 has been done on the hall in the last several years, has been done with free labor from the trade unions. And we have had a remarkable, wonderful relationship with them, and they've done all different kinds of things from putting in bathrooms to repair electricity, to paint walls, to fix new floors, all kinds of things to allow us to make huge changes that we never have been able to raise the money to do on our own. So it's been a really big, big, important thing for us, this relationship. So we wanted to say thank you to them and do something special just for them. And I wanted to do a shout out to Art Capra, who is the reason that John Coletano came into this hall in my right way, that you introduced me to the hall. And it was because of that introduction that all kinds of things came from that. And I'm going to talk about the story from there. And of course, I have to suppose to be standing in front of that but I'm going to get out of here. And I'll follow the rules. Basically, when I was first elected to the board about five years ago, we looked at the financials and realized that it was a challenge. We weren't making enough money to survive. We had a lot of deferred maintenance and things of that sort. So we were looking for ways of solving that problem. And one of them, and the most obvious, was to open up these venues for rental. This particular venue had been closed to the public in 1943 when they refused to change their fire escape to meet the demands of the city. So this space was underutilized and it was used as a photography studio and other things for 70 years. So the first thing we did is we tried to determine what we needed to do in order to make this space become rentable. So the board approved a higher day life safety code expert who came in and did an analysis and identified seven or eight things that we needed to do in order to meet life safety code requirements so we could have public assembly. And so we did that. And with Acorn Production, we raised $35,000, and we spent 17 of which to do all these life safety code upgrades. And so on March 5th of 2015, we had a gala grand opening here, which was very successful. And we had a great time. And shortly after that, Acorn had its first event. And they're a theater, and they have theater lights and all those types of things. And we ended up blowing all the circuits in the building because we didn't have enough capacity to handle theater lights. And shortly after that, I made a presentation to the Southern Maine Labor Council about another matter, again, trying to raise some money. And I was approached by Don Berry, who was the business agent of the IBEW, the Electrical Workers Union, who said, we have apprentices, and we're looking for projects that we can put apprentices in as part of their community service and also as part of their training. And there's not a lot of historic buildings that we find that we can put these apprentices to. And so I told them that we had a really great deal for him. And so the apprentices came in here, and we had originally about five outlets in this room. They came in and added another dozen outlets on two different circuits. And it allowed us to meet our demands for theater lighting. They also, you probably can't see it, but they built a 100 amp portable sub-panel that on wheels so that we can move that around the room as needed in order to, again, meet the electrical demands of whoever the particular tenant is. So during that conversation, right after that, in fact, we had a Casco Bay High School had a senior prom here. And at the time that we received the approval for public assembly, we had one restroom for the room. And it was on an eight inch step. So during the senior prom, we had a line of people that came out the door waiting to use the restroom. And so obviously that's a major issue for us. And I mentioned this to Alan Shepard from the IBEW, the apprentice instructor. And he suggested that I contact John Napolitano, who was already familiar with the building because of art. And John indicated that they were looking for a project where all of the trades could get together and work to kind of show some solidarity, but also to satisfy their community service requirements and needs. And so we talked to them and they agreed to build us four bathrooms, which so we've got four restrooms courtesy of the labor and a lot of the donated materials. And part of that $35,000 that we raised, we had a little bit extra money that we were able to contribute as well. So the result of that was now we had four restrooms and another dozen outlets. So we kind of satisfied the needs in this particular space. But the opportunity continued and we had a tenant downstairs, the Bible Society, and they had left after several years. So we had a vacant space. And the trade council, because of the work they had done, we had agreed to let them have monthly meetings here. So they were having a monthly meeting and I was downstairs putting a sign on the outside of the building saying office for rent. And John Napolitano came in and said, you know, we'll take that office. So in a matter of about 15 minutes, we had rented that space. And they are now a tenant and they've just signed another lease. And we're very happy to have them as part of the hall occupants. So now we have the Main State Building Construction Trade Council as a tenant. We've got this facility up here that's used. We have restrooms. And we started looking around the building to see what other else could may needed projects that needed addressing. And the first one was the classroom, which had very inadequate lighting. And so the electrical unions came in and they replaced all the lights and put some spotlights and some overhead lights that worked out terrific. And then they also did some work in the library and rewired a couple of the closets and some of the things that we needed done down there. And then when we were talking to John, and he kept looking at our hallway and the 30-year-old commercial carpet that we had that smelled and said, you know, you guys really ought to just replace this. And I said, well, that'd be great. You know, we just don't have the resources. And so they ended up funding the cost of the removal of the old carpet and paying the company that did the refinish of the work. And what you see is what we have now. We have these beautiful floors that are 170 years old and really were protected for a long time because of these crappy carpets we had. But they're in good shape now. And so when that was done, then we looked at the hallways and realized that the hallways had been touched in probably 20 years. And we approached the painter's union. And they came in and painted the walls and the ceilings and so on and so forth. So that is basically, and they continue to work for us and do projects as necessary. And whenever I have a need, I'll call Jason or John or some of the trades. And they will come in and help us out. I mean, they've contributed material. They've given us table dollies, chairs, a whole variety of things. So we're very pleased to have them as a tenant. And as part of that, we want to recognize them with this plaque. And I'm not sure who should I give this plaque to. But I'll let you figure out, Jason, who you want to receive this. I guess on behalf of the Main Charitable Mechanics Association, we'll present you this plaque and recognition for all of the good things that you've done for us. And we're delighted that you could be a part of our part of our organization. Very good. OK, all right. Thank you very much. Thank you. So my name is Jason Shedlock. I'm the executive director of the Main State Building and Construction Trades Council. The gentleman who was here with me was Don Nazaroff. He's the head of the sheet metal workers here up in Maine. And we also have another union brother, Eric Sawyer, from the Stachans Union over here that we're having some conversations with. Tom Blackburn's always working, by the way. So we kind of talked about him. I said, listen, I got a guy who's going to be able to help you with some things around the hall. The Stachans Union should be involved. So we're having that conversation. Before I start, I just want to say we talk about this building being a gem in the city. And what I want to say is that you have a couple of actual gems that work here. Tom Blackburn, I've known for a number of months now, since I've been involved in the building. And he's a real asset. And I know that you all know that, but I just want to kind of drive that home. And I got a chance to meet Carolyn Greenstreet as well and her energy around what she does with the building and in the community is not lost on me. And it's the conversations that I've had around the city as well and folks who appreciate it. So it's definitely something that I know that you're proud of, but know that there is others in the community that feel the same way. The Main Charitable Accounting Association is just honored to be in this building. As you know and I'm learning, the reason for this building was to share knowledge, to build knowledge, and to learn and to train. And Tom kind of talked about some of the opportunities that we were able to partner with. Some of our affiliate unions were able to partner with. But the thing is that that's kind of just as much for us as it is for you. Because these young men and women who had an opportunity to work in this building are training and learning their craft and they're now out in the community doing their work because of the work that they did here. And it's certainly something to be proud of. Everyone who I've met that have worked in this building has kind of worn it as a badge of honor everywhere they go. And I certainly like to kind of say, hey, I work in that building. I didn't work on the building just yet, although I think Tom's got me roped into doing a couple of things moving forward, which is great. So on behalf of the trades, and one of the things that I know that Pam and Tom wanted was to have a number of our men and women who work with the trades here. They're not here because they're working, which is a good thing. If they weren't working, then I and a number of our folks, including Don and Eric, wouldn't be doing their jobs to have people go out to work. So John Napolitano, who is on your board sends his regrets to not being here. He's up in Hinkley right now dealing with some of his members and a big job at the paper mill up there, so he's not able to be here. But we are honored to be able to be a part of this organization, both as a tenant but also as a partner as you grow. I think the individuals that you've selected moving forward on your board had an opportunity to look at that list and I think is phenomenal choices. And with the leadership that you have, both with your executive committee and your superintendent and your staff, the future is certainly bright and we are just honored to be a part of it. And we're here most days, so if anybody ever needs anything or has any questions about some of the things that maybe we can do together, please feel free to reach out to us. And we very much thank you for the honor and the plaque. We'll display it very proudly right outside of our office, so everybody who comes in can see that. But it's certainly a two-way street, so we appreciate everything that you do as well. Thank you.