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Meeting for Business Minutes, March 13, 2022

Minneapolis Friends Meeting Posted on by

Minneapolis Friends Meeting

Minutes of Monthly Meeting for Business

March 13, 2022

Hybrid meeting – in person and on Zoom  9:45-11:15AM   [Names and some content has been edited for publishing on the web]  Attendance: John K. – presiding clerk,  Tom W. – recording clerk,  Sandy O. – Zoom host,  MFM Techs: Roger M. and Terry K.   Others in attendance: approximately 35 on Zoom and 17 in in the meeting house

  1. Silent Worship
  2. Approve Agenda –   APPROVED
  3. February Minutes  – APPROVED
  4. Brief Hybrid Meeting update and Welcoming and Outreach Request  – Presiding clerk  Everything seems to be working now for hybrid meeting. The problems experienced in the first two weeks have been largely addressed, although we ask for continued patience as we learn the system. Clerk expressed his desire that Friends would be comfortable returning to worship in the meeting house and that we would not become too accustomed to the convenience of worshipping remotely on Zoom. Welcoming and Outreach Committee is looking for volunteers to greet visitors at during meeting for worship. During Covid, the committee has not kept a list of volunteers. Please contact the committee if you would be willing to be a greeter.  Sue K is committee clerk.  Other members include Deborah J, Nancy H, Jim L and Mary G.  There was no Discussion.
  5. Ministry and Counsel (M&C) Report – Bill H:  M&C had originally scheduled a community meeting on Saturday April 2 to discuss the quality of vocal ministry during meeting for worship. They are now considering two later dates – April 16 or April 30. Jeannette R will clerk the session with assistance from John C, Carolyn V, Bill H and the Presiding Clerk.  M&C realizes that while there are many private discussions on the quality of worship, Meeting would benefit from gathering in community to discuss how the Spirit inspires and leads us in vocal ministry.  Worship sharing will be used to guide us through the process. Discussion: Friend asked about the nature of the complaints regarding the quality of worship.  They come from all sides – too much vocal ministry, speakers going too long, not enough vocal ministry, messages not always feeling spiritually motivated.  The session is designed for the entire community.  Friends accepted the report.
  6. Committee Reports:
    1. Stewardship and Finance 2022 – 2023 Budget Approval – Mike F  Budget was displayed on Zoom and was shared with the printed and online bulletin. Highlights:
      1. Salaries – This budget, notably, has no line item for director of ministry. The previous 4 or 5 budgets have included a placeholder for the position; but Stewardship is recommending that this be dropped.  Additionally, since COVID, some salaries have only been partially paid out, or not at all – nursery staff and religious education coordinator are examples. There is no religious education coordinator right now, so that line item functions as a placeholder.  A new position, Technical Service Worker, was added to the budget this year. The $1200 allocated to this position acknowledges the need to hire someone to provide ongoing technical support to manage the audio and video setup in the meeting room, although the amount is largely a guess and is most certainly less than what will be needed.
      2. Plant Operations: the Trustees are requesting a major increase to the Trustee Building Fund – at $20,000, up from $11,000 last year. There are some significant building projects that necessitate the increase and Trustees want to build up the reserve funds. Otherwise, most plant operations have been increased by 7% from last year.
      3. Office expenses have been raised by 7%.  
      4. Program Costs: Except for the COVID Relief fund which was spent down, most program expenses were not paid out this past year since most programming activities have been curtailed due to COVID. $10,000 has been set aside for the Ad-hoc COVID-19 Relief fund, but there is some uncertainty as to how this will play out this year.
      5. Utilities have increased 10%
      6. Contributions are anticipated to remain largely the same as last year.
      7. The total budget for 2022-2023 stands at $124,400.  This is substantially less than last year’s $136,000, which included the salary for Director of Ministry.  The committee believes the proposed budget will be spent in the coming year. Discussion:  Friend remarked on the significance of removing the Director of Ministry salary from the budget.  It marks the Meeting having moved from one way of being [with Director of Ministry] to another way [without a Director of Ministry]. They feel the whole process has gone well.  Another Friend asked what the projected costs will be for the paid technician. The clerk estimated that $1200 allotted to tech support would only cover $25 per week over an entire year, and that seems insufficient. We should consider the $1200 to be a place holder, for now, as we continue to work out the details; and it seems likely we would need tech support for 4 hours each Sunday. Roger M reported that, so far, we are under budget on equipment expenses to operate the hybrid meeting, so there may be some extra to help with tech support.     Carolyn V does not think Meeting has actually approved hiring a Religious Education Coordinator position and the line item in the budget should be viewed as a place holder.   Friend inquired about the status of current contributions to Meeting. At the end of January, Meeting had received about $90K in offerings and donations, which is about equal to previous years at the same time, although reduced some due to COVID.  We are doing okay, and the report does not include donations received since January.  Friends APPROVED the 2022-2023 Budget Proposal as presented.
