FUMC Board of Trustees
First United Methodist Church of Lawrence, KansasFriday, February 8, 2008
Minutes - January 26, 2008
First United Methodist Church
Minutes of the Board of Trustees
January 26, 2008
Attendees:
Bill Bartscher Susan Sloop Kent Ely
Caroline Jackson Sue Morgan Bob Rhoton
Rod Zinn Dan Abrahamson Phil Struble
Ex Officio: Roger Bain Carolyn Harden
The meeting was opened at 10:00 a.m. with a prayer by Susan Sloop. Introductions were made as this was the first meeting of the 2008 Board and new members were present.
Minutes – The November 18 Minutes were corrected to reflect Mid-Continental Restoration rather than Midwest as the vendor scheduled to do the stone maintenance in the spring. With that correction, the November and December Minutes were approved by consensus.
Election of Officers and Liaisons – The following persons were nominated:
Susan Sloop – Chair
Sue Morgan – Secretary
Phil Struble – Finance Committee Liaison
Bob Rhoton – Early Childhood Education Board Liaison
Kent Ely – Recreation Ministries Liaison
Bill Bartscher – Technology Liaison
Rod Zinn moved that this slate be approved; Kent Ely seconded and motion passed.
Meeting Dates and Times – It was agreed that the standing meeting time for 2008 will be the second Tuesday of each month @ 5:30 p.m. unless rescheduled by the group.
Gateway West LLC – A member has donated 4 Gateway units to the church. The Board must decide how to handle the liquidation of this gift. Phil/Rod moved/seconded that all 4 units.be sold as a block, that church members be informed that the units are for sale, and that a drawing be conducted to select one interested party to be the purchaser. Motion was approved.
An additional 5 acres of land in the northwest corner of the church property which were offered to Gateway by the church have been accepted for purchase by Gateway. Phil and Bob will take the lead in getting information regarding the need for a survey, County regulations relating to the sale, estimates of closing costs and how they should be split, etc. and report back to the Board.
Facility Use – Lots of groups want to use the west campus space. There seem to be a lot of different visions about the use and what the priorities should be. Sr. Pastor has suggested that Trustees take input from program and administrative committees regarding the vision for west campus use looking to the future. Another issue is Safe and Sacred requirements regarding children and youth as it applies to the use of west campus. Some of our space use makes it difficult to meet our own policies for safety of children and youth. Susan proposed that a letter be written to Council on Ministries and Administrative Board asking that they work with the committees in their respective areas to get input on the vision and priorities of west campus space use. Phil/Dan moved/seconded to support the proposal for Susan to write the letter. Motion was approved. The pending revision to Facility Use Policies will be tabled until this discussion is competed.
Facility Updates
Video Monitors – Video monitors are in. The only remaining work is to wire the choir monitor so that a video camera could be connected to it in the future.
Wesley KU Move to Room 104 – The move is complete. Computer hook-up is pending.
Lighting at West Campus – Exterior lighting is currently on a complicated digital timer. Building lights and parking lot lights cannot be programmed separately under the current wiring. For $420 we can have the system rewired so that the building and parking lights could be controlled separately. Also, bulb replacement for the exterior lights over the north entry and east door are very expensive due to $25 per bulb cost and need to have a boom go out to replace. Roger requested that the wiring change be approved and that he be authorized to get further information on how we might minimize lighting maintenance costs in the future. Board approved.
Walking Path Development – Susan could not get the grant package together to file by the January deadline for this year. She will pursue it for next year. Kent suggested Yvette Alphonse might be someone who could help with this.
Memorial Wish List – The list of memorial wish list projects submitted to the Trustees by the Endowment, Memorials and Scholarship Committee for approval need feasibility and cost information to be developed. The projects were assigned as follows:
Susan will look into Columbarium and Memorial Garden proposals.
Susan will send memo to Barb Clinger re: Labyrinth.
Kent will pursue “Fit-Trail” proposal with Recreation Committee.
Dan will get more information on tree types, cost and locations for west campus.
Dan will get cost figures and check city regulations regarding carillon.
Water feature at West Campus was removed from the list by consensus for cost and maintenance reasons.
Enclosure of Rooftop Playground was removed from the list by consensus due to cost and complexity.
Deferred Maintenance – The Senior Pastor has contacted the Trustees regarding 2008-2011 capital campaign goals and asked how much should be included for building deferred maintenance. A figure of $100,000 was proposed by the Pastor for discussion. Susan, Sue, Carolyn H. and Roger will serve as a sub-committee to update the deferred maintenance plan and come up with a figure. That information will be e-mailed to the rest of the Board members for approval.
Subcommittee Reports – Sue reported on Endowment, Memorials, Scholarship Committee activities. They are contacting all the families with memorial accounts this month to determine designations for the money. Scholarship team is starting to work on 2008 Senior High School Scholarship application notification letters. Notices for Endowment Earnings available for allocation this year will be going out in early March. Sue suggested that the Board of Trustees consider requesting endowment earnings to apply toward capital debt reduction.
Dan reported that the organ repairs identified in the first section of the organ maintenance plan are getting to the critical stage. He will talk to the Pastor about getting the money needed since the Pastor did not want the organ maintenance included in the deferred maintenance plan!
Other Business - Carolyn H. reported that the electrical installation for the two new dishwashers has not been paid by Jubilee Cafe and the Pastor has directed her to pay it. It is $1,700 and will be paid out of Maintenance budget, kitchen line item. She has asked Jubilee to pay the church back $300 per month until it is paid back. Board suggested that our Jubilee Café liaisons contact Jubilee Café staff to find out what their situation is and whether they have any oversight board or group at this time. If not, it may be that FUMC need to take a more active roll in program management.
