WESLEY MEMORIAL CHURCH COUNCIL MINUTES
May 17, 2022
PRESENT: Pastor Matt Seaton, David Sandridge, Sue Lewis, Rocky Shoemaker, Carolyn Ball, Maury Early, Cameron Pampus, Monica McCormack, Sandy Staggers
OPENING: David opened the meeting with prayer.
MINUTES: the April minutes were approved.
STAFF REPORTS:
Cameron
Cameron reports he is spring cleaning the choir room. The bell choir has adjourned for the summer and will resume in August. There are 6 more weeks of chancel choir prior to starting the summer schedule. Cameron hopes to engage more students in the fall perhaps with choral scholars. There may be hymn
sings during the summer, no dates yet.
Monica provided the written report below.
Livestream training is going well. Jasmine is close to running a livestream service on her own. The Restream platform didn’t work at all on Sunday, and it provided great on-the-job training to trouble shoot what were the issues and how to fix them. Joshua has gone home for the summer, so he won’t pick up his training again until he returns to school.
I took an online Grant Writing Workshop last week that was hosted by UMCom and facilitated by a Fundraiser Consultant based in Richmond. It was lots of information on how to find Foundations offering grants to non-profits, how to word a Letter of Inquiry (LOI), what needs to be included in a grant
application, and how to handle the many rejections to build relationships for future applications.
We have a new trans member of our Trans Defense Group. She came to service this Sunday. She is in a difficult place in her life right now and is looking for support. I pray that we can offer her that support and a safe place to be seen, valued, and heard.
There have been no illegally parked cars in our parking lot since the week after the sign went up. Our renters are very happy because I haven’t heard one complaint from them. No news is good news. I talked with Sue Lewis and Pastor Matt about raising the parking rent beginning in September. We charge $60 per month per spot and that is much lower than surrounding area parking lot prices. I propose raising our fee to $70 or even $80 per month. We currently rent all 24 available spots so an increase in our monthly fee will bring in an additional $240 to $480 per month.
-Greeters have returned to the worship service. Let Monica know if you know of people who might be interested.
-The First Thursday lunch group resumed in May and there were 17 people present. This group lunch is outside only at present.
-Signs for our parking lot during UVA graduation will request a $10 donation and will have a QR code and a number to text.
-Pastor Matt noted that he appreciated the staff coming to council meetings and asked if council would approve giving them the summer meetings off. This was approved with staff to resume council meetings in August.
FINANCE/TREASURER: David
David reviewed the written reports.
- Additionally, he reports Maria is increasing her catering requests. The sanctuary support group is working on her transportation needs.
-It was noted that costs to the church for Zoom meetings and streaming services were not addressed in the budget for this year and should likely be added next year.
TRUSTEES: Carolyn
Carolyn provided the written report below.
* Annual Fire Alarm inspection was done on May 4 th .
* We will renew lease with tenant of Moosetrap and she is willing to be there during work on the property. We have not had the oil tank filled so that it could empty out in preparation for potential removal and transition to another heating system. Fortunately, the oil did not run out upon last conversation with the tenant. We will explore minisplit system vs heat pump with new ductwork. This will essentially be a rent increase as we had paid for the oil but tenant pays for electricity which will power these systems.
* A discussion online between Trustees, Finance, Treasurer and SPR occurred and is included as separate document. Keeping the property and leasing to Matt and Lacy has the strongest support.
Additional discussion as follows:
-please remember to turn off the heat/AC units in the forum room and nursery as you leave the building.
-upstairs room in the education building has been painted and has new furniture. This is where AA meets.
-New leak in the basement room that Chris used will be evaluated. It is thought that IMPACT still plans to rent this room for use as an office.
-Carolyn reports that the tenants in the Starnes property were already told that the church will not renew their lease when it expires in April 2023. This decision was reaffirmed by council.
SPR: Sue
Sue reported that SPR met this week. The pastor’s evaluation has been completed and will be sent to the DS by June 5. All staff member evaluations are completed. A new child care provider, who is a UVA student, has been hired and will start soon. SPR is still discussing the possibility of merit raises for staff. It is noted that Pastor Matt will be away from May 22 through June 3.
NURTURE: Rocky
Rocky thanked Mary Allen Ingram and Sherry Lambert for doing visitation to homes of members, and Nancy Horn for doing the altar on Easter. Pastoral coverage during Pastor Matt’s vacation will be provided by Rocky, and the Prayer group will do visitations.
WITNESS: no report
OUTREACH: Maury provided the written report below.
IMPACT: Celebration at tent on baseball field at Charlottesville Catholic School, 1205 Pen Park Rd, 6:00–8:00 PM. Bring chair. Investment drive: Wesley Memorial goal of $7,000; $2780 received as of now.
Maria: transportation needs weekly for travel to and from Subaru Monday-Saturday evenings and to and from City Market on Saturday mornings.
UMCOR: kit collection now through 6/3/2022. Health, Cleaning, and/or School kits.
PACEM: Through Meals on Wheels, looking for volunteers and subs for Premier Circle route. You actually sign up via Meals on Wheels. Here is the most recent email: “Thank you for asking for your church members about our route to deliver to Premier Circle clients. We currently have some clients on route 9 that our volunteers deliver meals to. We are also in the process of setting up a new route to add more clients living at Premier Circle (route 35), but that will be a few more weeks before established and up and running. I will update you once it
is ready. Currently, both of these routes are scheduled with regular drivers, but we would love to have others available to substitute for those drivers needing a sub. Each weekday we need at least 36 volunteers to staff our operation. Our volunteer positions consist of regular route drivers, substitute “on-call” drivers, shuttle drivers, and meal packers. Routes typically have 5-12 clients assigned to them and are picked up between 10:30-11 to be delivered. Meal packers assist with the sealing the meals, labeling and packing them into cooler/thermal bags. This is daily from 9:15-10:30. If that is something you would be interested doing, then each volunteer would need to fill out the application form online by clicking HERE to begin the application process. There is also a volunteer training video and the attached Volunteer Guide to get a better idea of our operation
and needs. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us and we thank you for your interest in volunteering with Meals on Wheels!
Joanne Smith, Volunteer Manager Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle
434-293-4364, Ext. 13
-there will be a pot luck on May 29 after church to honor Deborah Lewis before she leaves the Wesley foundation.
-there is about $1000 in the Afghan fund for families at present.
MINISTER’S REPORT: Pastor Matt
-Pastor Matt reports that “Fuel for Finals” went well. UVa students were given snacks and drinks on the front lawn as they walked by. We will plan to do this again during student orientation. Discussion followed about possible other uses for the front lawn area.
-next council meeting will be on June 21 and could be in person or hybrid.
-Discussion followed re: chapters 8 and 9 of Slow Church. We will finish the book at the next meeting.