Church Council

Meeting Minutes of March 19, 2009

Present: Sally Sutton, Elsa Peters, Carol Zechman, John McCall, Jean Siulinski, Andy Ellis, Chris Dow, Sally Hinckley, Debra Andrews, Chris Keiter, Dave Allen, Ellie Chatto.

John opened with a prayer.

Minutes from 2/26 were approved.

Minister’s time:
•Cumberland Assoc. of UCC will be meeting 4/25 at Windham Hill. Nothing of note on the agenda.
•Meeting on 6/6 in Waterville will vote on release of a UCC Conference property. Recommendation on the table is to sell Rockcraft.
•Support was expressed for John and Elsa’s position on marriage licenses at post- service meeting held on 3/15. John and Elsa were pleased with the conversation. The Diversity Committee will pursue holding additional forums to discuss.

Check-in on visits to teams:
•Andy can not visit with Mission until June.
•Chris to meet with SLW in May.
•Nancy to attend A-Team in April.
•Jean to attend EGF in April.
•Discussion is taking place between SLW and EGF to clarify accountabilities for certain events involving food (e.g. Ash Wednesday breakfast; Good Friday soup supper)

Business Referral Group:
•Sub committee of 4 created. Meeting on the 26th.

Updates from Personnel and Stewardship Committees (Ellie Chatto):
•Ellie reviewed 3/5 Stewardship Committee meeting minutes
•500 households and 260 pledge units. People are continuing to give without making pledges which makes income budgeting and planning difficult. Looking at a variety of ideas to encourage giving and reduce costs.
•Group is exploring ways to allow for electronic transfer of funds. Do not favor credit cards due to the associated expense involved.
•New stewardship campaign program will be chosen for next year.
•All members of the current Stewardship Committee have agreed to serve for next year. Their commitment and service is deeply appreciated by the Council.
•Personnel has not been very active this year. They have been meeting via e-mail when necessary.

Rosella Loveitt estate bequest:
•Check in the amount of $15,314 requires disbursement. No time requirements for decision on distribution.
•Cyndi (through Chris) provided some background and recommendations for Council consideration:
1. Old Crow Gallery tenant is in default in the amount of $3,600. No payment received since 12/08. There has been a history of late payment issues. Tenant has been asked to vacate the property by the end of March. New tenant will be sought but we expect it will take time to find. The security deposit will be taken to offset the rental payments due.
2. Another tenant may be at risk also due to personal circumstances.
3. No rummage sale is being held this Spring. That activity usually brings in approximately $2,500.
•The above 3 items will mean our projected rental income will be lower than budgeted.
•Guidelines for bequests ($2,500 – $15,000) call for 10% to go to Missions, 10% to go to Major Maintenance and 80% to Endowment fund.
•Council discussed ways to disburse the bequest to help offset the shortfalls in our budgeted income.
•Decision was to disburse 10% to Missions, 10% to Major Maintenance and to hold on disbursement of the remaining 80% at this time.

Pilgrim Lodge:
•Cost for attending summer camp has increased. Elsa requested scholarship support similar to what has been provided in the past. Target amount for camperships is $2,000.
•Discussed available funding sources. There is $522 in Camper Funds in the segregated accounts. There is $5,000+ in the Cabinet Fund which allows for discretionary use.
•Jean will approach the Guild with a request for funds to support this.
•The Cabinet Fund will make up the difference between the $2,000 requested and the total of what the Guild provides plus the $522 in Camper Funds.
•Camper Funding support should become a budgeted item next year to eliminate the annual search for funding which takes place.
•Consensus of the Council was that scholarships should be restricted to children (= not adults).

Nomination process and timing:
•Annual meeting is 5/31. Nominations are needed by then.
•Chris will request team nomination slates be submitted by mid-May.
•Council will discuss nominations at our April meeting.

Rental Fees:
•Chris distributed and reviewed A team recommendations from Jim Otis e-mail.
•Recommendations were accepted as presented with small exception related to donations by non-profits.
•Council agreed that it was okay to suggest donations from non-profits as long as the wording was appropriately written. Non-profit usage document is the best place to put the wording. John will check on what is there and whether it needs to be adjusted.

Comprehensive church budget:
•Council agreed that we have oversight and fiscal responsibility for all budgets and “special” funds within the church, but we do not always have the information to carry out that responsibility. Many of these accounts are outside of the formal budget process but do make use of our church’s tax ID.
•There does not seem to be any documentation of these special funds in any one place. There is a gap in understanding and visibility associated with these. It is unknown as to whether the annual church audit includes looking at these.
•The annual church audit is a review in accordance with commonly accepted accounting rules but it is not a formal “audit”. Formal audits are deeper, more involved and more expensive.
•It was agreed that a comprehensive church budget should be a top priority for the Council. Discussion took place on actions to take.
•Chris will request the A team evaluate whether the accounting review which we currently have done includes any of these special accounts in their evaluation.
•Chris will invite Jim Otis to our next meeting to further discuss what our actions should be relative to these accounts and whether our current level of annual review is sufficient.
•The scope for Council oversight for this issue is any group which has separate funds not covered within our church budget but they do make use of our tax ID number.
•It should be made clear that the Council is not seeking any decision making role related to these funds. We just want understanding and oversight to fulfill our fiduciary responsibilities to the church.

Church Vision statement:
•Discussion was deferred to a future meeting.


Adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

Recorder: Dave Allen