Members Present: Mike Arents, Gordon Arnold, John Belaski, Dennis Benoit, Elaine Eldridge, Teri Hopkins, Dan Schneider, David Soet, Jackie Vines, Ursula Williams.

Absent: Herman Sullivan, Jen Schpiro, Rev. Brent A. Smith

II. Introductory Functions (Mike Arents)

Review minutes of December 4, 2005 and congregational meeting minutes of December 11, 2005; approved with changes.

Review and approve this agenda.

Develop times needed to complete this agenda in time available.

Appoint action item recorder, process observer, and time keeper. Dennis Benoit was action item recorder, Dan Schneider served as time keeper.

III. Financial. Report from the Vice-President of Finance (David Soet)

Monthly financials/Finance Committee Update. November and December 2005 financials were reviewed and approved. The year finished in the black so we end the year on a positive note. The Finance Committee is composed of David Soet, Dennis Benoit and John Belaski. They are in the process of reviewing current investments and considering changes and will be meeting in the next week or two to make some decisions relative to this.

B. 2006 Budget Revisions. The following changes and additions were made to the 2006

budget: Changed RE Coordinator from $11,000 to $13,000. Changed RE Child

Care, Early Childhood from $6,000 to $4,000. Added $1,500 to advertising. Added

$1,000 to music program. Added $500 to Covenant Groups. Added $640 to

Newcomers. Added $1,000 to Adult Education. Established a new Contingency

Fund with $554.

We had a discussion about the Covenant Board/Roots books. The funds from the sale

of the books had been, through a misunderstanding, placed in the general fund. We

are now establishing an expense line item for $500 to cover the printing of those

books. It will be self replacing with the sale of the books as groups are initiated. We

also added an expense item of $925 for the television program. We also added $250

to the Christmas Eve line item.

Report from the Minister (Brent Smith)—Read into the minutes. A discussion ensued. Basically, reiterating an idea that Brent champions that our money should follow our mission. We see evidence of that in our many social action projects. Also, there was discussion about the Boards being able to raise money on their own for specific projects. It is our objective to make clear to the various Boards that we allocate all the available funds from the pledge drives and beyond that, if they have needs, they can raise additional funds to accomplish their objectives. The only stipulation is that they run it past the Board so we can coordinate such activities to eliminate conflict and overlap.

Report from the President, Board of Trustees (Mike Arents)—Jackie Vines volunteered to represent the Board of Trustees on the Fundraising Committee and to solicit Community Life representatives because of their expertise with the silent auction. Teri Hopkins volunteered to ask Greg Hopkins to serve on the Fundraising Committee. [Note: Since this Board meeting, Greg Hopkins has agreed to not only serve but to be responsible for getting the group together. Community Life has provided two representatives: Nina Namaste and Cathie Benoit. Heather Williams has also agreed to serve.] A Nominating Committee will be established for next year’s Board of Trustees and Executive Committee. Dennis Benoit and Jackie Vines will participate in the Nominating Committee with input from other interested parties. Mike also discussed with the full Board the idea of improving communication to our church community including being clear on the relationship and differences between programs and finances. Mike urged people to be sure that they renewed or joined the Chalice Lighters program since it will be important for us if and when we look into a grant application to the UUA. David and Chad will work on developing quarterly pledge updates as a way of improving our pledge follow-through.

Report from the Vice-President of Programs (Ursula Williams)— After discussion by the Board, Ursula will determine where Adult Ed falls organizationally in conjunction with Roots, Newcomers and Covenant Groups and report on this at the next meeting. She will talk with Linda Mohney (AE), Brent (Roots), Shirley (Newcomers), Ruth (Covenant). Ursula also reported that the tri-fold bulletin board is still being checked on and we are still hoping to have it built soon for use in the lobby. She reported that Newcomers Board had only asked for $500 but had other costs and wanted additional dollars to cover them. The Music Board is looking at a fundraiser for a clavanova and they want to get permission to keep it in the sanctuary before we make a move to buy it. Mike and John will talk to Ahavas relative to that item when they meet with them. She also reported that the hall monitor role was extremely important to RE and her own experience with it was very positive and that included meeting new parents as they bring their children to church.

Heartland Training in Spring—John Belaski has made calls in relation to this but has not made a firm connection as of this point. He will continue to pursue it.

Social Action—Jackie reported that Jen and Chad want to distribute a survey about social action. It was the feeling of Chad and Jen that some people in the congregation want us to be more socially active. There was discussion in the Board about a potential misperception about the volume of social action. As we discussed it, it became apparent that while there is no “committee,” there is quite a range of social action going on throughout the church, including through Covenant and youth groups.

Site Committee Report (John Belaski)—The Site Committee has met and quite a range of activities are being undertaken, including teams that are checking out individual church sites as they become available. Another team is developing a timeline for activities and actions on the part of the Committee. Efforts are being made to look into UU resources as well as to discuss appropriate/effective real estate company assistance. Church Boards are being contacted to determine their needs in a facility and a survey or other means of sampling the general congregation is being developed.

As Me Signs—We need a volunteer to make a sign at which Board members can stand or have pins or some sort of tags identifying them as a person that can answer questions for congregants or newcomers. Dan Schneider agreed to pursue this.

 

Directory—An updated church community directory is being developed. Jackie will work on it with Chad and Chad will be taking photographs in the near future and will do so over a two week period.

Strategic Planning—It was agreed that strategic planning should be undertaken again. Dennis Benoit agreed to reconvene the 2003 Strategic Planning Committee members (Dennis Benoit, David Maxam, Jack Mohney, Jackie Vines) and work out an updating session agenda. We hope to be able to use the social hall at Ahavas. Mike and John will explore this in their meeting with Ahavas Board members.

VII. Reports from Action-Item Recorder. Dennis reviewed the action items.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:50 a.m.

Respectfully submitted.

John Belaski, Board Secretary

All Souls Community Church of West Michigan