Board Meeting Minutes: October 9, 2021

Attendees: Jo Ella Coles (via phone), Greg Fisher, Adam Goforth, Rosalie Karunas, Alex McCauslin, Minneth Mckoy, Melanie Odom-Groh, Sheri Wander

Meeting start: 9:46am

  1. Devotion and opening prayer - Rosalie Karunas

  2. Peace House - Sheri Wander

    • Sheri gave an update on the past and current work of Peace House. A paper copy of a report with details was given to each board member.

    • Several options were presented as different possibilities for the future legal relationship between Peace House and Journey of Faith. Sheri said she'd like to make a decision in the next year about which way to go.

    • It was suggested that the board would think about this and discuss it again at the December board meeting.

  3. Pastor's Report - Alex McCauslin

    • The board received a paper copy of Alex's September Pastor's Report. Alex gave a verbal overview of the contents.

    • Several board members had participated in the Leadership Academy mentioned at the last board meeting. They shared some thoughts about how we might use some of the material to improve things at the church in the future.

  4. Updates from other ministries

    • Communications

      1. Adam Goforth reported that the online account documentation and hand-off, as well as the digital communication strategy planning, are ongoing.

    • Building

      1. Greg Fischer suggested separating cleaning duties from building maintenance, things which are currently handled by a single person. We could hire dedicated cleaners for regular cleaning of the building. Separately, we could have a maintenance person on retainer, which would do regular inspections and minor maintenance services as part of a fixed-price contract. For larger jobs, we would negotiate a per-job fee. There are a few people we might talk to about taking on the maintenance work.

      2. The board was generally supportive of this idea.

      3. Action item: Greg will look for cleaners and talk to candidates for the maintenance work.

    • Community liaison

      1. Minneth Mckoy has started meeting with our community partners to gather information about the roles of the partners and how her work will fit with theirs.

      2. Three grant applications have been submitted, and a further one is in process. Most of the grants we are seeking are centered around the West Willow Health Initiative.

    • Bookkeeping

      1. Adam Goforth and Jo Ella Coles had reviewed the Jitasa security document that Alex had sent to the board since the last meeting. There was some discussion about the content, in particular around data security and encryption.

      2. A contract has been signed with Jitasa and initial meetings have happened. We're currently working on getting them all the information they need to do the accounting work.

      3. The church is also figuring out what our own internal roles and processes will look like for working with Jitasa.

  5. New Business

    • Transfer funds to checking account

      1. The church has previously decided to spend down two of our endowments to the levels allowed by the parameters of the funds, to cover the church's ongoing costs.

      2. We are spending several thousand dollars more per month than we are taking in, and our checking account won't have the funds to cover this going forward, so using some funds from an endowment would be a way to bridge that gap. The Van Wagoner fund has about $60k in it, and Alex McCauslin recommended transferring $20k of it to the church's checking account to fill the gap in upcoming months.

      3. Greg Fisher made a motion to move $20k from the Van Wagoner fund to the church's checking account to meet the church's financial obligations moving forward.

      4. The board voted verbally and unanimously approved the motion.

    • Team to prepare budget for the January congregational meeting

      1. The first step in preparing a 2022 budget for congregational approval is getting the 2021 bookkeeping in order with Jitasa. We can then use the results of that to create a budget for 2022. The plan is to put a 2022 budget together by the December board meeting.

      2. Jo Ella Coles, Matt Hoostal, and Alex McCauslin will work with Jitasa on the 2021 bookkeeping.

      3. Action item: Matt Hoostal will report on progress at the November board meeting.

    • Team to work on bylaws

      1. Rosalie Karunas, Melanie Odom-Groh and Alex McCauslin, in consultation with Greg Fisher, will work on creating new bylaws for the church.

      2. The goal is to have new bylaws ready for congregational approval by the June congregational meeting.

  6. Items for November Meeting

    • Devotional - Jo Ella Coles

    • Homelessness Ministry Report - Rose (update on Warming Center in December) 

    • Share a ministry - Alex McCauslin will ask Matt Hoostal to share about his role on the board at the November meeting

  7. Debriefing

    • Board members shared about their experience of today's board meeting.

  8. Blessing

Meeting end: 11:46am