ASLC Council Meeting
September 17, 2020
7:00 PM
Attendees: Pastor John, Libby Lindstrom, Bob Blankenship, John Barnes, Evelyn Gorman, Mary
Rosas, Beverly Byers, Richard Giltner
Absent: Patti Scott
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Libby at 7:05 p.m.
Devotional: Peacemaker, Chapter 6. Discussion lead by Libby.
Approval
of Minutes: Beverly noted a grammatical error of the word “lead”. Change was made to “led.”
Libby motioned to accept the minutes as revised. Beverly seconded. Motion passed.
Reports:
Children’s Learning Center – Karolyn Havener
Current enrollment is 68. Two new infants are expected in January. Monthly income is around $40,000. Credit card and ACH payment plans have been rolled out. Credit card users are charged 3%; ACH customers are charged $1 per ACH. Lawn care vendor now has a key to the playground.
There were two more tertiary cases of COVID. The children are quarantining. One of the new teachers hired for the fall session has been let go which has created a need for a new afternoon worker. Neal from TBM (cleaning service) walked the property with Karolyn to fine tune the price and duties. He will provide a price for one-time cleaning and cleaning the upstairs youth area when it is again in use.
Karolyn was asked to discuss with TBM the possibility of modifying the contract for Sanctuary cleaning on Saturday instead of Sunday and adding trash pickup from ASLC offices on Wednesdays.
Pastor’s Report
Highlights:
· Karolyn Havener continues to do a great job with the CLC program.
· Julia has transitioned the Sunday service from video to online streaming.
· Mara is finishing up confirmation class requirements for this year’s class. Confirmation Sunday will be September 27th. An all outside event on October 24th is being planned for Trunk or Treat.
· Wednesday evening service has resume. A Zoom Bible study is offered at 7:15. There was one login attempt the first Wednesday. There were four who logged in for the most recent session.
· Thematic calendar planning for 2021 has commenced.
· Pastoral Care – Carol Foster has postponed the reconciliation meeting indefinitely. Jim Kimble is at Arlington Memorial Hospital being treated for cancer and kidney failure. Jan is struggling with early stages of dementia; Amanda is trying to care for both of them right now. Keep this family in your prayers.
· Upcoming Extended Education – Annual NALC Texas Region pastors’ retreat / conference next week; September 21-23, with NALC Bishop Dan Selbo and Society of the Holy Trinity overnight pastors’ retreat scheduled for October 19-20. Both are at Cedarbrake Renewal Center in Belton, TX; just two hours south of here.
Property Report – John Barnes
Property report was circulated earlier via email. The process of procuring quotes on the sanctuary roof, paving repairs and the playground remodel continues. H&H will be contacted to determine when they will be out to remove the sagging panel. This has become a concern of CLC parents who check their children in every day under the skylight. Need to find out if we can remove it ourselves without negating the warranty. John Barnes will make contact with them as soon as possible.
Treasurer’s Report – Beverly Byers
Beverly presented financial information for August. August ended with a deficit of $26,650. The year to date deficit is $232,911. A copy of the report will be included with the published minutes. Beverly requested that we email her if we have questions about any of the line items.
Libby motioned to accept all reports as presented. Mary seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Record Online Motions – Richard Giltner
On September 4th, Libby motioned to terminate the contract with Embassy and hire TBM for cleaning serviced. John Barnes seconded the motion. All council members voted in favor. Motion passed.
COVID Update
No changes required to ongoing operations.
Branding
Pastor John’s suggested branding for ASLC:
All Saints
—– & —– Children’s Learning Center
A Congregation of the North American Lutheran Church
Beverly motioned to accept Pastor’s suggested branding. Evelyn seconded. Mary noted that this change should be something that the congregation votes on. Beverly amended her motion to accept Pastor John’s suggested branding and include it on the November congregational meeting agenda. Evelyn seconded the amended motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Constitution
A new version with Marty’s revision was sent out by Pastor John. Pastor John suggested that a subcommittee take on the remainder of the work on the revision. Beverly felt we could do it without a subcommittee. Bob was asked to rewrite the section on Council terms to clarify. It was determined that a meeting will be held on October 6th at 7:00 p.m. to further discuss the constitution, the budget and property repair bids.
Boards, Policies and Procedures recap/update
Tabled for future discussion
New Business
Giving Envelopes – Beverly
Beverly asked for the opinion of the council regarding the discontinuation of the use of offering envelopes. There a few people who use them; however, most of the offerings now come in as loose checks. We don’t use the offering envelope numbers for accounting purposes. It was suggested that we communicate to the congregation that we are discontinuing offering envelopes and encourage people to use the green envelopes in the pews. Beverly may poll the regular users for their feedback.
Congregational Meeting Information Dissemination
Beverly suggested a congregational meeting page on the website to post all meeting related information, including the NALC resolutions that we need to vote on.
November Council Meeting
Council was asked to be thinking about whether to move up the date of the meeting or leave it as is (November 19th).
Council Meeting Information Request
Mary requested that information for council meetings be presented earlier than the day of the meeting in order to be able to review everything before the actual meeting. Libby set an October 4th deadline to submit council information for the October 6th meeting.
Closing Prayer – Evelyn Gorman
Adjournment
Libby motion to adjourn the meeting. Evelyn seconded. Motion passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Rosas
Next Council Meeting – Tuesday, October 6th, 7:00 p.m