Council Members Present: President June Johnsen, Bob Evans, MaryAnne Jordan, Carole Greeley, Pastor Todd Bertani, Justin Devine, Stu Reed, Tom Turner
Council Members Absent: Bette Noll, Barbara Patterson, Austin Jansen
Others Present: Blair Aas
June called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. Pastor Todd led an opening prayer and a short discussion about the importance of members communicating the gospel to nonmembers.
Bob moved that the Council approve the minutes from the monthly meeting held on February 25, 2010, the motion was seconded and passed.
Financial Report
MaryAnne submitted a Financial Report. (Attachment A) She reported that Flames of Fire had asked us to install three phone lines for them to use. The installation costs were $135 for the first line and $70 for each additional line. The Council agreed that since our contract with them says that we will provide a phone line for their use, we will pay for installing one line, and they will pay $140 for the additional lines. MaryAnne had directed that their monthly phone bills should be sent directly to them, but the Council agreed that this should be changed and that the bills should come to St. Mark’s and we will then bill them, since they have signed a facilities use agreement with us, not a lease.
MaryAnne reported that the bank that is giving us a loan for repair/upgrades to the Community Center Building wanted the Church Council to approve the people who would have permission to sign checks for St. Mark’s. Justin moved that Lew Broschard, June Johnsen, and MaryAnne Jordan are permitted to sign checks for St. Mark’s. The motion was seconded and passed. MaryAnne reported that she and June would sign the loan documents.
Diane Metz (Personnel Ministry Team) had submitted a revision to the Policy and Procedures Manual that addressed the use of musical instruments and equipment. (Attachment B) MaryAnne recommended that we approve this addition to the facilities use policy that was approved at the February 25, 2010 meeting. Justin so moved, the motion was seconded and passed.
Church staff had requested a small safe that would be kept in the Community Center Building. Only Justin, Erin Ruml, and MaryAnne would have access to this safe. There was a discussion about whether the safe was necessary, since the church already has a safe in another building, and there was a discussion about whether to buy a more expensive drop safe. Bob moved that we purchase a safe costing approximately $170, the motion was seconded and passed.
Nurture
Justin submitted a report for Youth and Parish Education. (Attachment C). He reported that his committee had its first commitment from a Rodriguez student for the Mexico home-building trip. He assured the Council that the recent violence involving U.S. embassy staff in Mexico would have no impact in the areas where our group would be traveling and working.
Justin reported that he had 48 children signed up for VBS in April and that 24 of them were from our Preschool. The Youth and Preschool Sunday had been a huge success. There was a discussion about whether we should have a Youth Sunday and a separate Preschool Sunday and, if we should continue to combine them, whether we should put more emphasis on the Preschool students and their teachers. Some felt that the visiting Preschool families would like to see more of their children and the teachers, and others felt that it is important to show them what our youth program is doing. It was agreed that we should try to have more participation by the Preschool students and to give more recognition to their teachers at this service.
Justin reported that his committee has lined up Adult Education classes through November and that he would be sending out a calendar with this information in April.
He announced that 128 tickets are available for the Bethel Bible Series event on May 22. The event is called “Bethel Presents: A Grand Night for Game Shows”, and dinner will be served. Tickets will be $10 per person or $20 per family.
Justin reported that Jennifer Counihan has agreed to be the nursery attendant during both services on Sunday. Bob moved that we raise her salary from $8 an hour to $9 an hour. The motion was seconded and passed.
Profession of Faith
Stu submitted a report for the Profession of Faith committee. (Attachment D) He asked if the extra donations to synod that are being made by some congregation members over and above the commitment made by St. Mark’s are being forwarded to synod. MaryAnne said that they are. It was announced that the Concerts on the Corner will resume on Saturday, April 10.
Congregational Life
Barbara submitted a report for Congregational Life. (Attachment E) The annual Seder Dinner will be this Sunday. The Tuesday afternoon women’s Bible study group sponsored the church coffee hour on March 14. Beth Williamson plans to start an evening Bible study for women that will meet once a month. Several women have signed up for this new group.
Resources
Les Johnsen (Property Ministry) submitted a report. (Attachment F) Blair reported that the Preschool was being given some energy-efficient lights and he recommended that we install new light fixtures in the Preschool Building. June said that she would discuss this with the electrician who is working on the Community Center.
Justin reported that Rob Williamson was due for a six month evaluation on April 6 and that the evaluation would be conducted by the people who had interviewed him when he was hired.
Pastor’s Report
Pastor Todd submitted a report. (Attachment G) He reported that he has been involved with a local interfaith group that is working on forming a local affiliate of IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation). Each local chapter identifies the specific needs in their community and works to address some of those needs. He wanted to bring Sister Judy Donovan to our next Council meeting to tell us about this program, and the Council agreed that he could do this.
He said that he had been asked by police officials if St. Mark’s would hold another gun buy-back event in the fall. He said that he had received some negative feedback after the event that we held last year, but it appeared that the problem was that he had not given sufficient information about the event before it was held. It was reported that one of our young members had recently been frightened by gunshots in
her neighborhood, and it was agreed that we should hold this event after ensuring that the congregation understood what we were doing and why we were doing it.
We agreed to schedule our annual Council retreat after Pastor Todd returns from his sabbatical.
Old and New Business
The Flames of Fire use agreement has been signed.
The Council agreed to schedule a spring clean-up at the church. It was decided to invite all of the church groups who use our facilities to join in the project and to have a picnic or other social event with them.
Carole advised the Council that the synod has recommended that each congregation include a youth and a young adult on its Church Council. It was agreed to discuss this issue at the next monthly meeting.
There was also a short discussion regarding whether to amend the constitution and by laws regarding the function of the Executive Committee of the Church Council. No action was taken at this time.
The meeting was closed with the Lord’s Prayer. It was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Submitted by Carole Greeley, Secretary