Administration Ministry Team
Meeting Minutes by Moderator Newman McAllister
The Administration Ministry Team met on June 22. Those present were Pastor Darlene Avery, Moderator Newman McAllister, Vice Moderator Linda Seger, Treasurer Sunde King, Member Vaughn Drinen (by ZOOM) and Guest Margaret Peterson.
Pastor Dalene is always busy during the summer. The church is being cleaned and organized. People are showing up for events. The Van Arsdale Room will be improved and transformed into a multi-purpose room. Pastor reported on her attendance at the Rocky Mountain Conference annual meeting which was in Grand Junction from May 15 through May 18. There were many issues discussed including the long-prior termination of an associate conference minister and accounting irregularities. There was a loving spirit of listening to all parties and Pastor feels good about the outcome, which will include new policies and leadership. The newly installed interim conference minister is Doug Wooten. Pastor is grateful that Sunde has taken over the scheduling of space rental. Jenn Wagner is helping as building host with weddings. Cactus Caldwell and Sue Frindt have volunteered as well. The Green Box Festival is upon us, beginning with a concert of contemporary music in the church on June 30. Pastor is working with the alarm company to develop a spreadsheet showing all the people who have keys to the building and their codes. Jeff Chapman has many church files on his personal computer, including those related to the Kirkpatrick funded renovation project. Pastor has set up a time and date for the transfer of those files to the church. Thereafter, Jeff will make a final report to the Kirkpatrick Foundation on the expenditure of the grant monies.
Sunde presented the May financial report. All income was $7,750.96 and all expenses were $20,550.80, for a negative balance for the month of $12,631.02. There is a large positive balance for the year of $74,799.84, but that is because of the receipt of $100,000.00 from the closing of the sale of the Sallie Bush Community Building. Tithes and offerings for the month were the lowest for the year -- $4,401.00.
Holbrook Heating repaired the Tatter Hall boiler and installed programmable thermostats. However, the thermostats don’t work properly and Holbrook has promised to repair them in the fall when the heat is needed again. Backflow testing will be done in September.
Pastor reported that the new pew cards and offering envelopes should be ready by the end of the month. Newman said he would make a special donation for the cost. There was discussion about the hazards of offering live streaming and recording services for weddings and funerals. The internet can go out, the quality of the recording can be poor and there are copyright concerns for which the church may be blamed as the transmitter of the information through the internet. It is true the church receives money for such services but the team thought it not worth the trouble. After a motion by Newman and a second by Linda, there was unanimous approval that the church would no longer offer recordings or live streaming of wedding or funeral services, except where there is an existing contract which obligates the church to do so. Sunde pointed out that our contract for weddings and funerals still must contain language warning the renter about copyright violations and indemnifying the church for any copyright violations.
The church still has not received the new insurance policies from IBoard. The church will receive a full pro-rated premium refund from Church Mutual for the cancellation of its policies. Hiring an administrative assistant was discussed. Pastor will keep a log for the next month recording how an administrative assistant might have helped with a task, and consequently how much time that might have freed up for the Pastor to do other things. There is always the balance of the time necessary to train and supervise an assistant, versus the tasks that the assistant would perform that would free the Pastor. The books of the church should be periodically audited. Newman has checked with several UCC churches in the Colorado Springs area and none of them have bookkeepers-treasurers who are willing to audit the books of our church, as a courtesy and at no compensation. Pastor will check with churches in the Denver area to see if such a courtesy might be offered. To hire an accountant to do a full audit is likely in the range of $10,000.00.
Carla Chapman obtained two estimates for concrete work in front of the sanctuary and outside the downstairs’ classrooms. The payment of a billing of 719 Electric (Bob LaRoche) for $225.00, out of the remaining Kirkpatrick grant funds. Bob has estimated the sum of $500.00 to install two new circuits servicing the coffee bar outside the administrative office. This should take care of any tripping of the circuit breakers. The team approved the work and estimate. The Carillon Bells are old and operate with recorded tapes. The tapes break and all is digital now. Teresa Allen is checking on what it would cost to convert to digital recordings. Newman will obtain an estimate from the Tall Timbers Tree Service for trimming and shaping the three large pine trees in front of the church.
Margaret Peterson reported. She has obtained permission from the Town of Green Mountain Falls to block off parking across the street from the church, beginning at the small upholstery and going west to Oak Street. In the summer when there are a lot of hikers parking spaces across the street can be at a premium. There was discussion about who would put the signs out and take them in, when they would be put out, how much they weigh and where they would be stored. Margaret presented a cost list of two different varieties of signs. Traffic cones would temporarily be used in-between the signs with delineators permanently. Margaret agreed to do some field research the next two Sundays addressing these concerns and she will report back to the team. The team thanked Margaret for all the effort she has put in.
The meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m. Newman is on vacation the latter part of July and the first part of August. Other team members had scheduling concerns as well. It was decided to skip a July meeting. The next regular meeting is on Thursday, August 31, 2023, at 3:00 p.m.