Consistory Meeting

Woodstock Reformed Church

16 Tinker Street

Woodstock, NY 12498

Minutes for December 6, 2021

Time and Place:

A regular meeting of the Consistory of the Woodstock Reformed Church was held on Monday, December 6, 2021 at the Woodstock Reformed Church. Meeting started at 7:02PM

Members Present:

Pastor: Reverend Cari Pattison (CP)

Elders: Annie Lavalle (AL), Sandy Todd (ST),

Deacons: Jim Ulrich (JU), , Michael Terner (MT), Mike Cooter (MC)

Present on Zoom: David Scarborough (DS), Shannon Godfrey (SG) - Attended remotely

Opening with prayer by Cari

Opening Devotion by Shannon

• Reading from the novel Run, by Ann Patchett
• Closed with a reading about Advent from the book “Night Visions”

Vote on the agenda -  Motion was approved by all members

Vote to approve November’s minutes - Approved by all members

Read the introduction of RCA Book of Order

• First reading by Sandy
• Second reading by Annie
• Third reading by Jim
• Fourth reading by Mike C
• Fifth reading by Mike T
• Sixth reading by Dave

In the discussion that followed the reading, Dave questioned how the Assemblies of the framework of the RCA make decisions and if these decisions are binding.

Mike T made the point that church leadership should be led by the teachings of Jesus and

the Holy Spirit and not necessarily by every view in the congregation.

Pastor’s Report - Cari

• Longest Night church service is scheduled for Dec 21 at 7PM.
• Christmas Eve service scheduled for 7PM.
• November’s daily gratitude challenge attracted over 25 + participants.
• Advent dinner series hosted by Cari has seen attendance of 15 + participants at the parsonage, while taking precautions re: the new COVID advisory.
• Golden Notebook events have been successful and they would like to continue with future programs. (Golden Notebook donated $250 for the last 2 events)
• Five people expressed interest in the new members class in January.

FOC (financial oversight committee) report - Sandy

• YTD pledges for 2022 are $17,100

Property Committee Report - Mike T & Mike C

• Mike C reiterated the need for a sexton.
• Cari motioned to approve a part time sexton (separate from cleaning) and was approved by all. See the attached job description in appendix A drafted by the property committee.

Investment & Insurance - Mike T

• Any capital gains on investments have been put towards operations in 2021.
• Mike T reported on J&J stock from Bill Rhoads - Have used ⅓ so far for capital improvements.
• Mike T questioned if the church would like to stay with the current investment company.
• Mike T reviewed that volunteers are covered up to 5K per injury on church property.
• Mike C feels 5K is not adequate in the least and suggested Mike T check with the insurance company to verify if a part time, temporary hire would be covered by worker’s comp insurance.
• Insurance company suggested WRC implement a sexual harassment policy. Cari volunteered to review the draft she was given by Carol and Annie, and together with Annie will put together a statement for consistory review before year’s end.

Nomination of a new Elder Delegate to Classis to Replace Jeff Clark Who is Retiring

• Marlene Hass, Marie Raymond, Carol Kenyon, and Jim Ulrich were recommended by the group. Cari to discuss with candidates and report feedback at the next meeting.

Covid Response Review in Response to New Variant - Ulster County Health Department recommends wearing masks indoors.

• Consistory proposed that masks should be mandatory for church service.
• Mike T suggested notifying the congregation via e-mail of this mandate before church services on Sunday to help avoid any surprises or conflict.
• Mike C and Annie volunteered to enforce this decision among the congregation at services and hand out masks.
• Balcony (or zoom) to be available for parishioners who prefer not to wear a mask.
• Jim proposed parishioners stay in place during the “pass the peace” time.
• Cari motioned to enact the points above at church services. 7 in favor, 1 opposed
• This new policy will be emailed to all before Sunday, shared with Ed Jabs and the outside groups who use our building, and will be posted on all WRC doors.

