Grace Community Church Council Meeting Minutes 6/11/2013 Attending: Blain Harris (Elder Rep.), Susie Futrell, Guy Basso, Dave Bertolini, Kristie Taylor, Jim Cross, LaVern Fast Guest: Heather Seals, Nursery Director Absent: Mike Holsapple, Hugh Genualdi, Daniel Porter Pastor Dave opened with prayer. May minutes were approved. Nursery Request Heather Seals Heather asked for consideration in purchasing a changing table for the 2-yr-old room. She researched options and is recommending one that is currently on sale for $195 off original price. The total cost plus shipping would be $655.53. There is a need for a heavier-duty changing table that can support heavier toddlers, and the desired design has stairs on the side so older, heavier children can get up on it themselves without nursery staff having to lift them. Currently, Heather is under budget in salaries by about $1000 and asked to reallocate that money for this purchase. She also requested consideration in purchasing a 2 nd table for the 1-yrold room. If she chose the same table model, there would be additional savings of $50 for buying two. There isn t an immediate need for a table in a 1-yr-old room, but the current table will likely need replacing within a year or so. It wouldn t necessarily need to be this model with the stairs though. Blain made a motion to reallocate up to $700 of the nursery salary budget to support the purchase of a changing table for the 2-yr-old room as requested. The motion passed.
Council recommended that Heather hold-off on purchasing a table for the 1-yr-old room at this time. Report on Action items from last meeting Replacing Glass Doors Action: Mike will follow-up to get a cost-quote. Update: Mike is absent, but Blain reported that Mike did speak to Dallas Glass for a cost quote. It would be about $2500-$2600 for two doors with panic bars. Half of the cost has already been donated, and the other half will be put forward to the congregation as a need. Susie made a motion that we proceed in replacing the 2 glass doors with an estimated cost of $2600. The motion was passed. Action: The Pastors will address the congregation to request the needed funds. The purchase will be made after all funds are raised. Reporting functions missing from accounting system Action: Daniel will look into the reporting functions and see if it can be addressed. Update: Daniel discovered that the reporting functions were present in the existing system, and more reports are beginning to be produced for review. Christian College Scholarship Fund Action: Jim will work with the Elders to develop a scholarship account and student eligibility criteria.
Update: A draft procedure has been submitted to the Elders for approval. Sanctuary Chair Purchase Action: Pastor Dave will work with the donor on submitting the chair order which will include several chairs with arm rests. Update: Chairs have been ordered. The Chairs are to ship by July 11. The church which previously showed interest in our pews is no longer interested. The Dallas Ministerial Association communicated the available pews to the local faith community via email, but we have heard of no additional interest. Council decided to first make pews available for purchase by donation to congregation members then sell the remaining via word-of-mouth and Craigslist. Action: Pastor Dave will ask if Chuck will list the remaining pews on Craigslist. Action: Pastor Dave will look into contacting church furniture manufacturers to see if they might be interested as well. Facilities Report Hugh / LaVern The city will be doing some re-paving around town. LaVern has asked them for a bid to help repair the back access road and get some advice about diverting the water run-off. Chuck Baker submitted a few repair items for consideration. 1) The ballast in the hall by the nursery. He went ahead and repaired this.
2) The refrigerators in the youth house and fellowship hall are aging and malfunctioning. He recommended that Council consider replacing them. Action: Pastor Dave will check with Pastor Ben to assess the urgency of replacing the youth house refrigerator which seems to be in a more critical state. 3) The urinals in the boy s restroom on the 2 nd floor are leaking when flushed. Chuck has fixed this before and would recommend that a plumbing company take a look at them. Action: LaVern will assess the severity of the leak and decide how to proceed. 4) The large sink in the janitor closet has a hole in it, so it s not being used. Chuck was thinking it might be replaced with a shorter sink option. Costs to replace the sink would be minimal. Action: LaVern will talk to Chuck about the sink options. 5) Chuck also recommended that the interior of the church office be repainted, including the Senior Pastor s office in preparation of Pastor Dave moving in. The light fixtures also need to be updated. Hugh is already assessing fixtures throughout the facility for upgrades through EnergyTrust, and painting options are still being considered. LaVern reported that two custom brackets have been made for the air conditioning units and are ready to pick-up, but we actually need four of them. Action: LaVern will ask Hugh to order two more brackets for the A/C motors. Financial Report Jim Financial reports were reviewed. General fund offerings were down in May. We have an accumulated loss of about $15,000 in giving. We still have about
$16,000 on hand in operating funds, but we continue to be under budget for the year. Jim requested some help with the Budget Committee. The committee currently consists of Jim Cross, Blain Harris, Dave Bertolini, Daniel Porter, and Jodie Pearce. Jim asked for consideration in asking Julian Contreras to also participate on the Budget Committee. Julian has worked as an accountant for many years and would be highly qualified and valued on the committee. Jim made a motion to appoint Julian Contreras to the Budget Committee. The motion passed. Tech Team Report Daniel No report. New Business Pastor Guy reported that several things have been stolen throughout the church. Pastor Dave reported that thing are also getting broken, moved, disturbed, left on, left open,. just many strange things occurring. Pastor Dave recommended recruiting a team of men to come secure the building at a designated time each evening. Council agreed this would be a wise idea. There was also discussion about installing video surveillance in key areas. Action: LaVern will research wireless video surveillance options. Action: Pastor Dave will work on recruiting a team of volunteers to help secure the building during the week. Susie reported that Myron Kliewer s small group would like to clean-up and beautify the area on the south side of the modular. Council previously approved this request for Mike Holsapple, and we understand that Mike has been in communication with Myron
about his group completing the work. Myron has asked for help in purchasing a unit of bark dust. Council approved the work but recommended that Myron check into other bark dust options, such as Trees, Inc. (Tony), before funds will be approved. Action: Susie will inform Myron of the approval for the landscaping work and the recommendation about the bark dust. The church utility trailer was stolen a few years ago, and the church received an insurance settlement for it. The trailer has now been found, but we need to decide whether or not to purchase the trailer back for its current value. Jim made a motion to authorize Ken Stoller to offer up to $1000 to buy the trailer. The motion passed. Action: Blain will notify Ken of the decision to offer up to $1000 for the purchase of the trailer. Pastor Guy and Pastor Dave recently heard a presentation indicating that, with our culture today, there is a large demographic which only uses plastic to make payments. They don t commonly carry cash and don t use checks. Therefore, if we aren t offering a method for card payment, such as a kiosk or text gifts, we could be missing some of our potential givers. Churches that have installed kiosks for card payments have seen increases in giving. Kiosks can also be utilized for targeted giving toward registrations, events, or special projects and causes. Action: Pastor Dave will research card payment options and costs. The Congregational Budget Meeting was set for Sunday, August 25, at 5:00 which would mean that the proposed 2013-2014 budget should be made available for congregational review by August 11. Council also set a congregational question-and-answer meeting regarding the budget on Tuesday, July 23, at 6:30. Next Meeting July 9, 6:30 pm.
Pastor Guy closed in prayer.