Mount Cross Church Council
Minutes of November 11, 2008 meeting
Attendees: Keith
Selbrede, Bob Brundage, Pastor John W. Soyster, Herb Holler, Michael Fickenscher,
Paul Fickenscher, Pastor Erik Goehner,
Curt Bensen, Diana Hagen, Linette Angelastro, Jean Scott, Josh
Graziani, Jason Graziani, Trish Gucciardo.
Council Meeting led by Keith Selbrede
Call to order: 7:05 pm
Devotions: Mike Fickenscher on Lutheran Characteristics
Minutes: Approved minutes of October meeting.
Report from the Body of Christ
Survey of some members of congregation on the church
Report from Curt Benson with list of Pluses, Not so Plus, and Like and Dislike. Details on written report
Report from Linette Angelastro – see written report
Diana Hagen (December) & Jason Graziani (January) to conduct surveys for next months
Pastor Erik’s Report: Refer to written report.
Pastor John’s Report: Mutual Ministry Committee: Meet to assist pastors as required.
Herb moved to ask executive committee to serve as Mutual Ministry Committee thru 2009. Second by John. Motion Approved.
Treasurers Report: A $25,000 cut will be required to the 2008 budget for 2009.
Budget and Finance Report:
Ways were discussed to raise the additional funds. Also creative ways to reduce expenses with least pain. Plan is to create a visual display to encourage greater giving by the congregation. Draft budget is in work.
Committee Reports: See reports on website
New Business –
Annual Meeting, January 25, 2009 – planning a potluck dinner then congregational meeting. Plan to follow same time and general format as in 2008.
Lenten Suppers – it was reported that Char Sakioka will coordinate this in 2009.
Pastor John introduced “Come and See” concept of introducing our church to others. Council committed to supporting this concept.
Moved to donate contributions from Thanksgiving eve service to LSS and thanksgiving envelopes. Motion passed.
Adjourned at 9 pm
Mount Cross Church Council
Minutes of October 14, 2008 meeting
Attendees: Keith Selbrede, Bob Brundage, Pastor John W. Soyster, Herb Holler, Rick Mann, Bob Winters, Michael Fickenscher, Paul Fickenscher, Pastor Erik Goehner, Curt Bensen, Diana Hagen, Linette Angelastro, Jean Scott.
Call to order: 7:05 pm
Devotions: Paul Fickenscher – “Stress Relief & Spiritual Gifts”
Minutes: Approved minutes of September meeting.
Treasurers Report: $30,000 deficit at this point, anticipate $25,000 at year end.
Budget and Finance Report: Herb Holler Anticipate $30,000 cut in budget from last year. Asked all members of council to review budget and suggest cuts to budget and finance Committee.
Lengthy discussion on Church expenses and budget process.
Pastor Erik’s Report
New Praise band leader is auditioning
Confirmation class started, Our Saviors group joined us. 35 to 40 students.
CDC 20th Anniversary, many youth in our church and the community have graduated from our CDC.
Pastor John W. Soyster Report
Thank you to council for all our efforts.
Photo Directory – Great big thank you to committee for a great big job well done.
Our church is seventh largest donator to ELCA from our synod. The synod depends on our donations.
New Business – None
Church Council Meeting
September 9, 2008
Call to order 7:00
Motion by Rick Mann
Attendees: Pastor John, Herb Holler, Jason Graziani, Paul Fickenscher, Jean Scott, Keith Selbrede, Joshua Graziani, Rick Mann, Pastor Erik, Bob Brundage, Bob Winters, Linette Angelastro, Trish Gucciardo
Devotions: Keith Selbrede
Approval of minutes: Joshua Graziani
Motion to approve the minutes by Keith and second by Bob.
Trish Gucciardo is the new Chair of the CDC
Treasurers report – Bob Winter– Currently $23,000 behind budget on an average of $4,000 behind schedule each month. Looking to cut expenses in our budget to open up money. Spending has been under budget about $12,000.
John:
Erik:
Action Items
Pastor John W. Soyster provided a list of individuals that will be removed form the scrolls for appropriate reasons. Motion to remove a list of 25 individuals from the scrolls who had either requested or had no response. Motion to remove them was by Linette and second by Herb.
Keith – Photo Directory has been well promoted and 200 with be made for print.
Rick Mann – Mortgage – Randy has taken the approach to investigate the details with Thrivent Financial Services and he will then present the information to council. Realistically, we will be in no position to fulfill the second follow up meeting regarding the congregational within the time that we promised. This information, discussion and conclusion on which direction to proceed will occur in November or at the Annual Meeting. We will notify the congregation on when the meeting will take place.
