Draft minutes
Present: Josh Gormley (Council President), Phil Haslanger (Pastor), Janine Bessemer, Jacy Boldebuck, Sarah Fritz, Jan Klawitter, Jeanne Prueher, Betsy Robbins, Damon Smith.
Pastor Phil opened the meeting by asking each Council member to tell something good from their summer.
Josh Gormley asked for approval of the June 9, 2015 Council meeting minutes. Jan Klawitter made the motion to approve the minutes and Damon Smith seconded the motion. Motion passed.
FINANCIAL REPORT: Pastor Phil gave the financial report. July financials look great. Pledges continue to come in over budget. Endowment Fund has a balance of $7,353. Josh Gormley asked for a motion to approve the financial report. Jan Klawitter made the motion and Sarah Fritz seconded it. Motion passed.
TRUSTEES REPORT: Jacy Boldebuck gave the Trustee’s report and indicated the Trustee’s approved the replacement of an air conditioning unit for $4,500 and other units have been assessed. Mikos Pitas is progressing on his Eagle Scout project of creating a path and building benches.
PASTOR’S REPORT: Pastor Phil will be having a memorial service for Diane Hust’s daughter, Ally, age 30. He was at a memorial service for Erv Pauley who was a long time member of MUCC. Pastor Phil and Jan Klawitter attended the Wisconsin Conference UCC annual meeting in June. The Wisconsin Conference Church Development and Renewal Committee has named Dean Baumgardner as its new Chairman. There were 15 riders on our team for the Boys/Girls Bike Ride in July – 10 from MUCC and 5 from Zion City International Church. They raised a total of $3,425. Four new members will be received into MUCC on August 23. There were two new members received earlier this summer. Pastor Phil indicated a group of clergy met at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church regarding issues around race. There will be a Fitchburg Faith and City leaders meeting in October regarding race issues. Pastor Phil read a thank you from Paula Haseman for the use of our sanctuary for a concert.
FAITH FORMATION DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Sarah Fritz gave the report for Rebecca Malke. Summer Sunday School has had a good attendance averaging 8-10 kids per Sunday. Rebecca found teachers for each Sunday, either two adults or one adult and one teen helper. Rebecca credited Jann Veloff for doing a wonderful job with Vacation Bible School for ages 3-9 with good attendance of 31 kids, the total attending for the week, not each day. All families, along with visitors of VBS, were given the new 2015-16 brochure, along with a welcome letter from Rebecca along with a registration form and calendar for September 13, 2015 – January 31, 2016 detailing Sunday school and church events. Rebecca has four teachers secured for the school year, but she needs additional teachers. The goal is to have three per classroom, so the teachers can rotate. Grades are: 4K-1st, 2nd-4th, and 5th-7th grade. Confirmation will begin in the fall as well. Ellen Reuter and Rebecca completed their second Animate class and the summer class proved to be a good idea. Sixteen people signed up with an average of ten/twelve in attendance each week. Surveys were handed out, plus emailed with positive reviews returned for each class. An adult ed class is possible for the fall. SPIFFY (Supportive Partners in Interfaith Faith Formation for Youth) meeting was held and a number of Directors of Faith Development in the area (Rebecca included) indicated OWL (Our Whole Lives) training was hard to come by. Orchard Ridge UCC will be hosting a training for two OWL sessions (grades 7-9 and 10-12) Friday, August 21 – Sunday, August 23. John Rosch from MUCC will be joining Rebecca there. There will be a “Back to Sunday School” party at the Goodman Aquatic Center in Verona on Sunday, August 30th at 2:00 PM. This is a public pool which is part of the Jewish Federation in Madison. It is a lovely outdoor pool with a Noah’s Ark-themed playground. This event will be open to the entire congregation, so everyone will get excited about Sunday School and also help reconnect those who have been away most of the summer.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Faith Development: Sarah Fritz had no additional to report due to the above report she gave for Rebecca.
Adult Programming: Janine Bessemer indicated Al Krug will head up the Grill Out on September 27, 2015. The Silent Auction will be held on November 8 and the chairman is Celia Kiela. Stewardship Sunday is also on November 8, Janine still is looking for a chair for Adult Programming.
Membership: Jeanne Prueher announced a new members party will be held on August 23, 2015 at Bonnie Van Overbeke’s club house. The Council and Membership Committee will provide dessert or wine. A Mission Statement has been received from Bonnie dated June 20.
Outreach: Jan Klawitter announced the Outreach Committee will meet on September 6. Chris Rode has joined the committee. Jan indicated the loose plate offering varies from month to month. The highest amount contributed so far was to East High School students for their trip to Kenya. The next loose plate offering will be to Luke House on August 23.
Worship: Betsy Robbins indicated the Worship Committee will meet Aug. 25 regarding plans for the fall, Advent and Christmas. She also announced new decor is under considering for the entryway to the sanctuary.
Building and Grounds: Damon Smith indicated the committee had a long meeting on July 9. A decision was made by an email vote to replace an air conditioner unit for $4,500 versus just the compressor for $3,000. An additional $1,400 went for repairs of other existing air conditioning units. H & H has been hired for annual checks and maintenance of the air conditioning units. The tower lights on the SE wing are being inspected for electrical issues. Dean Baumgardner and John Van Overbeke worked on facia on the exterior and replaced rotten wood. David Ast is working on parking lot estimates as future work needs to be done. The committee also held a discussion of adding concrete pads for the dumpsters. The committee is investigating a suggestion to paint the trim around windows and doors. Damon indicated the cap on the front church sign is rotting. Jay Schad is investigating solar lighting for the church sign. The top of the deck is leaning away from the building. Jay Schad is looking into this project. Mikos Pitas is progressing on his Eagle Scout project. He is building five benches for meditation in the memorial tree area. The committee is also looking at trees for strategic removal to make room for additional memorial trees. The trees removed are shredded into mulch and that mulch is used around the memorial trees.
OLD BUSINESS:
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS:
Josh Gormley announced that a Centennial Committee will be formed as MUCC will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the church on June 10, 2017. The Executive Committee has met with ideas, but the Centennial Committee will generate a set of ideas and structure.
Josh Gormley asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Jacy Boldebuck made the motion to adjourn.
Minutes submitted by Jan Dunaway, Recording Secretary