Trinity Metropolitan Community Church of Gainesville (Trinity MCC)

Trinity Metropolitan Community Church

Board of Director’s Meeting Minutes

February 8, 2009

Present:            Rev. Vickie Miller, Moderator Pro tem; Rhandi Carter, Vice-Moderator;
                            Elaine Henjum, Treasurer; David Williams, Clerk; Nita White and
                                           Barbara Petersen, Directors-at-Large

Guests: Madine Rawe, Joyce Stump, CJ Merrill, Nace Hopple, Michael Schanuel,
Linda Powel, Barbara Haws, Barbara Canning, Barbara Grimes, Whit Gibson, Carol ???

I.                    Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Rev. Miller at 12:20 pm.

II.                 Opening Prayer: Rev. Miller offered prayer.

III.               Ordering of Agenda: Rev. Miller distributed a list of General Meeting Ground Rules (attached) and offered them as a guideline for conducting business. There were no objections. Rev. Miller asked if there were additional items to be added to the Agenda. Shawn Thomas’ visit March 1, and Transition Team were added to old Business while a request for large print hymnals and a visit by Rev. Delores Berry were added to New Business.

IV.              Minutes: The minutes of the January 11, 2009 Board of Directors meeting were presented for approval. Motion 09-03: Barb Petersen moved the minutes of January 11, 2009 be accepted. Elaine H. seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

V.                 Appointments

                  A.        Temporary Pastor: Elaine H. reported that in conference with Rev. Margaret Walker, Regional Liaison, and Rev. Elder Lillie Brock,                                               an offer was extended to Rev. Vickie Miller to serve as temporary Pastor on a part-time basis. An agreement was reached and a                                             working contract was signed for Rev. Miller’s services from 2/1/09    through 4/26/09. A copy of the contract is attached to the original    of these minutes and filed in the church office. Elaine offered to FAX a copy of the signed contract to Rev. Walker.

B.                 Acting Clerk: Motion 09-04: Barb Petersen moved to appoint David Williams to the position Acting Clerk of the Board of Directors as of February 3, 2009 until the next annual congregational meeting . Motion seconded by Rhandi Carter. Motion passed unanimously.

VI.              Reports

A.                 Moderator: Rev. Miller reported that she was just getting settled and learning names. She also reported that it felt good to be at TMCC.

B.                 Vice-Moderator: Rhandi C. distributed a written report (attached). Motion 09-05: Elaine H. moved that Rhandi C. be granted a medical leave from her BOD position as of February 10, 2009 and extending 4 to 6 weeks as needed. Motion seconded by Barb P. Motion passed unanimously. Elaine agreed to serve as interim contact person for the church email groups

C.                 Clerk: David W. reported that 47 persons were on the active membership list. David will distribute a list to BOD members for review and verification.

D.                 Directors-at-large: No report

E.                  Treasurer: Elaine distributed a written summary of income and expenses for January 2009 together with the fund balances at the end of January (copy attached). She also reported that she is working on getting letters to persons showing their contributions for 2008 tax purposes. Rhandi C. expressed her appreciation to Elaine and to CJ Merrill for their efforts especially as we transitioned from one treasurer to another.

VII.            Old Business

A.                 Leak Repair Update: Judy Raymond has completed the repairs to the office roof. She donated her time and materials for the repair. David W. sent a card of appreciation and Barbara H. and Barbara C. took Judy and her partner to dinner to further express appreciation. Nita W. reported that another leak had recently been detected on the south porch roof of the social hall. This new leak was referred to Building and Grounds for the next work day, February 21.

B.                 TMCC Bank Account – New Signature Cards: Elaine H. reported that new signature cards had been completed with Elaine H., Nita W., Rhandi C. and David W. authorized to sign checks. Motion 09-06: Elaine Henjum moved that the Board of Trinity MCC specify that the same people who have signature on the checking account (Bank of America) will also have signature on the savings account. Specifically that Elaine Henjum, Nita White, David Williams and Rhandi Carter be authorized to access the savings account as persons authorized to do business with the bank (Bank of America) for Trinity Metropolitan Community Church of Gainesville, Florida. Motion seconded by Barbara Petersen. Motion carried unanimously.

