Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends convened in worship on Sunday, April 17, 2016 with twelve people present. In Sukie Rice’s absence, Doug Gwyn agreed to serve as recording clerk for this meeting. He will send out draft minutes to all present for additions/improvements. Clerk Sarah Sprogell opened the meeting by reading a quotation from the current revision of New England Yearly Meeting’s book of faith and practice, page 117, on the inward teacher and personal transformation. Doug Gwyn gave his pastor’s report. He continues to arrange for a variety of speakers to bring the message in worship. Sukie Rice spoke April 3 and Nelson Ida, pastor to the Kakamega orphanage, spoke April 10. Craig Freshly will bring the message April 24, while Doug is speaking at Central Philadelphia Meeting. Gene Boyington has agreed to speak May 10 and it is probable that Dorothy Selebwa of Kakamega will speak June 26. A meeting of committee clerks, released ministers and treasurer was a useful conversation held in the parsonage April 6. Midweek meetings have resumed and will utilize a variety of formats. Ron Turcotte reported for Ministry and Counsel. Friendly Eights groups have all met at least once, except for one that is still finding its way. Several other items of business are in process. Youth Minister’s report – Wendy Schlotterbeck is out of town and unable to report. Katharine Hildebrandt gave the treasurer’s report. For the first quarter of this year, she reported $17,008.55 in expenses, against $12,828.93 in income and $2859.43 in transfers, leaving a negative year-to-date balance of $1320.19. She noted that declining interest income from our various funds is impacting our finances. Her report was accepted with appreciation.
a. Sarah Sprogell’s suggestion was approved, that we have treasurer’s report quarterly instead of monthly, with the provision that the treasurer or finance committee can report anything more urgent at any monthly meeting. We will put the quarterly reports, in abbreviated form, in the Meeting newsletter. Tess Hartford brought the report from the Christian Education Committee. Their main business presently is Wendy Schlotterbeck’s annual evaluation. Tess will distribute an evaluation form to members of Christian Ed and Ministry & Counsel, and to the parents of the Meeting’s youth. They hope to renew Wendy’s contract/agreement in June. Tess raised a concern that the Committee is getting smaller. Jo-an Jacobus said she would relay this concern to Nominating Committee. Clarabel Marstaller resigned from the Committee in March. Doug Gwyn read a minute of appreciation from the Committee for her 67 years of service to religious education in our Meeting. The minute was heartily approved. Margaret Wentworth presented the Trustees report. They are obtaining estimates for replacement of the meetinghouse roof and reinforcement of its underlying structure, in order to install solar panels in the future. They plan to approach the Fundraising Committee to explore how to finance this undertaking. They are starting to explore creating guidelines for the interment of cremains, which are becoming a more frequent choice for those using our cemetery. We may need to consider smaller plots accordingly. The horse shed roof needs repainting and repair. Don Goodrich is removing large stones, stumps and seedlings from behind the horse shed so that it may be mowed this year. He is doing this for free, as he plans to use the stones elsewhere. Gene Boyington will continue with tree-removal near the entrance to the parsonage parking lot. Trustees plan to use a sign-up sheet again this year for spring cleaning, rather than to organize a clean-up day. A working party will be formed to remove the carpet from the worship room. Ron Turcotte, Katherine Langelier and Doug Gwyn were approved to work on this. They will see if Paul Wood and Craig Freshley can be recruited for this project as well. The Friends Community of New England has an air purifier they can lend to the Meeting to help with mold issues that are a problem for one attender. The cell tower plan has been presented to the Durham Planning Board and is going through their process. It was suggested that we may need to schedule an open Trustees meeting for concerned members and attenders to discuss issues surrounding solar panels on the meetinghouse roof. This was approved as a useful step. Sarah Sprogell gave some details from our 2015 statistical report to the Yearly Meeting. We gained seven new members (3 new Friends, 4 transfers from other meetings). We lost four by death or by aging out
from junior membership. Our attendance averaged right around 40, showing some slow growth. Falmouth Quarterly Meeting needs a representative to attend the June annual meeting of the Beacon Hill Friends House in Boston. Interested persons can contact Sarah. Clarabel Marstaller reported on the Falmouth Quarterly Meeting held at Windham Friends April 2. The morning was taken up with a worshipful hearing of State of Society reports from our various monthly meetings and a memorial minute for David Hall from Brunswick Meeting. Leslie Manning reported on the work of the Maine Friends Committee on Public Policy and the Maine Council of Churches. After lunch a presentation on Give Kids a Chance was given by two members of Windham Friends. Clarabel also reported for the United Society of Friends Women. The Durham women hosted a meeting for all USFW Friends on April 9, with 10 attending. A USFW Triennial will be held in Iowa in July. Two carloads will go from our Yearly Meeting. Sarah Sprogell reported that Portland Friends Meeting is exploring entering into sister meeting relationship with one of the Cuban Yearly Meeting meetings. One possibility would be for them to share our sister meeting relationship with Velasco Friends. But no definite action or request has been made. Clarabel Marstaller relayed a suggestion from Cynthia Muench that we add signs to the two doors into the worship room, requesting that people silence all electronic devices. Jo-an Jacobus volunteered to work on this. The meeting closed around 2:15.
