Dear Central Family:
I hope that your week is going well, and you are seeing God’s presence active in your life. I wanted to give you two important reminders:
First, I hope that you will be with us on Sunday for worship, as we begin our journey through the book of Mark. I am excited about our opportunity to gradually work through this great gospel to understand together the stories, miracles, and teaching of Jesus, so that the statement from Ephesians 3 that “Jesus is our peace,” can become a reality. This week, we will be talking about “preparing the way,” both John the Baptist style, and 21st century style. I hope you and your family will plan to be there.
Second, under the Church Council’s direction, 3 changes were made to the notes from the communication meeting for the purpose of clarification. The revised version is attached to this email. The first change is under the heading for “ministerial needs,” and the change is in the sentence that now says, “In this motion, an amount equal to 10% of Sonny and Linda’s salaries would be set aside.” This change is made to clarify that this is not just a directive that Sonny and Linda are required to take 10% of their current salaries for retirement, but instead reflects the recommendation from Church Council to make an increase in their salary package. (Remember that the percentage increase has been dropped from 10% to 7%, to include all full-time employees. The second change is in the same section, but adds on to the sentence that begins with, “Mike O’Sullivan stated that there was enough…” and adds on the following words, “but this point is not binding.” These words were added to reflect that this was Mike O’Sullivan’s statement, but because it was not voted on, or recommended to the Church Council to consider it as part of the motion. The third change is that we added a heading for the conclusion of the notes, to clarify that the recommendations made by the church to the church council were not part of the discussion about investment, but were the “takeaways” assigned to the Council to consider.
Please remember two important things with these changes. First, because these are the notes from a communication meeting, and not the official minutes from a church conference, these are really points of clarification, not changes to the church’s record. Second, because the motion has changed due to the church council’s consideration of the points in the last paragraph of these notes, The numbers discussed have been changed according to the changes in the motion, i.e., the annual amount required to include all four full time employees.
Finally, remember that the official vote on this motion will be this Sunday following worship. I look forward to seeing you there.
Sonny
Minutes from the Communications Meeting
12:00 p.m., July 29, 2018
Sonny Gallman opened the meeting with a prayer
Moderator: Laura Cason pointed out that the package folks received was put together by the Church Coordinating Council.
Trustees’ Report:
Ken Bryant thanks Keith Schmitt for his help in his absence due to health issues and turned the mike over to him. Keith stated that the camp fund balance is $325,835.71. There were no questions.
Building & Grounds:
Sylvia Meincke reported that the hurricane repairs were slow and had not been made properly. She stated that the company Serv Pro had to stop work and that we are working to cancel the contract. We will be working on retrieving approximately 1/2 of the payment they received from us. We have another contractor ready to take over. She apologized for the inconvenience the repairs have caused church members. She further stated that because of the insurance payment, Central will be able to complete other renovations that have been badly needed for years.
After checking with the insurance company and legal counsel, it has been determined that any money not needed for actual hurricane repairs belongs to the church to spend however the members decide. Sylvia said that the amount of cost shown on the church proposal could be covered by the insurance money easily.
She thanked the members for their patience during the repairs.
Regarding the workday 14 people were at the church. Much was accomplished and there is more to be done.
Overview of Council Process:
Sonny Gallman gave an overview of how the Church Council, which consists of all committee leaders and the treasurer, and the ministers came up with the items in the proposal. First, each Committee Chair and Minister was to make a list.
A – Critical, really need to be done
B – Need to be done, but not as urgent
C – The wish list
Council members came up with rough estimates of cost after researching the items. We then pared down the list into three categories:
Ministerial Needs:
Marty summarized Stewardship Committee discussions about retirement benefits, including a recent meeting with someone from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Laura commented that the ministry would always be here and needed to be supported. In this motion, an amount equal to 10% of each of Sonny and Linda’s salaries would be set aside for retirement, with 1/3 of that to go to life and disability insurance as recommended by CBF, consulted for their expertise since they have so many churches that they have worked with.
Questions were raised about using the camp money for a retirement fund. Mike O’Sullivan stated that there is enough interest from the payment to cover the cost of the retirement benefits, but this point was not binding. It was also stated that the ministers could add to the fund, which according to CBF needs to be in each of their names, but administered by the church.
Physical Plant: Sylvia Meincke spoke to those needs: Resurfacing the back parking lot, because tree roots have raised it in places and repairing the broken concrete areas in the east parking lot are safety issues. Video Security Monitor System will record activities on the outside of the building and do not need a system monitoring company.
Electrical work and lighting toward the back of the sanctuary and projector and screen for the back of the sanctuary are also needed, for safety and for all choir members to be able to can see the monitor. The current monitor is a safety concern because it’s location makes it possible for someone to trip on it.
Keith Schmitt spoke to air conditioner issues, sharing that two condensers had to be replaced as well as one machine that had failed recently. The ongoing project will include mandatory drawings for air conditioner replacement in the Marchman Building.
Investment: Sonny Gallman spoke about the plans for investing the camp sales amount, mentioning that CBF has been consulted. Keith Schmitt told that Vangard might be another possible option. The church council did not have further information at this time.
In conclusion, the Church Council was asked to amend themotion to include retirement benefits for all full time employees and to change the ballot to allow line item voting. Sonny would poll the Church Council to consider the requests.
The meeting was adjourned with a prayer.