C.                 Lighting Update: Nita W. reviewed for those present the unreliability of the ceiling fixture in the pastor’s office. CJ Merrill stated that Building and Grounds would replace the fixture during the next work day. Estimates for the replacement were in the $29 to $39 range. It was noted that $500 had been previously authorized for maintenance and repairs (December 14, 2008 BOD Meeting Minutes). A sum of $313 remained unspent from that authorization; therefore, no additional authorization for replacement expenses was needed. Barbara H. and Barbara C. completed a list of light switch locations and provided the list to Nita W. Elaine H. and Nita W. requested Barbara H. and Barbara C. make labels for the light switches and guide interested persons in a “walk-through” orientation so that switches might be easily located.

D.                 Membership of Standing Committees: David W. reminded the Board that the Standing Committees are the Finance Committee, Bylaws Committee, and Nominating Committee and that some committees may have vacancies that need to be filled. He also pointed out that we also have a Transition Team that may need to be in place for some period of time. Nita W. stated that the Finance Committee that was put into place last fall was specifically appointed to propose the 2009 budget and that a committee should be in place to work throughout the year. There was much discussion about the need to review progress toward meeting current budget, congregational review of the budget 6 months into the fiscal year as provided for in the motion to adopt the budget (Congregational Meeting Minutes November 16, 2008), and what the process should be for such a review. It was suggested that the Finance Committee would do a review and present it to the BOD at the June business meeting, the BOD would seek additional input at a congregational forum and then propose budget amendments at a special congregational meeting if necessary. There was also much discussion of the Pledge Campaign in relationship to the budget. See Item H. below. Because this committee needs to be reappointed, Elaine H., Treasurer and liaison to the Committee, will recruit interested persons to serve. Nita W. will place a notice in the Sunday bulletin and in ETalk.

                                    The Bylaws Committee was newly constituted in the fall with 3    members who will continue to serve for 2 years. Members are                                          David W., Barbara C. and Laurel L.

            The Nominating Committee has 2 vacancies. Mike S. was elected in the
                                               fall, but there were no other candidates for the other positions. These
                           vacancies will need to be filled by election at a special meeting of the
                                     congregation and could be included on the agenda of a special meeting in   July.

E.                  Internet Service Update: Elaine asked what is the timeline for needing internet access at the church. It was suggested that it would be better to take advantage of rates and contracts that are available at the time services is needed and would be used. This item will be revisited at such a time as an interim pastor needs internet service at the church.

F.                  Accounting Service for Reporting Employee Taxes Update: While a specific service has not yet been identified, Elaine H. has been in contact with Stephanie G. Travis at One Source Accounting. She reports that this accounting service appears to be qualified and advertises within the community. Cost estimates range from $50 to $75 per quarter, but a final estimate including a part-time temporary pastor has not been received. Elaine will seek more information and report back to the BOD.

