Category: Annual Report

Board of Finance
The Board of Finance is proposing a 2020 budget which includes giving our five key professional employees a 1.6 percent cost of living raise in support of their continued good service. We are also increasing salaries for our music professionals to bring them in line with salaries for musicians of their caliber in neighboring churches. The budget does not include the funding of any capital improvements or major maintenance projects. The costs of these cannot be accommodated by the normal operating budget funded by pledges, special events, etc. As an example, the $7,000 for the spire repairs in the summer of 2019 was paid for out of the Firm Foundation Fund. A new signboard to replace the current, rotting one out front, will be paid for out of that same fund.

The proposed 2020 budget carries a deficit of $19,559 which is accounted for by increases in expenses while pledging remain flat. In order to balance the budget we will need to transfer funds from the endowment fund to the operating account. Reaching into our endowment is not a new concept. The finance committee completed a historical review of our income over the past 30 years. The record shows that in that time fewer pledges have yielded nearly 3 times more money to support this church. Very generous! However, almost every year we have had to balance the budget drawing from gains in the Endowment Fund. Even with those withdrawals, our endowment fund has increased by at least $500,000 in the past decade . It is the Finance Committee’s recommendation that we include an $20,000 contribution from the endowment fund if needed to balance our 2020 budget. Unless a significant increase in membership occurs, we may need to balance our budget with endowment money each year.

The church held three major fundraisers in 2019, raising a total net of about $10,000. The Finance Committee expects to hold the same major fundraisers: Strawberry Supper, Silent Auction and the Tag Sale for 2020 with a goal to raise $10,000. These events not only raise money and serve to bring fellowship to our members, but give us another chance to shine in this community. If you have suggestions for a new fundraiser, please contact us.

All offerings from the church Christmas Services were donated to the Good Neighbor Fund. This is yet another way the church impacts our community.

Respectfully submitted,

Charles Grenier

As another year has come to an end, I am looking forward to the new year before us in regards to our liturgical floral designs. I wish to thank all who have sponsored flowers to grace our sanctuary table each Sunday. I have to thank you for giving me the freedom to use my talent and creativity in creating displays for our table and sanctuary. This is a floral designers dream.

As always Lent and Easter is a special event for floral designs in our church and last year was a delightful challenge with modified themes taken from The Four Immeasurables. The themes leading up to Palm Sunday were Forgiveness in the Midst of Suffering, Loving Kindness Radiating in all Directions, Cords of Compassion, Joy! Joy! Joy! and the 5th Sunday before Palm Sunday was Equanimity. Each week had a different sculptural compositions with the same base that continued to Palm Sunday and Easter.

Looking ahead to this year, our Lenten display will be returning to a design concept that I have not done since 1998, a Lenten Garden. This year’s garden will be a contemporary, progressive meditation garden with new elements being added each week of Lent. The end result will be a garden in full bloom on Easter morning.

Our Christmas display focused on the simplicity of four elements; evergreens, red ribbon, three types of cones and red berries. There were over one thousand cones used in our Christmas display. Thank you to all who helped un-decorate the previous decorations and wired cones for our display. And thank you to all who helped take down the decorations and put them away for another year.

In closing, it has been my pleasure serving you as the Minister of Liturgical Floral Design for the Waterbury Congregational Church, United Church of Christ and I look forward to another exciting year in the art of Liturgical Floral Design.

Respectfully submitted,
Ned Davis, Minister of Liturgical Floral Design

The treasurers’ job in 2019 was a combination of smooth work and occasional anxiety when cash flow was such that we did not have enough cash on hand to pay the bills. We worked with the trustees to transfer funds from the endowment to the church account and, of course, paid all our bills on time.

In order to manage cash flow more efficiently, the council has decided to include a line item in the 2020 budget that will allow for income from the endowment when and if needed. Diane and Cindy will be able to request a transfer of funds without having to go to the congregation for a special meeting. If we don’t need the cash, we won’t need a transfer.

