Council Members Present: Airin Cherian, Mark Olson, Dana Ramish, Heather Sheridan, Brian Sniffen, Marilyn Waehler.
Also Present: Vicar Andrew Heisen, Diane Kramer, Kirsten Lienhard, Don Mitchell.
Absent: Marianne Brown, Pastor Ross Goodman, Anne-Louse Klaus, Alison Roberts, Wendy Stack.
A quorum was gathered and we came together in God’s name at 7:40pm. A candle was lit to remind us that Christ is present with us as we meet.
We shared our last plans for the summer before Fall arrives.
The agenda, fixed with Pastor Goodman beforehand, was accepted.
Brian Sniffen led a devotion on Prof. Daniel Dennett’s article1 on pastors whose faith differs from their congregations. Though Dennett doesn’t call it out, the concerns of these many pastors—and their faiths—are remarkably similar. Next month, Mark Olson will lead devotions.
The minutes of July were accepted as amended. Mark Olson asks that there be more effort to communicate the minutes to the congregation.
We had expenses against the Major Maintenance account this month: tree service and work on the boiler. Diane reports that the boiler has now passed its inspections by the town.
There’s a discrepancy of $76801 between the Financial Secretary’s and Treasurer’s reports. FinSec says 261861, Treasurer says 338662.24.
July 18’s report is wrong, but the credits for donations are right. The discrepancy may be due to different methods of handling the initial balance—the Financial Secretary doesn’t count it as income, but the Treasurer may have done so.
We’ve found a good candidate to hire as a Church Administrative Assistant. Diane, Ross, Mark, and Taryn recommend hiring Amy Riley.
Motion 1 St. Paul hire Amy Riley as Church Administrative Assistant beginning August 25 at a pay rate of $15 per hour based on 20–25 hours per week. moved, seconded, carried.
St. Paul has accepted a piano donated by the estate of Norman Seigel. Norman leased space at St. Paul and gave piano lessons. He died this year and his family wanted to donate the piano to St. Paul.
Motion 2 The Council accepts this gift from the Seigel family with thanks. moved, seconded, carried.
Karen Wagner, a new Arlington resident, would like to start a day care and would like to lease space at St. Paul. She is planning on a maximum of 10 children with 2 adults assisting. She carries her own liability insurance, but will need a minimum of 350 square feet of space plus additional room to store toys and supplies. The day care would run from September to June, Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm. She is willing to pay around $800–$1000 per month for rent. Diane will follow up with her further.
Bob Gannon would like to work with 4–6 students, preparing them for the college board tests. He is looking for space in September and October on Thursday from 6:00–8:00pm as well as Sunday afternoons. He has a small budget and would be able to pay a nominal rental fee. We’re not sure whether he’s being paid by the students—if this is a civic service, we’ll surely find a way to make this work.
Marilyn Waehler brings us news of a volunteer ESL tutor program called English at Large. Their director, Patrick Lilja, is looking for a place to hold a fifteen-person training workshop over a weekend or two evenings. St. Paul could be a perfect home for this. Diane Kramer will contact him and work with him to see how they fit with our mission and how we can help them.
Mark’s updating the committee membership list. Perhaps this September is a good time to recruit more time and talent from the congregation. Could we combine this with the educational registration day?
Vicar Heisen reports that three boys from Hillside House have received legal status as unaccompanied minor immigrants or refugee minors, and so have moved out. The administrator of Hillside House has said that they could use occasional financial help with these transitions, though this set worked out fine. This is Andrew’s last meeting with us. He’s headed back to Newton-Andover seminary.
Marc Olson gathers us in prayer at 8:43pm.
Respectfully submitted, Brian Sniffen
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Next regular council meeting: 13 September 2010 at 7:30pm.
These minutes can be found online at http://evenmere.org/~bts/Church/.