Notes from the Council Meeting, December 13, 2023
From Faith Abel
Pastor Jen now has official Ordained Ministerial Standing in the Northern California Nevada Conference of the UCC. The process took a little extra time because several committees were involved, but now we can proceed with her installation on Feb. 18, at 3:00 pm.
Pastor Jen reported that she mentioned our “Blue Christmas” service on a neighborhood Facebook page and received several positive responses. There were some new visitors at the service, possibly because of that posting. God is at work!
The Pictorial Directory is under construction.
The financial secretary reported that as of now there are 32 pledging units totaling $107,430 for 2024.
Treasurer’s summary: In November expenses exceeded income, but we expect to finish the year a little in the black. Randy noted that our electric bill in 2024 was about $3,400. The solar system is definitely reducing our bill. The solar panels were installed in 2015. Before that, the annual electric bill was $8,000 to $9,000 (and the price of electricity has gone up since then).
The Deck Roofing project is completed, and the skylight repair will be done in early January. The Social Hall Deck refinishing will be completed after the winter.
Based on what is currently kept on our office computer, it was decided to not take out a cyber insurance policy at this time.
A budget amount not to exceed $1500 was approved for Pastor Jen’s installation, with the money to be taken from the Search Committee Accrual Fund.
A decorating committee was formed to decide on the décor of the Narthex and possibly the Fireside Room, with a budget not to exceed $1000 during 2024, to be taken from surplus. Pastor Jen, Nina Harmon, Elena Caruthers, and Linda Jones make up this committee.
Council has been actively considering additional hours/week, and increased salary and health insurance benefits for Jacob Day in the office. After discussion and vote, the Council will offer Jacob additional hours and pay as a more fair compensation for work he does for us. With the additional hours, Jacob will have better opportunity to assist with outreach, community programming, and increase in rentals.
An increase in salary and health insurance benefits was also voted for Javier.
Budget meetings have been on-going, and Council will propose a budget with a deficit to be presented at the Congregational Meeting. Where appropriate, some designated funds may be used to balance the budget; these transfers will be identified as such.
The Nominating Committee, headed by Vice Moderator Dudley Thompson, will meet to consider officers for the 2024 Council. The slate of Council members will be voted on at the annual congregational meeting.
The annual congregational meeting will be on January 21, 2024, following worship. Online voting will be available.
All year-end Board and Committee reports are due by Jan. 10 to Linda Young, who will deliver them to Jacob for inclusion in the Annual Report. 4th quarter Board reports are due to Eleanor before Christmas.
Year-end bonuses were voted on for our 5 employees with sincere thanks for their work at ACC.
Faith Abel, Moderator