In addition to paying bills the job also involves managing payroll, producing finance reports for the Finance Committee and Council, recording all deposits made by the Financial Secretary, reconciling our accounts with the bank, and keeping the check register up to date. As Cindy was gone for three months in the spring, Diane was appointed co-treasurer by the council to manage the work during that time. It is not only helpful having a co-treasurer on board all the time, but it is financially sound practice to have two people managing the books and cash so Diane continued in that role for the rest of the year. We are continuing the practice of having co-treasurers all the time.

We both want to end the report with what we call the treasurer’s mantra: “Your financial support of the church is admirable. Please keep those pledge commitments coming in on a regular basis. Having a clean, sufficient cash flow makes this job doable and keeps our church on a sound financial footing. Thank you all!”

Cindy Senning, Co-Treasurer
Diane Leavitt, Co-Treasurer

My daughter came home from school last week and told me that she had to write a paper on a bible verse, from some book that began with an ‘E’. She said it had something to do with knowledge and grief. Ach, I am regularly chagrined . . . . “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.” Ecclesiastes 1:18. I am looking forward to reading her paper if she’ll share it with me!

Ecclesiastes is a curious book, and a good one to read now given the political and ecclesiastical landscape. Many have labeled it a depressing book and they quote — “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity and then we die.” (My paraphrase). But Qohelet (the author) returns again and again to more optimistic thoughts before concluding: “The end of the matter — everything has been heard. Love God. Keep God’s commandments. . .” Qohelet’s overall concern seems to be about being in the real world without giving up. He suggests that in order to be prepared to hope in what does not deceive, we must first recognize all that does in fact deceive and get rid of it; in the end, it’s worth it.

On the political/news front, it’s been a trying year, without much apparent wisdom and certainly with great vexation. Nevertheless, I trust that for you, as for me, this church and all of the lovely people associated with it stands in marked contrast to the vexatiousness of the news. Sure, we have our problems, but we have learned how not to let them become insurmountable because we have internalized this most basic lesson of wisdom: it is a gift, and it is not a gift. It is freedom and it is not freedom. We learn, day in and day out, over and over again, the virtues of moderation, and with moderation, understanding, and with understanding, patience, kindness, humility, and gratitude.

Here are a few things which this past year have been beautiful gifts — the fruits of your loving spirit. First, we have hired a new Christian Education Director! We are so grateful that from our own ranks comes such a qualified, interested and interesting person ready to take on the challenge of telling the old story to our children and making it accessible, interesting and meaningful to them. Lori Morse has been involved in the life of the church since early adulthood. She has served on just about every committee or board there is to serve on and has sung in the choir for that time too. She has led youth groups and been with them on mission trips. She stated during our interview process last October, “My teaching career and my life in the church have both been focused on one thing: the strong belief that people have a responsibility to make the world better. . . [I look forward] to helping the youth of our church understand how to do this themselves.” We are so delighted to have you at that helm, Lori!

Another thing for which to be grateful: for a little over two years, once each month, someone volunteers to go down to the Waterbury Laundromat and help folks, who would otherwise forgo laundry perhaps for another month, get it done. This program proposed on Mother’s Day, 2017, has taken a little while to take off. We weren’t allowed to advertise and it takes years sometimes for trust to develop with this community. But now we serve several families each time. I am wondering, as it continues to pick up steam, if we need to increase our hours! It is a little noticed gem and I encourage you to volunteer for a shift some month.

We continue to be good caretakers of this building, which is an architectural treasure of great historical value to this town and state. It is not inexpensive. But thanks to the wisdom of church members many years ago, we’ve invested good money as the result of a “mini-capital campaign” into a fund, called the “Firm Foundation” which allows us to stay on top of maintenance issues before they become huge renovation projects. Last year saw completion of work on six of our distinctive gothic spires which had been rotting because of water damage. This year, as part of the Main Street reconstruction project, we’ll be replacing the falling apart marquee/sign board and planting new, less unsightly rhododendrons. Again, all paid for out of the Firm Foundation Fund.

