Sharon United Methodist Church Council Meeting
Date: 1-19-2014
Number in attendance: 18
Called to order at 6:00 by Mark Achey
Devotions:Mark shared thoughts about the spirit giving us life. And, that you build it- through perspective and God’s kingdom.
Minutes from last meeting: a brief discussion regarding where the expenses for the children’s robes and CD player should come from occurred, with GibBoxa making a motion to keep the funds as coming out of the Auction fund, not Choir club fund. John Powers seconded the motion; motion and minutes approved.
Old Business
*Debit cards: DustinBoxa is following up on these and will get them to Pastor Mee and Karen Wagner, Office Manager, as soon as possible.
*Choir Club fund: This fund is going to be absorbed into the RAM budget since it was originally money collected by choir members for various purposes. Further discussion regarding the recent purchase of children’s robes and choir CD player resulted in John Powers making a motion to actually use this choir club fund as the monies that pay for purchases. Steve Tomash seconded the motion. Approved.
*Business Cards: At the last council meeting we discussed having Mark Achey and Lynda Lanus make new business cards for the church. At this time they have not been able to work on these. Clarification regarding exactly what should go on there was discussed; Church name, Address, Phone number, Service hours (to include Sunday School), email, and website information.
*Kids Activity Packet: At the last meeting, Toni Overton volunteered to make packets for kids to have during worship services. Pastor Mee volunteered to touch base with Toni to talk about how this is progressing.
*Philippines Relief: not yet a priority by the conference, so we will hold off on this for now.
*Security cameras: Karen Wagner reported that the cameras were previously on back-order, but she just got a call stating they are in. The installation tech was supposed to call back but hasn’t, so Karen will contact him.
Pastor’s Report
*Pastor Mee wanted everyone to know how much she appreciated the efforts of the Education and RAM committees for their work on special Christmas events (Children’s Program and the Living Christmas Tree).
*Church Website: Pastor Mee mentioned that we may need to ask someone to volunteer to be the provider manager. Mark Achey said that he would talk with Tim Rupert to see if they can form a committee that would do this, so that one person is not solely responsible.
Reports
Finance: Dustin Boxashared that he has received positive feedback regarding the Finance presentation last Sunday. Today was the first day for pledge card turn in, and the committee will begin looking at these as part of working on the financial issues of our church. Budget losses from last year were covered by surplus, not from any separate funds.
In addition, direct deposit is being followed up on, and taxes are a main focus at this time so that they can be turned over to the audit team. It was discussed that from now on financial reports will be sent out electronically prior to future council meetings, just like the minutes are from the previous meeting.
SPRC: Gloria Jahnel shared that the committee has started revising staff job descriptions.
Trustees: Due to the leak in the coatroom area this winter, the roof will require significant repair this spring. The parking lot also has some repairs that will be necessary.
Worship Team- Nothing to report at this time.
Education Team-Working on moving forward with Charge Conference goal of tailoring lessons by age groups. Free day of camp that was earned is going to occur April 26. Pastor Mee suggested that maybe that could be a retreat for the church, and invite all ages to attend.
Adult Sunday School is averaging 12-14 people each Sunday. Pastor Mee encouraged everyone attending tonight’s meeting to come to Sunday School and/or encourage others to do so.
Missions, Evangelism and Outreach-Sue Usher shared that they are looking into the possibility of having clothing items made with the church logo on them. This will help others in the community to identify with the church when we’re out in the community.
Sarah Circle- In the beginning phases of planning the upcoming Ladies Night Out.
FIC-Talent Show is coming up March 9.
Inbetweeners- February 22 is going to be a church cleaning day. The group is getting ready for Ash Wednesday service.
Other business:
*Sign Update: Steve Tomash requested that in order for him to update the sign in the front, he needs to be told what to put on there. The office will email him with this information each time an update is necessary.
*Finances: Steve Tomash presented that he has concerns about our current financial state, and that if things continue as they are now, we may need to consider not paying all of our apportionments. A lengthy discussion followed regarding exactly what apportionments are used for, and how they are figured. In addition, Pastor Mee explained that apportionments could be paid as each church sees most beneficial; light payments at the beginning of the fiscal year, heavy payments at the beginning of the fiscal year, and then balancing out by the end of the year. Following the discussion, Steve made the following motion: Starting immediately, we pay one half of our monthly apportionment payments with the option, from a recommendation from the finance committee, to change the monthly apportionment payments, up or down, to balance our budget. Marv Evenson seconded the motion. 1 opposed, 17 agreed. Motion passes.
*Duane Usher added the motion that the Finance Committee make a formal request to the General Board of Finances (State level/Conference) for the exact formula used to figure apportionments. Sue Usher seconded the motion. Carried.
*The Endowment funds were brought up as a possible source of monies. The question was raised as to whether or not, at the end of the fiscal cycle, only the interest is available, or can the entire fund be taken out upon request. Don Speers has stated that we could take out the entire funds if we followed the request protocol, but Dale Usher stated that any changes to this fund would need to be discussed and agreed upon at Charge Conference. Pastor Mee reminded the council that at our last Charge Conference, Jill Sanders, Presiding Elder, state that we didn’t need to cover this as part of the conference. There will be further research into this to determine how much can be used at the end of a fiscal year, and/or if the entire fund can be taken out following a request for removal.
Next council meeting: March 16 @ 6:00
The meeting was adjourned: 7:06pm
Respectfully submitted,
Lynda Lanus
Church Council Secretary