Bethlehem United Church of Christ Leadership Council Minutes

September 13, 2016

Present: Sue Buday - President, Michelle Loukotka, Kris Lovelace, Shannon O’Reilly, Karen Samford, Cresson Slotten, Sue Wortman and Pastor John Kennedy Visitor: Ben Hollenbeck The meeting was opened with prayer by Pastor John. Ben Hollenbek explained his PhD research at the UM focusing on what inclusion looks like in a church. Most research has focused on churches that are not inclusive. He will be using observation, visiting frequently, and doing interviews. Ben’s project and interview questions have been vetted by the UM. He will be attending services and events, especially those put on by ONA and asking for volunteers to answer his interview questions. He is also working with two other churches and will share his work when it is finished, in about three years. The Leadership Council supports Ben’s PhD research on LGBTQ inclusion in mainline protestant denominations.

A motion to approve the August 9th minutes as printed was accepted. Pastor John’s Report:

John is back from vacation and thanks those in the congregation who helped his family to spend a week on Anna Marie Island.

Work on the parsonage continues to encounter problems. When removing siding on the garage they discovered many rotting boards. This will most likely add $8,000 to $9,000 to the project.

John stressed the visioning process is one of our most important projects. We will have another meeting to work on the vision on Tue the 27th at the home of Sue Wortman. At our October meeting the Finance team may join us to go over projects waiting for the future vision of the church.

Stewardship campaign will be using the theme “We are Family”. Stewardship Sunday is November 2nd. Two letters will be sent in October.

The church will be accepting new members on September 25th.

As a result of Leadership Council's unanimous vote to eliminate the Associate Pastor position, Sue Buday and Pastor John will present Greg with a letter explaining this and outlining the severance package of 60 days plus 90 days in lieu of sabbatical. Benefits will be covered for the entire time unless he obtains a position with benefits. It will also acknowledge the good things he’s done and the lives he has touched.

Eliminating the Associate Pastor position will allow for creating one or two part time positions focused on children, youth and faith formation for all ages.

The Council spent the rest of the meeting working on a letter to the congregation explaining the elimination of the Associate Pastor position. The meeting was closed with the Lord’s Prayer.

Next Leadership Council Meeting is Tuesday, October 11th

Submitted by Karen Samford, Secretary

Finance Ministry Team Meeting Minutes

September 8, 2016

Present: Jane Conlen, Linda Young, Jeff Wortman, Pastor John Kennedy

1) Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.

2) Review and approval of Minutes from August: The minutes were approved as circulated

3) Financial review: Financial reports were reviewed and discussed. There appear to be no major

concerns at this point in the year and in fact overall offerings are well ahead of years past at the end

of August.

4) Unbudgeted Requests

a) Finance Ministry wants to propose a meeting with Facilities Ministry and Leadership Council

members/representative to discuss and explore alternative processes for handling unbudgeted

funding proposals. There are numerous, unexpected repair requirements as well as new ideas

that come along that may or may not be appropriate to fund given church priorities. Finance

Ministry does not want to be a bottleneck in proceeding with projects and does not want to

create undue bureaucracy. At the same time Finance Ministry is charged with being the prime

fiduciary of Bethlehem’s financial resources and we need to make sure spending requests from

any group is consistent with church goals and strategic objectives. In many ways this is part of

evolving the new organization under the new by-laws. As with any new organization and

processes there are excellent opportunities to streamline and improve processes. Finance

Ministry will contact Leadership Council, Facilities Ministry and appropriate office staff (Carol

Leyshock) to schedule an initial meeting/work session on the topic. The objective of the

meeting will be to identify issues and possible solutions that could streamline initiating projects

consistent with immediate objectives and goals.

b) Heat Piping request: No updated information received from Facilities at this time. Hold

c) Ceiling tile in the basement: Hold

d) Medical Loan Closet: Finance would like more information on how critical is this project and

could it be deferred to 2017. This is a second floor room with limited visibility. Deferred

e) Parsonage Overruns: Last month overruns were expected to be $2500 to $3000. New problems

uncovered while residing the garage and other areas are expected to increase the overruns.

The situation and how to source funds for the overrun are under review.

