Oertel Architects was initially contacted by the United Methodist church committee to perform a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grant, to review the building for condition concerns, address necessary maintenance, and ensure that the artifacts and building systems were being conserved to the extent possible.

The church owns a very large collection of important historical religious artwork.  The assessment found a number of items that needed improvement or change in order to better conserve the artwork.  Upon review of the building, many concerns were raised about the condition of the building itself.  Not the least of these concerns was that portions of the front part of the church were settling, or had settled in the past.  Stone was cracked and the stone steps had settled considerably.

Since the church was anxious to get the settlement of the stone repaired, they hired a contractor with the intention of performing repairs in short order.  Upon the advice of Jeff Oertel, this work was delayed for a year in order to determine if the settlement was active or if the conditions were now static.

Following the CAP assessment, Oertel Architects was then hired to come up with a plan to ascertain whether or not the movement in the building was ongoing and active.  A number of crack monitors were installed throughout the building.  Photographs of each of the crosshairs on the monitors were taken and copied into a computer program to precisely observe any movement, and the direction of that movement.  After a year of monthly recording of the monitors, it was determined that there were seasonal movements at some of the monitors but there was very little settlement that was ongoing.