G.                 Technology/Webpage support update: Elaine reported that with the donation of an external hard drive, she has been able to backup church computer files both onsite and offsite. She further reported that she will load Quicken software on the church computer which will enable backing up database locally. Current backup is on DellDataSafe online. Elaine also reported on efforts to update our webpage support. By way of background, the service that was hosting our website was sold, immediate payment was demanded, and TMCC chose not to continue the service. The person with whom TMCC had a contract to build a new website “on time available basis” does not have the time. TMCC owns the domain http://mccgainesville.com/, which expires 2014. The domain is registered with GoDaddy.com. Elaine accessed and changed contact names and email updates to her name instead of the defunct RevPaul email address. Elaine created Temporary FREE site http://sites.google.com/site/trinitymcc/ to provide web access to basic information until a permanent site could be obtained. Attempts to forward hits to http://mccgainesville.com/ to the temporary site have not yet been successful. Following up on a suggestion by Kathy Gambrell, Elaine also spoke with Daniel Yerdon about creating a permanent TMCC website. He created the site for Ocala Pride (www.lgbtocala.com). He has been very helpful and is willing to work with us. The cost estimate for a site similar to Ocala Pride is no more than $300. He works with the software iWeb, which can only update to files hosted on .mac site. He would set up the site, but not maintain it. We would have to have someone with Mac capability to maintain the site. Following discussion, board members expressed a desire to continue the search for support. Elaine agreed to talk to other people to see if there is something available that we can maintain ourselves. Barbara Grimes offered to request information from Spirit of Life MCC as to what they use. Nita W. will summarize our need in ETalk.

H.                 Pledge Campaign: Elaine reported that 11 of 15 cards were returned with pledges of $17,140 for the year. A second mailing has not yet been done. Carol question the relationship between the budget and pledges. The projected income for 2009 is $81,500, while pledges to date are $17,140. Madine R. expressed a need to include the spiritual aspects of tithing in pledge campaign messages. Barbara P. suggested making another announcement and placing an item in the bulletin. Motion 09-07: Rhandi C. moved that Elaine announce the pledge campaign at Sunday worship service and complete a second mailing. She further moved that announcements be placed in the bulletin and ETalk and that Rev. Miller include the pledge campaign in a sermon. Motion was seconded by Barbara P. Motion carried unanimously. Nita W. requested Elaine H. give her the written statement for ETalk and the bulletin pertaining both to the pledge campaign and the recruitment for the Finance Committee.

I.                    Ash Wednesday Arrangements: Barbara G. stated that the service has been announced for 7:00 pm, February 25. Larry B. will provide music and ashes will be available. No sermon is planned. It was noted that choir practice will need to change starting time.

J.                   Shawn Thomas Visit: Shawn is expected to visit and sing during worship service. His participation in the service will need to be coordinated with Laurel. Shawn’s compensation will consist only of a love offering and a place to sell his CDs.

K.                Transition Team: Barbara Grimes has resigned from the team. Remaining members include Barbara H., Linda L. and Nita W. Motion 09-08: Rhandi C. moved that Mike Schanuel be added to the team. Motion seconded by Barbara P. Motion carried unanimously. Nita W. agreed to contact Rev. Margaret Walker concerning direction for the team and to convene a team meeting.

VIII.         New Business

A.                 Church Calendar: The BOD will meet Sunday, February 15 after worship service to plan the calendar for the remainder of the year. Rhandi C. will send a rough calendar to BOD members in preparation for the meeting.

B.                 Event/Workshop March 7: Rev. Miller is scheduled to be here March 7 and requested suggestions as to how that time might be best used to move the congregation forward. A possibility would be to have a workshop looking at our history, assessing where we are, where we want to go. Barbara P. suggested one-on-one appointments with Rev. Miller might be needed by some people. Rev. Miller said she could meet with people privately before March 7. A morning educational meeting with afternoon appointments was also suggested. Rev. Miller will continue to develop ideas for the day.

C.                 Large Print Hymnals: A request has been received for a large print hymnal. Two large print versions were purchased when a supply of the current hymnal was obtained. A large print copy was located in the office and no further action was needed on this item.

D.                 Rev. Delores Berry Visit: Rev. Miller announced that Rev. Berry would be in Florida and available to sing and conduct service on March 22, a day that Rev. Miller will not be available to preach. Rev. Berry requests a love offering and a hotel room. Madine R. offered to cover the expense of a hotel room. Motion 09-09: David W. moved that the church guarantee a minimum love offering of $300. Elaine H. seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.

Adjourn: There being no further business to come before the Board, Rev. Miller adjourned the meeting with prayer at 2:35 pm.

Contact: gmail.com@trinitymcc
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