ALL SOULS COMMUNITY CHURCH OF WEST MICHIGAN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES

 

April 18, 2007

Members present: Tom Van Dragt, Mike Arents, John Belaski, Dan Schneider, Elaine Eldridge, Jon Waalkes, Suzie MacKeigan, Jen Hall, David Soet, and Dr. Brent Smith.

Members absent: Herman Sullivan, Gordon Arnold, Ursula Williams

Guests present: Chad Coffman, Michele Lussky

Opening Words – Tom Van Dragt

Introductory Functions

      A. Minutes from the March 2007 BOT meeting.

              Minutes were not available

      B. Agenda items for this meeting were reviewed

      C. Times were established to complete Agenda within two hours.

      D. Assignments for this meeting:

                       Action Item Recorder – Dan Schneider

                       Timekeeper – Jen Hall

                       Process Observer – John Belaski

Financial – Report from the Vice President-Finance –

      A. Investment fund balance over $74000. There has been a shift in investments to funds and a $10000 certificate of deposit.

      B. Special collections have been transferred into a money market fund.

      C. Expenses YTD and pledges YTD are both running behind forecast.

      D. Major fixed summer expenses of UUA dues and Heartland district dues are coming in the next few months as well as the summer minister expenses. There is a need to increase and manage cash flow to cover these expenses.

Organizational

      A. Report from the Minister, Dr. Brent Smith

      - Rev. Chip Roush will be installed in the Traverse City

                    B. Report from President, Tom Van Dragt

          1. No report

      C. Report from Vice-President of Programs, Ursula Williams

          2. A Program Board meeting is planned for Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 9:30 AM at Ahavas.

          3. Community Life is planning to have Kosher Cheese, Cracker and Fruit refreshments for the Congregational meeting May 6, 2007.

          4. The All Souls Picnic is planned for June 10, 2007 location to be announced.

          5. Please note: no one is to be in the building at Ahavas on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 and Thursday, May 24, 2007. That means no meetings and no Choir practice. Programs have been notified.

          6. Pastoral Care - the Pastoral Care Committee has resigned.

              o Ursula has tried to reorganize the Committee by putting an announcement in the Weekly Expression in the last 2 weeks.

Old Business

      A. Report from Chad Coffman

          1. Chad is resigning from the role of bookkeeper at the end of May, 2007

          2. Observations provided by Chad Coffman

          3. Check request procedures

          We need improved check request procedures—cash flow problems mean we cannot always respond promptly to requests to cut checks.

                           The person with the authority to okay checks should cut the check.

       

        • 1. Cash flow/Budget

          • Reinstitute the practice of publicizing the budget—otherwise, members won’t know what we can or cannot spend

                           Program council should help program boards plan annual expenditures

                           [program council is convened by the Board of Trustees]

          Each program should have a detailed line-item budget (rather than a single lump-sum entry in the annual church budget)

          Track income ebbs and flows and develop cash flow plan based on that information

           

        • 2. Split responsibilities

                           Utilize the usher group for pledge tracking

                           Evaluate the check request flow

       

       

        • 3. Pledge Drive

                           Start the pledge drive earlier.

                           Ask for monthly rather than annual pledges.

       

        • 4. End of year zero balance

          • Planning to conclude the year (December 31) with a zero dollars in the budget is financially unreasonable and irresponsible. We will always need money available on December 31 to meet the expenses of beginning of the year.

        • 5. Special Collections

          • We must be more careful of our special collections. Plan carefully beforehand exactly what we are asking for and why, and disburse the collected money promptly.

          Measures have been undertaken to protect special collections money from the “robbing Peter to pay Paul” syndrome, but those monies are sitting unused.

           

        Safe Congregations Policy

            Draft of the policy was reviewed

            · The Safe Congregations Policy will be presented at the May congregational meeting

            · Questions on the definition of a ”vulnerable adult” and the clarification of the age of “youth” should be addressed.

C. Nominating committee

            Presented the BOT slate for 2007/2008

                o Tom VanDragt, President

                o Cindy Schneider, VP Programs

                o Jon Waalkes, VP Finance

                o Suzie MacKeigan, Secretary

                o Steve Compton, Trustee

                o Meribeth Nudelman, Trustee

                o Jock Ambrose, Trustee

New Business:

BOT leadership retreat planned for June 9th. (Since changed to June 2nd)

Action Items:

        1. Dan Schneider reported on action items.

      Action Item: David Soet will work on financial statements with additional note on the bottom about coming expenses.

      Action Item: Mike Arents to post the Safe Congregations FAQ to the website and link to the weekly expression.

      Action Item: John and Tom to submit questions to Mike to add to the FAQ list. Tom

      Action Item: Tom will send comments on Safe Congregations to the BOT

       

Closing Words - Dr. Rev. Brent Smith

Next meeting:

Wednesday, May 16th, 7pm at Ahavas

 

Respectfully submitted,

Jon Waalkes, Board Secretary

All Souls Community Church of West Michigan