Council Members Present: Airin Cherian, Pastor Ross Goodman, Anne-Louise Klaus, Mark Olson, Dana Ramish, Heather Sheridan, Brian Sniffen, Wendy Stack,
Also Present: Don Mitchell, Vicar C.J. Stratton.
Absent: Marianne Brown, Alison Roberts, Marilyn Waehler.
A quorum was gathered and we came together in God’s name at 7:50pm. A candle was lit to remind us that Christ is present with us as we meet.
The agenda was accepted.
Airin Cherian then led a devotion on faith and trust. Next month, Dana Ramish will lead devotions.
The minutes of October were accepted as amended.
We’re very slightly above projections for the year. We had been further ahead, but are falling back to almost the same percentage of pledged income that we had received at this point last year.
Mark brings a few notes from Diane Kramer: based on currently projected expenses, we will finish the year about $7500 under budget. c3 and c5 will be a few hundred dollars over budget because of the two new pianos, but the Worship and Music account will still be at budget. g7 and g8 will be over budget because of the unbudgeted painting work and the surprise work to meet regulatory requirements on the boiler.
Don Mitchell asks why we spent this from g7 and g8 rather than from the $33000 set aside in p8. If we spent from the P dedicated fund, we’d have more m1 carry-over to use for planning the 2011 budget.
The Phone and Internet (g1) will come over-budget by about $400 because of the new FiOS service, but the total G (Property) account will come in about even.
The Printer/Copier account (e5) and Custodial salary account (f13) will both be slightly over-budget in ways we anticipated.
Airin asks about p14 and p15, the two coffee hour funds. One regularly increases as if receiving weekly donations, but the other is labeled “donations.” Mark will follow up with Diane.
Motion 1 We approve the request of the Social Ministries committee to donate $50.00 from n7 for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Observance Committee. moved, seconded, carried.
The event will be held on January 17 in Arlington. St. Paul has supported this for the past several years.
The stewardship letters have gone out. The budget committee wants $360000 in pledges, a 20% increase in pledges over last year (to support an 11% increase in budget). We had a huge carry-over from 2009 to 2010, which we used to hire new staff and expand programs. We hoped for new operating income from renting to lss and Clearwire, none of which materialized. On the other hand, we’re starting to see some of the seeds of community in which we invested bearing fruit: we paid for the nursery attendants sat alone for months, but now the nursery’s in heavy use. The budget committee will be preparing for several scenarios of pledge results.
Marianne Brown has now resigned from the Council. We must appoint a new member and a new Vice President.
Pastor Goodman speaks about some of his recent visits to new families joining the congregation. One recent family joining us will be having a baptism soon. He’s energized by these new members, and the continuing baby boom in the Church. While looking for discernment ideas, he’s asked other nearby churches (including Redeemer, Faith, First, and University Lutheran Churches in Woburn, Cambridge, Waltham, and Cambridge) to collaborate with us. The professional discernment facilitators he’s talked with have been asking several times what we thought we could afford, so it’s time for plan b.
Vicar Stratton passes around a copy of her Internship Project proposal. She wants to partner with the lss clients at Hillside House to create a community garden. Meta Radtke, the congregation’s oldest member, is looking for someone to walk with her.
Pastor Goodman gathers us in prayer and leads communion at 8:45pm.
Respectfully submitted, Brian Sniffen
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Next regular council meeting: 13 December 2010 at 7:30pm.
These minutes can be found online at http://evenmere.org/~bts/Church/.