Members Present: President June
Johnsen, Carole Greeley, Janelle Jolley, Pastor Todd Bertani,
Bette Noll, Barbara Nelson June called the meeting to order at 6
p.m. Pastor Todd offered a prayer. Minutes Finance Report Personnel Report 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 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 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
Members Absent: Jeff Thoma
Others Present: Diane Metz
(Personnel Chair), Justin Devine (Director of Youth and Education)
June moved that the minutes from the
April meeting be approved. The motion was seconded and was passed.
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.
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 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.
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.
