ADMINISTRATION MINISTRY TEAM

9 December 2008

 Present:  Dina Schroeder (Moderator), Carl Connor, Mary Kammann, Mike Bartholomew, and new members Joan Rawson (Elder) and Ken Osborne (Deacon)

Excused:  Winnie Quinzi and Darla Topley

 Dina opened her last meeting with prayer.

 We have a new Bookkeeper in the office.  Michelle Del Rio reported to work on Monday morning as a surprise to everyone in the office.  She was one of two (2) Dickason Employment Services applicants that were interviewed and tested on Thursday and Friday.  She was selected after demonstrating her skill and knowledge of our QuickBooks accounting program.  Dickason was asked to perform a background check on her and if possible, have her report to work on Monday morning.  They were able to accomplish all of that and she is now in the office helping Linda and doing our bookkeeping for about 4 hours a day, Monday through Friday.

 The Minutes of the November meeting were reviewed and discussed in detail to bring the new members up to speed on issues currently under consideration by the Ministry Team.  They were approved as written and submitted.

 OLD BUSINESS:  1)  Carl Connor reported that the unofficial total of pledges received and tabulated to date was $264,519.04 which is close to the $287,443.73 pledged for 2008.  We still have pledges to enter into our pledge database, but while the pledged income looks good compared to last year we are concerned about unpledged giving in the current recession.

 2)  The Church’s 2007 Financial Report to the NM PRC was submitted in late November and should ensure that we are still in good standing as a NM corporation.  Early next year we will submit a request to the PRC to change our name from First United Presbyterian Church of Las Cruces, Inc to First Presbyterian Church of Las Cruces, Inc.  This is an ACTION ITEM.

 3)  We discussed our list of articles for the Lantern and agreed that we should attempt to get a “Getting to know you” article introducing our new Bookkeeper, Michelle Del Rio to the congregation in the January Lantern.  We plan to continue this series with articles on our new Youth Specialist, Mark Hellman in February and then Tracy Geiger.  We will also introduce our new janitor soon after one is hired.  We will address our plan to update the membership on the status of our Phase I Debt and the procedures to follow when requesting the use of church tables, chairs, and other church property by members after the “Getting to know you” series is completed.

 4)  The proposed changes to our current Policy and Procedures Manual remain in work and some of them were briefly discussed.  The need to update the manual was recognized by all, and will be addressed by the new Administration Ministry Team in early 2009.

 5)  We discussed the Workman’s Compensation Claim of our ex-Janitor, Jerry Duran and briefly discussed the need for both procedures and training for all of our staff.  Fortunately our Secretary, Linda Ramirez, sensed something was not quite right when Jerry turned in his church keys to her and wrote up a very comprehensive report about his actions.  A copy of her narrative was submitted to our Workman’s Comp carrier, Church Mutual, along with the appropriate MN Workman’s on the job Injury Report on the 60^th day after the injury allegedly occurred.

 7)  We have started the consolidation of the 2009 Budget worksheets that were completed and turned back to us by the committee moderators.  As soon as we complete this process, we will start working with each committee moderator to finalize their 2009 budgets.

 8)  Our incoming Moderator, Mary Kammann has completed the end-of-the-year personnel reviews forms this week.  The only remaining personnel review is the compilation of all of the Elder and Deacon evaluations of Rev. Story and his evaluation meeting.

 NEW BUSINESS:  1)  The annual inventory of building keys checked out to members has indicated that we have a shortage of some keys that are probably in the possession of individuals who no longer need them.  Since the overall Key Control Policy is a Buildings and Grounds Ministry Team matter, and Administration Mission Ministry Team only oversees the issuing and tracking of building keys, we strongly urge each outgoing Team Moderator to turn in their keys to Linda, so she can issue them to the new Elders joining their Team as soon as possible.  This will enable the new members to quickly join their respective Ministry Team in performing their assigned duties.

 2)  We are aware that some of the member Contribution Statements that were mailed out to all members of the congregation in November had some errors and we are working to correct them as they are reported to us.  We plan to print out the end-of-the-year contribution summary statement during the second week in January and will inspect each statement for accuracy prior to mailing it out to the members.

 3)  We would like to remind each current Ministry Team Moderator that they are responsible for the narrative in the Annual Report about their Team’s activities during 2008.  Please send your narrative to Linda in the Church Office as soon as possible in January so that she can start to put the Annual Report together for the Annual Congregational Meeting in mid-February.

 Dina adjourned the meeting with prayer.

 Next meeting:  13 January 2009 at 7:00 PM

 Session Meeting:  16 December at 7:00 PM

 Respectfully submitted by Carl Connor

 Phase I Debt:  Congregational Members:  $110.000.00

 Session Action Items:  1.  Approve Church Corporation Name Change

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