I have learned a great deal just in watching Mark at work and how he has attacked the project in front of him/us. And of course, this has all been free of charge too. I think a nice ‘thank you’ bottle of scotch or something similar will be the order of the day once the project is complete.
Housing Registrar
I will be showing Christine and Kai from the Housing Registrar around Romana next Wednesday. This will also serve as an opportunity to bring them up to date with all the Servants news.
Asbestos in Romana?
No. There is no asbestos in Romana. Ahead of bringing in the first group of volunteers on Wednesday to get busy removing tiles from the bathrooms a question was posed as to the possibility of there being any asbestos in any part of Romana. Steve the Architect thought not. Romana was both built and opened in 1992 – which should well and truly mean that no asbestos would be present. But just to be sure Mark Hislop took some tiles, tile glue samples and anything that looked likely to be an offending article to be tested locally at a lab. The relief when the samples all came back this morning with a ‘negative’ verdict was pronounced!! We roll on ……………
Filling Romana
As of right now 13 of the 24 places at Romana have been accepted/filled. I have another list with half a dozen folks on it who I will probably interview again or offer accommodation to at Hamer or Carrical. Interviews continue at pace in the week ahead. I am now beyond the idea of being ‘hopeful’ that we will be ready to occupy Romana with good people from Opening Day. It is now a fact. The only thing we will once again be short of is enough facilities/beds to house those who want to live with Servants.
Also!! We will officially be housing at least one Slovenian!!! And, believe this or not, his name is Roman!
And they’re off!
The builders are off the leash and have started at Romana. After just 24 hours the front part of the house is well and truly a building site. It’s fantastic!! I must admit there have many days/nights over the past year that I wondered if we would ever see this day! Good news!
20,000,000 bathroom tiles
Ok, there may not be quite 20,000,000 tiles @ Romana in the bathrooms – but there are a lot! It has come to our attention of late that the majority of the bathroom tiles are in poor condition – they have, after all, been doing their job for the past 30 years or so. A finance sub committee decision was taken that Servants should pay for the tiling repairs to be carried out. Quotes have been obtained and a tiler will be engaged immediately to start this body of work.
The week in Romana
Roll on 7.00am next Wednesday morning. Yours truly should be onsite to take the first pics of demolition/preps occurring there. This week has seen the last few documents being signed/red tape cut thru etc in preparation for next Wednesday. How exciting that after all this time we are actually about to alter the building!
Interviews have continued this week with some more wonderful candidates appearing. The decision to make Romana an alcohol free house appears at this stage to be paying off handsomely. There are just so many prospective resos who want to live in a ‘dry’ house. I now have 10 people definitely moving in – and another half dozen whom I am considering/will invite back for further talks/might house elsewhere. 24 rooms is not enough! The word on the street from workers is that the need is becoming still more chronic. At one stage we wondered if charging $560 per fortnight was an amount that people would refuse to pay. From what I am currently seeing and hearing we could be charging significantly more than this (not that I am advocating for this at all) and people would still be lining up to be housed by us.
For the first time ever today I witnessed a worker in tears (in a good way) as her client was interviewed. Slightly disconcerting as you can imagine she later explained that Servants is unique and treats people with such respect. Good to hear. I hope that this enormously encourages all staff and committee.
Female!!
Great excitement today as I offered a Romana place to a FEMALE OF THE SPECIES! What’s more, she accepted the place! This is great news! Her name is Natalie and I think she is going to add greatly to the Romana community as it establishes.
Also of excitement today, but not quite as exciting as knowing that we will have at least one female reso from Opening Day @ Romana, was interviewing a guy, Wayne, who will also be a terrific reso once Romana commences.
Romana works
Building work at Romana will commence on Wednesday 12th March.
Romana builder appointed
A builder has been appointed for the Romana renovations. Steve Skurnik has recommended that Project One Builders be appointed to undertake the work. Their quote of $68,951 (excl GST) is significantly below the Servants budget for the alterations which was $100,000. At this stage Steve remains confident that we will be housing our first resos there in the last week of April or very early May. Project One will be using their own employees for the job – not contractors.
Romana quotes
I heard from architect Steve that the tendering process/quotes are now in for Romana. Two builders quoted – one coming in just under $90,000 and the other over $20,000 cheaper. Steve will advise us of his preference later this week. All very exciting stuff and we continue to draw nearer to that day in April when our first reso will be able to call Romana ‘home.’
Interviews
As groups begin to realize that an additional 24 beds are to be made available thru the opening of Romana the demand for interviews is increasing. We currently have 4 new people expecting to move in around Opening Day. In the coming week there are interviews galore lined up – most of whom sound, in advance of meeting the people, excellent.
Speaking at Carey
In the week ahead I have 2 speaking engagements at Carey chapel services. On both Tuesday and Sunday mornings I will be introducing the work of Servants to Carey. I have been given the theme of ‘making a difference’ to talk to. Nice!! These speaking engagements are significant as I see a very important Servants/Carey relationship about to commence.
Romana Property Report Update
Following the committee meeting on Monday night I talked with our architect, Steve Skurnik, re getting a complete condition report done on Romana. His email response, detailed below, was very encouraging and will doubtless save us a few thousand dollars:
Matt
Just confirming our conversation and advising that, as part of their works, the contractor will be required to undertake an inspection and prepare a dilapidation report of the building and surrounding sites and structures.
I propose to do this as a joint inspection with the Builder.
That way Servant’s will be aware of all building defects evident before works commence
No need to undertake a separate inspection then!.
Cheers
Steve Skurnik
De Jong Architects
3 down. 21 to go.
3 of the 24 Romana vacancies have now been taken.
In April we will welcome Big Jim, Norrie and Jaime to the new house. All were thrilled with the accommodation and are really looking forward to moving in.
First for Romana
This Tuesday I have my first prospective reso interview AT Romana. This is a very definite step towards starting to operate there.
Interviews galore!
The demand for Servants’ housing remains as high as ever. The really excellent news is that as Carrical and Hamer remain full with very few vacancies that people are starting to line up to be housed by us at Romana.
I am quietly confident that we are going to get Romana off to a terrific start when the time comes.