October 29, 2005
Sky-HY Retreat Center,
Topsham, Me

Present: June Boutwell, Ernie Campbell, David Gaewski, Linda Gard, John Glover, Denise Goodman, Steve Harding, John Holt, Judy Hubley, Chuck Ihloff, Connie Insley, Don Isham, Rebecca Lockwood, Peter Mercer, Janice O’Brien, Herb Oliver, Anne Roundy, Mark Schussler, Emily Taylor, Charlie Whiston,

Disaster Response Team Report: Lorraine Martin. Lorraine shared information about adopting a church devastated by Katrina. The Penn Central Conference would like to partner with the Maine Conference to adopt Beecher Memorial, which was severely damaged by the hurricane. Beecher has 119 members. There was major damage and it is one of the poorest churches in New Orleans. Penn Central has hired a Director of Recovery. It was moved, seconded, and voted that the Maine Conference move ahead to co-adopt the Beecher Memorial Church UCC with Penn Central Conference. 13 yes, 2 no, 5 abstentions.

Minutes: It was moved, seconded and voted to accept the minutes of the September 23, 2005 meeting with appreciation.

Treasurer’s Report: Linda Gard presented her report noting that OCWM is 3% ahead of last year. Fellowship dues are 31% higher than this period last year. The Council was reminded to appoint a member from the Coordinating Council to the Audit Committee. Herb Oliver will be our rep for the time being.

Business Manager’s Report: Mark Schussler reviewed his report highlighting two action items: housing allowance designation, and budget process and schedule. Housing allowances need to be passed for June Boutwell, David Gaewski, Bryan Breault and David Ray for 2006. It was moved, seconded and voted that the four ministers receive housing allowance according to the Treasurer’s report, as presented in attachment #1, which is as follows: June Boutwell receive a housing allowance of $7,200; David Gaewski - $24,720; Bryan Breault - $31,000; and David Ray - $7,928
Budget process and schedule approval: It was moved, seconded and voted to approve the budget process and schedule as presented on attachment #2 of the Treasurer’s Report, with date corrected to April 1, 2006.

2006 Fellowship dues rate will increase by about 4.1% due to the COLA increase being higher than expected.

Pilgrim Lodge: Mark Schussler presented the Pilgrim Lodge schedule including the funding needs, which will mean a capital campaign.

Conference Minister’s Report: David Gaewski presented a written report and noted to the meeting Insurance Board updates. Churches have received bills. Property coverage will be insured. Liability security is in question—They are looking at possibilities including changing the carrier and liability no longer being covered. If liability is not renewed, the complete program may be in jeopardy. David assured the meeting that the issue is being addressed energetically. Since Annual Meeting, one Maine church, the Princeton church has taken action to leave the UCC. The stated decision was based on the marriage resolution action, which in reality was tabled not acted upon. There are two others mightily wrestling with the action of General Synod regarding the marriage resolution. Wells, which perhaps is negotiating, and East Millinocket will vote tomorrow whether or not to disassociate with UCC. The E. Millinocket church needs a 75% vote to leave. The sense is it will not pass, but healing will be necessary. We stopped for prayer for the E. Millinocket church and Andrew McLeod, its student pastor. Included in the prayer was the Wells church. It is unlikely the UCC will be airing new ads by Advent. It was a very difficult decision. There is overwhelming support for the campaign, but not enough dollars. The National Executive Council feels it would be irresponsible to go into debt with the campaign. Our PIC committee is interested in running the “steeple ad” again during Advent in Maine. Maine time is cheap compared to other states. We can to it for about $3,500, and the Maine God Is Still Speaking churches will be asked to help support the campaign financially. Consensus was to let the Communication Committee proceed accordingly. At the end of November, David will attend a conference regarding the process of developing new churches. Church of Universal Fellowship is still in the process of discussions with the Maine Conference. If a church withdraws from the Maine Conference, UCC, no placement services will be available and the church will not receive PL publications.

Associate Transitional Conference Minister report: June Boutwell: Presented a written report and informed the meeting that the four primary areas for her are administration, annual meeting, and Church &Ministry business and search and call. Time spent on administration is down and Search and Call is up to about 20% of time. She is now involved in a significant planning period for the Youth Event 2006.

Giving Winds: Linda Gard provided a financial assessment regarding making loan to Giving Winds. As of 9/30/05 an assessment was made of what money would be available and what our cash flow is. Linda feels the year-end information would be more helpful. It will require making a policy decision regarding how much reserve is enough? The consensus was that we need more information and postponed our dealing with the issue until January.

Resourcing Local Church. We need to replace Paul Shupe and it needs to be someone from the southern part of the state. The Executive Committee will address this.

Annual Meeting: Gini King’s thank you note was shared. Charlie e-mailed thank-you notes to the committee and will write a personal note to Gini. Annual Meeting of 2006 needs a chairperson and a theme. Ginger Rickeman of the Bethel church has volunteered to be the chair. For a theme we suggest Abundant Life. The Executive Committee will work on membership of the Annual Meeting Committee.

Sharing Coordinating Council minutes with Association Moderators. Perhaps an abbreviated form. David said staff is working on standardized means of reporting. We could put the minutes, pending approval, on the web site and make note of this action on ACE. Charlie will communicate this to Cheryl.

Press Policy: A draft is written and will be available in Jan.

Search process: At the January Coordinating Council meeting, the time frame will be reviewed.

Committee replacements will be addressed by the Executive Committee and will be on the Coordinating Council agenda in January.

It was moved, seconded and voted to adjourn following worship

Respectfully submitted,