Church Council

Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2010
Recorder: Peggy Murray

Present: Nancy MacLean, Matt Early, John McCall, Andy Ellis, Bob Morse, Sally Hinckley, Phil Whitney, John Shoos, Carl Murphy, Robin Reinhold, and Peggy Murray
Absent: Carrie Skeffington, Roger Addor

Nancy opened the meeting and Peggy presented a meditation on honoring the saints among us.

John Shoos and Phil Whitney were introduced to the group.

Suzanne Lindner was nominated as a new member for the class of 2013 for Mission Outreach. Motion made by John Shoos and seconded by Bob Morse to accept the nomination. Unanimously approved. Scott Ayer and Tom Hamerski have agreed to join EG&F; Spiritual Life & Worship is still looking for one more member. We will act on these additions at the next meeting.

The minutes of the last meeting were approved as presented.

Ministers’ Report:
Elsa sent word that she had nothing to report.
John reported:
• that there were a number of positive comments following the October 10th service framing the Vision* Statement.
• The Web site should go live around November 5th (Friday). There is still a lot of text that needs to be created and posted, and the transition to the new process is taking some time. It does provide much more flexibility and “real time” updating capability. We will be able to upload MP3 recordings of sermons, etc. There will be a comprehensive search engine available. We have contracted with Vanco Systems (recommended by UCC) to support a “donate now” capacity for credit card donations. Chris Keiter will be our new Web Master and Aaron Scifres will be Code Master. We need to look into adding an “opt out of photograph” to our Sunday School registration form since pictures may be posted on the web site. We would not be attaching any names to pictures that are posted on-line. We also need to consider other organizations such as music groups, youth groups, etc. to determine how we obtain permissions.
• John is going to Concord, NH on Sunday, October 31st to preach at the South Parish UCC Church for the start of their 175th Anniversary celebration. Kitty Garlid, Director of Spiritual Services at Maine Medical Center and also a UCC minister, will be preaching here on that date.

Homecoming Sunday Feedback: the delay in starting classes seemed to work well for Church School, although some families were a bit confused, and the delay seemed a bit long. The pressure of preparation for a large fair was an issue in the past, but that has not seemed to bring the results expected. Elsa and John will bring options for dates to the Council next spring.

2011 Budget Committee: Moderator (Matt Early), John McCall, Cyndi Alden, Elsa Peters, Andy Ellis, plus (one additional volunteer is needed). There will be several meetings in November and December, once the Stewardship Campaign is complete, to finalize a proposed budget.

We reviewed the status of the 2010 budget. Pledges are at the level that we expect them to be at this time of year based on past experience. We generally see “catch up” at year end from a predictable number of people.

Nancy circulated a copy of the proposed “Consolidated Church Budget and Financial Reports” that contains the financial information of ancillary entities such as the Holly Daze Bazaar, the Discovery Center, etc. If it is presented as part of the budget package, it will need to be clearly noted that we are voting on the church budget only, and the other financial reports are being presented for information only.

Discovery Center Update: We included a reduced amount of $2500 for rent in the budget this year. There was an understanding that the $5000 was a loan, and that proposed budget assumed they would continue to pay the rent. Gretchen Reynolds is going to forward a copy of the most recent financial statement to Matt. They have two new students with a possible third coming on.

Volunteerism: Nancy asked that we review the “From Stressed to Blessed” document with a focus on the section “Reviewing What Is” and also the “Encouraging Voluntarism and Ministries” document. Phil is going to check with Jen in the office to see what happens with new member interest forms (“Participation Opportunity Sheet”) and how they are routed to appropriate committees, etc.

The Council is responsible for finding or serving as Delegates. The next meeting is the Annual Meeting of Cumberland Association in New Gloucester on Sunday, October 24th from 2:30 – 5:00 p.m. Peggy Murray will attend and she and Bob Morse agreed to work on a list of people who might act as Delegates.

Rick Angell has asked, on behalf of the Ushers, that the emergency procedures be updated since they have not been updated since 1997. Nancy will check with the office to see who will handle that.

Meeting adjourned at 8:29 p.m.

Next Meeting is November 18th.
Phil Whitney will be the opener/recorder.

* - noted correction