|
Meeting Minutes &
Important Dates
To post items or make changes please e-mail randysch@sover.net
Every Wednesday morning
8-10 AM coffee and fellowship
Bible Study following
worship on Sunday.
LKG Minutes May 5, 2010
Present:
Charlotte Bond (Pres.),
Jill Gentilin (Sec.) Louise Severance (Vice Pres.), Rev. Emily
Carrington Heath, Mindy Childs, Leni Brown, Sandy Barber, and Joan Judd
Opening:
Charlotte opened the
meeting with a reading from “Tending Life’s Garden.” And “A
Church Garden”. We did a check in with each other. The minutes were
approved. Jill
reported for Elinor that we have $2088.37 in the treasury
May
Sale: Mindy has placed
advertisements about the sale in the Deerfield Valley News. She asked
for help on May 27 and 28 to put up some tents, blow up balloons and
take in items for the sale. The other dates for drop off are May 9, 16,
and 23 from 10 until noon, and May 13, 20, and 27 from 4-6 PM. Our tent
is no longer usable and members were asked to look into the cost of
buying a new one. A suggestion was made to buy a couple of thermos pots
that could be used for the sale, at the Welcome Center, and on Sunday
mornings.
Andy Childs
Bluegrass Band may be able to play during the sale.
Mindy also wants
to have a 50/50 raffle.
Elinor has
offered to make soup depending on the weather. Soup sells well on colder
days but not so well in warmer weather.
Baked goods are
needed for this sale.
Phone
list: We briefly discussed updating the phone list.
Nell
Domina: Jill will contact Nell to arrange a date for us to visit her.
July
Luncheon: We need to decide when and where we will do this. Charlotte, Louise,
and Leni are all eligible this year for a free lunch.
Bell
Choir: Laurie Newton has asked for money to buy music for the five children
who participate in the Bell Choir. We decided to give her $60. The money
collected in the coin collection during the Christmas holidays will
offset this cost.
They are looking
into playing some patriotic songs after the Bicentennial presentation in
October.
Spring
Meeting: LKG will buy a ham and the members of the congregation will be asked
to provide side dishes and dessert.
Emily
closed the meeting with a prayer.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
These minutes
have not been approved.
WDCC
Trustees’ Minutes April 8, 2010
Present: Elinor Havness, Bill Hamilton, Allen Jones, Dick
Severance
Opening: Allen Opened the meeting at 6:50 with prayer.
Minutes: There were no minutes available.
Treasurer’s Report: The treasurer was not present and
therefore no report was available.
Dick, the Asst. Treasurer, presented a statement of the
year-to-date income and expenses as compared to budget and last year.
These numbers will appear in the monthly newsletter as requested
by the trustees at our last meeting.
There was some discussion of the decline in income.
Dick also showed a report of the status of the reserve funds
which still remain in cash. There
was discussion of other investment strategies.
Immediately following the May Congregational Meeting, the new
investment committee will meet to consider alternatives.
Old Business: Cabinet for Wii – Allen reported
that a combination of gifts from Bill Hamilton, and Allen and Sharain
Jones, may allow us to purchase the Wii and the cabinet for no more than
we authorized last meeting for the cabinet alone.
Handicap access to basement – Bill has two firm bids in
hand and expects a third within a few days.
The results will be reviewed by Chuck Gentilin and presented to
the council for approval.
Reach out program – Recommendations will be
presented at the May Congregational Meeting.
There was discussion of finding ways to advertise the
availability of our activities center for scouts and youth groups in the
summer. Allen will contact
some web-site experts to help us.
Change of Pastors – Allen announced that
Brenda’s tenure would end on May 1 and that some back vacation pay had
been recommended by the compensation committee.
Maintenance – Allen announced that he would
be asking members to join him in painting the Narthex.
Blue Jeans Sunday – The two projects scheduled
are a thorough cleaning of the kitchen and work on the garden together
with any other needed yard work. Dick
will contact Lisa Place of the Wilmington church for advice on the
garden. It was suggested
that we ask the council to change the usual “Pot-Luck” meal at the
spring Congregation Meeting to a “Brown-Bag” event to break the
string of “Pot-Luck” events scheduled for late April.
New Business: Allen will remove the downed tree limb from
our property.
Close: Dick
closed the meeting with a prayer.
Respectfully submitted
Dick
Severance
This
draft of minutes has not been approved.
Church
Council Minutes April 21, 2010
Present: Brenda Adcock (Interim Pastor), Laurel Cashman
(Treasurer), Allen Jones (Chairman, Trustees), Bill Hamilton (Trustee),
Harriette Hamilton (Deacon), Louise Severance (LKG & Deacons), Dick
Severance (Acting Moderator)
Opening: Brenda opened the meeting with a prayer at 10:05
AM. The minutes of the
March meeting were distributed and read.
No approval was asked because of limited attendance.
Treasurer’s Report:
Laurel reported that sufficient funds were available for expected
expenses. Payments to
Emily, the new Pastor, for advance housing had been made and payments
for future obligations were on schedule.
Payments to Brenda, the retiring pastor, were on schedule and
payments of “farewell contributions” collected this Sunday would be
made prior to her leaving.
Deacons & LKG: Louise
reported that E-Mails and the “Call List” had been activated to
remind the congregation that the service this Sunday, April 25 would be
a joint service with the Wilmington Church at 10 AM and followed by a
“Pot-Luck” brunch as a farewell party for Brenda.
Trustees’ Report:
Minutes of the last Trustees meeting were passed out.
It was noted that the contribution of a cabinet from Bill and
Harriette plus cash from Allen and Sharain for the purchase of a Wii
game had allowed the two items to be acquired for about the price
allocated for the cabinet alone. Bill
said he had 3 bids for the stair chair awaiting examination by Chuck
Gentilin. Plans for “Blue
Jeans Sunday” would include a thorough cleaning of the kitchen and
work on the garden if weather permitted.
Old Business: A discussion of the Congregation Meeting and
Blue Jeans Sunday scheduled for May 2 revealed that Emily had an
important meeting that conflicted somewhat with our event. It was decided to postpone the May 2 meeting to May 16.
All will be notified of the change.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:10 AM.
Church
Council Minutes March 17, 2010
Present:
Chuck Gentilin (Moderator), Brenda Adcock (Interim Pastor). Louise
Severance (Vice-chair of LKG), Leni Brown (Chair Deacons), Richard
Severance (Assist. Treasurer), Allen Jones (Chair Trustees), Bill
Hamilton (Vice Chair Trustees). Randy Schoonmaker, Harriette Hamilton
(Deacon), Mikie Schwarz (Deacon), Sharain Jones, and Jill Gentilin
(Secretary)
Opening:
Chuck opened the meeting at 10:05 AM with a prayer. The minutes were
approved with two changes one to the date (2010 instead of 2019 and April first
was added as the date of the Tennebrae service).
Treasurer:
The Treasurer was absent so there was no direct report. Richard said he
had met with Laurel and thought she had sufficient access to money to
pay the current bills.
Randy
Schoonmaker:
Randy presented a fiscal report of our spending which he thought would
be easier to understand. He asked for a meeting of the congregation to
discuss our fiscal status. It was noted that we had a bequest of $5000
from one donor that we don't will be repeated in 2010. This money helped
our bottom line in 2009. We did spend $42314 in 2008 on flood damage in
the Activity Room and general maintenance. Right now we are projecting a
substantial budget deficit for this year. We set the date for this
meeting on May 2. The congregation will be given a copy of Randy's
report a week before the meeting. A question was asked about pursuing
grants as this is a historical building. Randy said he had looked into
this and an inspector had come to look at the building. The inspector
thought the vinyl siding would present a problem. There are no grants
for general maintenance that he could discover.
Deacons:
Leni reported that the Deacons had a retreat that focused on Spiritual
renewal.
LKG:
Mindy will do the Easter flowers in the window. Jill will prepare a
bulletin insert or the Easter service with the names of people who wish
to buy flowers for the altar and the names of to whom the flowers are
dedicated. Jill and Sharain set a date to do the butterflies on March
30. They will meet at 9AM. The Memorial Day sale will be held. Mindy
will organize the white elephant sale. We may have craft tables outside
and sell baked goods and soup.
Trustees:
Allen said the Trustees were concerned about the decrease in income.
They hoped to get summer groups such as biking groups to come and use
the Activity Room in the same way that skiing groups do now.
Richard
is working on developing some programs and this Sunday he will ask for
people who are interested in programs to attract different age groups to
get together and sort out the ideas that he has received. They also plan
to have Randy give a synopsis of our financial status in the Newsletter
on a quarterly basis.
Pastor:
Brenda has planned a vacation in April. She will work around the arrival
of the newly called pastor. She thinks our website needs major work. It
should have more pictures of people.
Old
Business:
Bill has received one bid or the stair chair in the $12000 range and is
waiting for two more. He expects them to be in the same range. The idea
of an elevator .bas been dropped as it is too expensive. We will need a
variance to put in the stair chair instead of the elevator from the
state Access Committee.
New
Business:
The Dover Bicentennial Committee would like to use the Activity Room for
a slide presentation on Oct 2. This was approved. We talked about a
follow up after this presentation in the sanctuary to show off our
beautiful church. Perhaps we could get the bell choir to play. We would
also like to do a float. There are suggested categories one of which is
patriotic. Jill said we could have a theme of "in God we
trust".
Richard
said he had talked with Herb about attending a conference in Shrewsbury,
MA being presented by the Congregational Library. This includes a panel
discussion of churches that have just completed their own anniversary
celebration. Allen Jones volunteered to go with Herb to this event. We
hope Nelson Bond would agree to be part of a liaison committee to float
ideas gleaned from this event.
Louise
received a charge for the Compensation Committee to meet with the newly
called minister to work out compensation.
The
public meeting adjourned at 11:30 AM and the officers went into
executive session t0 discuss a personal issue. This meeting was
adjourned at 12: 15 PM
Respectively
Submitted Jill Gentilin
These minutes have not been approved.
Trustees’
Minutes March 4, 2010
Present:
Allen Jones (Chair), Bill
Hamilton (Chair), Richard Severance (Assist. Treasurer), Elinor Havness,
Sindy Fillion, and Jill Gentilin (Secretary)
Opening:
Allen opened the meeting
at 6:50 PM with prayer. The minutes were approved as written.
Treasurer’s
Report: Laurel‘s report
given to Richard by e-mail was passed out. Income for January and
February was $8434. . (This includes payment by the ski groups) There is
a net drop of $1504.31 from the same period last year. Expenses year to
date are $10560. All bills are paid up to 3/1/2010 including music for
February and the Pastor’s salary for March and her housing allowance
for April.
As Assist.
Treasurer, Richard reported the following balances as of Dec. 31, 2009.
1790
Christian Mission Fund $18,917
1858 Capital
building Fund
20,961
Operating
Reserve
67,110
Jill
suggested regular reports on income as it relates to our budget be
placed in the newsletter on a regular basis. We decided that we would do
this quarterly.
Old
Business: Bill has donated a cabinet to hold Sindy’s Nintendo set up. It will
be a locked cabinet.
Bill reported
that he had one company in to bid on the stair chair. This bid was in
the $12000 range. He is waiting for bids from two more companies. We
decided not to pursue the elevator because of the cost. (25,000 to
30,000) We will need a variance from the state to put in a stair chair
instead of the elevator.
Dick reported
that he had received a number of ideas for church programs. He will
present these to Church Council. We also added a number of ideas as we
discussed this. Dick would like to gather interested volunteers together
to sort out the ideas and narrow the list.
Dick also said
the Fund Raising Committee under the chairmanship of Herb Childs will be
meeting soon.
Sindy asked
about grant money. Dick will talk with Randy to see if he has ideas how
this might be done.
Maintenance
and Capital Improvements: Allen
offered to organize a group to paint the Narthex and the stairway. If
that project works well we may attempt to paint the library.
Jill said the
Bicentennial Committee for Dover has asked permission to use the church
on Oct. 2 for a power point presentation about the valley. They would
expect to have up to 100 people. Everyone was in favor of this. We would
also like to have a float in the Bicentennial Parade. We need ideas for
a theme.
Other:
Brenda’s lease on her
apartment is up on March 30. She would like to live in her van and be
able to use the church’s facilities in April, May, and June. She plans
to leave on June 30. We decided this would be ok. If we received any
complaints from the community we would deal with them at the appropriate
time.
Garden: We
talked about the garden and the need to take care of it. We could work
on the garden on the next Blue Jean Sunday. We also tossed the idea
around of investigating if one of the scout troops who come here to ski
would be interested in coming up for a weekend to work on the garden in
exchange for free room and possibly free meals. We will contact Randy to
see if he has any ideas on this.
Jill
closed the meeting with a prayer at 8:30 PM. Out next meeting will be
April 1.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
These minutes
have not been approved.
Trustees
Minutes
February 11, 2010
Present:
Dick Severance (Chair),
Bill Hamilton (Co-chair), Sindy Fillion, Allen Jones, Elinor Havness,
and Jill Gentilin
Opening:
Allen opened the meeting
with prayer.
Mic.
Mixer: The Mic. Mixer has been installed. This device will amplify all sounds
through the organ and improve our sound system.
Review
of 2010 Budget: We
reviewed projected figures for the 2010 budget. Depending on how money
is allocated we could fall short this year by $12,054 if all money was
expended as budgeted. This
short fall does not include any capital spending projects. Last year we
were helped by an anonymous donor but we don’t know if those donations
will continue. Our Building Fund is down to $20,961. Our Reserve Fund is
$67,110 and the 1790 Mission Fund has $18,917.
Stair
Chair: Bill is getting bids for a stair chair. He also wants to look into the
cost of a small elevator instead of the stair chair. This might make
more sense as a person could get to the Activity Center in their own
wheelchair as opposed to transferring to the stair chair and then having
a wheel chair carried down stairs.
Chair:
Dick said he no longer
wanted to be chair of the Trustees. We reluctantly accepted his
resignation. Jill moved to elect Alan as chair and this was passed
unanimously.
Miscellaneous:
There was a short discussion about the fact that we have had no
weddings in the church for two years. We wondered if the economy had
affected this.
We talked about
our responsibility to raise money. Jill offered to look into selling
commemorative plates during the Dover Bicentennial celebrations. Elinor
said she would investigate doing another Mystery Dinner Theatre. This
would be done in the church to increase the revenue.
Sindy offered to
bring her Nintendo Wii system to be used by a youth group. We voted to
spend up to $200 for a locking cabinet to store this.
Richard would
like to get the congregation discussing program ideas to bring different
populations into the church and increase our outreach.
The
meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM with a prayer by Sindy.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
These minutes
have not been approved.
CHURCH
COUNCIL MINUTES
February 17, 2919
Present:
Louise Severance (LKG),
Laurel Cashman (Treas.), Leni Brown (Deacon), Allen Jones (Trustee),
Chuck Gentilin (Mod.), Richard Severance (Trustee), Brenda Adcock
(Interim Minister) and Jill Gentilin (Clerk).
Opening:
Louise Severance opened
the meeting with a prayer at 5 PM. The minutes were read and approved
without change.
Treasurer:
Laurel reported that she has received deposits for two more ski groups
in March. The quarterly insurance has been paid. Our expenses were
somewhat higher because the TV which had been budgeted for December was
not paid for until January. She had about $7000 in the checking account.
Deacons:
Leni said they had
welcomed the two new Deacons to their meeting: Jeremy Schrauf and Andy
McLean. The wedding policy
has been added to the updated website for our church. They are going to
purchase an all season flag to be hung outside the church when it is
open for services. A Lenten Discussion Series on Spirituality will be
held on Wednesday nights at 5PM starting on February 24. This will be
concluded with a Tenebrae Service
at 7PM on April 1. They want to invite the Newfane and Dummerston
churches here to discuss the things they have done to encourage
attendance.
LKG:
There was no meeting this
month. Louise has been in touch with the people who schedule the Welcome
Center and we should know the date they will offer us soon. Mindy and
Andy Childs will be doing the Memorial Day sale.
Trustees:
We welcomed Allan as the new chair of the Trustees. He said the
Trustees were focusing on fund raising ideas. They are concerned about
the diminishing plate and envelope collections. Richard has accepted the
position of Assistant Treasurer and will oversee the investment of
funds. He is hoping Nelson will help with this when Richard is absent in the summer.
Bill Hamilton is investigating the cost of the stair chair and
the possibility of an elevator in the south corner of the sanctuary. The
elevator will take up less room than a stair chair but may be too
expensive.
Pastor:
Brenda is planning a
dedication service in March for church officers. She requested that we
sign a new contract with her that included a severance package. This was
taken under advisement.
Miscellaneous:
The minutes from
the Annual Meeting were handed to everyone at the meeting.
Outreach:
Richard would like to oversee an effort to bring the congregation
together to discuss outreach. Both reaching out to the community and
welcoming people into the church would be part of these discussions. He
will solicit ideas and then get people to work on the best ideas. It is
important for this to be a congregational effort and not just individual
efforts. This is important for the survivability of the church. We all
supported this effort.
The meeting was
closed at 6:30 PM with a prayer by Chuck.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
These minutes
have not been approved.
LKG
Minutes
January 5, 2010
Present:
Louise Severance (Vice
Chair), Jill Gentilin (Secretary), and Elinor Havness (Treasurer)
Opening:
Jill opened the meeting
with a prayer. We did a check in. Louise read from “I Love the
Hills”. Elinor reported that we have $2271.6 in the treasury. In
addition to the contributions approved at the Christmas Party we gave
Anna Cashman $100 toward her trip to China.
Bell
Choir: When Laurie Newton thanked the Townsend Church for lending the bells
to us for the children to use, Jill said it made her think that we
should support the Bell Choir in some way. She talked to Laurie who said
she would think about what they may need. Louise also thought we ought
to send Easter lilies to the church as a thank you.
Thank
you: We have received thank you notes from everyone except Rescue.
Mission
Work: We tossed around ideas about how to advertise the mission work done in
the church. We thought it might be nice to have a worship service where
each person got up and described the different missions the congregation
was involved in. We might do this on a Sunday when the minister was one
vacation. Louise also wished that we could have pictures of the progress
the Habitat for Humanity made on the next house and post them around the
basement.
May
Sale: Louise
will get in touch with Mindy to see if she still wants to do the May
Sale. If she doesn’t we might hold a flea market instead and rent
tables to craft persons. Elinor’s daughter in law is very much
involved in craft shows and could help us organize this. We would sell
baked goods, maybe some odd items such as excess Christmas decorations
and soup.
Elinor
closed the meeting with prayer.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
Deacons’
Notes
January 6, 2010
Present:
Harriette Hamilton (Vice Chair), Brenda Adcock (Interim Minister), Mikie
Schwarz, Louise Severance, and Jill Gentilin
Assignments:
January 10
Harriette
January 31 Louise
January 17 Leni
February 7 Harriette
January 24 Mikie
February 14 Louise
Flyer:
Jill asked for dates for
the Lenten Season so she could put a calendar in the Flyers and put them
out in the Inns again.
Bell
Choir: We would like to support the Bell Choir in someway. The children have
to supply their own music. This might also be a good use for the money
in the Change Box. The
Townsend Church loans us the bells. The LKG is willing to contribute
some money and the Deacons could use some of their unused music budget.
Jill will e-mail Laurie Newton to see what she would like us to do.
Louise suggested that we sent the Townsend Church an Easter lily with a
thank-you note.
Wedding:
We have a request for a
wedding on Oct. 10. Brenda will get in touch with the people and
coordinate the arrangements.
Nominations:
Jill has recruited Andy McLean and Jeremy Schrauf for the Deacons.
Leni and Mikie have agreed to stay on for another year. Jill will be
moving to the Trustees to facilitate the writing of minutes.
Banner:
Brenda brought in some
suggestions for a banner for the season of Pentecost. We chose one. She
also made up stars with one word ideas about what our church means to
us. We will put them up around the walls.
Louise
asked Jill to bring the idea of a new ladder to the Trustees.
The
meeting was opened and closed in prayer by Brenda.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
CHURCH
COUNCIL MINUTES
December 16, 2009
Present:
Rev. Brenda Adcock,
(Interim Pastor) Louise Severance (LKG), Richard Severance (Chair
Trustee), Chuck Gentilin (Mod.), Bill Hamilton (Co-chair Trustee),
Harriette Hamilton (Deacon), Nell Domina, and Jill Gentilin (Clerk)
Opening:
The meeting was called to
order at 10 AM. Harriette led us in prayer. The minutes were approved
without correction
Treasurer:
Laurel reported by e-mail. We have $5733 in the checking account and
$9342. These figures may be misleading since some of the money is slated
to pay the organist, utilities, and remaining balance on the bathroom.
Significant is the fact that we have paid out $12394 and collected
$6,283 in December. Part of the payout was the second of three
installments on the bathroom.
Deacons:
Jill reported that we have
purchased a Praise Banner for the church. The Deacons have discussed
ways to bring more people into the church. Some ideas were to have guest
speakers and encourage the young mothers that have been attending to
come up with some ideas about ways they might use the church to meet
together.
LKG:
Louise reported that the
Christmas Party was a great success. The LKG cut back on their
charitable donations from $75 to $50 because we are behind $300 in fund
raising and we want to be sure that we can meet our obligations to the
church each year. We will be meeting in January to look at this.
Trustees: Dick
handed out a Fund Raising Committee Report. There are 9 projects under
consideration for the upcoming year including: replace sign in front of
church, generator, painting the steeple, the exterior of the church,
some interior painting, handicapped chair,
Excavate/backfill
north side of the church, and furnish the activity center. The total
cost is $65631. They hope to raise money by soliciting businesses,
grants, and contacting the town to see if they would share the cost of
the generator so that we could become an emergency shelter. The Trustees
will be contacting the Red Cross to see if they could supply staffing,
blankets, etc for this purpose. The Church Council gave approval to
meeting with the town.
Pastor’s
Report: Brenda is in flux
about her living arrangements and she will let us know when she has more
definite information on this.
The Wilmington
Church has asked that we have our combined service on January 17, the
date of the Annual Meeting and that the time of the service be change to
10 AM. We agreed to do this.
The Christmas
Eve offering will be used to help our own expenses.
Nominating
Committee: Jill reported
that she is waiting for the persons that she has contacted to get back
to her.
Miscellaneous:
After worship on Jan 17, 2010 the Annual Meeting will be held followed
by a pot luck luncheon. LKG will provide the ham.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
LKG
Christmas Party 2009
Present:
Louise (Vice Pres.),
Elinor (Treas.), Jill (Sec.), Cookie, Nell, Joan, Sindy, Julia, Lisa,
Marge, Anna, Laurel, Harriette, Kathy, Brenda, Mikie, Chris, Jill
Treasurer
Report: Elinor reported
that we have $2781.6 in the checking account. This is $300 less than
last year. We decided to give $50 to: The Assoc. for the Blind, Families
First, Brattleboro Aids Project, Upper Valley Hostel, Brattleboro
Hospice, The Women’s Crises Center, Deacons’ Discretionary Fund, DVR, and
the Dover Elementary School. Since the wreaths were purchased from
Habitat for Humanity we decided not to give them another donation.
Brenda said that Mary Jane had covered all of the families. Jill said
she knew of a family where the father and mother had both been laid off
from 7-11 in Brattleboro and they could use a Shows’ gift certificate.
We voted to give them one.
Everyone
had a wonderful time.
Jill
Gentilin
Deacons’
Notes December 2, 2009
Present:
Leni Brown (Chair), Rev.
Brenda Adcock (Interim Minister), Louise Severance, Harriette Hamilton,
and Jill Gentilin
Assignments;
Dec 13 Harriette
Jan 3 Louise
Dec 20 Jill
Jan 10 Harriette
Dec 27 Louise
Annual
Meeting: The Annual Meeting will be held on Jan 17. It will be pot luck with
the LKG providing a ham. The Pre-annual meeting will be Jan 10 to
discuss the budget. The Deacons will ask the Moderator to put Missions
on as an agenda item.
Christmas
Party: This will be held
on December 8 at Louise Severance’s home. Brenda will contact Mary
Jane for a Christmas family.
Christmas
Eve: There should be sufficient officers to manage the Christmas Eve
service. Persons serving as ushers should know where the fire
extinguishers are and what we have for emergency lighting. Candles will
be given to people over the age of 10. Brenda will light a candle from
the Christ Candle and then light a candle for each of two ushers who
will then light the first candle in each pew.
Christmas
Offering: Marcia has asked
that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Veterans of the Cross.
They had helped Marcia with Jack’s medication. We will make that
announcement at the beginning of the service on Sunday.
Organist:
We decided to give Alan a $50 gifts for playing the organ.
Respectfully
noted
Jill
Gentilin
CHURCH
COUNCIL MINUTES November 18, 2009
Present:
Rev. Brenda Adcock,
(Interim Pastor) Louise Severance (LKG), Richard Severance (Chair
Trustee) Laurel Cashman (Treas.), Chuck Gentilin (Mod.), Bill Hamilton
(Co-chairTrustee), Leni Brown (Chair Deacon), Harriette Hamilton
(Deacon), and Jill Gentilin (Clerk)
Opening:
The meeting was called to
order at 5 PM. Brenda led us in prayer. The minutes were approved
without correction
Treasurer:
One more ski group has sent in a deposit. The Trustees are working on
the budgets. Laurel also
reported from the Search Committee. One candidate pulled out. A member
from the Wilmington Church has been ill and one member from our church
is away. The next meeting will probably be in December.
LKG:
Louise reported that the
LKG has $300 less in their treasury than last year. That may make a
difference in the amount that we will be able to give to local
charities. These decisions will either be made at the Christmas party or
in the January meeting. The Christmas party will be held at Louise’s
house at 6 PM on December 8th at 6 PM. The Christmas wreaths
will be purchased from Habitat for Humanity. Charlotte and Nelson will
buy three for the outside of the church and Elinor will buy three for
the inside of the church.
Deacons:
At
Brenda’s suggestion we started a “Change Jar” to collect spare
change from the congregation. We will be looking for suggestions as to
how to use this money. We
will have an Advent Wreath and Advent Candles. The candles will be lit
by members of the congregation along with the children. The tree will be
decorated on Dec 13.
We reviewed the
membership list.
We will be using
non-leavened crackers for communion. These are probably closer to the
bread that Jesus used in the Last Supper.
We will be
purchasing a Praise Banner for the Advent Season.
Trustees:
The Trustees will be meeting to do the 2010 budget. Dick was concerned
that we may be looking at a shortfall between operating expenses and
expected plate and envelope collection.
The congregation will be asked to make some decisions about how
much money to reserve for a “rainy day” fund.
Pastor:
Brenda will be working
with the children to include them in parts of the service.
The children’s Christmas Pageant will be held on Dec. 20 (This
date may have been reported in error in the Deacons’ Notes). She
has moved into an apartment at 13 Beaver Street for the winter.
Miscellaneous:
The officers available for the Christmas Even service are Harriette
and Bill Hamilton, Louise
and Dick Severance, and Sindy Fillion. The Trustees will make sure we
have flashlights available in case of electrical failure.
Annual
Meeting: The Annual Meeting will be held on January 17. Harriette
will contact the Wilmington
church to see if they can
have someone else preach so that Brenda can be here after the
service. The LKG will provide a ham and we will have a pot luck
luncheon.
The
meeting was closed in prayer by Harriette.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill
Gentilin
Deacons’
Notes November 4, 2009
Present:
Leni Brown (Chair), Rev.
Brenda Adcock (Interim Pastor), Louise Severance, and Jill Gentilin
Opening:
Brenda opened the meeting
with prayer.
11/8
Leni 11/15
Harriette
11/22 Louise
11/29 Leni
Dec 6 Jill
(doing Communion)
Advent:
Brenda suggested we have a
Change Jar in which the
congregation would put their change on Sunday. The monies collected
would be used for local outreach/mission.
Suggestions of
possible use: scholarship to the UCC children’s camp, Dover
School/student, ask the congregation for suggestions.
We will
have the Advent Wreath. Brenda will chose people to do the reading and
lighting. If possible children will be asked to help with the service.
The tree will be decorated on the 13th of Dec.
Brenda
suggested that a “Tell Me Why?” question be part of the service.
This could be used to educate the congregation on why certain parts of
the worship are done. One example is the singing of the Doxology.
Brenda
will talk to Sindy about doing the Christmas pageant. A date of Dec 12
seemed most logical.
We
reviewed the membership list.
Worship;
Brenda discussed different
ways of incorporating children into the service as most of them are
getting older and are now able to do this.
Communion:
We talked about the near disaster this Sunday when there was a
miscommunication about who was to bring the bread so we substituted
crackers. We liked the idea of using non-leavened crackers instead of
bread. We will buy and use Matzos which are probably the form of bread
that Jesus used when he instituted the first Communion.
Paul:
Louise asked if we might
think about doing the Paul study that was cancelled. No decision was
made.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
CHURCH COUNCIL MINUTES October 21, 2009
Present:
Rev. Brenda Adcock
(Interim Minister), Charlotte Bond (LKG), Richard Severance (Trustee),
Louise Severance (Deacon), Chuck Gentilin (Mod.), and Jill Gentilin
(Clerk).
Opening:
Brenda opened the meeting
with a prayer at 10 AM. The minutes were read and approved
Treasurer’s
Report: We have
received $40 K in the plate and envelope collection this year. We
budgeted $55K for the entire year and have only 21/2 months left.
We’ve received deposits for four groups who wish to use the Activity
Center. This leaves us short in this line item $300.
Potentially there may be other groups who will reserve before the
end of the year.
The Trustees
have spent 60% of their budget but this does not include the bathroom.
The line items
for the Pastor and Deacons are under budgeted projections.
Budgets for 2010
are due by the next Council Meeting. The Search Committee which does not
have a budget is anticipating some expenses for travel if a prospective
minister is interviewed.
Deacons’
Report:
No report.
LKG:
The
LKG made $700 at the Apple Pie Sale on Columbus Day Weekend.
Trustees’
Report:
There was a
discussion of emergency lighting i.e. flashlights etc. for the Christmas
Eve service. Last year the weather was bad and the lights dimmed several
times. We should also be sure that church officers that are present know
the location and how to use the fire extinguishers.
Dick requested
$2000 for additional furnishing for the Activity Center. The Council
decided to postpone that request until after the Congregational meeting
to see how this fits in with our purpose/mission. This meeting is set
for Nov 1 after service. There will be a work period from 10:15-11:45,
followed by a brown bag lunch 11:45-12:30 PM with discussion on
Maintenance/Mission Church. Dessert and coffee will be provided.
Nominating
Committee:
We are waiting
for Jeremy to draw up the lists of open positions for 2010. We will also
ask the congregation to suspend the by-laws on the term limits of
officers who are willing to stay on another year.
Shower/Bathroom:
The contracts are signed
and work is slated to begin.
Fraud
Seminar:
Louise asked that we co-sponsor, with the Dover Free Library, the lecture being given by Jeremy
Schrauf. We agreed to do
this.
Round-Up
Program:
Laurel made a
motion to participate in this program offered by GMP. We will round up
the amount of this bill to the next dollar and this money will go to
help people who cannot afford electricity. The motion passed unanimously
We adjourned
with a prayer at 11:20 AM
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
These minutes
have not been approved
DEACON’S NOTES October 15, 2009
Present: Leni Brown (Chair), Rev.
Brenda Adcock (Interim Minister), Harriette Hamilton, Mikie Schwarz,
Louise Severance, and Jill Gentilin
Brenda
opened the meeting with prayer.
Assignments:
Oct. 18
Harriette
Nov
8 Leni
Oct 25 Jill
Nov 15 Harriette
Nov. 1 Louise
(with other Deacons doing communion)
Harriette
will be away from Nov. 4-11. Jill will be away Nov. 19-23. Leni will be
away the month of December.
Jill
inquired about finding an organist and hoped to start advertising. Leni
will talk with Alan Dann first to see if he will commit to playing at
our church before looking for anyone else. The Deacons’ agreed to use
part of their music budget to pay Brenda $50 extra on the Sundays when
she acts as Minister of Music and as Pastor.
There will
be several church officers away for Christmas. Harriette, Mikie, and
Louise will be here. We will also ask Jeremy, Sindy and Bill to see if
they can help with Christmas Eve service.
Brenda
gave us an insert that will be in the bulletin that will outline the
discussion on being a “Maintenance or Missionary Church.” Jill also
wanted to include a handout about the missions we currently give to and
ask the congregation to study it. It is important to know whether we all
support these five extra offerings. There was some discussion about the
amount of time we could devote to this. Jill said she would limit any
discussion and tell people that we could make some decisions on this in
the January meeting.
We had
some discussion of the future of the church. All of us are concerned
about how much longer we will have a church with the aging population.
We floated some ideas of how the church could be used by the community
for guest speakers. We hoped that might be a way to get the community
more involved with the church.
We
adjourned with prayer at 8:30 PM
Respectfully
submitted
Jill
Gentilin
Interim
Notes:
The
calling of a Pastor,,, What is it, really?
First,
I’ve often referred to the calling of a Pastor as being like marrying
someone you’ve gone out with once.
It’s true… on both sides! Think about it.
You read a person’s Profile.
You have a couple of conversations with them.
They come and talk to you for about twenty minutes (the sermon).
You get to ask a few more questions.
You decide to marry them and they accept.
It’s a little like “speed-dating” church-style :-).
So,
why does this work? You’d never really marry someone under those
circumstances. It works
because of one thing, the presence of the Spirit of God… on both
sides!
When
a church “calls” a Pastor, they do just that.
We use the phrase, to “call a Pastor” because it carries with
it the biblical understanding that this is the person you believe God
has sent to you, to lead you. You
are not hiring an employee; you’re calling a Pastor.
Even though you pay this person a salary, this person is not your
employee. This biblical
perspective must be present or the relationship will never work.
This person is, literally, called by God to come and lead you.
You are the “flock” to which God has assigned this person to
be Shepherd. That’s a big
deal! That’s serious stuff! In this life, the calling of a Pastor to
lead you is about as serious as it gets.
Another
thing to be aware of when you call a Pastor is that the Pastor is leader
of ALL aspects of the congregation’s life.
There is no such thing as just being the leader of the
“spiritual part” of the church.
ALL aspects of church life are under the Spiritual realm, and
therefore, under the leadership of the Pastor.
Whether you are raising money for a new roof, or talking about
the worship service, it’s all Spiritual.
If you’re having a car wash to raise money for the youth,
it’s part of the mission of the church.
It’s Spiritual. If
you’re having a spaghetti supper to raise money for the siding on the
building, it’s part of the mission of the church.
It’s Spiritual. Nothing
in church life is outside the realm of the Spiritual.
Therefore, nothing is outside the leadership of the Pastor.
Calling
a Pastor. It’s serious
stuff! But when the Spirit of God is leading the way and you are
following…. it works!
Peace,
Brenda
Interim
Minister
CHURCH
COUNCIL MINUTES September 16, 2009
Present:
Rev. Brenda Adcock (Interim
Minister), Charlotte Bond (LKG), Bill Hamilton (Trustee), Chuck Gentilin
(Mod.), and Jill Gentilin (Clerk).
Opening:
Jill opened the meeting with a
prayer at 5 PM. The minutes were read and approved with one correction.
The amount of the bid quote was over by $1700 not $2500.
Treasurer’s Report: August was a better month for plate and envelope collection. Everyone needs to
start working on their budgets
Search Committee: We met yesterday morning and eliminated another one of the candidates. We
currently are going thru 4 profiles
and are at various stages with those.
Bill expressed the hope that the Search Committee would not feel pressured but take their time.
Deacons’ Report: Jill reported that the Deacons were planning to do a little skit to advertise the
stamp ministry next Sunday.
They had sent out
several “Thinking of You” cards to members who were ill or had not
been to worship for a while.
Jill had received a
quote of $90.00 to print the church pamphlet. We will get them printed
and make calendars of upcoming events in the church to place inside
them.
The series on Paul
called “The Eclipsing Empire” will start Oct 16 at 6PM. Soup will be
provided.
LKG
Report: Charlotte said they
had a very successful day at the Welcome Center and earned $1300. The
Apple Pie Sale is scheduled for Oct. 10.
Trustees’
Report: Bill said that the
contract to build a bath/shower room downstairs had been approved and
was waiting for the signature of the Moderator. Chuck said he wanted to
tighten up the contract with Jeff Filion before signing it and turning
over the down payment.
Bill also reported
that the van had been turned over to Randy shortly before his father
died. Randy now plans to sell the van and donate the proceeds to the
church.
Pastor’s
Report: Brenda’s plan for
housing during the winter has not worked out and she is currently
looking for a place. If she goes with her former landlord she will have
to sign a 5month contract which means she will be available to be
Interim Minister through the first part of next year.
Congregational
Meeting: Jill said it was time
to plan another Blue Jean Sunday/Congregational Meeting. We had planned
at the last meeting to examine the church’s purpose. The date was set
for Oct 11. Bill will talk to the Trustees about planning for projects
for this meeting.
We adjourned at 5:30
PM with a prayer from Brenda.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin,
Secretary
*Trustees have
requested a change in the date for the Congregational Meeting so it is
not yet set.
LKG
MINUTES August 4, 2009
Present:
Charlotte Bond, (Pres.),
Jill Gentilin, (Secretary), Leni Brown, and Sandy Barber
Opening:
Charlotte opened with a
reading from “Summer’s Umbrella”. We did a check in with each
other. Elinor had reported to Charlotte that we have $1835 in the
treasury. We have given the church a $1000 payment on our $2000 pledge.
Welcome
Center: Charlotte reviewed the things we need to do to host the Welcome Center
on September 4. It is important that people who baked items label them
for common allergenic ingredients such as peanuts,
peanut oil, wheat, or soy. Brenda will be asked to put this request in
the Sunday bulletin. We will make lemonade and have water. Charlotte
will get apples, lunch meat, cheese for sandwiches, bread etc. Duttons’
or Blue Mountain will be contacted for apples. Shaws’, Price Chopper,
Grafton Cheese, Green Mountain Coffee and Hannafords’ have been
contacted for donations. We will try and get Tony from Tony’s Pizza to
make muffins again. People are requested to sign up for shifts to staff the
center. Charlotte and Jill will be there most of the day.
The congregation
is urged to
Bake,
bake, bake this month.
October
Pie Sale: This will be
held on October 10. We will bake pies at the church on the 7th
and 8th. Pie dough makers (bring your ingredients for pie
dough with you) and people who like to peel apples are urgently needed.
We will supply the ingredients to flavor the pies.
Other:
A request was received
recruiting “Spiritual Grandmothers”. Information on this will be
posted in the Narthex. Sally Mundell would like us to organize a trip to
Kurn Hattin. We will try to remember to contact Mt. Snow Country Club
next year for our Annual Luncheon.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
Deacons’
Notes August 5, 2009
Present:
Leni Brown (Chairman),
Rev. Brenda Adcock (Interim Minister), Jill Gentilin, Harriette Hamilton
and Nelson Bond
Sundays
Aug 9
Leni
Aug 30 Mikie or Harriette
Aug 16 Harriette
or Mikie Sept
6 Harriette
Aug
23 Jill
Stamp
Ministry: Brenda opened the meeting with a prayer. Nelson brought details of a
stamp ministry. This ministry helps to provide Christian Education
materials for Latin American Children. The congregation collects the
stamps and brings them to church following the guidelines. The Deacons
will sort the stamps and give them to Nelson who will take care of
getting the stamps to the appropriate agency. They are then sold to
dealers and the money is spent on the Christian Education materials. The
Deacons were enthusiastic about supporting this.
Bible
Education: We will start
an education series starting in September. The first
is a CD called “Calling Jesus Lord in the 21st
Century” on September 13 at 6PM. This will be followed by
“Fundamentals in a Time of Change and Conflict” on September 20. We
will provide soup and coffee or tea. Bring a sandwich.
Then on October
we will start a six week series on Paul.
The Wilmington
Church will be invited to join us.
Worship
Music: Allen Dan has been asked to play the organ at as many Sundays as he
is able. We will use CDs for other worship services. Hopefully the
congregation will bear with us as we learn to do this and/or are able to
obtain the services of a more permanent organist. We will advertise
through the UCC web site.
Cards:
We want to be more
consistent about sending out “Thinking of You” cards to members who
are sick or absent from service for a period of time. We plan to be more
intentional about this.
Respectfully
written
Jill Gentilin
CHURCH
COUNCIL MINUTES July 16, 2009
Present:
Rev. Brenda Adcock, (Interim
Pastor) Charlotte Bond (LKG), Laurel Cashman (Treas.), Chuck Gentilin
(Mod.), Bill Hamilton (Trustee), and Jill Gentilin (Clerk)
Opening:
The meeting was called
to order at 5 PM. Brenda led us in prayer. The minutes were approved
without correction. It was noted
that we received a certificate of thanks from the Heifer Foundation due
to the work that Kenny Cashman had done in raising $324.
Treasurer’s
Report: We have sent $250/mo
to OCWM, $50/mo to the Food Pantry and $171 in other mission monies. We
continue to be behind plate and envelope collections at about the same
rate as the previous year. We raised $500 less than expected on the
renting of the Activity Center. One group more would change that. We are
trending in the positive by $540 in heat.
Deacon’s
Report: Jill said that the
proposal to use $500 of unspent Deacon’s monies toward the purchase of
a TV with the congregation raising the rest of the money has not gone
anywhere. We have stopped
advertising in the Deerfield Valley News. Randy is going to be taking
pictures of the congregation to post in the Narthex over the next
several Sundays.
LKG:
The annual birthday luncheon
was great. Ten people were able to come, more had planned to be there
but doctor and other appointments kept them from attending. We will meet
in August to finalize plans for our day at the Welcome Center on I-91
the Friday before Labor Day. We need everyone to bake, bake, bake.
Trustees’
Report: Bill referred to the
minutes from the Trustees that had been e-mailed. The Van will be sold
back to the MOOver. The bids for the bathroom are not ready yet.
Pastor’s
Report: Brenda thought it
would be a good idea to have a brunch where we could update our Mission
Statement. One way would be to collect single words from the
congregation that expressed a positive aspect of the church and then put
these words together to form the statement. We would do this before the
next Congregational Meeting which is to be focused on mission. Brenda
says she will stay until we find a new minister.
Search
Committee: It was reported
that several ministers have expressed interest and Pam Lucas would help
the committee go over any resumes that were sent.
Other:
Chuck forgot to order the
mixer for the organ but would do so ASAP. He will also replace the
outside floodlight.
Everyone
expressed gratitude to Brenda for her generous offer to stay.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill
Gentilin
LKG Minutes June
9, 2009
Present:
Charlotte Bond (Pres.), Elinor Havness (Treasurer), Jill Gentilin
(Sec.) Mikie Schwarz, and Joan Judd
Opening:
Charlotte opened the meeting with a reading from “A Beacon of
Love.” We did a check in with each other. The minutes were read and
approved with one correction. The location of the Welcome Center is
Guilford, not Dummerston. Elinor reported that we have $2835 in the
treasury. Part of our yearly donation to the church is due and Elinor
suggested that we give $1000 at this time and another $1000 in the fall
because our biggest money maker is no longer the Memorial Day Sale. We
agreed with this plan. She told us we had made $919 at that sale.
Prayer
Shawl: Elinor suggested the idea of making prayer shawls to give out
as gifts. She has received information from her sister about making
these to be given as an outreach effort and/or appreciation gift. We
agreed this would be a good idea. Jill said she had heard about the
Prayer Shawls and thought she could find a pattern on Google. We thought
it would be nice to have several different patterns.
Welcome
Center: We have the Friday before Labor Day this year to staff the
Welcome Center on I-91 in Guilford. Elinor suggested we hand out a
brochure about the church. Laurel Cashman is interested in working on
this. We have one that was given to the inns before Advent. Charlotte
will ask Brenda to print one out and give it to Laurel as a start.
July
Birthday Lunch: We decided to do this again at Haystack. On Tuesday,
July 14.
Out next meeting will be on the first Tuesday in
August at 7PM.
Respectfully submitted
Jill Gentilin
These minutes have not been approved.
CHURCH COUNCIL MINUTES June
17, 2009
Present:
Rev. Brenda Adcock, (Interim Pastor) Charlotte Bond (LKG), Laurel
Cashman (Treas.), Chuck Gentilin (Mod.), Kenny Cashman and Jill Gentilin
(Clerk).
Opening:
Brenda opened the meeting with a prayer at 5:05 PM. The minutes of
the May 6 Special Meeting and the May 17 Spring Congregational Meeting
were approved with out change.
Treasurer’s
Report: Laurel reported that we are somewhat behind in plate and
envelope collections. If we continue at this rate we may be behind $5000
to $6000 by the end of the budget year. The LKG has given half of their
$2000 annual contribution.
Deacon’s
Report: Jill reported in Leni’s absence. The Deacons’ will
discontinue advertising in the Deerfield Valley News after July 4th
weekend. The ads do not seem to have produced the desired results and
they are over budget.
We discussed a possible grant from the
Compassionate Outreach line of our budget to help pay for the TV for the
Activity Room. This would only be done if someone organized an activity
that would match the grant. This would show willingness to work for this
and cut down on costs if the Council approved the cost of the TV. Since
it would probably cost more than $500 which is the amount the Trustees
can spend without Council approval. There was some discussion of size
and whether or not this should be on a stand or wall mounted TV. Since
the no representative from the Trustees no decision was reached.
We will be collecting the Church World Service
Offering this Sunday and next.
A policy to pay the organist his/her usual fee has
been written to approve paying the organist for any Sunday in which the
church is closed for weather or for a combined service. No sick or
vacation pay would be approved.
We plan with Brenda’s help to retake and post
member pictures on bulletin board in the Narthex.
LKG: Charlotte
said the Birthday Luncheon will be held July 14. She will be talking
with Haystack to get a price that includes soft drinks, tax, and
gratuity. Elinor is working on a Prayer Shaw. Jill has a pattern if
anyone else would like to make one.
We will be hosting the Welcome Center on 1-91 the
Friday before Labor Day.
Trustees’
Report: No Trustee present.
Pastor:
Brenda gave us an update on the Trustees Meeting. They are hoping
the van will be sold for $1000. They are looking for three bids for the
bathroom.
Brenda will be on vacation from June 22 through
July 6. Jeremy will be
doing the sermon and Wilmington will come to Dover for worship.
Organ
Update: Chuck got approval to spend $350 on an Eight Channel Mixer
for the organ to improve the acoustics.
Search
Committee: Wilmington has completed their church profile and this
has been mailed to Pam Lucas. The combined Search Committees plan to
meet with her in July.
Other:
Laurel has made up church address labels to be placed inside the
Upper Room Booklets. She is
also working on idea for Business Cards and/or postcards that can be
used to advertise the church.
A change to reflect Brenda’s current housing
arrangements will be made. She is no longer paying rent as she is
staying at the Severance’s house for the summer. Her housing allowance
will be reduced to $400 and the remainder of the budgeted housing
allowance will be posted to salary.
The meeting closed at 5:50 PM with a prayer
given by Jill.
Respectfully submitted
Jill Gentilin, Secretary
DEACONS’
NOTES June 3, 2009
Present:
Leni Brown (Chair), Rev.
Brenda Adcock, (Interim Pastor), Jill Gentilin, Harriette Hamilton
Assignments:
June 7 Leni
June 21 Jill
June 14 Harriette/Mikie
June 28 Harriette/Mikie
July 5 Jill
Budget:
Leni received information
that the Deacons have spent more money on advertising than budgeted. We
discussed the coverage given to the church sale by the Deerfield Valley
News and the money we have spent on advertising. The news article on the
sale was small and almost impossible to find. We have not had much of a
visible return on the advertising. We decided to discontinue it after
the July 4th weekend.
Compassionate
Outreach: We have not used
any money on this line item. It was proposed that we offer $500 to the
church and ask for matching monies that could be contributed by the
congregation to purchase a large screen TV. We could then have community
activities such as a movie night and invite outsiders to the church as a
form of outreach. If the young people were interested one activity to
earn money might be a spaghetti supper. We will take this idea to Church
Council.
Church
World Service Offering: We
did not receive the usual information packet. A request will be mailed
for this.
Search
Committee: We are not sure
how far along the church is with this process.
We will ask for an update.
Organist
Policy: There was the
discussion of the need to develop a policy on paying the organist when
worship service is cancelled for weather or combined service. Jill will
draw up a draft and take it to Church Council.
Member
Pictures: We plan to put
member’s pictures from our church book with names on the bulletin
board in the Narthex to help visitors to be able to match faces and
names.
Map:
We are still working on a
map with the location of our congregations’ homes to help a new pastor
become familiar with the community.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin.
West Dover Congregational
Church Spring 2009 Meeting May 17, 2009
Present:
Chuck and Jill Gentilin,
John and Marge Thurber, Randy Johnson, Leni Brown, Eddie and Sandy
Barber, Charlotte Bond, Laurel Cashman, Cookie Carruthers, Nell Domina,
Lisa Croce, Merrill and Sally Mundell, Alan Jones, Frank Smith, Elinor
Havness, Louise and Dick Severance, Herb Childs, Jeremy Schrauf, Sindy
Hassig Fillion, Rev. Brenda Adcock, (Interim Pastor), Kenny and Anna
Cashman, Joan Judd, and Julia Fillion
Opening:
Chuck Gentilin called the
meeting to order and a quorum was established. Brenda gave the opening
prayer.
Bathroom/Shower:
The first item on the
agenda was the bathroom/shower. Sindy read a letter from Randy
Schoonmaker asking the church to approve the bathroom/ shower. This
would enable him to present a new marketing plan and raise the rate
charged. Sindy also showed the group a drawing of the proposed facility
along with an estimated cost of $10,000-$15,000. The bathroom would have
a handicapped accessible shower, two sinks, and one toilet. It would
make the activity center more useful for people who had a hard time
climbing the chairs to get to the other bathrooms and might make
possible the use of the church as an emergency shelter. Charlotte moved
that we approve funding the bathroom/shower as generally described with
costs not to exceed $15,000. The discussion brought up these concerns:
There is a need to put the plumbing above the concrete floor to avoid
any water problem under the church. Herb said he and Randy were working
on a grant with the town office to explore geo/thermal heat and using
the church as an auxiliary emergency shelter. Questions were asked about
the permitting process, installing an adequate hot water tank, costs for
heating and cleaning, possible increased charges for sewage allowance,
mold from dampness, spending down the endowment funds too quickly
without any money being raised to replenish them, size and number of
showers needed, and what effect a lack of snow would have on the ski
industry in the area. Each question was discussed and some were
answered. There would be adequate venting, we had preliminary cost for
hot water tank, Allen said it would cost about $15 on weekends for
cleaning, and the number of showers was limited to ensure that they were
handicapped accessible. Some questions such as the permitting process
and sewage allowance still need to be explored. Marge asked if we had
the bigger picture and if doing this supported the church’s mission
and if we understood exactly what our mission was. Leni said
mission/outreach was very important and as chair of the deacons she
thought the church worked on this. Laurel said those who used the church
were Boy Scout troops from other churches and it was outreach to
encourage this kind of group. Leni called the question and the motion
was passed by a 13/9 paper ballot.
Garden:
Jill said she had no
motion to present on the garden but it is clear that it has suffered
from neglect and lack of interest in maintaining it. Herb said the
person employed by his company had been coming to do some work on the
garden and Herb would be willing to ask him to give us some preliminary
advice on what to do. Richard moved that a garden committee be
reconstituted to get the information and decide what to do with the
information. Jill said she that no one had expressed interest in being
on a garden committee. Only Lisa raised her hand when the group was
asked if there was anyone interested.
Several others said they would work on the garden if help was
needed but they did not want to commit to being on another committee.
Richard rescinded his motion but we accepted Herb’s generous offer to
get some professional advice on managing the garden.
Kudos were
given to the trustees, the people who came and worked and stayed for the
meeting, John and Chuck for getting the fan in the upstairs bathroom,
John and Richard for building shelves and Herb for his generous offer.
The
meeting was adjourned at 1:40 with a closing prayer offered by Brenda.
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
The
minutes have not been approved.
WEST DOVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH COUNCIL
MINUTES
Special Meeting to Set Agenda for Spring Congregational Meeting
May 6, 2009
Present:
Rev. Brenda Adcock,
(Interim Pastor) Louise Severance (LKG) Leni Brown (Deacon), Richard
Severance (Trustee), Chuck Gentilin (Mod.), and Jill Gentilin (Clerk).
Opening:
Brenda opened the meeting
with a prayer at 11:30 AM.
Spring
Meeting: We met to discuss the agenda for the Spring Congregational Meeting
on May 17. The subjects most often mentioned by the congregational were
the downstairs bathroom and mission/membership. We agreed that deciding
on whether or not to do the bathroom was the most pressing topic and it
would be first on the agenda.
The meeting will
be limited to one hour. If there is time left after the first topic Jill
will talk with the congregation about the garden and the commitment that
must be made to keep it in shape.
The discussion
on mission and membership will be tabled until the next Congregational
Meeting. It is important that we do this while Brenda is still with us
because of the understanding she has gained while working with our
church.
Andy has
been approached by someone about whether or not we would be willing to
share our sanctuary as a place where Jewish members of the community can
meet. The Council will ask Andy to get more information about exactly
what this request entails.
Brenda
closed the meeting with a prayer at 12:30 PM
Respectfully
submitted
Jill Gentilin
Home
Page
|