For many years, Bishops, members of the Cathedral Chapter and members of the Diocesan Council have wrestled with the challenges of owning and maintaining five old Fredericton buildings (most of them historic) and paying their annual operating costs. Bishop Medley’s beautiful Cathedral is almost 170 years old and many of its aging parts cry out for another multi-million dollar restoration project. To that end a local heritage architect has given us a very comprehensive, multi-year maintenance plan that will be followed as funds become available. Cathedral Memorial Hall sits idle most of the time and, while structurally sound, it is in need of extensive and expensive renovations. Neither Bishop’s Court nor Odell House (the deanery) are being used as homes for the bishop or the dean, but we continue to spend good portions of our annual income to maintain them. The synod office at 115 Church St. is another beautiful old residence but it falls far short of being contemporary office space, and renovations are needed.
Meeting with the Bishop of Fredericton – 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, 15 November 2016 at the Cathedral
Annual maintenance and operations expenditures for these properties are substantial. In recent years, the Cathedral congregation’s average expenditures have totalled just less than $200,000 per year for the Cathedral, the former deanery (Odell House) and Memorial Hall, not including insurance. Even with that level of expenditures the deferred maintenance on these three buildings is in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. The diocese is spending approximately $ 36,000 each year to maintain Bishop’s Court and the diocesan office.