Minutes of the 243rd Annual Meeting of the Congregation
January 22, 2008
The annual meeting convened at 11:20 a.m. with the reading by the clerk of the warrant for the 243rd meeting of the First Congregational Church of Williamstown.
The list of deceased members and friends was read by the clerk.
Carl Westerdahl and Carolyn Behr, Co-Moderators, led the reading of the Owning of the Covenant.
Parliamentarian Bruce Grinnell declared a quorum. In fact, there were 74 folks present!
The Clerk summarized the minutes of the 242nd annual meeting of Sunday, January 21, 2007. The full minutes from the annual report were moved, seconded and approved.
The James Skinner Award was presented by Elizabeth Smith to Beth Davis recognizing her years of nurturing the young people of our church as minister of Christian Education and Habitat leader.
The Marion Shaw Award, presented by Anne deGersdorff, was awarded to Jean Donati, recognizing her selfless giving and years of volunteering for whatever needed doing in the church.
The 2008 budget was presented by Anne Skinner, chairman of the Budget Task Force. The budget was presented in the familiar old format that may change in the coming year. Anne was pleased this year to be able to present a balanced budget that funds basic needs and addresses some overdue initiatives. The total budget is up 5% thanks to pledges for 2008 and fulfilled pledges of the past year. There is a surplus from the 2007 budget, some of which will roll over into the 2008 budget and some of which will be put into a reserve fund.
Salaries are up 4% exceeding a minimal 3% cost of living increase. A category has been added to the budget to pre-plan for the minister’s next sabbatical and to establish an annuity for the financial secretary. Amounts budgeted for utilities and insurance have increased. Income is only 5% from the Vanguard funds instead of the 6% usually taken. This is due to an anticipated drop in the Market. The Denison Fund just had an increase of $385. in income since the printing of the report so the total income is now $8925.00.
Anne expressed thanks to Ann Parkman for her work with the Budget Task Force. The group decided on the priorities and the numbers but it was up to Ann to get it all down on paper.
A question was raised by Elizabeth Smith regarding the Christian Education budget that it does not include sufficient funds for child care – only $100. Ali Benjamin said that some of the C.E. Committee had been looking into the need for such care with no specific conclusion drawn. Wendy VanOrden expressed the opinion that we should offer child care on Sunday morning so as to encourage young families to come to church. After some discussion Anne Skinner suggested we appropriate the additional $400 from the Denison Fund to the category of childcare bringing that total to $500. An amendment was made and seconded to do just that and passed unanimously.
It is to be noted with much appreciation that Grace Laidlaw did voluntarily provide child care during Sunday service time for about five months in winter-spring 2007.
Nan Fritz raised a question about website funding, but was reminded that there is a special fund specifically for the website, and there is still money in it for the coming year.
The budget was then approved unanimously as amended.
The Nominating Committee chairman, Jody Green, made a motion to accept the nominations to the clusters as printed in the report. She also expressed the need of finding one more person to serve on the Stewardship Cluster. If anyone is willing to serve, please speak to Jody afterwards. The motion was seconded and approved.
Rev. Carrie then used some new words and thoughts to install the new members of the clusters.
Our Covenant with Habitat for Humanity was extended for another year and Beth Parker led all in the reading of it. Hank Flynt was assured by the moderators that people from our church are still actively working locally on Habitat building projects.
John Craig as Chairman of the Makepeace Committee moved the allocations of the Makepeace Funds as outlined in the report on Page 30. A second was given and the requests totaling $96,271.11 were approved as listed.
Regarding the reports of various boards and committees, Margaret Oxtoby asked that to the list of notable activities be added the Lenten series of Sunday morning study offered under the fine leadership of Dick Ford.
Margy O’Connor asked the question of what happens to the deacons now with the cluster arrangement. Response from Rev. Carrie was that there will continue to be deacons, and decisions about how to add to their number and ordain them will be made at a later time.
All reports were then accepted.
Moderator Behr pointed out that we had not skipped honoring 50 year members but that there were none this year. However, she did recognize those in attendance having more than 50 years of membership. These included Larry and Judy Wright, Jan Keep, Nan and Harvey Goodell, and Mary and Hank Flynt.
The Transition Team headed by Susan Clarke and Julia Goren has completed the major stage of its work. The committee including Robert Behr, Judy Blackmer, Susan Clarke, Deborah Currie, Julia Goren, Abbie Hatton, Lauren Stevens, Sally Sussman, Curtis Tong, and Wayne Wilkins met many times. They appreciate the extra effort of the Nominating Committee in beginning its work earlier than usual. The clusters have already met and organized themselves. The Transition Team is now ready to deal with new roles in evaluating how well things are working under the new organization and to preparing bylaws for approval at the next annual meeting. Susan Clarke spoke of missing very much Nancy Markgraf who had been an initial leader of the reorganization effort.
A move was made and seconded that we send greetings to former pastors and widows. Motion carried.
There being no other business to come before the meeting, a motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn with song at 12:20 p.m.
Marilyn S. Faulkner, Clerk of the Church
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