June called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. Pastor Todd offered a prayer.

Minutes
June moved that the minutes from the April meeting be approved. The motion was seconded and was passed.

Finance Report
Janelle provided a Finance Report (Attachment A). She reported that she had received a check for $5,000 as a bequest from the mother of Cheryl Hurd, she had received a donation in the amount of $1,000 for Music Director Semyon Lohss, and the church had received a tax credit for small businesses who provide benefits to employees. The credit was $1602.

Personnel Report
Diane presented a report from Personnel. (Attachment B.) At the April meeting, the Council approved a new Safe Congregation Policy. At this meeting, Diane presented the forms that will accompany this policy. (Attachment B.) Carole suggested some minor changes in two of the forms. In Appendix A, the applicant should be approved as a primary volunteer, approved as a secondary volunteer, or rejected. (See Appendix B) The volunteer can be approved by the Director of Youth and Education, the Pastor, or a team leader. The form should indicate that the original goes to the Office and that a copy goes to the applicant. (See Appendix B) In Appendix C, whenever it refers to a parent, it should say “parent or guardian.” Some of the form names are not identical to the names used in the policy, so this should be corrected. June moved that we approve the forms as amended by Carole. The motion was seconded and was passed.

Diane reported that Bette Noll had offered to join the Personnel Committee. June moved that Bette become a member of the Personnel Committee. The motion was seconded and was passed.

Diane reported that she was ready to give a training session to Council on the new Operations Manual once Chapter 5 (Personnel Policies) and Chapter 6 (Preschool Operating Polices) are presented to the Council for approval. Planned completion is slated for June 2011. If the last two chapters are approved in June, the training (at least 30 minutes) could be done in June or in July. 

Other Reports
Diane presented a report from the Preschool Board. (Attachment C) She reported that the Preschool Sunday was very successful and that they are now advertising for the summer sessions. Last month the Council had been informed that they were having problems with the toilets for the Preschool. June reported that this problem had been resolved.

Justin reported for the Youth and Family Ministry Team. He said that they have 26 or 27 people signed up for the Mexico house-building trip, including five Rotaract members. He expects some people from out of state to participate, and he wanted directions regarding how to get them screened. He was advised that his friend in Portland could obtain an FBI clearance in Portland. He said that fund-raising is going well for the trip but that they need more people to sign up for the golf tournament. Some parents are refusing to let their children participate because they think that it is unsafe to travel to Mexico. Justin was advised to research the issue of safety and to present this information to the parents.

Justin presented a report from the Education Ministry Team. (Attachment D) Hope.Nets, the children’s Sunday morning program, is improving and will finish up for the spring next week. Larry Nelson has started a new Sunday Adult Education class called “Good God! Why Evil?” The Bethel class has completed its first year and will start on the New Testament in the fall. The Tuesday morning Bible study at Peet’s is going well, and Diane Metz will begin a class on spiritual and physical aspects of bread on Monday May 23 . Jose Traughber, Altar Guild Chairperson will explain Altar Guild membership to the group.

Pastor Todd presented his report. (Attachment E). He had met with the new Volunteer Coordinating Team and had met with the ministry leaders to begin gathering data on volunteer needs. He had met with members of the new Welcome and Witness Team, and they had planned a breakfast for the congregation on June 12. New members will be invited to a reception at June and Les Johnsen’s home on June 11. Pastor Todd will soon start a series of cottage meetings. There was a brief discussion about how to recognize the new members, and there were several suggestions, including putting their photos on the new bulletin board in the sanctuary and putting their photos in the monthly newsletter. The Welcome and Witness Team will work on this.

Barbara reported for Stewardship. The team plans to make its efforts year-round, rather than just for a month or two. They will be giving more temple talks. The theme will be “Just Get Started.” Justin suggested that they use the screen in the sanctuary for their presentations.

Janelle reported that pledges are lower than was expected, but non-pledge offerings are higher than expected. Justin suggested that this may be due to the fact that some people who use the Vanco electronic giving system have not made pledges. There was a short discussion about how putting something in the collection plate is an important part of the worship service, and people who donate via Vanco may want to put something in the plate. We have put some cards in the pews that serve this purpose, but we often run out of cards.

Barbara reported for Worship and Music. She said that they routinely discuss how the services went. They are changing the liturgy every two or three months. Bette had asked if the choir could sing at the late service, but Semyon said that he was not available for that service. There was a discussion of whether Dennis Sweeney could direct the choir at the late service or whether the choir could break into some smaller singing groups that could perform at the late service.

Bette reported for Outreach. She said that the food pantry is going well and that some members of Flames of Fire are participating. June had offered to help Kathy Doty with the Christmas food baskets this year and to take over this job the following year. The Lutheran Disaster Response team had asked the congregation to put together “Flood Buckets” to be sent to flood victims. (Attachment F). Members agreed that it would be more efficient to collect and send money for this cause. Janelle said that her son Jacob will fix a bucket that can be used to gather funds during the Sunday services.

Old Business
June and Carole had met with an officer from the Fairfield Police Department to discuss our response to the recent burglary and vandalism at St. Mark’s. He had recommended that we sign a document that would give police officers permission to order people off our property when there are no authorized activities taking place, as allowed by Penal Code section 602(o). This had been done, but the statute requires that we post signs on the property. June moved that we post signs that say “No trespassing and no loitering.” Diane stated that she was not comfortable with us being the only church in town that has a “No trespassing” sign. Carole reported that she had asked a police officer if it was necessary to say “No trespassing”, and he had informed her that it would be sufficient to say “No loitering”, which another local church has done. June then amended her motion to take out the “No trespassing” language. The motion was seconded and was passed.

Pastor Todd moved that we use $3000 of the $5000 bequest from Cheryl Hurd’s mother to replace the defective doors in the Community Center Building and improve our security in other areas. The motion was seconded and was passed. 

Pastor Todd led the Lord’s Prayer, and the meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Carole Greeley, Secretary