5) Stewardship Sunday

a) Scheduled for November 13 with the Parade of Decades as in recent years

b) The Theme will be “We are Family!”

c) Proposed Timeline

i) Oct. 10th Pastor John's letter to Donna ii) Oct. 17th Pastor John's letter gets mailed iii) October 17th Stewardship Package to Donna iv) October 23 Testimonial speaks both services v) October 27 or 28th the Stewardship Package gets mailed vi) October 30 Testimonial ?

vii) November 6th Testimonial ? viii) November 13th Testimonial ? and Parade of the Decades (Jane and Linda) with Cider,

Donuts, and Pretzels after church. d) Specific people need to be identified and confirmed to be available for the Testimonials.

Decisions need to be made as to whether we have three or four testimonials.

6) Set next meeting date and adjourn with the Lord’s Prayer: The next meeting will be October 6th at

the usual time, 7:00 p.m.

Submitted by Linda Young, Co-Chair

Facilities Ministry Team – Bethlehem UCC Meeting Minutes of September 12, 2016

Present: Steve Darr, Randy Schneider, Tom Ziesemer, Michelle Loukotka (LC Liaison), and

Carol Leyshock

Absent: Rev. John Kennedy

The meeting was called to order at 5:30 pm. The minutes from August 8, 2016 were reviewed and

approved with no additions or changes.

AUGUST FINANCIAL REPORTS:

Maintenance & repair expenses are at 86% of budget. The overall Facilities budget is at 61%, below the

expected YTD. We just paid our first lawn care bill, which was about $1200 through August.

Property Improvement: $1050 was paid to Randy for drywalling the dining room storage area ceiling.

Parsonage Renovation Fund – Total expenses paid to date = $53,227. $12,975 remains in the fund.

Finance has approved overages up to $3,000. Per Michelle, the Holy Rollers agreed to donate $3,000 to

cover additional expenses, to be paid at the conclusion of the project. Additional expenses will probably

exceed this amount (See 1.a below). Steve will communicate with Finance.

McKay: The property maintenance portion has a current balance of $9,200. Pastor John has approved

use of McKay to cover about $450 in additional IT expenses. The Facilities team also approved.

OLD BUSINESS:

1. 2016 Capital Projects – a. Parsonage renovation cost increases –

i. Windows – Almost completed. Total cost so far = $23,788. There were more windows replaced than in the original estimate, including the sun room and basement. The sun room windows had a lot of wood rot that needed repair.

ii. Siding – This work has started. It was decided to use cement board rather than vinyl. Although the estimated cost will be higher, it has a much longer life.

iii. Extensive water and insect damage was found in the wood of the garage when the siding was removed. It will require additional repair work.

iv. Additional cabinetry work was required in the sun room to box in the new heat duct that ran from the floor to the room above.

v. The new gas stove was more expensive to install than had been budgeted. vi. Pocket door replacement was required in the first floor bath.

vii. Additional plumbing work was required to repair leaks in the master bath, main bath and basement bathroom. Also, three outdoor spigots required repair.

b. Boiler replacement –Precision Climate quoted $7,340 to replace a bad pump in the boiler room which is responsible for a pipe leak. They never did the planned survey due to a mix-up on the day it was scheduled. Steve will call them to discuss the high quote.

c. 4th Ave women’s restroom renovation – Finance approved spending no more than $7,1250 to start the project with four selected improvements:

i. Window replacement – The new windows have been ordered. It will take 4-6 weeks for them to come in.

ii. Stripping the paint from the toilet stall partitions – Steve will call Rob Knecht to schedule it.

iii. Terrazzo floor refinishing – This is on hold until the partitions are stripped and the toilets installed.

iv. Toilet replacement - Ken Cook’s Plumbing quoted about $1600 to replace the two 14” toilets with 17” models due to the need to retrofit the pipes going from the wall to the flush valve. Hutzel had quoted only $1300. However, Carol confirmed with one of Hutzel’s plumbers that their quote did not include the required retrofitting. Steve will call Ken Cook’s to schedule the replacement.

2. Medical loan closet – Randy submitted a quote for $5,048 to repair the ceiling and floor and add a floor drain. Finance wants more information before approving the repair: How critical is this project and can it be deferred to 2017? Steve said the floor and drain must be done to prevent leaks to the women’s restroom below – which is undergoing renovation. Randy estimated $4000 for this portion of the project. Carol will email Finance.