· Recording Secretary – With Joshua Graziani as a part of staff, we will have Herb Holler as the new Recording Secretary. We are now looking to fill a new council member and bring recommendations to next council meeting.
Motion to adjourn meeting by Bob and second by Herb.
Close meeting at 8:35 PM with Lord’s Prayer.
Church Council Meeting
August 12, 2008
Call to order 7:04
Motion by Rick Mann
Attendees: Pastor John, Herb Holler, Jason Graziani, Paul Fickenscher, Diana Hagen, Jean Scott, Keith Selbrede, Joshua Graziani, Rick Mann, Pastor Erik, Barbara Spandrio, Curt Bensen, Michael Fickenscher
Devotions: Joshua Graziani
Approval of minutes: Joshua Graziani
Motion to approve the minutes by Keith and second by Herb.
Treasurers report – Herb Holler – See website for full report. Income was low in July increasing our deficit. Our congregation need to remain aware of the issue through constant dialogue.
Discussed the proposal of notifying members of our status with a congregational meeting, followed by the second meeting promised regarding the church mortgage.
John:
Erik:
Committee Reports
Action Items
Mortgage – Rick Mann
See Treasurer’s Report
· Input From a Member – Rick Mann – Mt Cross Lutheran issue its own bonds at $500 each that mature in 20 years at full face value (interest rates at 3%). This is brought to Budget Committee for suggestions.
· Rally Day – All – September 7, 9:00am to 12:00 noon. FYI – Breakfast Burritos
· Time and Talent updates in process.
Motion to adjourn meeting by Herb and second by Keith.
Close meeting at 8:39pm with Lord’s Prayer.
Church Council Meeting
July 8, 2008
Call to order 7:05
Motion by Rick Mann
Attendees: Pastor John, Herb Holler, Jason Graziani, Paul Fickenscher, Diana Hagen, Jean Scott, Keith Selbrede, Joshua Graziani, Rick Mann, Bob Brundage, Barbara Spandrio, Linette Angelastro, Curt Benson, Bob Winters
Devotions: Linette Angelastro
Approval of minutes: Joshua Graziani
Motion to approve the minutes by Herb and second by Curt.
Treasurers report – Bob Winters– See website for full report. As a whole, we had a better June but still about $4,000-$5,000 short each month. Summer months are slower for various reasons.
John:
Erik:
Committee Reports
MORTGAGE – Pastor John W. Soyster – 5 year adjustment is up in March. There will be a balloon payment of $332,314 which can be avoided by refinancing. Refinancing could open up around $600 a month as a result of a smaller monthly payment. The current balance is $462,000 with 25 years on the loan around 5%. Motion to have a congregational meeting on July 27, 2008 at 10:00 by Herb and second by Keith.
Motion to adjourn meeting by Herb and second by Curt.
Close meeting at 8:16pm with Lord’s Prayer.
Church Council Meeting
Call to order 7:04
Motion by Rick Mann
Attendees: Pastor John, Herb Holler, Jason Graziani, Paul Fickenscher, Diana Hagen, Jean Scott, Keith Selbrede, Joshua Graziani, Rick Mann, Bob Brundage, Pastor Erik, Barbara Spandrio, Linette Angelastro
Devotions: Diana Hagen
Approval of minutes: Joshua Graziani
Motion to approve the minutes by Bob and second by Herb.
Treasurers report – Herb Holler – See website for full report. Looking to increase the awareness of a shortage of income throughout the congregation with the help of the finance committee.
John:
Erik:
Committee Reports
Action Items
$1,000 to reallocate. Will be given to Raise the Roof
Motion to approve distribution of proceeds by Keith and second by Diana.
Notify the congregation of the action that will be taken place. There will be improvements being made to our facilities
Motion to authorize the President to create a Building Committee and the council will give them guidance based on the strategic survey by Herb and second by Bob. 12 in favor, 1 opposed.
Motion to adjourn meeting by Herb and second by Linette.
Close meeting at 8:39pm with Lord’s Prayer.
Church Council Meeting
May 13, 2008
Call to order 7:00
Motion by Rick Mann
Attendees: Pastor John, Herb Holler, Jason Graziani, Michael Fickenscher, Paul Fickenscher, Diana Hagen, Jean Scott, Keith Selbrede, Joshua Graziani, Rick Mann, Bob Brundage, Bob Winters, Pastor Erik, Linette Angelastro, Curt Bensen, Barbara Spandrio
Devotions: Jason Graziani
Approval of minutes: Joshua Graziani
Motion to approve the minutes by Keith and second by Bob.
