Council

October 16, 2008

Present: Jean Siulinski, Chris Keiter, Nancy MacLean, Andy Ellis, Sally Hinckley, Chris Dow, Elsa Peters, John McCall. Absent: Sally Sutton, Carol Zechman, David Allen, Deb Andrews, Phil Whitney, Matt Brucker.

Opening: Chris Keiter opened the meeting at 6:35. He noted that there is no quorum, and it was agreed to discuss the agenda items, noting that no official decisions could be made. Nancy MacLean provided devotional comments and a prayer. Minutes: They were not officially approved, but no one present found any errors.

Ministers' Time: Elsa Peters - nothing to present at this time.
John McCall: He reported on his conversations with the Spiritual Life & Worship Team and the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee about plans for his 3rd sabattical leave May 1 to Sept 1 in 2009. In July, he hopes there can be a pulpit exchange again with Gillian Wakefield from Scotland. The Committees and he are working with Elsa in planning pulpit coverage during his absence. John exlained that, as he is nearing retirement age, it is healthy for the church to begin to plan ahead for that. It is generally known that churches have difficulty in making a transition after a long pastorate, and it is important to use interim times for self study. In May he will be attending a 3-day workshop sponsored by the Alban Institute on this topic. He will keep the Council informed periodically about sabattical plans.
John also reported that Barbara Stevens has resigned as Secretary, effective Oct 31. He and the Personnel Committee will work out details about covering the office and hiring someone new.

Someone to represent the Council at the next meeting of EG&F: Jean Siulinski will do that November 6.

Budget Committee: consists of Moderator (Chris Keiter), Sr. Pastor (John McCall), Admin Team rep (Jim Otis?), Office Manager (Cyndi Alden), At Large: need 2 people - Sally Sutton has volunteered. Chris will ask others from the Council (Chris Dow will do it if no one else can). Chris will ask Teams to submit budget requests ASAP.

Chancel Project: At the beginning of the planning, the choir expressed a preference for "modesty" railings. He will consult with them again, but there have been no comments about lack of railings. Council members present agreed that we should wait a few months to see how the Chancel is used and the chairs moved around.

Bylaws: There being no quorum, the current draft of new Bylaws will be discussed at the November Council meeting. John called attention to the rewritten paragraph, Article 2, Section 2.2, about membership qualifications. Council members present saw no problem with the changed wording. It was agreed that a good time for congregational voting on the new bylaws would be at the budget meeting in January.

EG&F request to assign coffee hour times to teams and committees: The immediate need has been alleviated because teams have volunteered. However, the question of how to find volunteers for various jobs has not been solved.

Rental Fees for non-profit groups? Question has arisen because of the cost of heating oil and the lack of functioning timers on thermostats. Considerations:
1) Reduce the number of nights available for renting, thereby enabling a shut-down of the heating system; 2): Allow non-profit groups to schedule only on nights when a church acitivity is already happening; 3) For-profit groups do pay a fee; 4) Admin Team is doing research on new controls that will allow zone-specific heating; 5) Our goal is to be faithful stewards and also carry out a mission in the community -- Council members present would recommend no charges for the time being. Get more information.

Further agenda items were referred to the November meeting: 1) financial contribution to the Maine Conference UCC for a feasibility study on the 3 facilities owned by the Conference. 2) policy drafting committee about use of mailing lists.

Meeting adjourned at 7:40. Next meeting November 20 at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy MacLean