Church Council

Meeting Minutes of November 18, 2010
Recorder: Phil Whitney

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

The meeting was opened at 6:30 p.m. by Matt Early followed by a prayer by Phil. The Oct. 21 Minutes were approved after correcting the word MISSION with the word VISION in paragraph 5 on page 1.

MINISTER’S TIME: Elsa gave a follow-up on John’s progress since surgery. His return to work is anticipated for Monday, November 22.

The anticipated start of the UCC new website will be delayed by several weeks. New start up date is uncertain.

SEACOAST MISSION: (Refer to Mission Meeting Sunday E-mail from Laurie Cary distributed to Council members on Nov. 18.) Elsa is organizing a mission trip to Downeast Maine. She asked for Council approval of this plan which will take a volunteer UCC group to the Millbridge/Cherryfield area for one week – July 24-29, 2011 - to support the Seacoast Mission with their care and support of children and the aged. Activities, not yet specified, will be mainly refurbishing. She also wishes approval of using the offering on Mission Sunday, February 13, 2011 toward helping defray the coast of travel, food, supplies etc. estimated at $5,000. The Council unanimously approved this request. The Rev. Scott Planting who administers the Seacoast Mission will give the sermon here on Mission Sunday.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT: Matt, who heads the budget review sub-committee of the Council, welcomed John Shoos as the sixth sub-committee member. Matt expressed optimism regarding the pledges received as of Nov. 18. when compared with pledges received at this date in past years. Four more meetings are scheduled before a final statement can be presented to the church on 1/30/2011. Scheduled meetings are 11/29/10, 12/13/10 (first draft for Council review), 01/10/11 and 01/13/11 (final draft for Council review).

Morgan Stanley, investment advisors for the church, have reported total worth of church equity holdings as well over one million as of 10/31/10.

Fuel costs so far for 2010 are down from 2009 due to a more energy efficient system and a warmer year.

DELEGATES: Matt pointed out that the Council is responsible for naming six delegates per year. Last month Peggy Murray and Bob Morse volunteered as delegates for a meeting in New Gloucester; the topic was “Providing a Safe Church” and both were impressed with the presentation. The Council encouraged Peggy and Bob to prepare a summary for the Council and Bob was asked to continue recruiting Delegates.

STRUCTURE OF UCC: Council members felt unclear about the structure of the UCC local and state organizations. Elsa gave a brief review of this, but it was felt more clarification was needed. The ministers will give more tutoring on this in the next month or two.

DISCOVERY CENTER: Matt mentioned that budget timing may be a problem for the Discovery Center; i.e. their budget goes from September to June so that when they submit a budget to the church in November, they may not know what enrollment they will have for the Jan. – June spring session or especially for the Sept. – Dec. fall session. Only a few less students than anticipated will decrease their income by a significant amount.

TEAMS: For the moment all teams seem happy with their number of members. No further discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.