CMM 2008-02-10

Minutes of Meeting for Worship for Business

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

2nd Month 10, 2008

(As approved 3/2/2008)

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting gathered in a regularly called Meeting for Worship for Business at the Merrimack Valley Day Care Center in Concord, NH.  Friends present were Don Booth, Lois Booth, Graham P. Chynoweth, Kate Daniels, Rich Kleinschmidt (recording clerk), Ruth Heath (treasurer), Jay Smith, Sara Smith (clerk), Rob Spencer, Kathy Urie.

The meeting was opened by the clerk with a period of worshipful silence.

2.1  Minutes.  The minutes of 12/9/2007 were approved as circulated.  (We did not meet for business in January because we used the time to hear a presentation from Joel McCarty of the Timber Framers Guild.)

2.2  Quaker Study.  Ruth reported that the Quaker Study group has been meeting weekly at 9 a.m.

2.3  Fund Raising Committee.  We appointed Kathy Urie as clerk of the Fund Raising committee.  The committee now consists of Lois Booth, Greg Heath, Sara Smith, and Kathy Urie. David Freeman-Woolpert will serve in an advisory capacity.

2.4  Treasurers Report.  The treasurer reported that $8,203 has been donated to our budget.  This represents about 75% of our $10,914 at a point 67% through our fiscal year.

Friends requested that Housing Committee periodically report the receipts and expenditures for the meeting house project.  The committee was also reminded that we should report back to the Obediah Brown Fund on how we matched and spent their initial grant.  We should also be requesting additional assistance from the fund.

2.5  Housing Committee.  The Housing Committee has received an initial estimate of $550,000 for construction cost.  The committee has not had time to examine this estimate.

We discussed steps that the Meeting would like to see taken:

  • Consider ways that the project could be modified to reduce costs.
  • Find some way to test whether this contractor’s estimate is reasonable.
  • Consider an “exit strategy” should we be unable to maintain the building in the future.
  • Consider again whether we could partner with some other groups.

2.6  Called Meeting.  We decided that it would be appropriate to schedule a called meeting to discuss how and whether to proceed with the Meeting House Project.  We set the date as 3/2 after Meeting for Worship and potluck

Our meeting ended with a period of worshipful, grateful silence, purposing to meet again on the first First Day of Third Month [See 2.6] or at the call of the clerk.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Richard Kleinschmidt, Acting Recording Clerk

Accepted as the approved record,

/s/ Sara Smith, Clerk