January 30, 2000

The annual meeting of the Church membership was held on January 30, 2000 at 11:00 AM in the Sanctuary of the Shelton Congregational Church. The meeting was called to order by church manager Lucille Wells. Rev. Greg Schmidt began with an opening prayer. Some 32 members were in attendance and a quorum, specified by the bylaws as ten percent of church membership (of 203), was deemed to be satisfied.

The minutes of the previous annual meeting, held on January 31, 1999, were reviewed and approved. Also reviewed and approved were minutes from two special church meetings, one on March 14, 1999 and the other on June 27, 1999.

Lucille asked for questions or comments on the regular (non-financial) officer and committee reports, as listed on pages 8 to 24 of the current  (1999) annual report. These reports included those of the Minister, Historian, Assistant Clerk, Board of Christian Ed, Trustees, Outreach Committee, Personnel Committee, Stewardship Committee, Fund Raising, Child Care, Women's Fellowship (incl. their Treasurer's Report), and the Denominational Affairs Committee. It was then moved and passed that these reports be accepted.

The Annual Treasurer's Report for 1999 was presented by Rev. Greg Schmidt, who had assisted the Treasurer Sue Tagg (not present) in its preparation.  Highlights, commented on, included: (a) a special net income, after expenses, of $157,755.18 from sale of the parsonage property in November 1999; (b) a memorial fund  expenditure of $4,783 for a new piano in July 1999 (this item was 66% of the 7,202.64 of 1999 non-budgeted expenses); (c) somewhat reduced investment income in 1999 (down to $13,091 from prior year 1998 investment income of $14,092); and (d) an overall difference of actual expenses over budget expenses of $14,235.73 (the difference was only 1,414.05 if one subtracts the newly authorized minister's housing allowance of $8,038.68 and the new piano cost of $4,783). The Treasurer's Report was approved as read.

On behalf of the Budget Committee, Bill Barker reviewed the Proposed Church Budget for year 2000. This budget was approved as read.

Bill Barker reviewed the status of the Five Year Plan which was approved by the membership in June 1999. Tony Unger moved that next year's (year 2000) officer and committee reports should include specific mention of activities related to the 1999 Five Year Plan. This motion was seconded and passed.

Old Business - A motion by Bill Barker entitled Motion II, was removed from  the table for discussion and vote. The motion was "The spirit of the congregation is that stock and bond dividend income is most crucial to the church's near term well being, and should be given priority over long term appreciation of asset value. It is therefore moved that Trustees be instructed, with regard to their manipulation of stocks and bonds, that maximization of annual income amount and stability, from church financial assets, is to the primary objective." Bill commented that this motion would emphasize dividend income over speculative gain for the church investment portfolio. Greg Schmidt argued against the motion, saying that we had consistently gained more return from growth in value of our securities (than we would have received in dividends) and should continue to do so. On vote, the motion was defeated by a wide margin.

New Business -

1) A motion to amend the church bylaws on the Fund Raising committee, as submitted by Bill Barker (with the required 30 days advance notice), was brought up for discussion and vote. This motion is described in full on page 36 on the 1999 Annual Report. Bill noted that the motion would give the Fund Raising Committee a seat on Church Council and increase its size to six members. Bill agreed to a change (as a friendly amendment) suggested by Greg Schmidt that three members be elected each year for two years terms. Bill also agreed to a change from Sharon Schmidt that the wording not contain specific dollar amounts for major and minor fund raising events. The motion, as amended, was passed by the necessary two-thirds vote of members present.

2) A motion to amend the church bylaws on the Membership committee, as submitted by Lesley Barker (with the required 30 days advance notice), was brought up for discussion and vote. This motion is described in full on page 37 on the 1999 Annual Report. Lesley agreed to split her motion into a first part which would shift the duty of tracking church member participation from Stewardship to the Membership Committee. After discussion this part was passed by the necessary two-thirds vote of members present.

For the second part of this bylaw amendment proposal, Lesley agreed to friendly amendments that the membership Committee size be set at six (rather than eight) members and that three members be elected each year for two year terms. Marie Hurd spoke against the motion by saying she objected to creating large committees just to get people on committees. The motion received only 20 affirmative votes, and thus failed, by two votes, to achieve the necessary two-thirds (of the 32 members present) required for passage as a bylaw.

3) Glenn Wells, on behalf of the Nominating committee, submitted the slate of proposed new officers and committee members for the coming years (this list appears on page 38 of the 1999 Annual Report). Glenn noted that there were still several vacancies and asked for volunteers to fill these positions. He then received the following additional nominations from the floor: (a) Kim Karket and Betty Ogden for Board of Christian Ed; (b) Bill Barker and Shirley Keller for Fund Raising Committee; (c) Kathy DeMarco for Nominating Committee; (d) Mary Unger for Stewardship Committee; (e) Eugene Ogden for Denominational Affairs; and (f) Debbie Cassidy for Outreach Committee. Upon vote, the nominating committee slate, as revised, was approved by the membership.

Rev. Greg Schmidt rose to offer a special word of thanks to Marie Hurd for her many years of service to the church, and regrets on hearing of her pending job change and move to Ohio.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 PM by Lucille Wells.

Respectfully submitted,