Church Council Meeting Minutes February 23, 2016

Walker UMC Council Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, 2/23/16, 7:45 PM

Present: Allyson Hayward, Jan Werness, Deb Ramage, Bonita Blumenhauer, Greg Garman, Walter Lockhart

  1. Minutes from the December 1, 2015 Council meeting were approved as written.
  1. Financial report:

We closed 2015 with an approximate $5000 deficit, after an anonymous $10,000 donation. We moved $5000.00 over from reserves to cover the deficit. We also paid our 2016 insurance premiums in December which is accounted for in the deficit. We didn’t pay any apportionments in 2015, but intend to pay them in 2016. We are paying them in monthly installments of $750. The 2016 budget has been done and Walter will email it in advance of Sunday’s Church conference.

  1. Committee reports:
  2. SPRC: Tabled (No committee member present)
  3. Trustees: Tabled (No committee member present)
  4. Fundraising:
  • The spring rummage sale is scheduled for 4/21-24 (Thurs-Sun.) Set-up begins on Sunday 4/17.
  • The next Silent Auction will be Saturday, May 14.
  1. Peace with Justice:
  2. $15 Now! We haven’t finished the endorsement. Kip Hedges is now in Walker’s Directory. Deb Ramage will email him to ask what would be helpful. Allyson agreed to contact Joe Hesla, who is actively involved, and ask him to craft an email to his contact with $15 Now! Discussing our interest in endorsing them and what that might look like. He and Deb should collaborate on this. The Council decided to take up a special offering for $15 Now! On 4/17.
  3. Black Lives Matter:

The conversation has started with last Sunday’s speaker, Michael McDowell. We need to be intentional about having more conversation about racial privilege and what endorsement of BLM means for our community. This is the beginning of looking at endorsement, even though some in our community think that we have already endorsed them (and other groups) because we offer our space if the group’s mission aligns with ours. We will take up a special offering later this spring for BLM.

  • Four other social justice groups currently use our space free of charge.
  1. Celebration: Tabled
  2. Kitchen Cabinet: To clarify here are the groups responsible for the Tuesday meals:

1st: David West

2nd: Walter (actively seeking another group – hopefully from the Powderhorn Neighborhood)

3rd: Kitchen Cabinet

4th: Wesley Foundation

5th: Walter

  1. Walter’s report: The last joint SPRC meeting (Walker/Simpson) conducted Walter’s review. The Sunday AM schedule is working better than anticipated. Simpson is looking at the strong possibility of a new shelter and worship space on the current church property. General Conference is May 10-20 in Portland. Many progressive Methodists have grave concerns about the direction that the church has been heading. Annual Conference is in June, the first week in June is for Clergy. The rest happens later in the month.
  1. Membership rolls: Inactive/Unresponsive members were reviewed – 14 people in total. We made the decision to leave everyone’s name on the rolls.
  1. 2016 Nominations:
  • Council: Officers remain the same; decision made to approach Howard Kranz for Lay Leader. Jesse Watkins has asked to come on as an At-large member.
  • Trustees: Must elect their own chairs. Jim Stark and Alice Browne have asked to leave. Al, et. al. might want to recruit new talent.
  • SPRC: Don Browne has asked to leave. There are still enough members.
  • Finance Committee: Everyone is staying on.
  • Elected Representatives to Reconciling Congregations: Deb Ramage and Bonita Blumenhauer have agreed to serve.

Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 26, 7:45 PM (6:45 if Singers aren’t rehearsing).

Meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM.

Submitted by,

Allyson Hayward, Council Chair