WESLEY MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
COUNCIL MINUTES April 19, 2022
PRESENT: Pastor Matt Seaton, Rick Hamilton, David Sandridge, Sue Lewis, Jenette Parker, Carolyn Ball, Maury Early, Matt Zimmerman, Juliana Piacentini, Cameron Pampus, Monica McCormick, Sandy Staggers
OPENING: Carolyn opened the meeting with prayer.
MINUTES: the minutes of the March meeting were approved.
STAFF REPORTS: Cameron provided the written report below for the music ministry. It was noted that the bell choir practice will end on May 1 as many members are students and will leave town.
- It’s been great to sing mask free!
- The addition of the String quartet was a wonderful way to celebrate the resurrection, and our first Easter service in 2 years.
- Palm Sunday through Holy Week was filled with deeply meaningful services.
Director of Communications and Administration – Monica McCormack. The written report is below.
1. Easter Communication went well – newsletters, website, Facebook ad, signs and postcards. The turnout was great to see. Also, one family outside of the church came for the egg hunt. We had 10 kids. The brunch was a huge success (Thank you Maury for all of your hard work on that.)
2. First Thursday Lunch is starting back up on May 5th. Gay Morris and I will be sharing the coordination of that each month. Peggy Bidwell is considering taking that back over but is not ready yet. We have 20 people coming to the first lunch and six are brand new to the group.
3. Trans Defense Group did not meet on Easter Sunday. I am working on developing relationships with both trans moms in our group.
4. Livestream training – Joshua (UVA student) and Jasmine have begun to train on Sunday mornings with me. I spoke with Robbie Munsey on Easter Sunday morning, and he is also willing to volunteer to run the livestream.
5. Greeters - We need people at the doors of the church greeting people on Sunday morning. I will communicate with previous greeters and reach out to new ones and see if I can get a list of greeters up and running where we have a minimum of two greeters every Sunday.
6. The large sign in the parking lot was installed today. It is big and bold and hard to miss. Hopefully this will stop the illegal parking in our lot during the week. I will commence towing cars that are parked there without a permit. Every parking spot renter has received two parking permits to hang on the rear-view mirror of their car with one extra.
-There were 89 persons in attendance at the 11 o’clock service on Easter and 22 at the 0830. There were 14 persons who participated live on line.
FINANCE/TREASURER: David
David provided the written report which was reviewed and discussion followed. The following points were considered:
-the sanctuary fund continues to be low as donations to that fund have decreased. Maria continues to go to the city market and has been approved as a vendor to UVA. She continues to provide support for the care of her children in Guatemala.
-there is a budget deficit for the first quarter. Council will consider ways to increase awareness of stewardship as a ministry of the church all year and not just during the fall campaign. Some small funds have been consolidated. Discussion occurred as to paying day to day expenses out of various funds.
-the funds in the 2020 account will eventually be merged into the general fund.
-It was noted that memorial funds are used for projects that honor the memory of the giver. Gifts can be used for the general fund.
TRUSTEES: Carolyn provided the written report below.
Trustees Report- April 2022
* The painting of the shed in the playground and the room off the social hall have been completed by CertaPro.
* The plumbing leak next to the elevator in the CSPreschool area has been fixed and the drywall will now need to be patched and painted.
* Pastor Matt has replaced several lightbulbs with LED bulbs where they do not need any modifications. “Power team” looking into the replacement of the others which may require electrician.
* Mowing resuming with 9 month contract with Hughes Landscaping. John Hughes did not raise the price of $450/month but asked if we would consider an increase due to gas prices. I suggest $500/month until gas prices < $3/ gallon.
* WACO retested for asbestos in the boiler area of the Moosetrap to resolve concern over poor technique during removal. Results appear to be acceptable to ensure safety of our tenant.
* The Willeys have been informed that we do not plan to renew their lease after April 2023. They asked that I bring before Trustees and Council proposal for them to purchase the property.
Discussion followed concerning the Starnes property. Trustees, finance and SPR will look at pros and cons of selling/keeping the property.
SPR: Sue provided the written report. There were no questions.
.The SPRC met on March 21 via zoom, to finalize process and procedures for conducting the staff evaluations for Rosie, Monica, Cameron, and Linda. As described in last month’s reports, self-evaluations were submitted and reviewed by the committee, and we performed our own evaluations, and met with them to review the evaluations. The pastor and SPRC chair then met with Rosie and Monica to finalize the evaluation record for the files.. Cameron and Linda are scheduled for this week. We also prepared an updated job description for the Nursery Attendant and approved the process for advertising the position. We will be reviewing the current staff job descriptions over the next few months – the evaluations have been helpful in guiding our upcoming work. The committee is not scheduled to meet as of yet for April.
NURTURE: Rocky provided the written report below.
-The Worship Committee has coordinated the flowers for the Easter services, as well as the Communion elements for the alter during Lent.
-Nurture is looking into a meal with the Pastor at those Sr. communities that include members and/or friends of Wesley. These were discontinued during Covid restrictions, and may still not be open in this way. Traditionally we have visited residents at Martha Jefferson House, The Colonnades, University Village, and Our Lady of Peace. If you know of folks at these or any others, please let Rocky know so our lists stay up to date.
-We have still had no return follow-up on our desires to assist with student food banks at either UVA or Piedmont. We will try making contact again as the final school weeks are underway, looking toward participating next fall. In the meantime, our outreach through the community gardens may give us a better inroad.
Pastor Matt reported that after the March meeting he spoke to several folks with hearing deficits. He stated that folks are using the “loop” without difficulties and that they can hear with it.
WITNESS: Juliana provided the written report below. There were no questions.
· Juliana will be periodically posting on the Instagram account while Rosie is on maternity leave
· We hosted a Solidarity Forever Safe Space event on 4/12 at the request of student organizers
· Dinner Church started on 4/13
o It will be held every Wednesday at 7:00 pm and is scheduled to go through early June
o Only Pastor Matt and Juliana attended the first week, but we are hopeful to have more friends join in the coming weeks
OUTREACH: Maury
-Maury reports our donations have purchased 5 TVs and 5 microwaves for Afghan families who have transitioned out of the motel to apartments at Barracks West. This cost $1500. We have $600 remaining in this fund.
-Pastor Matt would like us to have 2 lunch/dinner events in May. On May 15 we will honor our students, and on May 29 we will say goodbye to Deborah Lewis. We will need volunteers both dates for setup and clean up as these events will be outside on the breezeway.
-It was decided that there will be no fellowship after church until June.
HEALTHY CHURCH: Matt Z
Matt provided the written report below.
- Have not met since the last council meeting
- Both Albemarle County and Charlottesville City continue to have low COVID case numbers
- Does not appear to be the case in numbers from the CDC, the New York Times, or CovidActNow
- But this is due to irregularities in the way that the local Blue Ridge Health District has reported data to other providers, including the CDC, over the past few weeks
- The correct numbers for our area are available here: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/blue-ridge/covid-19-brhd-data-portal/
- Cases may start going up in the next few weeks due to new sub-variants of Omicron BA.2 but should not be as big a peak as the main Omicron peak.
It was noted we will return to one service per Sunday at 11.
MINISTER’S REPORT:
Pastor Matt notes a wonderful, spiritual Holy Week. Discussion followed on chapters 6 and 7 of the book Slow Church.
CLOSING: Rick notes he will be out of town from May 14 through May 29. He will find someone to lead the May 17 meeting.
Pastor Matt closed the meeting with prayer.