Council Meeting, Wednesday September 16, 2020 via Zoom
A quorum was noted at 7:00 pm and the meeting was called to order by Terry Moore. We went around the room and shared how we were doing and something that we are looking forward to this fall.
The group discussed and did grounding for our work and ministry, led by Catherine. We talked about characteristics of white supremacy culture which tend to show up in organizations and named “antidotes” to these tendencies.
AIR Form – “Racial Justice Action Team”
Discussion: Concerns included expecting L&J to fund this effort when it is a whole church effort as well as keeping communication going between multiple entities. Several thought that the pros and cons needed to be explored in more detail. The motion was tabled, and a group will convene to discuss.
COVID Action Team – Carol Ingram
The Action team and Facilities Committee is moving forward with recommendations to increase air flow in the building. (Please see page 9 for article.)
Pastoral Search Team – Virginia Felton
The team had their 18th meeting yesterday. The Profile is posted, the congregation has been surveyed. They have evaluated 20 candidates to date and together have determined if an individual will be invited into the interview process. Candidates have been invited to interview and the team is working on scheduling. The team is also meeting with Diane Schmidt and Cynthia McCleod to continue to work on being as conscious as possible about individual and collective bias in the selection process. Ed Coleman offered that possibly Council could pull together a small group to work on the process for Council and the congregation to meet and join in conversation with candidates, so as to alleviate this bit of work for the search committee.
Financial report – Don Guthrie
Pledges are about 31,000 behind budget, however we are on a relatively normal trajectory for the year. Parking revenue continues to be much lower than expected and we don’t expect this to change significantly. Property taxes on lot C are about $30,000 per year now. One option is to declare the lot church parking only and then we would not have to pay taxes on it.
The current report does not include the $189,000 Paycheck Protection Plan loan. Kyna will start the paperwork to turn this amount of money from a loan to a grant. Financial projections to the end of the year will be updated for next month’s Council meeting, and both Don and Kyna think we will end the year in good shape financially.
Recruitment for Committees
Current bylaws say the Committee Chairs are responsible for recruiting new members. Kyna suggested that openings/needs can go out in the Friday email and she suggested that email not be used in place of a direct ask.