CMM 2008-09-28

Minutes of Meeting for Worship for Business

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

9^th Month 28, 2008

Concord (NH) Monthly Meeting gathered in a specially called Meeting for Worship for Business at the Havenwood Retirement Community in Concord, NH.  Friends present were Lois Booth, Don Booth, David Freeman-Woolpert, Kathy Mercer, Jonie LaBombard, Bill Noyce, Greg Heath, Ruth Heath (treasurer, substitute recording clerk), Sara Smith (clerk), Jay Smith, Chris Booth, Kathy Urie.

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

9.8  We corrected the minutes of 14 September 2008 [1] and approved these corrected minutes.

9.9  We approved the minutes of 8^th month [2].

9.10  We noted that we have not yet approved the minutes of 7^th month 2008 as they have not been sent in by the recording clerk who was moving at the time.  We will contact him for those.

9.11  We noted a correction of information in minute 2008.9.2 [3]:  NH Non-profit requires a $75 annual fee and annual reporting.

9.12  Trust Agreement to hold property for the Meeting:  Sara reviewed the Faith and Practice guidance on trusts for holding property.  Dave Freeman Woolpert explained how the trust agreement was created.  Rob Howard, a local attorney specializing in property was recommended by member and attorney Graham Chynoweth, and agreed to do our legal work for transfer, including this trust, for a small fee.  This agreement creates three trustees to control the property and defines what authority the trustees have.  It was modeled after a Massachusetts Meeting that holds its property through a trust.  We could have applied for non-profit status in NH, but this would have taken more time to complete.  Dave explained the trust courtesy review by Donald and Lois Booth as requested by AMTP.

Unlike what was stated in 9.1 minute [4], NEYM will not be the owner but the trustees will be the owners.  We reaffirmed that the Meeting will appoint trustees on an annual basis, which is our usual nominating process.  We noted that this is a revocable trust and we might want to become a non-profit corporation and revoke this and control the property.

We approved creation of the trust.

9.13  Nomination of trustees:  Sara Smith, Ruth Heath, and David Freeman-Woolpert were brought forward by the Nominating Committee as trustees of the trust in minute 2008-09-10. These persons were approved by the Meeting. The above Trustees signed the trust. Don and Lois Booth signed their courtesy review.

9.14  AMTP transfer of property:  David Freeman-Woolpert reported that we conveyed the Transfer of Property Agreement to AMTP just before their September board meeting.  They may take up to 2 more meetings of their Board to convey final approval, which means we might not be able to begin construction before the winter.  They want us to meet together to discuss the terms of the agreement, specifically whether AMTP would give us first right of refusal on their property, should they go out of existence.

The Housing Committee asked for guidance on how important this issue is and how to negotiate this.  Meeting members advised that we:  check what their founding documents say that might restrict how their property would be disposed of if they go out of business; we could just ask for an informal agreement about their plans if they were to go out of business or if, for example, they change their scope of work and want to sell that property.  However, we don’t want to make this a deal breaker.  Asking for any restrictions on how they use their property was not viewed as necessary.  The negotiators should convey the importance of conserving resources for Quaker usage should our Meeting be laid down for a time.

9.15  The Housing Committee showed a 3D drawing of the Timber Framed worship space just received from Timber Framers’designer, and the 3-D picture of the rest of the building.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Ruth Heath, 9/28/08 Acting Recording Clerk, Corrected at Meeting held 10/13/08

Accepted as the approved record,

/s/ Sara Smith, Clerk