3. Major repairs identified as priorities: a. Sanctuary wall & 4th Ave inside wall repainting - Two estimates have been received so

far. They range from $22,100 - $43,400. A third company declined to submit a bid. Tom is following up with a fourth. Carol will call a fifth company that was recommended as possibly capable of undertaking the job.

b. Nursery room improvements: i. Stained glass lead remediation – Todd Tribble quoted $9,225 to seal the lead

and did not reveal the name of the product he would use. Tom will research what can be used and we will get volunteers to do it.

ii. Plaster repair – Gerald Milliken quoted $1,670. iii. Painting the walls – Randy quoted $1400 to paint both rooms. iv. Lights – Tom will research the cost to replace the fluorescent light covers. v. Carpeting – The carpeting appears ok. We will not plan to replace it at this time.

c. Dining room plaster repair – Gerald Milliken quoted $570 for the repair. Carol will submit an Unbudgeted Funding Request to Finance as soon as possible.

d. Music room ceiling tiles – This is on hold – per Finance. 4. Tom said that John Irwin may be joining the Facilities team in October. Scott Lovelace expressed

an interest in helping with special projects.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Boiler Replacement Fund – Finance requested changing it to HVAC Fund. Facilities approved. After the meeting Finance requested another change: Heating and AC Improvement Fund.

2. All church clean up scheduled for Saturday, October 29 – Tom has a list of projects. Randy will bring his trailer to haul pipe fittings to be recycled.

3. Homeschoolers would like to store two 6 foot long boxes near the gym – Facilities approved temporarily storing them in the medical loan closet.

4. Education tabled a request to move the Sunday school from the basement to a first floor room. 5. Elevator – We received a proposal from Schindler for safety testing at a cost of $2,836. It

appears to be similar to what they did last year, which is required every 3 years. Carol will do more research on this.

6. Gas provider proposal – our gas provider, Constellation, offered to include the parsonage and 4th Ave house in the church’s discounted rates at a savings of about $627/year. Approved by the Facilities Team.

7. Church assets inventory policy – Facilities approved Finance’s proposed Properties and Equipment Inventory policy, which requires an initial video inventory and annual updates. Carol will follow up with our insurance agent for a referral to a company that can do it.

TABLED ISSUES:

1. Fellowship Hall and nearby restrooms – on hold until Leadership Council completes the visioning and prioritization process.

2. Air conditioning – further consideration tabled until April 2017 a. Youth room AC – estimates received:

i. Koch & White quoted $15,485 for 3 wall mounted units. ii. Robertson Morrison came out on 9/12 and will submit a quote.

iii. Randy found a portable unit online that cost $384. b. Choir room AC – no further action until 4/17 c. Office AC – programmable thermostat – on hold until 4/17

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 pm.

NEXT MEETING: Monday, October 10, 2016 at 5:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Carol Leyshock - Parish Administrator

Education Ministry Team Minutes Sept 7, 2016

Present: Jane Schmerberg-chair, Julie Feldkamp, Nancy Pieske, Karen Samford, Pastor Greg Briggs, Jan Edie and Wanda Modica Not Present: Diana Slaughter

Jane opened the meeting with prayer. Rally day is this coming Sunday (Sept 11). Jill Schwartz is willing to teach in the K-6 class. Starting the 18th Nancy Pieske and Jane Schmerberg will alternate teaching the preschool class. Nancy will teach on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays and Jane will teach on the 2nd & 4th Sundays. Greg is reaching out to the parents of our under 6th graders. He hopes to find things to help parents and/or get children in church other than on Sunday. One suggestion is a movie viewing, one Friday per month, so parents can get out. Greg talked about a program “Praying in Color” for all ages including kids too young to read. Teacher for Preschool – The job duties will be sent to the three major schools, daycares, other churches, and posted on craigslist. Teacher training – Greg will do “Praying in Color”, which will help us to learn about our spiritual practices. We will schedule a Sunday afternoon at the Schmerberg’s cottage. Blessing of the Backpacks and blessing of the school supplies will be separate but both will take place this Sunday, September 11th. Scholarship – We discussed changes to the application and will review it further at our next meeting. It was decided a sub-committee would look over the applications to determine how to distribute the available funds.

The meeting was closed with the Lord’s Prayer. Next Meeting – Wednesday, October 5th at 6:30 p.m. Submitted by Karen Samford

Bethlehem United Church of Christ

Member Care Ministry Team Notes of September 21, 2016 Meeting DRAFT

Present: Jan Burnham (Chair), Mary Jean Raab, Mary Friend, Brian Paton (notetaker), Karen Goforth,

Pastor John Kennedy. Sue Wortman (Leadership Council Liaison) was not in attendance.

