In the winter of 2023, a malfunction with our outer door access system required repairs and upgrades. Under the direction of Bill Brown, Omando Bastian who was serving in Interim Operations, and the Board of Trustees, the decision was made to replace our outer door access points with updated and safer technology. That decision provided the opportunity for Total Child Preschool, Childcare, and Kindergarten and First Church to embark on much-needed security updates for building operations.
Please note the following changes in place as of February 23:
- The Church Street doors will remain locked while the office is open during the week. There is a call button and video screen by the church street doors that will put you in touch with front office staff, who will then provide entry. This gives another necessary level of security for our church staff, Total Child Preschool children and teachers.
- There is no change to Sunday morning protocol. But as a reminder, the Church Street door will be unlocked at 9:00 am for entry for Sunday programming (no need to use the call button). Hinman Street doors into the sanctuary will be unlocked by 9:45am for worship entry. All outside doors will be locked by 12:30pm.
- If you are planning a committee meeting, gathering, or event and need to be provided access to the building, it is imperative that you submit a calendar request ahead of time. This allows office staff to know who will be in the building and for what purposes, but also to give timely building access instructions to those we know are scheduled to be there.
- If you are an attendee for a committee meeting, gathering or event and need access to the building, please encourage the coordinator of your group to submit the calendar request form. They will then be instructed how to give you access (either through a QR code, manual code entry, or key card) to the building for your gathering.
- General population events (music events, funerals, weddings) will have doors unlocked for access much like Sunday mornings, but we still ask that those events be submitted through the calendar request form for good planning to take place and for safety precautions to be thought of ahead of time.
- If you have a FOB from the old door system, it will no longer work. We have reviewed the list of fobs that have names of people connected to them. If your name was part of an ongoing group, role in leadership, or ongoing reason for you to have church access, you should have received an email giving you instructions for your new key card. If you did not receive an email, it is either because your fob is not registered to your name or it was determined that ongoing 24/7 access was not necessary.
- If you are given ongoing access to the building, we will be requiring photo and registration with your access code to be able to identify you easily. This will be phased in along with Total Child student registration for Fall of 2024.
As with any new system, we will need to make adjustments to this new way of welcome and access, and we hope you’ll be on that journey with us with grace and flexibility. If you have any questions, Pastor Britt (britt@faithatfirst.com) is the lead on this project and can be helpful.