Board Minutes

Board Minutes: April 22, 2019

By Communications Team | July 1, 2019

Board of Directors Minutes

April 22, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
Madison Campus

Present: Stephanie Barth, Bob Beggs, Rick Blum, Gerry Born (President), Pr. Chris Enstad, Ellen Franzone, Tom Golden, Wade Huseth, Kimberly King, Sara McCormack, Andrew Seaborg

Guests: Rachel Breitbach & Greg Meyer – Shared Vision Task Force

  1. The meeting was called to order at 6:34p.m.
  2. Andrew moved to approve the meeting’s agenda; Bob seconded. Motion carried.
  3. Pastor Chris offered the opening prayer.
  4. Andrew introduced the book Canoeing the Mountains for the board to study and asked that we read chapters 1 and 2 by the June meeting.
  5. The February minutes were unanimously approved.
  6. Rachel and Greg presented the Shared Vision Task Force recommendations. They reviewed vision Step 3, as Steps 1 and 2 were presented to the congregation at the annual meeting. Step 3 covers the key concepts of grace and transformative relationships, and creates a culture of lay leadership. They’re beginning to work with committees on charters and implementation. Bob asked how the task force plans to measure success and Rachel pointed to Step 2’s Congregational Marks of deepening and expressing faith, transformative relationships and intentional service, all measured with surveys. Our vision has four key aspects of connection, faith formation, unity/clarity, process development, and we are creating marks for measurement within each in order to give the board guidance. The task force still needs to do the transition work with the committees. The board asked them to present to the congregation on May 19, in conjunction with the congregational meeting, which they agreed to do in order to create transparency.Andrew moved to approve the Vision, with appreciation and gratitude to the task force for the work done; Wade seconded and the motion carried
  7. Wade gave the Financial Report for March.
    1. We have $100,000 more in cash year to year; page 3 shows an apples to apples comparison and $6,000 ahead of last year; the finance committee has reviewed the report.
    2. Tom moved and Pr. Chris seconded to accept the charter for the Finance Committee. Discussion and a tweak from Tom on point 2, to read: “Review the annual budget(s) ensuring that key planning or strategic elements are addressed and previously made decisions are properly interpreted in the budget. Forward comments to the Board prior to their approval.” Motion carries.
  8. Gerry reported that he recently attended a new member meeting and food pantry meeting and encourages board members to attend other meetings to get a feel for what is happening at church.
    1. March Executive Committee minutes were discussed and changes recommended by Tom regarding Tom’s role as guest, and the spelling of Pr. Chris’ last name.As part of President’s report, Gerry reminded the board of the Carver model in our by-laws of one lead pastor, 10 board members, and 75 congregation members to approve.
  9. Nemec Gift Decisions
    Wade presented that GSLC has received a gift from Jennie Nemec, an AMPED leader. There are no restrictions on the gift of $297,160. Pr. Sheryl knew she wanted it for use in the general fund; Rick B made a proposal based on cuts from the 2019 budget, presented to the EC, which made some revisions and asked for the Finance Committee’s input. Finance committee’s input is to respect Jennie and be cautious; the EC re-reviewed and made the following proposals:Motion 1 – of the $297,160, designate $75,000 to pay the principal on the mortgage (6 months July-December 2019); designate the remaining $222,000 to fund the Children Youth & Family’s budget – $111,000 in 2019 and $111,000 in 2020. Tom made the motion to accept the gift with gratitude, and designate it this way, and Sara seconded. Motion carried.

    Designating the gift to fund operating expenses causes the 2019 general fund to project a surplus. After discussion and consideration, the Board, EC and Finance Committee all agreed on evaluating the items eliminated or reduced from the original budget for 2019, as well as other uses for the surplus. As a result, the following motion was also made:

    Motion 2 – A portion of the projected 2019 surplus should be spent to restore the following items eliminated or reduced in the original 2019 budget: $20,700 for Kohrs in a new role (minus $15k of Puchner & Key salaries, so a net of $5,700); $8,300 for pastoral and staff continuing education; $3,900 for new playground equipment for LBPS at Madison campus; $2,000 for music ministry; $750 to Inreach for new member dinners, and $5,000 to an account designated to funding sabbaticals for pastors and staff in 2019 and beyond. These six items total $25,650; or rounded to $26,000. In addition, $20,000 will go to the synod (same as prior year) – $10,000 to be paid now, $10,000 later based on results. Lastly, $25,000 will be allocated towards staff pay increases in 2019 starting May 1, an increase of 2.5%. It is estimated that this $25,000 in 2019 will mean an increase of $37,000 next year for salaries. In discussion, it was decided this was the generous thing to do, and we’ll make it work in future years. In all, the items approved totaled approximately $71,000. There is still a $116,000 projected surplus remaining in 2019. No spending beyond the original budget was approved other than the items listed in this motion. Tom again moved to approve this spending allocation of the projected surplus in 2019. Bob seconded. Motion carried. Pr. Chris abstained.

