The 174th Annual Meeting of Second Congregational Church was held in the sanctuary on Sunday, January 29, 2023.There were 32 church members and 8 guests in attendance. Our Moderator, Denise Summers, opened the meeting with thanks and appreciation to all for their support of the church during this past year.
The church body voted to approve the minutes of the February 27, 2022 Annual Meeting, as well as the reports from 2022 of the Clerk, Treasurer, and Moderator and all other reports. All officers and standing committees for 2023 were presented and approved.
Our church Auditor, Elaine Korhonen, did a fantastic job presenting the financial reports, with detailed explanations of each. Our budget sheet is showing the church to be $2681 in the black, this only due to the fact that we currently have no pastor, therefore, pastor salary, housing and insurance are not funded in the budget. She stated that the UCC has recommended $90,000 as a future pastor’s package. When our Interim pastor is found, adjustments will need to be made to the budget. Elaine noted that a 5% staff increase was added to cover the increase in the cost of living. She noted that certain committees and groups have their own separate funds and they need to remember these funds are available to them. Our Proportional Giving for the UCC is now 3% of our total income which is a change from last year’s 4%. The Financial reports and budget were unanimously approved.
Article III: To temporarily suspend the Bylaws while committee restructuring is being completed, was NOT approved. It was suggested we always keep Bylaws in place as a guide, we should never not have Bylaws in place. It is planned this year to make pertinent changes to our Bylaws which include restructuring and consolidating our many boards and committees.
In Other Business, the Cameron music scholarship was brought up. It was noted that more publicity should be put out to the congregation about this scholarship. Any member of Second Church, regardless of age, may apply for these funds to be used to further educate in the field of music, ie. lessons, instruments, etc. Reminder articles will periodically be published in the Arrow.
The complete reports from Annual meeting are available in the Norman Room. Please feel free to pick one up!
Thank you to all who came to the meeting with their thoughts and ideas…that’s what it takes to make a congregation a living and vital part of the community!
Yours,
Rhonda