Purpose/Agenda Item

Action/Result

Person(s)

Responsible

Due Date/ Completed

Transition

Board president Fran Brazzell lit the chalice and provided opening remarks.

Informational

New members Patrice Davison, Chaz McBride and John Schaefer were welcomed to their first official meeting. Trustee absences were due to surgery, vacation or leave.

Transition

Designation of Secretary: Linda Selsor volunteered to serve as secretary of the board. Minutes are to be distributed to board members and sent to Frank Valdes for posting on the web site once approved. Linda will check with the past secretary to determine if a notebook of minutes was maintained. Minutes should also be maintained on a hard drive or CD.

Roles Desired by Board Members: In an effort to reach out to the various committees of the church, board members have served as liaisons. Fran Brazzell asked members for their preferences. Ed Sevard served as the liaison with the Finance Committee last year. Chaz McBride volunteered to cover Building and Grounds. Marion Leonard covered communication between the Board and the congregation by coordinating town hall and family meetings. He might also pursue his interest in tracking volunteer hours and efforts that go into running the church. Linda Selsor volunteered to serve as a liaison to the music program and to follow up with an assignment to write up a Question and Answer paper for the congregation regarding No More Deaths. She also agreed to assist with the grant writing efforts which had been assigned to the Empowerment Team. John Schaefer could assist in the areas of governance, administration, fund rives and stewardship.

Linda Selsor

Board members as assigned

Monthly

Consent Item

The minutes of the June 23, 2008 Board of Trustees meeting were approved as distributed.

Linda Selsor will post

Monitoring/Performance Reports

ET Performance Report: The board reviewed the written report submitted by Peg Smith.

Program Council Monitoring Report: Lisa McDaniel Hutchings submitted a written report which, while informative, did not address requested items for the monitoring report. Fran Brazzell will request a more specific response.

Fran Brazzell

Informational/Financial Reports

Carolyn Cooper reviewed the financial reports distributed prior to the meeting. She expressed concern regarding low pledge levels; she will complete the analysis of the reasons for low pledge levels by the end of July. The Finance Committee is encouraging pre-payment on FY 10 pledges. She expressed concern about the challenge of tracking specially designated gifts and suggested either a small capitol campaign or possibly a campaign for specific things in the budget.

Members of the Finance Committee have serious, ongoing and growing concerns about the relationship with No More Deaths (NMD). The financial relationship needs to be clarified; controls need to be put in place. Also, the risks to the church associated with the NMD ministry need to be assessed. The motion at last month’s board meeting to seek independent legal opinion--cost to be born by NMD--as to the risks associated with the ministry needed further clarification. Also, the motion did not address who needed to take responsibility for follow through. There was consensus that there needed to be an airing of all concerns with the full board present prior to any meeting between representatives of NMD and the church. Given strong feelings on all sides, this will be an opportunity to put the Covenant or Right Relations into practice. MND will be an agenda item at the next board meeting. Meanwhile, Fran Brazzell asked Linda Selsor to distribute all information she received regarding NMD to all board members.

Linda Selsor

Informational/Planning

Board of Trustees Retreat and Strategic Planning: The president explained that the board gathers information from the congregation. It also serves as the voice of the church. Its primary role is that of a visioning body for the church. As such, development of a strategic plan will be the number one priority for the year. It is our monthly monitoring tool. The focus of the upcoming board retreat will be on the strategic planning process. John Schaefer recommended development of a congregational questionnaire to gain a sense of priorities for the plan. The August 22^nd Leadership Day was canceled. The board retreat was rescheduled for Saturday, August 29^th.

Next Meeting

The Board of Trustees meets the fourth Tuesday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 25, 2009.