Treasurers report – Bob Winters – See website for full report
John:
Erik:
Committee Reports
Action Items
A list of 62 baptized members was presented; five households will be removed from the list until status is clarified. Of the remaining names on the list, those who asked to be removed, those whose letters were returned with no forwarding address and those from whom no response was received were recommended to be removed. Moved by Diana and second by Paul. If any return to the area, they can be restored to membership any time. Next two phases of this project: contacting people in town who might want to be included in the picture directory and then adult children of members, who are no longer in their parents household, to be recognized as their own household in the eyes of the congregation.
Proceeds did not meet the target, accomplished 60% of expectations. Out of the $7,868 raised:
Motion to approve distribution of proceeds by Keith and second by Jason.
9:00am – Traditional
10:00-10:30 – Fellowship
10:30 – Contemporary
Motion to approve the times for the summer schedule for July and August only by Linette and second by Bob.
Survey responses were posted on web.
Discussed all possible options with leasing the available property across the street for an immediate solution to space needs.
Suggest the idea of a campaign for “Burn the Mortgage” and eliminate debts to free up money in the budget for leasing the property.
Motion to proceed to lease the property and have a congressional meeting to discuss details by Keith and second by Bob. No lease will be signed at this time.
Allow family leave for Marilyn instead of vacation time. Motion for all full time employees will be granted 3 days per event for any immediate family emergency by Curt and second by Paul.
Close meeting at 9:15 with Lord’s Prayer.
Mount
Cross Lutheran Church
Council
Meeting – March 11, 2008
Attendees:
Paul Fickenscher, Michael Fickenscher, John Soyster, Jason Graziani, Diana Hagen,
Curt Benson, Linette Angelastro, Barbara Spandrio, Bob Brundage, Erik Goehner,
Herb Holler, Keith Selbrede
Call
to Order: Meeting opened at 7:00 by Rick Mann.
Devotions: Devotions were given by Rick Mann
Approval
of the Minutes: Motion was made by Herb Holler to approve last meeting minutes
and Bob Brundage seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s
Report: Financial statement can be
found online on the Mount Cross website
New
Council Member Jason Graziani: Motion was made by Keith Selbrede to appoint
Jason and Herb Holler Seconds the motion.
Pastor’s
Reports
·
Pastor
John (See his full report on our Mount Cross website)
1.
Letters
will be going out to all members who have moved away and still are on the books
2.
Tithe
to be sent to the synagogue
3.
Holden
Village appreciation for donation given to community
·
Pastor
Erik (See his full report on our Mount Cross website)
1.
Church
Youth Band did a terrific job at winter retreat!
2.
Business
card ad will continue in Hospice ($100) for advertising.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS:
Picture
Directory – Keith Selbrede
Committee has met and has come to a sample
directory. Pictures can be given to be input or taken professionally. 1 family
per page in a mini 3-ring binder. Main decision is to have a double sided page
or single sided page due to some costs.
Possibly selling these directories to have a wash
expense to save money and to have advertising space in the back to help with
costs. Target for completion would be on Rally Day.
Amendment
for seed money amount out of budget - $1,000 to be paid back by end of 2008 by
Herb Holler
Linette Angelastro moved to approve the
amendment
Joshua Graziani second the amendment
Keith Selbrede - Amendment for room in
the back of the directory for advertisement space
Michael Fickenscher second the amendment
Linette Angelastro moved to motion of
approval motion.
Bob Brundage second the motion.
Finance
– Herb Holler and Keith Selbrede
Make
It, Bake It Funds
Service and Missions - $3,900 estimated amount
Tijuana houses - $1,000
PLTS Scholarships - $1,000
RAIN Project
- Tutoring - $500
- Children Watch - $500
New City Parish - $900
In House - $9100 estimated amount
Raise the Roof - $5,000
Slidell (Peace Lutheran) recovery
- $500
Altar/Stage conversion kit -
$1,000
Flinke Hand materials - $200
Sr High Scholarships - $750
Jr High Scholarship - $750
Total - $13,000 estimated proceeds
Joshua
Graziani moved the motion to approve distribution of expenses
Herb
Holler second the motion
Proceeds
beyond estimate:
70% of surplus goes to Raise the Roof
30% of surplus goes to Tijuana houses
Linette
Angelastro moved to approve the proceeds distribution
Jason
Graziani second the motion
Property
– Saturday 3/15/08 – 8:00am. Servicing the Church
Fellowship
– Spring Hockey party – TBA
Worship/Music
– Number of services, in conflict of Sunday school, timing of service.
