CMM 2009-01-18

Minutes of Meeting for Worship for Business

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

1^st Month 18, 2009

Concord (NH] Monthly Meeting gathered in Meeting for Worship for Business at the Havenwood retirement community in Concord, NH.  Friends present were Mark Barker, Alisa Barnard, Don Booth, Lois Booth, Kate Daniels, David Freeman-Woolpert, Greg Heath (recording clerk), Ruth Heath (treasurer), Loni LaBombard, Grace LeClair, Bill Noyce, Linda Peters, Jay Smith, Sara Smith (clerk).

1.11  New Meetinghouse:  After much discussion, the meeting concluded that it is satisfied to continue to pursue plans for the building of our new meeting house with the desire to invest as much sweat equity as possible in order to bring down the cost.  The building committee is asked to have the builder specifically propose how this can be accomplished and what savings can be realized.

1.12  Donation Patterns:  Treasurer Ruth Heath presented general information regarding giving patterns within the Meeting, i.e. how many donors are giving within various dollar ranges.

1.13  Mortgage Decision:  The Meeting concluded that it is willing to borrow up to, and not to exceed, forty thousand dollars for the project.  This decision was based on the cost of such borrowing and the Meeting’s comfort with its ability to annually raise sufficient funds to make the mortgage payments and the higher operating costs that are already planned.

1.14  Following a brief period of worship, the meeting adjourned purposing to meet again 2^nd Month 8.

Respectfully submitted,

[1]

Accepted as the approved record when signed,

/s/ Sara Smith, Clerk

[Ruth's copy]

Minute from Jan 2009 1.13 The Meeting concluded that it is willing to borrow up to, and not to exceed, forty thousand dollars for the project. This decision was based on the cost of such borrowing and the Meeting’s comfort with its ability to annually raise sufficient funds to make the mortgage payments and the higher operating costs that are already planned.

Proposed minute December 13, 2009

Members have pledged the sum of $32,700 that is scheduled to be donated to the Meeting over the next two years. In the event that these funds are needed to pay for current construction work, the Meeting authorizes the clerk and the Treasurer to borrow against these pledges in an amount up to $32,700.  Such borrowing is to be short term debt that will be retired upon the fulfillment ofthepledges, and it is in addition to borrowing authorized in minute 1.13 of the January 2009 Meeting for Business that authorized borrowing up to $40,000 of long term debt.

Special Called Meeting

Concord Monthly Meeting

January 18, 2009

Shall We Proceed?

• Status of Meeting House Plans
• Status of Project Costs
• Status of Fund Raising
• Loans
  • How much debt are we willing to take on?
    • Long-term debt:
      • Likely annual operating budget
      • Debt service for $40,000 @ 5% -15 yrs.
• Alternative choices for dealing with $50,000 gap:

1. Short-term debt: borrow $90,000 but expect fund raising to reduce that to $40,000 in 10 mos.
2. Start now but complete only what we can
3. Wait and hope for prices to come down
4. Wait for more total fund raising to be completed
5. Change design to a simple rectangular building
6. Put off start until major bequests/gifts comes in

Fund-Raising Committee

How We Can Get There From Here

January 18, 2009

The Fund Raising Committee believes the Meeting can obtain an additional $50,000 in cash and donated materials between now and the end of summer when the Meeting House could be completed.

To start construction now, we will need to approve borrowing $90,000 now and reduce that loan to $40,000 through the remaining fund raising that will be done before the end of construction.

But efforts by many members and other attenders of the Meeting will be needed.

Here are the range of methods that we believe are reasonable to achieve our goal: