Council Members Present: Airin Cherian, Beverly Dougherty, Sergia Hay, Mark Olson, Dana Ramish, Alison Roberts, Pastor Ross Goodman, Brian Sniffen, Wendy Stack, Darcie Sunnerberg, Marilyn Waehler.
Also Present: Vicar Andrew Heisen, Ken Heyda, Don Mitchell, Jen Nahn, Bob Waehler.
Absent: none
A quorum was gathered and we came together in God’s name at 7:35pm. A candle was lit to remind us that Christ is present with us as we meet.
We shared our resolutions and hopes for the new year: thankfulness for the community we have, to read the whole Bible, to express thanks and love, to pay closer attention.
The agenda was accepted.
Jen Nahn then led a devotion on Matthew 3:17. Next month, Wendy Stack will lead devotions.
We sing O morning star, how fair and bright (308).
The minutes of December were accepted as amended—the extra donations at the Fair Trade Fair went to n5, not to lss.
We ended the year just about as budgeted in total, given $15k shortfall in real estate made up by donations.
Many accounts have been removed for next year. A few dedicated accounts for which no purpose remains have been folded into m1. We have closed out all accounts from last year.
Motion 1. Don Mitchell is appointed as Financial Secretary for St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church beginning 11 January 2010. moved, seconded, carried.
A year ago, before the January 2009 annual meeting we had explored renting office space to the lss Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program (urmp) led by church member Jeanne Woodward. She was to move in to Pr. Susan Henry’s old office in the church office suite and her staff would occupy room 7 and the meditation room next to the upper lounge. We also agreed to enlarge the common room at end of fellowship hall and create some locked storage space for their files and some of our stuff. Bill Ames agreed to $2000 per month and said they’d move in by 1 March. We banked on it in our 2009 budget. Problems at lss headquarters in Wellesley prevented them from ever moving in the remainder of the year and we had to make adjustments. Meanwhile lss spent a few thousand dollars installing phone and data cables and equipment for their anticipated space.
A year later lss has not been able to move in but still hopes to do so. Since that time:
Last year an agreement was reached in an effort to balance our budget. This year we never included rental income in our planning. Plans and funding are available to repair the common room wall in our fellowship hall with or without lss. Latest news is that lss operation will move out of Wellesley in 2011. Space issues for lss urmp worsen at the Wellesley site. They request one room for now at St. Paul, even if on a temporary basis.
Motion 2. St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church shall offer to lease the Meditation room to Lutheran Social Services for $600 per month beginning 1 February and ending 31 December 2010. moved, seconded, tabled.
The budget committee presents their report and proposes a budget for 2010. We expect to receive $307k in contributions, of which $300k have been pledged. $7k of that pledge have been pre-paid. We expect a total income of $458k, of which we will spend $509k on operations.
We propose hiring a business director, who must not be a member of the congregation—though the provenance of this rule is unclear. Alison expresses concern for Mary-Ellen as the business director phases in.
Motion 3. The Church Council accepts the 2010 budget as presented by the Budget Committee and will offer the budget to the congregation with a cleaner presentation for approval at the Annual Meeting on 24 January 2010. moved, seconded, carried.
We now resume discussion of Motion 2. We amend that to read:
Motion 2. St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church shall offer to lease the Meditation room to Lutheran Social Services for $600 per month beginning immediately and ending 31 December 2010. moved, seconded, carried.
Christmas delayed their work. We hope to have something to show off to the Council in February, launching in March or later. Desires and suggestions for the features of the web site are requested from the congregation.
We have a short conversation about the need for model releases before putting photographs on the web site.
We’ll be reassessing the role of the deacon in the worship ceremony.
We have an agreed upon Treasurer, if we hire the Business Manager. We also have a few council members lined up, but not the full three we require.
The youth are, er, youth. Pastor Goodman will pay closer attention to them in this current year. Jen reminds us that she supports the youth programs and is personally involved with her own teen children, but is not the youth director—and we need one for the program to grow and flower as it can.
The Christmas pageant was beautiful. We’ll be hiring a nursery attendant shortly.
The ministry of meals for parents of newborn children has continued wonderfully.
Vicar Heisen thanks all those who have helped he and Karilyn with the new member of their family. His may be using his time off to take care of his kid
Pastor Goodman says that Judy Converse has been called to minister to the congregation of Christ Lutheran Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. She’ll be ordained on 7 February at Concordia Lutheran Church in Manchester, Connecticut. Celebretory e-mail will go out to the congregation soon. Less pleasantly, Jim Mapstone is quite ill at Lawrence Memorial.
We are in a time of transition around coffee hour. Holly and Peter Schmidt have offered to host an adult-forum session to find new solutions. Sergia Hay volunteers to make coffee hour happen between now and that forum. The Council will make coffee for the congregational meeting.
Pastor Goodman gathers us in prayer and leads communion at 9:42pm.
Respectfully submitted, Brian Sniffen
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Next regular council meeting: 8 February 2010 at 7:30pm. The Congregational meeting will be 24 January 2010.
These minutes can be found online at http://evenmere.org/~bts/Church/.