Mars receives updated quote on church renovations
MARS — The borough is one step closer to starting renovations on the former Dutilh United Methodist Church.
Council announced at its Monday, Feb. 5, meeting it received a new and less expensive quote on renovating the building.
The quote was $10,500 from You Name It Contracting in Butler, which offered to replace roof shingles, reroute gutters to direct water away from the building, replace the louvers on the bell tower windows, and remove the bell from the tower.
According to Mars borough Mayor Gregg Hartung, the gutter work is one of the most important pieces of the renovation, due to water damage the century-old structure has sustained.
“There's some work that needs to be done because of the age of the building that has allowed some water to get into the walls,” Hartung said. “There's some damage because of how it was built back then, well over 100 years ago.”
Other bids came in at $12,900 and $20,870. The more expensive bid, which was discussed at a council meeting in November, offered to tear down the bell tower entirely.
To reduce the price tag, You Name It’s bid excluded items included in earlier renovation bids but later deemed nonessential, such as repointing the brickwork.
“There were things that are not essential right now that were in the original bid,” Hartung said. “We just kind of pared it back to what definitely needs to be done. Those things may be done in the future.”
He said borough council will decide at its next meeting — scheduled for Feb. 19 — whether they have enough information and confidence to accept the new bid.
During Monday’s meeting, the council discussed what to do with the bell if it is removed. One council member proposed preserving the bell, as it may still have some historical value.
Before its closure in 2018, the building was used as an auxiliary campus by the Dutilh United Methodist Church, whose main campus in Cranberry Township is still open.
The borough purchased the former church property in November 2019 for $325,000. Since then, the building has been vacant and unused. According to Hartung, there have been “preliminary conversations” about potential future uses for the former church, but nothing concrete can be done until the building is renovated.
“This all has to be done before we can do anything, before people use the building or anything,” Hartung said. “So it’s just sitting unusable right now.”
