COUNCIL MEETING
June 17, 2021
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Attendees: Robert Blankenship, Beverly Byers, Richard Giltner, Kenny Lee, Stacey Welch, Pastor Baker, Mary Rosas, D J Schoneweis
Absentees: David Gorman
Guests: Mara McGee, Karolyn Havener
Opening Prayer: Beverly
Devotional: Chapter 5 – Beverly
. Next month Chapter 6 – Bob
Approval of Minutes: Motion – Beverly, Second – Mary, accepted as presented.
REPORTS:
Mara: Youth and Family Ministries
. VBS preparation is about 75% complete.
. Mission Trip set for last week in July, but was subsequently canceled due to low participation and changed to an in-house mission project in the youth area.
. Movies: A permit to view movies as part of youth and congregational activities is available for $250 per year for up to 200 people per viewing. Since a single viewing would be $100, it seems a good value with access to Netflix as well as thousands of movies and movie clips that can be used as part of sermons or events.
Karolyn: CLC
. Inspections passed and CLC opened June 1. There are some low priority issues but nothing to prevent moving forward. Johnson Controls was unable to get us in a position to open, with parts on back order. Rocky was asked and a person he knows came out the next day, did the repairs and the Fire Marshall inspection passed.
. The open house went well. Support from the congregation helps CLC keep going.
. Staffing continues with reviews of resumes. Quality of applicants is abysmal, however. Jackie, who has been the toddler administrator and infant teacher for two years has accepted an offer as Assistant Director for the fall session and will do both duties. Working without a conscientious person in that position has been difficult. She has 30 years experience in child care, has been a Director before and has worked with all age groups. Her infant administrator position is now covered. August 2 will be staff training with the pastor to do the blessing of staff.
. Karolyn is taking personal time off tomorrow with approval of Beverly and the pastor as her grandchildren has the hand/foot/mouth virus which is widespread but there are no cases at the CLC.
. Fall enrollment is open all who call, not just the congregation. CLC is able to give tours. New classrooms are open and need to be filled. Fall session will begin August 9 this
year. Masks are required in all areas for 2 year olds and up with temperature checks and hand washing. Though parents are allowed in, they are no allowed in classroom areas. Backpacks and lunch boxes are allowed. A final mask decision will be made in a couple of weeks.
. Cleaning is only being done in the CLC area by TBM at this point. The area manager, Oscar, has been stopping by every few days to check on CLC which is much appreciated.
. Financials: Purchases are being made to replace losses. Application was made and accepted to Lake Shore Learning for a subsidy grant for preschool supplies.
. Property: Weed treatment is complete and new mulch has been put down. There is water coming in to classrooms 3, 4, and 5 during heavy rains. Roof is being checked.
. Thank you to Karolyn, Rocky, and God.
Pastor Baker: Pastor’s Report
. July 4 begins inside services every Sunday at 10 am. Regular communion format will resume rather than using the packets. Joe will provide music on the first and third Sundays, and the praise band will provide music on the second and fourth Sundays. Any fifth Sunday will be decided upon ahead of time. A youth led service has been suggested and Mara will look into it.
. Pastor is signed up for convocation and will drive to Corpus Christi August 2 after the CLC teacher dedication. Convocation will run from 9 am Tuesday through 5 pm Friday, then pastor will be taking the following Saturday through Friday as vacation days. Someone will need to cover the August 8 service. Art has volunteered and Beverly will confirm that. The church has in its account $768.63 of Mission District funds from when Pastor John was dean of the Mission District which does not have its own account. Pastor Baker will check with the Mission District at convocation as to what they want to do about the funds.
. A schedule of call process events information has been emailed as well as a copy of the constitution. Since the first congregational meeting regarding the call is to be held in September, council needs to provide names of five people and two alternates to be on the call committee. These people need to represent the congregation and not their own agendas. Pastor will hold a training workshop for it to include a conversation with Dr. Wendell. Congregation will be informed by the council of progress about everything except names of candidates until they are recommended. Beverly informed council that there are already two volunteers for the call committee, Libby Lindstrom and David Gustafson. Lynn Gustafson has volunteered to fill the missing nominating committee position. A motion will be made to accept Lynn. Pastor will post the call committee schedule in his newsletter.