We opened with prayer.

We had previously approved the August meeting minutes by email.

Pastor Kennedy reported on Council’s recent activity, focusing on the elimination of Greg Briggs’

Associate Pastor position. Pastor Kennedy stated there will be a discussion held after worship on Sunday

to share appropriate information regarding Pastor Briggs’ departure. Pastor Kennedy stated it was not a

financial decision.

We discussed the plan to thank Bethlehem Friends on Sunday. We agreed to have cake to honor Friends

in Ministry and especially Wil Leonard and Aletha Helbig, but want to coordinate with the Welcome

Ministry Team in the event they are having cake for the new members.

We discussed recently joined members and efforts to involve them in the life of the church.

We discussed Stephen Ministry. We would like to send people to the training in January in Orlando. We

were asked to identify people we think would be good Stephen Leaders. We need an allocation of $1,675

as the one time enrollment fee to Stephen Ministries. Pastor Kennedy stated that the materials include

information about how to identify Stephen Leaders.

We discussed other expenses of started the Stephen Ministry program. There will also be a fee of $1,067

per individual to attend the training, which includes lodging and most meals. We figured airfare for three

people is likely to be somewhere around $1,500 to Orlando January 8-14. Brian agreed to research airfare

to Florida. There is also a Stephen Leader training program in St. Louis in March. If we decided to wait

until March, then we could send people to the training in St. Louis which would likely reduce

transportation costs. There are also other expenses associated with the travel, such as ground

transportation and parking. The program includes many resources, but Pastor Kennedy stated there are

some other resources, including some books, that are helpful and are an additional fee. Brian commented

that, while it would be helpful to have all our Stephen Leaders attend the same training session (January

or March), if they are not all available the same week, it would be possible to send some in January and

some in March.

Jan updated us on the directory. The proof will be in by the end of this week.

We discussed another Christmas mailing. Mary Jean and others will look for options to discuss in

October.

Our next meeting is scheduled for October 19. We closed with the Lord’s prayer.

Submitted by Jan Burnham, Chair

Fellowship Ministries Meeting Minutes

September 6, 2016

Attendance: Jane and Tom Ziesemer, Kris Lovelace, Michele Loukotka, Sue Irwin, Harriete Holzapfel and

Cheryl Grant

Meeting was called to order at 11:30.

This was a meeting to finalize our plans for the Oktoberfest, Friday, October 7, 2016. We discussed the following:

Sign-up Sheets - put in place starting Sunday, September 6.

Menu: Brats/Hot Dogs, German Potato Salad, Spatzen, Sauerkraut, chips, brownies and cookies, Water/Lemonade/Coffee (1, 55 cup Pot) and Beer/Wine (for sale) – serving time is 6 – 8.

Job Assignments: Kitchen – Bob Walker, Paul Marshall and Debbie Belcher (want to keep the door from hall to

kitchen locked to prevent guests from entering).

Kitchen Servers – 4 per segment – see sign-up sheets

Decorating Dining Room – Kris and Scott, Pam and Fred

Dining Room Set-Up – we are using all the round tables and some of the rectangular. Hope to have between 150 – 200.

ALL Paper/Plastic to keep the picnic style theme – trying to stay “green” when we can.

Ticket Design/Fliers – Sue Muir

Ticket Sales – Cheryl Grant – encouraging folks to take packs of 8 to bring family and friends. Money does not need to be back until October 2. Reserving a table is also an option but only if they arrive at the start of the dinner (6p.m.)

Ticket Sales during dinner – along with dinner tickets, we will sell drink tickets for $4 each beer and wine and $1 for a pretzel. Two different colored tickets.

Desserts – Jan Eadie – 2 cookies or a cookie and a brownie or 2 brownies will all be plated and put in a baggie so no sneeze guards are needed. Several people will tend to the dessert table throughout the meal.

Beer/Wine Sales Set-up – Bob Loukotka, Tom Ziesemer and Chuck Judson to start. Recruiting more to cover evening. Ticket will be torn in two as buyer gives it to attendant.

Security – Scott Lovelace is addressing this and will recruit help.

Clean-Up – Sue Irwin, coordinator

Entertainment – Steve Darr and the Wannabees

Profits from the evening will go to Property Improvements

Meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m. Submitted by Jane Ziesemer