Budget Review

• Cari is in agreement with FOC recommended cost of living increase for pastor salary, and made one adjustment to the “pastoral education” part of the proposed FOC budget- taking it from $2500 allotted for 2022, down to $950, in keeping with assigned amount in her terms of call (which is $1500; but she was over by $550 from this year).
• Cari excused herself for the consistory’s discussion of her salary increase.
• Jim feels the more important factor, outside of official salary guidelines, is that Cari is exceeding expectations by bringing more people to the faith and the congregation than in past years under previous leadership.
• Sandy also voiced her opinion that Cari has worked very hard to grow the congregation.
• Jim suggested a specific stewardship program to target as justification for a full-time pastor position.
• Consistory unanimously approved salary increases. Annie notified Cari of this.
• Sandy reviewed the other budget items.
• Sandy feels confident that the 2022 budget will be met due to increases in non-pledged giving and online giving.
• Full budget will be presented at the annual congregational meeting in February.
• Cari motioned to approve budget - All were in favor

Review of upcoming December Church Services

• Cari asked the consistory for volunteers to assist at the Dec, 21 and 24 services. All volunteered.

Next Meetings

• Consistory meeting - Tuesday Jan 4th - 7PM
• Annual congregation meeting to be scheduled in Feb.

Closing Prayer - Mike Cooter

Appendix A

WRC Property Committee Recommendations for Hiring Part Time Sexton in 2022 - 11-21-21

Summary:

The maintenance of WRC physical plant requires both weekly routine “household” cleaning and support of ad hoc/seasonal/misc. maintenance of both the parsonage and the WRC church/education wing complex. Because WRC is currently only addressing the routine cleaning of the WRC church/education building and relying on ad hoc and volunteer efforts to support the other parsonage and church building tasks, the WRC property committee is recommending that WRC budget for a part time sexton position in 2022 to replace the ad hoc/volunteering efforts as they are “stop gap” measures and not viable long term solutions for these efforts.  Per WRC property committee assessment, the part time sexton position will require two weekly on-site work sessions of 3 hours each with flexibility to accommodate additional hours for seasonal maintenance work as needed.

Details:

The recommended responsibilities of this part time sexton position under the assumption that the use of a cleansing service to perform the routine cleaning of the church physical plant are as follows:  

1. Cleaning Supplies Inventory Maintenance:  Maintaining and ordering of WRC household cleaning supply, bathroom supplies, hand soap and paper toweling.
2. Church Rep. for Emergency Services – Responsible person to response to and contact for resolution physical plant emergencies such as electrical outages, fire/smoke alarm alerts, plumbing/heating/elevator/lighting issues
3. On-Call to Address and Remediate Water Leak Issues for Both Parsonage and Church – This includes the mop up of water leaks especially after heavy rain storms.
4. WRC Rep. for Physical Facilities Maintenance – Serve as the individual to schedule and meet with outside service staff who visit the church for service inspections: elevator, smoke detection, heating systems (for heating – include the parsonage)
5. Responsibilities for all Issues Related to Dumpster Use – security, issue no external garbage is left by the dumpster, checking that dumpster service is fulfilling is con
6. Indoor Maintenance Responsibilities:

1. Thermostat checks
2. Insuring doors are closed to unheated rooms during the heating seasons
3. Security check that doors and windows are secured
4. Checking of fire extinguishers
5. Furnace checks
6. Smoke alarm checks
7. Spot clean up of floors after rain and snow storms if not addressed by weekly cleaning service
8. Spot checking and general pick up of the sanctuary and WRC spaces used by external groups
9. Periodic cleaning of the curtains (cleaning to be done by an external service, but responsible for removal and rehanging of curtains)
10. Periodic cleaning of windows and storms (included parsonage)
11. AC installs and deinstalls for both parsonage and church
12. Rodent control for both parsonage and church

7. Grounds Upkeep:

1. Trimming with “weed wacker” after the lawn has been mowed.
2. Scrub trimming
3. Church portico and flagstone walkway sweeping
4. Weeding of the front the church lawn and shrub plantings
5. Sanding/salting of church entrances during after winter storms
6. Maintaining winter sanding/salt supplies
7. Clearing of church entrance either by shovel or snow blower after winter storms
8. Stream Embankment Maintenance – Spring and Fall pruning and clearing of grow along the embankments of the stream behind the church (particularly adjacent to the field behind the church)
9. Leave raking in the Fall