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| 725 Pine St. Winnetka, Illinois 60093 847-441-3400 |
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Councilors present: Kimberly Brya, Georgie Geraghty, Susan Gillette, Betsy Holden, Steve Huels, Chris Hurley, Heidi Law, Will McLean, Peggy McNamara, Jodie Stewart and Sarah Woodburn. Councilors absent: Steve Dyer, John Bausch. Pastors and Staff present: Joseph Shank, Jenny Gleichauf and Floy Schrage. Susan Gillette, Vice-Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. Senior Pastor Joseph Shank offered the opening prayer after which the cares and concerns of the congregation were shared.
BusinessKimberly Brya, Support Councilor, presented the recommendation of the Design Construction committee regarding replacement of the sanctuary floors. In making the proposal on behalf of the Sanctuary Renewal Committee, she pointed out that a vote on the proposal would not take place until the December 2006 Council meeting so Council members will have plenty of time to consider the committee’s proposal. Since the current sanctuary floors are the original ones (circa 1936), they are now in poor condition and coming up in places. The committee’s proposal calls for replacement of the 1936 VCT tile floor with slate at a cost of $200,000. An alternate choice would be VCT at a cost of $150,000. Rationale for selecting slate is: long term durability, minimal maintenance, acoustical advantage and aesthetics. Rationale for VCT: less expensive. (A full report of the committee accompanies the hard copy of these minutes.) Treasurer Will McLean then commented on the financial implications of the proposed floor replacement which was part of the original Sanctuary Renewal plan. To date 3.1 million dollars have been pledged for the Sanctuary Renewal plan with 1.75 million dollars collected. If a short fall occur were to occur, it could be covered by short -term borrowing. At the current interest rate, it would cost the church $30,000 per annum to borrow half a million dollars. The Financial Management Committee has already looked into the church taking out a line of credit. Since it is still a little too early to know just how this year’s canvass will turn out, it will be a while before the financial picture for the next year becomes clear. Although the church’s CIR currently spins off 4% a year, it is unlikely that the amount generated by the CIR will cover this year’s budget short fall. Susan Gillette asked what percentage of the congregation has pledge to the Sanctuary Renewal Project. Will responded that between one fourth and one third have done so. Kimberly Brya reported that we received $5,000 as the result of canvass letters sent to out of state members. The windfall came from London. She reported that 41% of leadership pledges are in and that this year’s canvass start has been similar to last year’s. Before the end of canvass, those who haven’t pledged will be contacted by phone. She also noted that canvass needs to end before the budgeting process begins so the Budget Committee knows how much money they have to work with. Susan Gillette suggested that perhaps specific items could be pulled out of the budget for gifting if need be. Steve Huels, Worship Councilor, presented the Worship Group’s recommendation for a survey to measure the congregation’s satisfaction with the two-service format, the musical offerings in worship services and Christian Education. The entire congregation will be surveyed using multiple modes: focus groups, on line, phone and mail. The time frame will have three phases. Phase 1 will gather issues and input through focus groups; Phase 2 will include the gathering of data through summarization; Phase 3 will include analysis of results and the development of recommendations to address feedback. Beginning in mid-October, the process would conclude in April of 2007 so that any decisions on programming changes could be decided by June 2007. A discussion of the recommendations followed with the general consensus being that holding focus groups would give us an opportunity to get out and talk about issues and that the feedback received would help shape the survey. It was also noted that the focus groups need to be conducted in a manner that generates comments, both positive and negative, but not “complaining”. There was a suggestion that Council members do some thinking before the next Council meeting about what direction we, as leadership, think the church should be going. The Education Councilors, Betsy Holden and Georgie Geraghty, reported that Susan Snyder has agreed to serve on the Children’s Ministry Committee. Council unanimously affirmed this nomination. The slate for this year’s Budget Committee was presented and approved. Serving on the committee are:
Peter Egan Personnel Kelly Wright Building and Grounds Sarah Woodburn Nurture John Bausch Support Tom Temple Financial Management Mike Walther Financial Management Chris Hurley Outreach Steve Huels Worship Georgie Geraghty Education Clyde McGregor Assistant Treasurer Will McLean Treasurer Floy Schrage, Business Manager, announced that the service dedicating the renovation of the Little Chapel is to take place at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 1. This will be followed by the Woman’s Society Luncheon at 12:15 p.m. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m. after a closing prayer by Associate Pastor Jenny Gleichauf. Respectfully submitted, Peggy McNamara, Clerk
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