. First communion class will be scheduled as soon as possible after the building opens fully.
. Old Hymnals: Pastor will check to see who might need them and take any requested to convocation with him. These are not the current ones and green ones are free to be taken by any who request them.
Beverly: Financials
. Offerings are down so more of on-hand funds are from insurance. There was no tuition income in May but expenses were lower this month and this year due to delays in construction. Cash balance is $32,000, investment balance is $770,000. Insurance checks continue to come in. Rocky has been paid directly. Mara and Beverly fixed the account for the
mission trip. Budget is being normalized for the current situation based on no income except insurance. Please let Beverly and Mary know of anything else that needs to be replaced.
Team Chairs Reports
Mary: Property
. The property report has been sent out.
. Johnson Controls reports that they periodically get no signal. Diamond Voice indicated that there has been a problem with the phone fibers, apparently with one of the two numbers which are used alternately.
. Eagle has been called to check on the shingles for continuing leaks.
DJ: Mission
. Water to Thrive goal was met. We need to think about what to focus mission funds on now. Mary replaced the soil in the flowers in the outdoor tables area that were wilting and all seem to be doing much better. The tomatoes are producing and can be picked. A list is being made of ongoing landscape/plant issues.
Other Issues:
Online Motions:
.There were no online motions this month.
COVID:
. We need a mask policy. Among those asked their preference, there was about a 50/50 split in opinions. CLC will go with the Health Department recommendations regardless of personal preferences since the Health Department is able to shut down the CLC for non-compliance. Masks are mandatory there to protect those too young to vaccinate. The distancing issue has not come up. The policy of the church is currently to leave masking to personal discretion.
Constitution:
. Pastor sent out copies of the NALC and current constitution as well as a side-by-side version.
. Chapter 15 of NALC version is more firm about discipline and Pastor recommends we replace ours with the NALC version.
. It is recommended removing the phrase “in good standing” regarding membership as being too subjective, since the bylaws cover voting qualification already.
. It is also recommended that the Pastor have a voice / vote in council rather than just being a tie-breaker as it puts him at odds with half the group each time rather than just being part of the decision processes.
. Pastor should not be on the nominating committee which should be independent. The council president should not lead the committee either and it should elect its own leader.
. Changes in wording of chapters 11 and 12.01 should be made to include all council offices using their current titles (‘elect’ vs. ‘vice’).
. Changes in wording of 12.08 should be made so that the pastor does not have hire/fire power over staff and acts as administrator and advocate rather than boss. Pastor will
work on this wording as well as the other changes mentioned and present a revised copy to council.
Branding:
. This issue is tabled since David is not available.
Storage Shed:
. Donald has been given copies of the plans.
Outdoor Structure for Services/Activities:
. This issues is going on the project list for future discussion.
Conference Room / Library:
. There was a discussion about the naming, including contacting Julia to find a telephone contact for Pastor Adix since he has not fully responded to emails yet on his family’s thoughts on this.
Spanish Congregation:
. Pastor continues to work with their pastor regarding shared services. The group has outgrown their old facility so plan to continue to use ours until they can obtain their own.
Delegates to Convocation:
. Since there are no volunteers and no major issues to be voted on this year, the pastor will be our representative.
Baptismal Font:
. The issue is whether to keep the current baptismal font. Rocky is to check to see if it can be maintained for health (mold, etc). Cosmetically it is in the way and works poorly for baptisms due to shape of the structure and its interference with the sound system. It is hard to maintain and difficult to decorate for activities. A movable one is preferred. Subsequently email communication among council decided to allow removal of the old one and seek options for a movable replacement.
Additional Hours for Julia:
. This came up during early construction and was found not to be necessary.
MOTION: Beverly moved that Lynn Gustafson be accepted to fill the open place on the nominating committee. Mary seconded and the motion passed.
Council Meeting:
. Due to Vacation Bible School, the July meeting has been moved to July 22.
Pastor Baker closed the meeting in prayer.