United Church of Ludlow Executive Board Meeting - Wed., April 2, 2025

United Church of Ludlow Executive Board Meeting - Wed., April 2, 2025, at 5:00 PM EDT

MINUTES
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United Church of Ludlow, 48 Pleasant St, Ludlow, VT 05149
Present on Zoom: Bob Malecki, Dean Alexander, Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt, Laura Creaser, Loren Stolp, Nancy Martel, Pastor Michelle Fountain
Absent:  Andy Ohotnicky, Bill Kneebone 

1. Call Meeting to Order - Laura called the meeting to order at 504 PM EDT
2. Michelle led an Opening Prayer
3. Approve Minutes - Review minutes from February 5, 2025. Dean made a motion to approve the minutes, and Loren seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
4. Pastor’s Report - Michelle. Michelle sent the report to the board by email. A couple of highlights: 
   1. On prayer shawls, we will continue to maintain a budget line for prayer shawl ministry. We already paid Terry back $1,000 in materials she spent at Joann’s Fabrics, which is going out of business. 
   2. Michelle is doing a Maundy Thursday Service and a Stone Soup dinner. The service will include discussion of the Last Supper, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Christine is doing the Easter Service as Michelle will be out of town.
   3. A youth group in Brattleboro is going to NC to clean up after a flood. Michelle asked if we could give them $100. The Mission Committee has approved, and the Board agreed. 
5. Building Inclusivity Team - Michelle reported that it has had two meetings, defined that its mission is providing welcoming support to the LGBTQIA+ community, though our church covenant is bigger. The team began discussing signage and notifications in the Bulletin, is meeting next on April 12, and will bring recommendations to the Board. Then, it will consider the next steps in welcome and education. The VT Conference of the UCC wants photos of how we support the LGBTQIA+ community, and we are not there yet. Laura has emailed a photo to the Board and Building Inclusivity Team of a wooden sign, which several people said they like. We discussed who could construct such a sign. Nancy said that perhaps we can make that sign together. Lisa said that such an activity would be great as an inclusiveness activity, and could provide photos of inclusivity for the website, social media, and the UCC Vermont Conference. Michelle said the BI Committee will consider it.
6. Deacons’ Report - Laura reported that pulpit supply is covered: Christine is preaching on Easter, none needed in May, Hannah in June, Bruce in July, and Jeremy in August.
7. Trustees’ Report 
   1. Painting of the church. Dean has met with two painting contractors. Have a quote from one, McKim, for $18,000. Waiting for the second to provide a quote. 
   2. Furnace- Dean has been in touch with 5 companies on replacing the furnace and is collecting bids. Some only do residential homes. He is waiting to hear back from several, and is meeting with another still. Loren said Dead River of Woodstock installs propane furnaces if Dean needs another bidder. Bob said the Mill used ARC Mechanical to get the heating reinstalled after the flood. Dean said he would keep those in mind if he needs another bid.
   3. Church sign - Laura said she and Wayne will put up a new permanent no-parking sign for the neighbor’s lot in the next couple of weeks.
   4. Andy has reported some windows with leaks. The Board agreed that we will address this issue at a future meeting. 
8. Communications Report - Lisa has updated the website and Facebook with updates about One Great Hour of Sharing and Maundy Thursday. She also created a Resources page (https://www.unitedchurch.us/resources.html) and would appreciate any links and organizations that Board members want to send. She said Jane McGarry will be filming the services for 3 weeks while George, Pat, and Lisa are out of town. Michelle mentioned the idea of using a recorded version of the Zoom stream. Lisa said we would just need them to remove joys and concerns, which OVTV could do if told at what point in the feed it started. Michelle will try recording the zoom and will show Laura how. Dean mentioned we have also purchased a camera that could improve the quality of Zoom. Perhaps install it in the back of the church.
9. Treasurer's Report - Bob. The report was sent to the Board by email. A couple of highlights:
   1. Offerings are a little low, but it’s only a quarter through the fiscal year, so this is normal. 
   2. Laura, Fra, and Bob are reviewing the church bylaws to update. It will be a yearlong process to be voted on at the 2026 Annual Meeting to better reflect how we currently operate.
10. New Business - 
    1. Bob has a new idea - should we publish the approved Meeting Minutes? No one objected. Lisa said she could on the website where Annual Meetings are currently housed. (Postscript: Lisa created this page at https://www.unitedchurch.us/minutes)
    2. Lisa reminded the Board that we planned to have a Ring Out Love Community Celebration in summer, and it’s time to start planning. The Board discussed having a family-friendly event such as an ice cream social with music and kids’ activities, which we could use as an opportunity to hold an open house and show residents our new disaster hub. We discussed having the event in late June or late July, one evening from 5-7 or 6-8 PM. Michelle agreed to announce the event at church and put something in the Bulletin, to see if we can get a committee of volunteers to brainstorm and plan it. Funds for the event would come out of the Ring Out Love Campaign. 
11. Old Business - None
12. Next meeting - Laura scheduled the next Executive Board meeting for May 14, at 5 PM EDT via Zoom.  
13. Adjournment. Laura Creaser adjourned the meeting at 6:06 PM. 

Minutes respectfully submitted by 
Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt