December 14, 2023 | Deacon Meeting Minutes

Attendance: John Reagan, Chuck Falch, Gail Graese, Vince Maro, Paul Weinke, John Genskow,  Bruce Winkler, Kathy Sahlhoff, Kristi Lambert

Absent: Anne Hartman, James Martin

Ex Officio: Mark Schulz, David Forke

Recording Secretary: Dean Gumz

John Reagan called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

1)    Opening devotion and prayer: John Genskow

2)    Action Items

A)    BOD Team Leaders to review charter and goals

B)    Anne to complete mission team charter

C)    Mortgage Refinance plan by October 2023

3)    Consent Agenda

A)    Pastoral Report

Paul made a motion to approve the consent agenda items. Kathy seconded the motion.  Motion passed. 

4)    Amendment to October minutes

The BOD approved the housing allowances for 2024 to be the same as in 2023 during the October meeting. The minutes did not include the specific amounts for each of the called workers. The specific amounts are as follows:

Called Worker. 2023 Amounts 2024 Amounts
Allie Urberg (Parkhurst) $15,000 $15,000
David Forke $33,000 $33,000
 Mark Schulz $30,000 $30,000

The amounts above were presented in a motion by Kathy and seconded by Gail.  Motion carried by voice vote.

5)    Mortgage Refinance Update

The mortgage documents were signed as of December 4, 2023, with the new mortgage having a term of 33 months. The pay-down was made also.

6)    BOD meeting discussion via Zoom/online

Bruce reviewed the committee’s discussion regarding Zoom meetings and voting procedures.  Rather than putting this in the bylaws, the committee will draft a procedural letter.  This will identify the notice given, the minute availability, and how people can access the minutes. 

7)    Review of

A.    Operations/ Building – Chuck met with Tonya and the church’s insurance carrier to review our current policy. The policy deductibles have increased as part of the extra costs specifically for wind and hail damage.

Skylight- the skylight has been removed. There was less done than expected as schedules didn’t align with the repair people and the weather.

Heat tapes have been applied in some areas.

B.    Policy – Bruce. The committee has met and got their recommendations submitted and approved by the District and Congregation

C.    Personnel – Kathy. The committee continues to meet with Pastor Mark regarding updates to staffing titles, job descriptions, and the org chart.

They are working on the employee handbook and policy manual.

The committee is still working on the salary assessment project.

D.    Finance – John. Working on getting the Financial data more timely and working on the pre-budget review.

E.     Mission – Pastor David.  The group was going to draft a letter to those groups included in our missions’ budget and a second letter to those groups we are no longer going to support. Not sure if this has been done yet.

Goal was to develop a policy and process to follow in choosing what missions we choose to support. Will review again in the spring. 

F.     BOD goals for 2023-24

1)    Call a new pastor. We are pretty much still at square one. Sent out a list to District Presidents hoping to get a list of 6-9 potential candidates.

2)    Call a Children’s Ministry Leader.  Allie is leading this group. They are also going to start working on this again on Jan 24.

8)    Staff Training: Security and Finance – John R and James

There is a need to provide additional training on Information security and Financial security. Phishing technology has gotten really sophisticated at making their emails look real.  Options were discussed to educate staff. 

9)    Peace Engagement with Venture Academy – Mark

Jacob’s Well is planning to kick off a new private school called Venture Academy. Mark presented a short promotional video and discussed various levels of engagement that Peace may want to consider at some point in the future. Feedback was offered but no decision was made.

10)  Refugee Resettlement – David

Pastors Mark and David attended a meeting of regional pastors held by World Relief in which they discussed their goal to place approx. 75 refugees in the Chippewa Valley beginning in early 2024 through the next several years.  World Relief is seeking churches that would be interested in supporting refugees in a non-financial manner.  David indicated to World Relief that Peace would like to partner with some individuals by offering this program to our congregation. The BOD endorsed Peace’s support to World Relief and their efforts to help settle refugees in our area. 

11)  Policy Updates – Bruce

Bruce presented a policy change for our staffing policy for children’s childcare. The proposed policy change shall read, “The Center shall at all times be staffed by one qualified adult with a second additional qualified adult onsite.” This shall replace the statement that we have two qualified adults in each Center.   

All other policies are approved as presented in the document Bruce sent to the BOD.

Gail made a motion to approve the policies as presented with the amendments as stated above.  Chuck seconded the motion.  Motion carried.

12)  Closing Prayer – Pastor David

Motion to adjourn made by Paul.  Seconded by Bruce.  Motion approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Dean Gumz