May 27, 2008 Minutes

Emmanuel Lutheran Church
Building Committee Minutes
May 27, 2008 6:30 pm

Present: Shirley Engerbretson, Niklaas Dumroese, Mike Whiteman, Pastor Stewart, Pastor Dawna, Ron Landeck (chair), Tom Brandt, Carolyn Todd

Absent: Tammy Hullin, Garth Sasser, Carolyn Guy, Kurt Olsson, Katie Campbell

Members of Emmanuel: Ben Beard, Kas Dumroese, Shirley Gunther, Dorothy Schnaible, Becky Branson, Dean Vettrus, Phyllis Vettrus, Diana Pals, Jan & Neil Martin

Devotions were led by Pastor Stewart, continuing with the Book of Acts

Bob Dwelle spoke to the committee. He suggests a new approach for a building program that might be financially successful and lead to a feeling of well-being and accomplishment among the congregation. He proposed that the committee consider two phases of the building/renovation program. Phase one would include things that everyone has agreed are necessary such as working with the HVAC system, renovating the kitchen, replacing the tables, putting windows in the sanctuary, and other projects that everyone agrees are priority. Phase two, which would begin after phase one has been accomplished, would consider other items as important, but perhaps merit more discussion. This approach would allow us to raise money in a phased approach, we would feel good about accomplishing something, and we would feel like we’re making progress.

BC thought plan sounded like a good idea, with some questions. Mike suggested that now is the time to visit with a design professional to find out what could be considered for a “phase one” and “phase two.” Ron attempted to determine if it would be helpful to council for the BC to consider routine maintenance items; this appears to be a good idea since committees are low in membership and there is no overall maintenance schedule. Shirley Engerbretson suggested that these are appropriate discussions for the subcommittees.

A motion was attempted to determine a timeline and the abandoned in favor of further discussion. Discussion centered around what exactly would we be asking a consultant to do, how can we determine what items would be in phase one or phase two, what do we do with the information already gathered, and what exactly are we hoping to accomplish. General consensus was that a consultant might help us prioritize so we could reconvene in subcommittees and address the tasks necessary to bring a proposal to council.

Motion (Brandt/Todd)
Building subcommittee groups meet in May, set some priorities
Have architect/consultant meet with whole group (BC & SC ) in June meeting to give us information about process.
Further prioritize; meet with subcommittees and refine priorities
Meet with consultant one more time if necessary
Subcommittees will send recommendations for “phase one” and “phase two” concepts at BC September meeting.
Building committee considers recommendations and sends recommendations to council by one week before October council meeting for annual meeting discussion. PASSED

Schedule meeting of this committee to organize things for June meeting with consultant; we want to pull thoughts together and get subcommittee acts together

Have as much information ready as we can for consultant to look at and understand

Ben: In order to thoughtfully consider proposals, council will need information at least one week prior to the council meeting (third Tuesday of month).

Action necessary in subcommittee; each subcommittee needs to come to BC with specific plans; identify missions, needs, wants.

Carolyn agreed to contact Design West and try to set up an appointment with the architects who have experience in church buildings. We will use some of the $3,000 allocated by the congregation for this.

Concern from Phyllis Vettrus: How are we going to do these things; we don’t seem to have an overall plan of attack? Mike’s response: the designers will lead us through this process, they have a lot of experience, will bring up things we haven’t even thought of.

Committee Reports
· Interior Systems: Vern Kinnison, Neil Martin, Steve Fountain, Garth Sasser, Kas Dumroese, Hugh Maxwell, Dick Harden. Draft minutes for interior systems submitted; Ron asked group to identify phases one and two for architect

· Narthex committee: Carolyn Guy; action item was to look at other churches

· Accessibility subcommittee: Tammy Hullin, Larry Clott, Robbie Giles, Deb Dumroese, Doug Pals; took tour of the building and had a discussion about the legality issues of remodeling and bringing up to code; will have an action plan by next month.

· Music: Niklaas Dumroese, Tom Brandt, Janet Williams, Dean Vettrus, Chris McIntosh; discussed positive aspects of sanctuary, then challenges; realized whatever we (congregation) ends up considering must not preclude future use; recognized & mentioned a number of areas where there will be interaction w/ other subcommittees; accessibility, worship, specific action. Next meeting is reviewing what happened w/sound system and making recommendations.

Brief demographic report about Moscow and Lutheran church (attachment)

Next meeting (depending on consultant): June 24, 6:30 pm. There may be a planning meeting scheduled in between.

Adjourned at 8:50 pm