TRAVERSE CITY ORTHODOX MISSION CHURCH
PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
3010 Hastings Street
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Call to Order:
Parish Council Meeting called to order at 6:00 p.m.
Members Present:
Harriet Rennie, Karen Kain, John Batsakis, Doug Partlo, Bob Underwood, Dennis Stavros and Tina Partlo sitting in for Judy Weston.
Opening Prayer
Father Iakovos led the assembled in the opening prayer.
Approval of the Minutes:
Bob Underwood motioned to approve the minutes; seconded by Dennis Stavros.
Old Business:
Doug forgot to take lease to landlord. Mike Long rewrote it and it was stressed that the landlorddoes not know we have rewritten it. Karen will email the lease to all the members.
Father said that business telephone lines have been installed. The listing will now show up as Traverse City Orthodox Mission Church. The official church phone number is 231-668-6583.
Budget:
Doug has not yet worked on the new budget. Per Doug Partlo, based on a recap of July thru October revenues, we are running a deficit of $17-$18,000 without looking at the front end of the year. This is indicative of the kind of money we can expect to get because the attendance has been pretty good, and it tells us that we’re not making it in terms of our month to month. If we average cost/month and project through the end of the year, we will run significantly in the red and will require moving funds from savings account.
Karen said we still have $16,000 outstanding in Stewardship pledges. Doug still has a problem with the way we’re accounting the stewardship. If a check is put into the plate on Sunday, it goes to Stewardship. If the pledge amount is met then overage doesn’t go to stewardship, it goes into donations. We are looking at $3097 over what was pledged at this point. Bob Underwood said an effort should be made to put together a group who can come up with ways to raise money. Karen said there are some foundations that we can look at. Father learned from Father Fred Foundation that The State of Michigan is looking for a faith based organization to help them administer their heating program that the State would us to operate, but we need to get all the facts, etc.
Our annual budget is $125,000. Dennis said that this Board has not presented the budget and that our first obligation is to the membership to clearly state that this is the budget and what thestewardship guidelines are. Father asked the question at the Clergy Laity meeting where the bulk of the stewardship comes from. The idea of stratifying the parish according to means is new to him. Bob suggested that we need to determine what everybody can give. We need to get the word out to our rank and file so that everyone realizes what is going on here because they don’t see this material. Father said it’s useful to show levels of giving so that people can see what’s going on. Karen would ask Donna to compile the information. Karen did a list of members = 50 families at $2500/family= $125000. Karen said that last year we didn’t have a priest and now that we have a fulltime priest, it may encourage people to reevaluate. Based on pledges, we can stratify the pledges and identify the brackets. For 2008 the pledge information will be accurate, but will not apply to 2007. We could run a stewardship meeting and then present it to the members in an article. When Doug does the budget, he will start with the deficit. Once the budget and financial analysis is complete, we will have a better idea of where we’re going.
Auto Expenses: Karen moved that obtain a gas credit card for Father. John seconded. Motion was carried to obtain Speedway card.
Monetary Consideration
Before Father sends a thank you to the church that donated the icons to us, he wanted the Board to consider a donation. Doug moved that we donate $500 and Bob seconded. Motion
passed.
Choir Robes
Dennis gave a choir report. Dennis is sorting through the robes to determine what weshould keep. A local cleaner will store for $2/robe annually. We will keep 15 and give the rest to the Salvation Army.
Clergy Laity
Father attended. He was elected to the Metropolis Council which means he will be advising the Metropolis on a number of things.
Revenue Building Discussion:
What are our revenue sources?
Stewardship
One time donations
Capital fundraiser, Taste of Greece.
While there may have been promises made once a full time priest came on board, they have not materialized. We need to find a way to close the budgetary gap. Doug said we need to show what our needs are exclusive of the Metropolitan’s subsidy. At (-$18000) for 4 months = $54,000 loss per year. The facility costs are very low. There are very few areas in which to economize. Father is not taking an auto allowance. There are no ways to tweak the cost side to make it less expensive. It’s the revenue side that is the problem. Father is encouraged by the attendance and our Sunday collections are +$1000/week. The Bishop gave his okay to solicit from downstate people asking them to evangelize Northern
Michigan. The Metropolitan said we could send out our own mailing and we can solicit then, but the type of soliciting we do cannot be stewardship. Father will speak with someone who puts together capital campaigns to try and reach out to people who are neither members nor who live here. The mailing lists will need to be checked to evaluate who is a member and who is a friend to avoid overlap.
New Business:
Yellow Pages
We have a listing order form from a yellow pages contractor. We will continue the free listing in the yellow pages in the alphabetical listing. Consensus opinion is that we don’t need to pay for a display ad at $43.65/mth. John Batsakis moved that we eliminate our display ad, Doug seconded. Motion carried. Karen moved that we pay for the business line of $105/month. Doug seconded.
Motion carried.
Loukamathes Machine
Father Mark’s church is donating their old machine that John Batsakis will pick up. However, if we aren’t going to make any money from it, we don’t want to spend the money to store it. Discussed what we’re going to do with the machine, but we have no defined purpose. If it works, John sees no reason why we can’t just go ahead and get it and use it at art fairs, etc. It requires 220 circuit needed and 25 gallons of oil.
Storage Shed
The shed has been eliminated. We will save over $100/month eliminating the storage and yellow page ads.
Liturgy Books
The old red liturgy books need to be burnt for destruction. Bob Underwood gave a cost of 24cents/pound to shred and then burn. John will stop at ProFile and get more information. We would need them to give the shredded matter back to us because Father said even parish
bulletins, which contain God’s word, must be burned, not thrown away. Printed matter that has icons on it should not be thrown away.
Outings
The Senior outing did not materialize due to lack of interest. Kids’ outing was okay, but the weather was uncooperative. There is a Greek Camp down by Rose City. Next year Father will be on staff there for a week. Hopefully, we can get some of our kids to go down then to give them a chance to meet other kids from other parishes. The camp offers rustic camping, tent camping, other choices. Depending on the age of the children, there are some meaningful activities in addition to normal camping activities. We’d like to develop a Greek Camp here, perhaps at Sleeping Bear. Karen has a connection to someone who organizes summer camping outings
Father Fred
They want us to help them with Toys for Tots to volunteer with the program. Karen suggested we put out a box for food. There are a lot of pantries in need of money.
Building/Grounds Matters
Karen got a $150 estimate by Servicemaster to take down the screens and vacuum the duct work. Bob moved that we undertake. Doug seconded. Motion carried.
Doormat will be changed every 2 weeks at a rental rate of $14.95/month. John moved to accept. Bob seconded. Motion carried.
Bob Trekles gave us the copy machine and toner forever. We put $600 toward his stewardship.
Carpeting:
After much discussion and debate, the decision was made to buy new carpeting.
Per Karen: To clean the existing carpet would cost close to $300. Karen is offering her husband to tear out existing carpeting but we would have to pay for new carpet. Doug moved that we take $1500 from the Building Fund to replace the carpet. Several color choices were presented.Motion carried. Capital Red was chosen. No installation date was scheduled.
Calendars
Calendars were ordered and donated by the Archdiocese.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p/m
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