Attendees: Rev. Lyn Plumb, Robert Laskey, Herb Bartlett, Sarah Edelson, Judy Robison, Oliver Easterwood, Claire Brown, Julie Schuck, Doug McCusker, Phil Runge, Sue Nerad, Marsha White
Meeting began at 7:35 pm with opening words read by Oliver.
Attendees shared joys and sorrows.
Mar 25 meeting minutes, version 2 as last distributed, were approved.
Member’s time: none
Calendar Update: May Calendar was passed around for changes.
Minister’s Report: Lyn had a very good meeting at the interim minister’s seminar. The last Right Relations class will be this Thursday. The Worship Service Task Force is meeting tomorrow night. A Membership Coordinator meeting is also tomorrow night. Lyn is winding down, but she will be happy to work on anything we need as long as she is here. We cannot ask the new called minister to do anything for us until he starts on Aug 15. Robert believes that Scott will be at the retreat with us in late August. The Pastoral Care Team and Lyn are talking about increasing their size because they are down to 3 active members. A Cedar Lane Pastoral Care Team Leader has been asked to do some training for the new members of our team, in conjunction with BRUU and Sterling church people. Lyn is coordinating this training.
DLE report: Sarah said that the Lifespan Education Committee is working on a lot for next year. The special meeting in April provided energy and thoughts, but more communication will go on as they move forward with any changes. Adult RE is winding down. Last SoupRE Sunday is this coming Sunday with only the Building Your Own Theology class. Mimi has one more discussion group planned and some movie nights are still going on. At JPD, Sarah led the Bridging program and we will have a bridging ceremony for our youth on May 18 which is RE Sunday. Sarah is hoping for progress on a grief reflection garden that the youth are working for a May 18 dedication.
Board report: The Board met April 8. The youth grief garden was proposed by Kitty and it was accepted. The 2008 delegates to GA – Sarah Edelson, Pete Fontneau, Judy Robison, and Doug McCusker were approved, with alternates Julie Floyd and Marsha White. First quarter financials are in good shape, so a part-time custodian has been put back in, as well as merit/COLA raises. The Board approved sponsoring earth scouts renting the building. All renters will be invited to join in clean up days. Invisible Towers is not responding to Todd’s messages, so we believe they are no longer interested. However, AT&T talked with Oliver (more on that later in this report). For fundraisers, we are still trying to get a day scheduled for the yard sale and Judy is working on the auction. We don’t want to impact the Spanish renters with the yard sale so we may do it on a Sunday in the July time frame. Details are still TBD. The Endowment Committee is working on a 30/30 challenge for the endowment fund. We are thinking of mounting a plaque for people who donate to the endowment fund. The money left over from the Ministerial Search Task Force may be used for other things, but the congregation will be notified because they made special donations specifically for that purpose. The installation of the minister has not been accounted for because that will be in next year’s budget. The president of JPD received a question on a listserve about volunteer management and a discussion ensued. He will hold a webinar (web information with simultaneous phone conference) on the topic of a volunteer coordinator on May 13 and 15 at 7 or 7:30 in the evening. Anyone can join in on this. Contact Doug McCusker or Robert Laskey for sign-up information.
Clustering Report: A shared ministry diagram was presented showing the relationships between the COOM, the BoT, the Committee Cluster, the congregation, and the professional staff. The old Ministerial Relations Committee (or Committee on Ministry) and the COOM have now been combined.
COOM: Celeste & Herb met with Rev Scott. There was some discussion of the merger of the COOM and the Committee on Ministry. He wants to identify his needs and the group will make sure they are met, which may require splitting the COOM meeting into two parts. The Worship Service Task Force is underway and Paulette is heading it up. The group will provide recommendations for what to do and for items that need further study. Herb asked Dick Robison to talk to the Task Force and identify MSTF concerns based on narrative comments they received from the congregation in the ministerial search survey.
Herb indicated he is receiving several narrative comments in response to the FYP Survey. He plans to have the COOM contact these people and discuss their comments to ensure the COOM has a clear understanding of comments.
Robert Laskey suggested changing the title of the FYP to the FY Focus Plan. Herb is open to changing the title but prefers Stategic Focus Plan. Herb will discuss changing the title at the next COOM meeting [5/14/08].
Faith Development: Julie distributed the Worship Calendar. Memorial Day will be a single service. Flower Communion Sunday is June 15, which is also Lyn’s last day, and it will be a single service with a potluck after it. Then the rest of the summer will be single services. There is no choir in the summer, so it will be removed from the worship calendar. The youth will not do a youth service this year. The Worship Committee does not want to delete a Sunday service for the sake of a yard sale, so further discussion will be needed on this.
The Lifespan Education Committee will meet on the 15th of May, probably at Julie’s new house. The summer RE program will be planned and final preparations will be made for RE Sunday and the forthcoming year of RE. Because of changes in RE in the past, the committee is considering a single offering of the RE curriculum program in the fall and they will present this plan, once finalized, to the parents in the congregation. Sue asked them to consider running Adult RE programs during a Sunday service in the freed-up classrooms. During services, other activities would be available for child care, but the structured curriculum would take place at a separate time. This Sunday Julie’s RE group (4 families) are joining Team Harper in the Race for Hope.
Small Group Participation: The phone survey of small group participation in 2006 showed that of 398 members and friends, 166 were active, which was 42% participation. Now we have 202 members but we have no count of friends. Julie has considered all the groups she can identify for 2007, but covenant groups need to be added. So far, the count of small group participation in 2007 is at least 123 people. [Since this Council meeting, the count has been expanded to all known groups and is now at 165, essentially the same as the 2006 count.]
One idea for increasing participation is to have the Council Report in the newsletter highlight a different group every month, especially those groups who seldom, if ever, advertise. Some people want external connections, not just with AUUC people, so we need to look for opportunities outside the church. We need to add volunteer opportunities to the count. Robert believes that the Sterling, BRUU and Accotink ministers will plan for joint events among these churches in the future because of Rev. Scott’s connections to those ministers.
Logistics: The BoT tasked House & Grounds to coordinate a site plan with all the relevant folks in charge of adding things to the property, such as a place for a memorial garden and a place for lawn mowers, as well as the youth grief garden, and a possible cell tower. AT&T knew about Invisible Towers dropping their interest in our property. They contacted us about wanting to put a flagpole cell tower on the property and they say the best spot is the last left corner of the lower parking lot, taking up one space. AT&T was asked to come make a presentation to us about it. AT&T would have the rights to that flagpole, but could put other non-interfering elements on it. There is no date planned yet to meet with AT&T, but we are hoping for it in a month or so. Don Eckerman says the Memorial Garden could go to the right of that spot, in the space between the lower parking lot and the dry pond, behind the building, across the concrete walk from the native plant garden. The grief garden will go between the low spot in the grass behind the building and the playground. For clarification, the memorial grove is a formal space for remembering the dearly departed, while the youth grief garden is a child-friendly space for a child who is unhappy or grieving about anything, not a space in memory of the deceased. A mower shed could be put near the other sheds between the upper parking lot and the street. Long-range plans include space for expansion of building and parking lots.
SpringMar wants to increase enrollment from 43 to 49. Their five-year contract will include being peanut-free, but there is no mention of recycling requirements.
Outreach: Social Justice is moving forward with the Interfaith Housing Ministry mentoring program for the previously homeless. Our lead mentor will be Mary Kringer, with Jan Clement helping her. A client was selected and they met with the program managers and will meet with the client soon. We have 9 volunteers signed up to work at the ReStore for Habitat For Humanity on Sat May 3. June is Torture Awareness Month and Social Justice will be putting up signs around the building for that. AUUC has also joined the UU Peacemakers program and Kitty Reardon will be the Point of Contact to them to report on our annual Peace Award at Robinson Secondary and our participation in the Season for Nonviolence. UUSJ is holding a workshop on May 31 and our Social Justice Committee will be presenting a workshop on connecting to the local community.
Lyn passed on that other churches in the area have said that Accotink is known for doing so much Social Justice work even though we are small.
The Green Sanctuary Committee reported the following efforts:
- Sponsored Coal Mt River Watch service with two guest speakers and 2nd Sunday collection on April 13
- Special Earth candle lightings at each April service
- Special “green” reminders in each April Order of Service
- Awarded the AUUC’s first UU Ministry for Earth Guardian of the Future Award to Jan Clement at the Apr 20 service (certificate and native plants); forwarded our selection to UUMFE
- Helped teach an RE segment on Rachael Carlson and insecticides
- Circulated a petition to oppose a Dominion Power coal fired energy plant in SW VA; GWIPL indicates we are the lead church for signatures as of today with more than 60
- Completed their annual report
- Researched costs of recycle pick-up at church
- Ministerial Candidate/Selectee gave Earth Day service on Apr 20
Recycling costs from our current trash collection provider were presented by Marsha.
The cost is $50/ month for 2 rolling 96-gallon cans or $55/mo for a 4 yard dumpster.
A motion was made by Marsha and seconded by Sue for a proposal to be sent to the Board to contract for the dumpster option. The motion carried. House & Grounds will be responsible for the recurring costs in the budget in future years, if approved.
Congregational Development: Membership Committee spent a lot of time working on a true membership list. They have more work to do to get the database straightened out due to inconsistent data entry. Then they will be able to filter and get correct lists from the program (PowerChurch). There is no clear definition of a friend of the church so it’s hard to count that. An automated phone message could be sent from PowerChurch once the database is correct. The committee will work up a definition of ways to measure contributions of money, time, and talent to determine active members. They will then put that information in the Policies & Procedures.
Communications is wrestling with signage and how to keep it on Burke Lake Road. A church is allowed 2 permanent signs on state highways, which must be official signs designed by the state, so they will look into that. The newsletter is working well, but getting everything for the month ahead is a problem. The website is not being kept up-to-date by the people responsible for providing the information to Phil. Rodney is leaving and Toni Acton will take over Rodney’s column. The wiki is being used for collaborative documents but for now cannot be used for the newsletter inputs. Plans are to use it in the future for BoT and Council and other groups.
Stewardship: The Council budget is only 20% spent. Robert will send out a request to the Council members for projected 2008 remaining budgets and 2009 budgets.
Candidates for vacant positions on the Council: We have no candidate for secretary yet. A motion was made by Sue and seconded by Judy to approve Phil Runge as Vice Chair of the Council. The motion carried.
Plan for fall retreat: August 15 and 16 are the planned retreat dates. The Council is responsible for coordinating this event, creating the agenda, and reserving the place. The BoT has already contacted a facilitator. The Bishop Claggett Center has been contacted already to reserve those dates. The Council approved of the Council continuing to coordinate this event.
Meeting Observer Report: Herb reported that although some of the discussions got a little off track, the meeting went well.
Next Meeting: Next meeting date is May 27.
Meeting adjourned at 9:34 pm with closing words from Oliver.