    2. Nominating Committee 2022 – 2023 Slate Approval – Carolyn V Work of the committee has been challenging this year due to Zoom.  It has been harder to connect with newcomers and to interact with those we know well, making it difficult to get a sense of the personalities of each committee. And running zoom programs has placed extra time demands on volunteers as more people are needed to host and to run the digital equipment during meetings for worship. Nominating is grateful for the many, many people who participate and share of their time.  This year, there has not been a huge change in committee membership. Instead, the committees have benefitted from many experienced committee members re-upping to continue their service on the same committee, although not always for three years.  Some positions are still pending and the committee expects to return to business meeting next month for more approvals. Some specific changes: Linda C is stepping in to audit the general funds this coming year, but she will not audit Trustee Funds, since she is a Trustee. We continue to search for an auditor and there has not been an audit performed during COVID. John C will be Clerk of Ministry and Counsel. Bill H is stepping down as clerk and is cycling off M&C.  Nominating Committee is looking for guidance on how to proceed with the position for Religious Education Coordinator, since Meeting has not moved forward on this.  The Technology Committee is a new committee this year. Carolyn asks us to report to her any discrepancies or errors noted in the report.   Discussion: Friend asked for clarification on the function of Social Committee, since it operates to facilitate potlucks and we are still not holding potlucks.  Clerk indicated this is a separate discussion that will addressed next on the agenda.   Linda C spoke of being willing to do the audit this year, but she is not an auditor and Meeting needs to enlist a real CPA. Suggestions for auditor candidates would be appreciated by Nominating Committee.   Friend wanted to acknowledge the contributions of the Presiding Clerk and appreciated his contributions. Friend noted that there are many committee positions remaining unfilled for the third year, 2025.  It has become harder and harder to get people to volunteer for three years, although they are committing to one or two years.  The open slots represent a change in people’s willingness to commit to serve for three years at a time.  Friends APPROVED the Nominating Committee’s slate for 2022-2023 as presented.  Carolyn encouraged people to be open to requests to serve on Nominating Committee.  This is an opportunity to reach out and to participate in our community.
    3. Social Committee – Presiding Clerk:  Social Committee has been approached to coordinate other social tasks since Meeting has not been doing potlucks during COVID – things like movie nights, discussion groups, etc. The Social Committee has not been interested in expanding their operations. Clerk asked Meeting if we should form an adhoc committee to plan opportunities, other than potlucks, for Friends to gather and to interact socially.  There was a wide range of reactions to this consideration. Some spoke in favor of an adhoc social activity committee and felt there is a need that would be met by doing this.  Others were wary of creating another committee given all the commitment issues we have as a Meeting. And some felt there is no need for an adhoc social activity committee, since individuals are organizing events all the time. One concern was identified. Meeting does not, routinely, make the Zoom account available for individuals to use unless it is for committee activities or Meeting events.  If Zoom is needed to host one of these social activities, the event would need to be conducted under the auspices of a committee, as would be the case if it were sponsored by an adhoc social activity committee. A number of people described activities they successfully initiated on their own that have been well received and functioned without directly involving Meeting.  Clerk tabled the discussion for now, but he invited people to continue to get together and to make social events happen. He recognized the Friends who have done this already.
  7. FCNL (Friends Council on National Legislation) Priority Discussion – Jim H and Doug H presented a list of priorities generated via Zoom and through other activities. In previous years, the list would be created by convening a group meeting.
      1. First Priority:
        1. Work on climate change and sustainable energy issues
      2. Tied for Second Priority:
        1. Advocate on Native American Issues.
        2. Honor treaties. Reduce money in politics. Promote voting rights
        3. Reduce income inequality. Promote economic justice
      3. Tied for Third Priority: 
        1. End gun violence through the support of policies informed by public health practice
        2. Strengthen programs meeting basic human needs such as nutrition, education, health care and safety
      4. Respondents also had concerns regarding clean water, mental health program support, global warming, plastic pollution, nuclear waste, biological weapons and gun control. Comparison with previous year’s priorities shows that climate change and Native American issues have been at the top of our priority list since 2016.  This priority list will be passed on to FCNL. It should be noted that FCNL is currently working on many of these issues.  There is a local advocacy team working on the Yemen War, economic equality and the build back better program.  They appreciate messages of support from Meeting members.  Friends APPROVED forwarding the priority list to Friends Committee on National Legislation.
  8. First Day School – Presiding Clerk:  This is a huge topic. We do not have a Religious Education Committee and right now there is not time to discuss it adequately. And it appears we do not have the resources to establish an in-meeting First Day School program to offer to families at this time; but religious education is an important topic and it will remain on business meeting’s agenda.
  9. Correspondence:  There was one letter this month from a person who is, currently, incarcerated.  Ed H, a Native American, is scheduled to be released from Rush City, MN this coming year and has become interested in Quakerism.  He is open to learning more about us and to explore how Quakerism relates to native spirituality.  He is asking for more information and would appreciate hearing from someone in Meeting.  Clerk said he could reply to the request but he wanted to know if someone is interested in taking this on.  Jane D volunteered to respond. Clerk will forward the letter to her.
  10. Closing Worship

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