ACTION
ITEMS:
Raise
the Roof – Rick Mann: Looking to build a committee. Ways to raise money for
budget.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Children’s
Ministry Coordinator Vacancy – Paul Fickenscher
Learning
Committee – Finding ways to handle duties until position is filled. Looking to
find a person to coordinate Sunday School until course is finished. Need to recognize
her services publicly in front of the congregation (without having Renae in
front of the congregation).
Keith
Selbrede motioned the meeting adjourned
Herb
Holler second the motion
Meeting
adjourned at 9:11pm
The
meeting concluded with the Lord’s Prayer.
Respected
submitted by
JOSHUA
GRAZIANI (Church Recorder)
August
14th, 2007
Attendees: Caroline Hobbs, Kevin Churchill,
Herb Holler, Jean Scott, Lynn Bulock, Bob Brundage, Bob Winters, Melinda
Sheller, Dave Delmarto, Diana Hagen, Jean Scott, Sharon Korzan and Curt
Benson
Call to Order: Meeting opened at 7:03 pm by
Herb Holler
Devotions:
Bob Brundage gave devotions
Herb made a motion to elect Diana Hagen (liaison from
caring committee) as a member of the church council. The motion was seconded by Bob.
Motion was passed unanimously.
Approval of the Minutes: Motion was made by Bob to
approve last meetings minutes and Caroline seconded it with a small change in
spelling Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report:
Budget is looking better.
Currently we are down $7.0K off the budget year to date. See the website
for full report
The council recommends that the budget is only posted once
a month in the bulletin. The council
also suggests that we shade the graph so the congregation can read TY vs.
LY. The budget will appear once a month
following the monthly council meeting.
Pastor’s Reports:
Neighborhood Appreciation Fair: There is an overall lack
of volunteer interest by the congregation in the event. We are very close to postponing the event
until 2008. The council recommended the
event be postponed until next year.
Caring Committee: Diana Hagen our new liaison explained to the council
some new ideas to reenergize the committee.
Stewardship Committee: Bob (liaison for committee) Gayle Johnson
has agreed to president, Herb holler and Bob will begin planning stewardship
drive.
Endowment Committee:
Sharon asked the council to
approve the recommended allocations.
See website for full report. Bob
motions that we approve the2007 recommendations of funds from endowment. Motion was seconded by Dave and motion was
passed unanimously.
Action Items:
Review council retreat minutes on Make and Bake funds
distribution policy. Council modified the
retreat minutes clarifying the distribution of fund generated from Make and
Bake it
From the
church council minutes of 02/07/07 taken by Caroline Hobbs.
Recommendations
for MIBI funds
Regardless of decisions arrived at today, Pastor John
suggests that we let the congregation know that this was a time of transition,
the annual meeting uncovered some rough spots and council is doing their best
to work through it to the satisfaction of the congregation. At the annual meeting January 07, many
members of congregation voiced concern at the split of funding in-house versus
outreach. Many emails were sent to
council voicing this issue and concern.
Much discussion ensued. Regarding the revised recommended
grants 2007, there was question as to why original item #13 was removed from
the revised list (request for funds for wireless church sound system.) No one
was sure as to why this was removed from the revised list given to council
today. (see motion below)
Council discussed that past grants/funds from MIBI were
split as follows: 75% in-house and 25% outreach. Members of council confirmed this through previous WELCA members.
We discussed that Council was unaware
of the split / did not clarify it with WELCA / did not advise Service and
Missions of this split when we gave MIBI to Service and Missions in 2006.
New
Action Item as of 8/14/07:
Council will review the recommendations made by the separate church
committees and will approve the distribution of funds generated by the Make and
Bake It event.
Action
item: There was much concern and discussion that individuals
should not make requests for funds, but rather the requests should run through
the committees of the church which will be affected by the request for
funds. This should begin with the 2008
MIBI.
Action
item: There was discussion that many of the items requested
through MIBI grants are items that should be budgeted for in the annual church
budget. Annual budget requests should
include all amounts needed by a group or committee and in the future, Bob Winters the finance committee will
determine if they fit into the annual budget, or should be considered for MIBI
funding. This should begin with the
2008 budget.
*A motion
made by Keith Selbrede & seconded by David Del Marto to put
item #13 ($1,000. for wireless monitors for Worship Band) back into the
Grants. Motion passed unanimously
*Motion: Funds
for MIBI starting with current 2007, 70% to be kept in-house, 30% to go to
outreach. Motion passed unanimously.
*Motion: The
excessive funds footnotes and the items attached to the footnotes (on Recommended
Grants of MIBI proceeds 2007), should be capped at their requested amounts –
bearing in mind the 30% cap. Motion
passed unanimously.