Meeting was adjourned @ 12 p.m. The next meeting will be Tuesday, February 12 @ 5:30 p.m.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees
January 26, 2008
Attendees:
Bill Bartscher Susan Sloop Kent Ely
Caroline Jackson Sue Morgan Bob Rhoton
Rod Zinn Dan Abrahamson Phil Struble
Ex Officio: Roger Bain Carolyn Harden
The meeting was opened at 10:00 a.m. with a prayer by Susan Sloop. Introductions were made as this was the first meeting of the 2008 Board and new members were present.
Minutes – The November 18 Minutes were corrected to reflect Mid-Continental Restoration rather than Midwest as the vendor scheduled to do the stone maintenance in the spring. With that correction, the November and December Minutes were approved by consensus.
Election of Officers and Liaisons – The following persons were nominated:
Susan Sloop – Chair
Sue Morgan – Secretary
Phil Struble – Finance Committee Liaison
Bob Rhoton – Early Childhood Education Board Liaison
Kent Ely – Recreation Ministries Liaison
Bill Bartscher – Technology Liaison
Rod Zinn moved that this slate be approved; Kent Ely seconded and motion passed.
Meeting Dates and Times – It was agreed that the standing meeting time for 2008 will be the second Tuesday of each month @ 5:30 p.m. unless rescheduled by the group.
Gateway West LLC – A member has donated 4 Gateway units to the church. The Board must decide how to handle the liquidation of this gift. Phil/Rod moved/seconded that all 4 units.be sold as a block, that church members be informed that the units are for sale, and that a drawing be conducted to select one interested party to be the purchaser. Motion was approved.
An additional 5 acres of land in the northwest corner of the church property which were offered to Gateway by the church have been accepted for purchase by Gateway. Phil and Bob will take the lead in getting information regarding the need for a survey, County regulations relating to the sale, estimates of closing costs and how they should be split, etc. and report back to the Board.
Facility Use – Lots of groups want to use the west campus space. There seem to be a lot of different visions about the use and what the priorities should be. Sr. Pastor has suggested that Trustees take input from program and administrative committees regarding the vision for west campus use looking to the future. Another issue is Safe and Sacred requirements regarding children and youth as it applies to the use of west campus. Some of our space use makes it difficult to meet our own policies for safety of children and youth. Susan proposed that a letter be written to Council on Ministries and Administrative Board asking that they work with the committees in their respective areas to get input on the vision and priorities of west campus space use. Phil/Dan moved/seconded to support the proposal for Susan to write the letter. Motion was approved. The pending revision to Facility Use Policies will be tabled until this discussion is competed.
Facility Updates
Video Monitors – Video monitors are in. The only remaining work is to wire the choir monitor so that a video camera could be connected to it in the future.
Wesley KU Move to Room 104 – The move is complete. Computer hook-up is pending.
Lighting at West Campus – Exterior lighting is currently on a complicated digital timer. Building lights and parking lot lights cannot be programmed separately under the current wiring. For $420 we can have the system rewired so that the building and parking lights could be controlled separately. Also, bulb replacement for the exterior lights over the north entry and east door are very expensive due to $25 per bulb cost and need to have a boom go out to replace. Roger requested that the wiring change be approved and that he be authorized to get further information on how we might minimize lighting maintenance costs in the future. Board approved.
Walking Path Development – Susan could not get the grant package together to file by the January deadline for this year. She will pursue it for next year. Kent suggested Yvette Alphonse might be someone who could help with this.
Memorial Wish List – The list of memorial wish list projects submitted to the Trustees by the Endowment, Memorials and Scholarship Committee for approval need feasibility and cost information to be developed. The projects were assigned as follows:
Susan will look into Columbarium and Memorial Garden proposals.
Susan will send memo to Barb Clinger re: Labyrinth.
Kent will pursue “Fit-Trail” proposal with Recreation Committee.
Dan will get more information on tree types, cost and locations for west campus.
Dan will get cost figures and check city regulations regarding carillon.
Water feature at West Campus was removed from the list by consensus for cost and maintenance reasons.
Enclosure of Rooftop Playground was removed from the list by consensus due to cost and complexity.
Deferred Maintenance – The Senior Pastor has contacted the Trustees regarding 2008-2011 capital campaign goals and asked how much should be included for building deferred maintenance. A figure of $100,000 was proposed by the Pastor for discussion. Susan, Sue, Carolyn H. and Roger will serve as a sub-committee to update the deferred maintenance plan and come up with a figure. That information will be e-mailed to the rest of the Board members for approval.
Subcommittee Reports – Sue reported on Endowment, Memorials, Scholarship Committee activities. They are contacting all the families with memorial accounts this month to determine designations for the money. Scholarship team is starting to work on 2008 Senior High School Scholarship application notification letters. Notices for Endowment Earnings available for allocation this year will be going out in early March. Sue suggested that the Board of Trustees consider requesting endowment earnings to apply toward capital debt reduction.
Dan reported that the organ repairs identified in the first section of the organ maintenance plan are getting to the critical stage. He will talk to the Pastor about getting the money needed since the Pastor did not want the organ maintenance included in the deferred maintenance plan!
Other Business - Carolyn H. reported that the electrical installation for the two new dishwashers has not been paid by Jubilee Cafe and the Pastor has directed her to pay it. It is $1,700 and will be paid out of Maintenance budget, kitchen line item. She has asked Jubilee to pay the church back $300 per month until it is paid back. Board suggested that our Jubilee Café liaisons contact Jubilee Café staff to find out what their situation is and whether they have any oversight board or group at this time. If not, it may be that FUMC need to take a more active roll in program management.
Meeting was adjourned @ 12 p.m. The next meeting will be Tuesday, February 12 @ 5:30 p.m.
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