Shenandoah Association Council Minutes

Thursday, March 19, 2009

St. Stephen’s UCC – Harrisonburg, VA

Present: Rev. Marilyn Heishman, Rev. Richard Vaught, Mrs. Melinda Loeblich, Rev. Barbara Rhodes, Mr. Steve Wood

Absent: Rev. Dr. Jim Bundy, Dr. Willard Lutz, Mr. Greg Griffey, Rev. Don Smith, Mr. Archie Thornton, Rev. Alexa Slonin, Ms. Leslie Nickel, Mr. Edd Sewell, Ms. Peggy Kennedy

The meeting was called to order at 6:05 PM. Marilyn led us in opening prayer. Barbara led our opening devotions.

The minutes from the February 19, 2009, conference call were corrected as follows: under Financial Review, second paragraph, “The ACM recommended that the Association pay the Conference for an additional six hours a month of Melinda’s time, to be paid quarterly.”

Treasurer’s Report - Marilyn has added a column to her dues spreadsheet to reflect the number of members each church says they are paying for. We have received 33% of the 2009 dues from our Association churches. The checking account balance is $1319.01 as of March 19, 2009.

In the 2009 Budget, Marilyn will change line item 520 Association Contingency from $1000.00 to $2500.00 to reflect the vote by Council via e-mail in October 2008. This increase is to help cover expenses for the Shenandoah Association Annual Meeting Task Force in planning the 2009 CAC Annual Meeting.

Marilyn will follow up with Cornerstone regarding getting documentation for our missing CD. Marilyn will follow up with St. Stephen’s regarding the use of their safe to store our CD’s.

Richard reported that Church & Ministry voted on March 18, 2009, to pay $20.00 per Shenandoah Association minister who takes Boundary Awareness Training at the $55.00 rate. This will put the out of pocket expense for the minister/church at $35.00, which is the rate that was paid for those who took BAT from the Shenandoah Association in October 2008.

Associate Conference Minister’s Report – A letter was received from Mt. Olivet Christian Church, Elkton (located at the base of Massanutten Mountain) informing us they are withdrawing from the UCC and the Shenandoah Association. A letter will be sent by Don Smith, Church & Ministry Chair, stating we will hold their request for removal from the UCC/Association pending receipt of requested information as stated in the Association Constitution and By-Laws.

C&M has talked about Centenary & their needs. St. John’s Middlebrook will start reading profiles. Ellie Sturgis from Glade will serve Sarah Kohrs’ unexpired term on C&M.

Due to the economic downturn, the Central Atlantic Conference has decided to take drastic measures and forgo operating a deficit budget. The goal is to balance the 2010 budget, and possibly the 2009 budget. The CAC is proposing to eliminate the ACM position of Rev. Jerry Foltz and the Interim ACM position of Rev. Pat Barth once they have ended their service later this year. That will leave 3 full-time and one part-time Conference Ministry staff to cover the needs of all 5 Associations. The Conference Ministry staff may also give back their recent salary increases to help balance the budget. The ACM’s territories will be changed to undefined “areas” (southwest, northeast, etc.) rather than specific Associations. There is a conference call meeting on Saturday of the CAC Board to decide how much cost cutting will immediately need to take place in order to balance the budget.

St. Paul’s Edinburg is closing Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009. Marilyn informed us they have paid their dues for 2009. Richard will ask John Deckenback if a letter to St. Paul’s from John Thomas, or at least one from John Deckenback, would be appropriate. Barbara Rhodes will write a letter to St. Paul’s on behalf of the Shenandoah Association Council.

CAC Annual Meeting - We want to advertise the possibility of a group from the Shenandoah Valley traveling to the CAC Annual Meeting via a van. Melinda will request feedback from those planning to attend the Annual Meeting.

Shenandoah Association Spring Meeting - Elections – Ellie Sturgis from Glade will serve on C&M completing Sarah Kohrs’ first term (one month remaining) and then start a new term. Willard Lutz needs to be re-elected as Shenandoah Association Vice President, and Alex Adjei and Robert Harmon need to be re-elected to the C&M Commission.

UCC Polity Course - Keo Cavalcanti is set to teach the UCC Polity Course this fall. There is a required reading for the course, and the Association will buy the books in bulk and sell them to the students. Marilyn will talk with St. Stephen’s about the course specifics (Tuesday evenings, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM, September 15 – December 1, 2009) and how the church will be accessed. Once we have secured the location, we will publicize the course to the fullest extent. The early bird registration will be $15.00 for those who pre-register on or before June 20. Any registrations after June 20 will be $20.00.

General Synod - The Association has $2000.00 available to pay for our three General Synod delegates, Barbara Rhodes, Peggy Kennedy, and Greg Griffey. Barbara has an inquiry into the CAC office regarding any funds that may be available to ministers attending GS from the CAC. If there are funds available, she will apply that amount to the Association’s $2000 and the total amount will be split between all three. Once the total available funds are determined, vouchers requesting the General Synod money will need to be filled out by each delegate and submitted to Marilyn Heishman for payment. Melinda will let Greg Griffey know that there is money available for General Synod.

New Business – Richard has talked with John Deckenback regarding increasing Melinda’s hourly rate from $12.00 per hour to $17.00 per hour effective April 1. John said the decision was up to the Association. The CAC already has $5000.00 budgeted per year for the Shenandoah Administrative Assistant, and the Shenandoah Association has $1500.00 budgeted for the Shenandoah Administrative Assistant. The Association Council approved at the last meeting to supplement the CAC amount with 6 hours of pay per month, paid to the CAC on a quarterly basis. Melinda works an average of 20 hours per month which is approximately 14 hours doing CAC work and 6 hours doing Association work. At an average of 20 hours per month and a rate of $17.00 per hour, the total annual amount paid out of the CAC budget would be $2856.00 and out of the Association budget would be $1224.00. If additional hours are required, we will have the funds available. Richard will talk with John and with Chris Cascio, CAC Finance Manager, to see if a pay increase would be appropriate.

Fall Meeting – The DOC would like to have a joint meeting with us on October 25, 2009, from 2:30 PM to 7:00ish. Steve will check out the possibility of us using the cafeteria and small stage at Stonewall Jackson High School in Quicksburg. We would have a catered meal. Unless the free use policy for churches has changed, we would only need to pay for 1 custodian and 1 cafeteria person.

The next meeting of the Shenandoah Association Council will be a conference call on Thursday, April 16, 2009, at 6:00 PM. The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Melinda S. Loeblich