February 14, 2019 Council Minutes

Trinity Lutheran Church
 
February 14th, 2019
 
Members present: Pastor Megan, Jeff Niedenthal, Sonia Liedman, Greg Jans, Brian Weseman, Janelle Johnson, David Martin
 
Council chairman Greg Jans declared a quorum and opened the meeting with Jeff reading devotions.
 
The agenda was approved
 
Reports:
 
The secretary’s report from January 10th, 2019 were read and approved.
The Minutes from the 2018 annual meeting were read and approved.
 
The treasurer’s report was read and approved. Sonia asked for a motion to put a council person on as a signer for the scholarship, checking, and savings accounts. Brian nominated Richard Larson and Jeff seconded the motion. All other signers will be removed.
Pastor Megan provided her report. She stated that despite the cold and adverse weather, we’ve had worship every Sunday. She has had a few visitations. A funeral was held for Lucille Sundahl and a Baptism for Hansel Sparks. She had a meeting with Green Lake Bible Camp to discuss Cole’s position and a decision was made to terminate his position at Trinity. There will be a pro-rated invoice and the amount of the balance due Trinity should cover the expenses for vacation Bible school 2019. We have 2 people signed up for Equipping Congregations workshops in Willmar. She also brought forward a discussion on the printer situation. A motion was made and approved for Pastor Megan to look for an Epson Eco-tank.
 
Maternity leave was discussed for Pastor Megan. July 28th is her due date. If all goes as planned, maternity leave will consist of 4 weeks paid, 2 weeks of paid vacation added to the end of the 4 week period, 1 week on call, tentative dates would be September 9th-15th, 1 week part-time on call, tentative dates of September 16th-23rd where she would preach, and return the end of September to full time status. During this time on call pastors will be planned and lay services most likely will be planned for the month on August. It was discussed that perhaps Sunday school will start later in September.
 
Christian Education report: Staffing was discussed. Jeff will cover Cole’s position for breakfast club.
 
Church properties report: Brian stated that our insurance provider wants to go over our electrical system at church and have it inspected. The furnace in Pastor’s office had the exhaust fan replaced and is now working properly. An update was provided by Greg on the repairs possibly needed for the stained-glass windows. It was suggested that we should perhaps set up a separate fund within the building fund for stain glass repair. Depending on what needs to be done,this could be a costly repair. Memorials from Lucille Sundahl will go towards window repair. Sonia is checking on prices to replace the main copier.
 
Organization and activities report: We will be having soup and sandwich dinners on the 5 Wednesday’s during Lent. The council will serve the first Wednesday, March 13th and we will be asking for volunteers for the rest. Sign-up sheets will be available during service. We will be doing tables of 8 again this year. Sign up will be in April.
 
Finance and stewardship report: Sonia explained her methodology of reporting the budget and financial reports both current and year to date.
 
Mission and outreach: Backpack collection will be mid-March by Dennis Brown.
 
Personnel report: Jeff will be speaking to Becky about having more consistent hours. Tuesday-Friday 10:30 to 4:30. Cole’s position has been terminated, as stated earlier in Pastor Megan’s report. Jeff will cover Breakfast club.
 
Worship, music and arts report: Greg will be meeting with his committee. Mary will continue to lead choir during her chemo treatments if she is able. We will be using Holden Evening Prayer for Lent services.
 
Old Business:
 
Storage room clean out is on-going.
 
Preparation for active shooter incident is on-going
 
Church driver program is on-going
 
Church Fire alarm system
 
Funeral policy creation is on-going
 
Installation of council members was cancelled due to weather. A new date needs to be chosen.
 
New Business:
 
Candidate for Youth and Family Ministry Position. Brian will be talking to a possible candidate.
 
Quality of our Sunday morning worship broadcast. Dave Martin will be talking to Tammi Tagtow about the quality of our tape and the quality of their broadcasting equipment.
 
There was no need to go into Executive Session
 
Meeting was adjourned with the Lord’s Prayer
 
Janelle Johnson, Secretary
 
** Minutes approved March 14, 2019 Regular Council Meeting **
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