Action
item: Council appreciates the work done by both Service and Missions
and their Subcommittee with regards to the MIBI fund distribution. Council
respectfully requests that the grant requests be returned to Service &
Missions for reworking under new guidelines outlined above (70% of proceeds
kept in-house and 30% to outreach).
Meeting was adjourned with a motion from Dave and seconded
by Bob at 8:55 pm with the Lord’s Prayer.
Next meeting: Tuesday September 11th @ 7:00 pm
(Devotions: Dave Delmarto)
Respected submitted by Kevin Churchill (Church Recorder)
Property Committee
Mt. Cross Lutheran Church
Meeting
on August 31, 2004
Attendees:
Gordon Bergh, Marilyn Gardner, Herb Holler, Rick Mann, Keith Selbrede
Old
Business
· Roof Leak -- In the church
& Parish Life Center. -- The
property committee will ask Paul Pendolino if he will help us by investigating
the problem.
· Microphones/Sound System – New
microphones for the pastors along with a receiver has been installed and they
are using them. John Wascher is working
on a new control panel that can handle everything. The contemporary service equipment also. Keith is also investigating the microphone
problem in the loft. He has discovered
we have a faulty plug in the loft. He
will be recruiting someone to help fix it.
presented new microphones that we will purchase from the designated
sound money. He also proposes that we
either relocate the control panel or revamp the sound room. A larger new control panel & cables is proposed to take care of all the sound
in the sanctuary. John will be the
project manager on the job with Keith Selbrede overseeing it from property.
· Kitchen Water system – John
Wascher is working on this project.
Herb Holler will contact John to see where we stand. The kitchen fund has the money for the
project.
· New Kiosk – Marilyn Gardner
met with Pastors John and Erik and we picked out an Illuminated 36”H by 72”
long enclosed Bulletin Board. We’d like
to take it one step further and build protection from the elements. Maybe an overhang structure with a tile roof
to match the church and stucco posts.
The property committee decided to contact Scott Fajnor and ask him if he
could draw up a few sketches. Marilyn
G. will contact Scott.
· Janitorial Contract Review –
New contract has been written. Changes incorporated regarding setup/take down
of Luther Hall. Doug will only be paid
if he does it. He will receive
875/month. And $100 for each set up he
does. Also, if spills occur to the
carpet, an additional $35 charge will be added for Doug to clean the
carpet. If he can’t set up, we need to
find someone that is willing to do setups.
We also have been asked by Gayle Johnson to let the committee chairs
know of the new arrangement we’ve made
with Doug. Marilyn will write
something and send it to the committee chairs and the church office.
· RAIN/Food temporary
storage in the Narthex. –The two blue bins are working
temporarily. The project has been put
on hold.
· Playground Storage shed –The
CDC has installed the shed with the help of Glenn Channels and Gordon &
Melissa Henry. Job is complete.
· Church Tile problem. Gordon B. will ask Bill Greason if he will
investigate and see what the damages are underneath the tiles in the
Sanctuary. Herb H. and Keith S. are
willing to help with the project.
· Fellowship tables on patio
–The tables have arrived and Rick, Marilyn and Keith put them together. It has been brought to our attention that
they may need to move. The property
committee would like to leave them where they are for a while and see what the
consensus is after a while. They weigh
300 lbs. And we don’t want to move them more then once. Caution when moving the tables! If they are lifted by the seats, they may
break.
· Work party – discuss at next
meeting.
· Office safe raised off the
floor – Rick Mann is handing the job.
He has re-enforced the counter but now needs to find a way to make the
safe earthquake proof. Rick is
investigating the issue.
· VBS Kudos to Rick Mann and
Herb Holler for helping the week of VBS.
· Awning from a local Water
Park – Mike Hobbs has found a water park that is shutting down and has an
awning that we can have for the patio if we want it. Property committee needs to contact Mike and find out the
details.
· Space Allocations – Gayle
Johnson brought to property’s attention the need for taking some initiative
regarding the space allocation for everyone that uses the church’s
property. The property committee would
like to see the proposal that Scott Fajnor came up a few years ago for the Long
Range Planning Committee. He contacted
everyone that meets at Mount Cross and wrote up a report. Bob Boyer was the chair of Long Range
Planning.
· Earthquake Preparedness –
Rick Mann has spoke with Gayle Johnson regarding this issue. He has contacted the Red Cross about their
kits. They cost $140 each that will
service four people for three days. The
thought is maybe we purchase a couple and then see who the suppliers are and
buy directly from them. Anyway, Rick is
handling this.
Adjourned
at 8:55 PM. Next meeting is Tuesday,
September 28 at 7:30 PM.
Respectfully
submitted by,
Marilyn
Gardner
Property
Committee Liaison