COUNCIL MINUTES -- February 11, 2010

Officer Reports

• Call to Order (Sunday School classroom) President Carol Smith
  
• Secretary's Report -- approval of January council minutes (M/S/P Thorson/Karlgaard)
  
• Treasurer's Report -- Financial report for January reviewed and tabled for approval during the March Council meeting

Holden Trust Fund discussion -- John Wallin -- regarding the management of the Holden Trust Fund. No changes were made to the decision by Council to be the managing group of those funds. But it was tabled for further consideration. Joy Potthoff and John Wallin added information about the history of the Holden Trust Fund.

Old Business

• Church Fee Schedule -- proposed changes for non-profit use:
  • Keep fees for janitor or equipment use as stated in current fee schedule.
  • Waive the usage fee for non-profits who clearly provide for the basic needs of members of our community. Such as: IHN/New Pathways, Food Shelf, Soup Kitchen, Bridges of Hope, Kinship Partners and others as determined by our facilities coordinator.
  • Limit major use events (involving more than 24 hours time on the calendar, including tying up space for that amount of time) to once per year, with additional events to be evaluated by the event coordinator for the church, which would incur additional fees.
  • Require $150 damage deposit to be returned upon completion of event, with the understanding that any and all damage to grounds, building and property within the building is the sole responsibility of the group using the church. Council approved the purposed change. (M/S/P Jensen/Stark)
• Stacy Adoption Policy Questions:
  The personnel committee and executive council discussed Stacy's questions regarding maternity/adoption leave. The following recommendations were proposed to the Church Council and adopted on February 11, 2010.
  • Parental Leave -- Stacy may take a total of six weeks off work for the adoption. The LCC Staff Handbook states that a paid parental leave of absence will be granted for two weeks to any full time employee who is an adoptive parent. The remaining four weeks will be paid for by Stacy's accrued vacation and/or sick leave. According to the handbook she should have four weeks of vacation time awarded to her in 2010. It is not the policy at LCC to carry over vacation days from the previous year but sick leave can be built up to 30 days.
  • Health Insurance -- Dependent health insurance coverage for Stacy's child is available through the ELCA at her expense. Obviously, the church will continue to pay for Stacy's coverage.
  • Stipend - LCC would like to support Stacy in her adoption with a stipend and will reimburse her $1500 to be used toward legal expenses, adoption agencies or other adoption professional fees provided she works at LCC for at least a year after the adoption.
  • Child Care -- LCC will allow Stacy to work from home one day a week. This arrangement would be reviewed semi-annually at first to see how it is working out. After that it we expect it would be reviewed annually. Work done from home needs to be documented in some way.
  Council congratulates Stacy on her forthcoming adoption and sincerely thanks her for working at LCC for ten years! Council approved Adoption Policy (M/S/P Thorson/Peterson).
• Suggestion Box: Council approved procedure for a suggestion box and will have it posted in the newsletter.
• Council Retreat will be held March 6, 2010, at church.
• Winter Revival:
  Approximately 50 individuals participated in the six week winter revival which started in January. There were classes on Earth Housekeeping; David, A Man After God's Heart; and The Five Love Languages. Twenty six people returned surveys, and responses were overwhelmingly positive. All enjoyed the class they had participated in and would participate again in the future. All but two people said they would be interested in taking one of the other classes that were offered, and ALL said they would participate again with different class offerings. About forty people came for meals each week before class, and all said they would like to see the meal continue. Several commented that the meal and child care made it possible for them to participate at all. Each of the presenters was mentioned by name for having done a fantastic job.

• Council Covenant signed by all council members in attendance. Copies will be made as requested.
• Small Group ministry -- an emphasis will be put on more small group ministries. Look for more information to be announced and posted.
• Stewardship Key Leader Program -- status of planning given by Duane Blanck.
• LCC By-laws -- discussed edits and council will continue to evaluate and make recommendations.
• New computer for Karen needed immediately. Council approved to move forward with the purchase of a new computer (M/S/P Kraft/Thorson).

• Narthex
  We as a congregation need to be keeping things organized and clean in the Narthex. Motion was made and approved that beginning immediately all displays/sales/etc. in the narthex must be approved by either Pastor Joan or Pastor Bruce (M/S/P Karlgaard/Peterson).
• Vacation
  I will be on vacation the two weeks following Easter, April 5 -18.
• Property
  Do we have a "borrowing" policy? If not, we should adopt one as we have been having problems with some or our microphones and cords disappearing, only occasionally reappearing.
• Outreach/Evangelism
  A list of new members is attached for council approval. All council members and spouses are invited to a light lunch following the second service on Sunday February 14 to meet and get to know some of our new members. New member list approved (M/S/P Karlgaard/Jensen).
• Voting Members
  We are continuing to update our lists of voting members. We are considering starting our own database, one that we can build from scratch which would also be more "user-friendly" and better able to meet our needs.
• NEMN Synod Assembly
  We are allowed four voting members. We have Dagny Trucano, Dick Peterson and Jean Halland. I suggest we name a fourth delegate.

• A window in the youth room was broken by an icicle. Only the outside window pane broke. Pella Windows will be checking to see if this is their window for replacement.
• The Waste Management garbage service has been replaced by Nisswa Sanitation as a cost savings move.

• Barb Peterson will gather together others and make more visual symbols for the church. For example, for Epiphany have lights or stars so the children can begin to associate what the church special days are.
• The group discussed the idea presented of having choir sing at both services. The choir members on the committee did not think many choir members would be willing to stay for both services.
• Special music for church services will be more varied, for example, more music or small ensembles in addition to the soloists.
• A date was set for the Gospel Night -- Sept. 25, 2010. Chuck Nielsen agreed to emcee the program if someone else would do promotions. Cathy Taylor said she would be in charge of lining up music. A suggestion was made to make the Gospel Night more of a gospel revival and have more participation from the congregation rather than a presentation to an audience. The committee also stated that any good revival needed food, maybe pies instead of bars.
• Problems associated with services with large crowds such as Easter, Christmas, confirmation were discussed. It was suggested that
  • There should be more ushers at those services. Choir volunteered to be extra ushers, since they would be present.
  • There need to be more communion stations, perhaps one for each side, two or three for the main part, and stations for overflow rooms.
  • Other discussions about how to keep the crowded services from going too long.
• The choir loft is a difficult place for the choir. The size of the choir causes some choir members to sit under eaves, and, when the choir stands, everyone has to move down so those under the eaves can stand. This creates noise for the congregation seated below the loft. Additionally, the choir loft is extremely hot. After discussion, the choir will be varied, sometimes in the loft, sometimes seated with their families and coming to the front to sing, and perhaps other variations.
• The committee decided to have a set time for meetings. The committee will meet after the second church service on the fourth Sunday of each month in the Fireside room.

Motion to extend meeting time by :15 (M/S/P Stark/Peterson).