  10. Capital Campaign. Late in 2018, Pr. Chris and Rick were directed by the board to explore options to reduce debt. We currently pay $270,000 per year in mortgage principal and interest. We would like to free up minds, spirits & hearts by using these gifts to better purpose. A subcommittee of Chris, Rick, Tom (board), Sarah S (generosity committee), Mike Semmann (final Mission in Motion Chair), Gerry, Andrew, Sarah I, Steve Frei and Tyler Gold (under 40)) interviewed four church fundraising companies after Rick and Pr. Chris narrowed the field down from nine: Gronlund-Sayther-Brunkow (GSB), James, Kairos and MIF. They created a spreadsheet with rankings for each candidate. Two companies were more full service, James and GSB. Without working with a full-service company, there would be a lot of additional work put on our staff. GSB ranked highest and focused their proposal on creating a culture of generosity within our congregation. Discussion followed. It is felt that we will raise more by working with a fundraising firm than if we did a campaign on our own. The cost is $49,000 for a six-week campaign with a goal of paying down our debt. Thank you to Rick for spearheading the search. Andrew moved that we take a proposal to proceed with the capital campaign using GSB to the congregation on May 19, with the time and place to be determined. Wade seconded. Motion carried.
  11. Sara reported on the Shared Leadership board communication implementation plan and its progress.
    1. a. An overview was published in the April Messenger
    2. Gerry is writing a summary board governance document to be published and also used as part of board orientation
    3. Paul Bekx is meeting with Eric Holmer to outline website communications enhancements and establish our Vice President as the congregation’s Information Officer.
    4. Sara is implementing posting and communication of board bios, calendars, agendas and minutes.
    5. Lois O’Rourke will work with Wade and the finance committee to determine a format for monthly financial data to be posted.
    6. Mike Harper is working with Pr. Chris to develop nominating committee communications to post in June and again in September.
    7. Tom and Gerry will meet to determine an on-boarding plan for new board members.
    8. Ellen moved, and Stephanie seconded to approve this implementation plan, and also to approve the Shared Leadership Task Force’s communication strategy presented by Brenda in February. Motion carried.
  12. Tom moved to approve the slate of Synod Assembly delegates; Wade seconded; motion carried
  13. Sara reported on the Worship and Music Committee. At the April meeting, Judy Johnson presented the Shared Vision. A recap was given of the effectiveness of our Lenten visuals and messages. We will look to refine our strategy to make worship more cohesive. Also plan to begin recruitment and writing of our charter. Last fall, the worship committee was asked to look into an alternative service and are requesting feedback from the board if they want us to pursue this. We’re working on positioning of the AMPED-created baptismal banners at both campuses. Pastor Chris suggested that we’re looking for opportunities for missional worship, such as using Holy Cow as a worship facility.
  14. Pastor Chris expressed gratitude for the board and its service to the congregation. He asked for space for the pastors and staff as many of them are currently grieving the deaths of congregation members, friends and family. Pr. Dara will be taking her six-week sabbatical this summer, and Pr. Joe will be gone on the six-day boundary water canoe trip. We are calling Mark Renner to help out five hours a week this summer. He is a former Missouri synod pastor and will handle visitation and do a book study.
  15. Rick reported several items.
    1. He presented the monthly dashboard, but with no graphs
    2. We finally have good internet from Spectrum fiber in Verona, as of Palm Sunday. We can now stream services through Facebook and YouTube. We can also now update our program from SongShow to Proclaim, which lives in the cloud and provides more flexibility by being able to update slide shows for both campuses.
    3. Rick asked for a revision in our employee policy for our 403B plan for a match of 3% 32 hours week, adding the words “year-round.” Sara moved to approve, and Ellen seconded. Motion carried.
    4. Committee update – the Communications committee is very excited that we now have an ap. We will Beta test the ap with committee members and the board in July to get any bugs out. It will be rolled out in September. The ap can also be used for giving with an ACH fee. The Foundation was asked to fund this, and will cover $3,400 for the first year. Diane Kohrs will handle content.
  16. We adjourned at 9:12 p.m. with the Lord’s Prayer

Respectfully submitted,

Sara McCormack
Secretary

Good Shepherd Vision: (old): Reflective the love of Jesus to transform lives and create disciples.

Good Shepherd Vision: (Proposed) In response to God’s love and grace we…Welcome as we have been welcomed, forgive as we have been forgiven, serve as we have been served.

Good Shepherd’s Mission: We invite and welcome all people to worship God, grow in faith through the Holy Spirit and serve others in Jesus’ name.

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