Board of Trustees Meeting, January 31, 2022
At 6:35 Nancy opened the meeting with some announcements.
Shannon White restarted our virtual coffee hour following services on January 29, 2022. Shannon will continue these meetings for the future as an extension of the themes from the morning service and the chance for members who still wished to be quarantined or simply to stay at home to be more connected to our ministry. Grada, Leslie and Mary Ann spoke in support of Shannon's Sunday virtual coffee hour. Nancy added that Shannon’s Sunday virtual coffee hour also dovetailed nicely with the Thursday ten minute ‘Instagram’ sessions that Shannon had created entitled “Connections.”
The composting program that the church and the town of Greenwich are collaborating on continues to make progress, and the number of people using the composting service is increasing.
Nancy then brought up three items which were progressing but still needed attention.
The Solar Contract. The contract with Consolidated Edison was signed and their inspection is complete. The design from their engineers is not yet complete and therefore the town has not yet had the chance to give the project its ‘go ahead.’
Ushers at church services. Nancy hoped that Board of Trustee members would take the responsibility to usher and sign up for Sundays through the next few months. Following a short discussion Board members agreed that ushering was a good way to connect with members.
The church’s defined-benefit plan. Nancy and Bruce noted that the plan will be terminated. However, the church is still working with Fidelity Investments to set up a plan to take its place. Bruce hoped that going forward our Fidelity broker could help with the process. Leslie asked to what extent the endowment would be affected by the closure of the benefits account. Nancy and Bruce could not give an accurate amount as of yet, but they hoped it would be about one million dollars.
6:51 - Ed opened the meeting with a prayer.
6:52 - The December minutes were accepted unanimously.
At 6:53 Bruce reviewed a new streamlined dashboard for Trustees. He noted that the key to the dashboard was income. It was from income that expenses needed to develop. Bruce also noted that funds looked strong and the church’s cash position was good. Nancy asked if there was any reaction to the report. Mary Ann asked if the pension funds were included, and Bruce explained that they were not included in the income totals. Jake asked why just look at income. Jake thought it would make more fiduciary sense to examine income in relation to expenditures to clarify whether the money was being spent where it was most effective. Following a discussion among Jake, Bruce, Nancy and the trustees it was agreed to expand expenditure information on future reports.
At 7:06 Leslie Lee discussed the continuing work of the Sunshine (Giving) Committee. The report was positive and optimistic. The committee had collected pledges for almost $300,000 as of the end of January 2022. Leslie said she would contact Linda about getting the names and numbers of members who had pledged in the past but not yet responded for this year. Pastor Ed thanked Leslie for her great work and the work of her team. He hoped the numbers from the campaign would be shared with the church as a whole. Mary Ann asked if the total number included the amount given for the solar project. Leslie said yes, solar giving was not separate from the total giving amount.
At 7:13 Ed gave his Pastor’s Report. Ed praised the organizations and the team members of Rising Hope who contributed to the settlement of the Afghan Evacuees. He announced that the last family that would be resettled was still in the cottage on campus. The family, however, would be fully settled by early February. The group had settled 32 evacuees. Jake noted that the project had been worthwhile. Maria, Nancy and Pat congratulated Ed, the committees, and volunteers who made this program a success. Ed wanted to remind the Trustees about Wildlands book discussion on 9 February. He also thanked Tania, Lizzie, Leslie and Shannon for their outreach work.
Mary Ann, Nancy and Ed began an extended discussion of the church’s “Vision, Mission and Values” with the Trustees. Mary Ann led the discussion from the powerpoint she made for the presentation. Ed said that he hoped we could make these ideas and aims 'portable.’ He explained that to him, portable meant “infusing our ideas into what we do at all levels of our lives and ministry.” Nancy and Mary Ann noted that there were many areas of overlap where the Vision, Values and Mission meet. The basic ideas stem from compassion, and they flow from individuals as well as the group. Leslie asked how this might be presented to members. Nancy asked that members take a moment and answer Leslie’s question. How can we make our Vision, Values, and Mission more evident? Trustees were asked to submit suggestions to Nancy by the next meeting.
At 7:38 Nancy addressed the Trustee Responsibilities. She asked all Trustees to study the document sent to them outlining Trustee Responsibilities from the Church By-Laws.
At 7:41 Pat addressed new business which needed attention. The Congregational Care Committee wanted the Trustees to consider the question of handicapped accessibility to the church and the need to be informed earlier regarding cancellation due to weather. Bruce and Nancy agreed that the Building Committee should address the question of accessibility. Joe suggested that the church set aside a number for people to call for updated information about church closings in bad weather. Maria said members should be mindful of warnings during bad weather and check their emails.
Nancy announced that the next meeting was 21 February.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:50.