No list of the good gifts of this past year would be complete without highlighting the magnificent contributions of our artists: Ned Davis, Mary Jane Austin and Erik Kroncke and our choir members who work hard each week to bring us music brimming with love and joy.  Ned’s creative vision continues to inspire. Thank you all so much!

In the spirit of Qohelet, let me note a little frustration! You will notice a few slight differences to this report from previous versions. Both have to do with the fact that a few of our boards are not fully staffed with volunteers. The most important of these is the Nominating Committee. You will notice that instead of a report from the Nominating Committee this year, you have a Slate of Board Members and Officers, prepared by me. It is a vital committee to have fully staffed so that they can work, to make sure the other boards and committees are equipped with the people who want to do that work and can with the right people around them.

You’ll also notice that there is no Business Administration Committee report. It was a committee of one. Gary Winnie and I did stay in touch about building needs. On one occasion, Gary Winne and I tried (not too successfully!) to power-wash the front of the church. Gary has provided help with organizing spring and fall cleanup, and with helping out with a little oversight during the spire reconstruction — along with Russ Snow who was really the clerk of the works. (All of that construction happened while I was on vacation. Thank you Russ and Gary.)

A new project that I am hoping to see take shape early this year is a volunteer liturgical reader rotation. A few people have expressed interest in being a reader during worship. This reading could be anything from the gathering poem, scripture reading, litany or even a children’s story. If you are interested in being a liturgical reader, please let me know, and I’ll add your name to the list. I have no doubt it will be good for you and me to hear other voices besides mine give fresh expression to our texts.

Speaking of other voices, let me conclude by thanking you for your wisdom. I continue to learn and grow in this community of religious seekers. Many years ago, one of you wisely counseled me to stop fretting about the numbers of people in the pew from week to week. “Do what you know how to do, and let us be who we are, and you’ll be happier.” Yes, we struggle to make ends meet. Yes it is frustrating that we have such good things to offer and they are not being more widely experienced. But I can tell you two things: 1) we are fortunate that the struggle continues to be manageable because of your continuing generosity on the income side and careful diligence on the expense side. Many progressive churches are finding the going more difficult and not a few are closing their doors. 2) I am happier. I delight in who you are and am honored to be your pastor.

“Two are better than one, because they have good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to the one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9) As I write this, the first day of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump is underway. It’s not fun news to read about in the papers, listen to on the radio or watch on TV. As legal scholar Cass Sunstein, puts it, impeachment is “a national nightmare, a body blow to the republic, even if it is also the best or only way to keep it.” We are a republic — and despite the many differences we have, we will not let our differences make us fail. We’ve invoked the impeachment mechanism only rarely for precisely this reason. So, yes, even here in this sacred space, it becomes our responsibility to be vexed a little and find in each other hope for the future. It is worth it.

Respectfully submitted, Rev. Peter Plagge

The meeting was called to order at 11:00 am.

The Board of Finance seeks the membership’s approval to transfer an additional $6,000 from the endowment to the operating budget.

C. Grenier made the motion that the membership of the Waterbury Congregational Church approve the transfer of an additional $6,000 from the endowment to the operating budget. This was seconded.

P. Plagge and D. Leavitt explained why this became necessary. In the past, the budget was usually padded with a guesstimate of how much more money would be contributed beyond pledges, to the tune of $20,000 to $30,000. But for the past few years, that much extra money hasn’t materialized, which then puts the budget into negative funds. It was suggested that this practice should stop, offering a more realistic picture of available funds.
D. King explained that our funds have done well recently, with nearly $20,000 in dividends generated. Therefore, transferring these funds would not be a draw on the principle. He also suggested this not be termed a loan, to be repaid, but simply consider it spending funds we have available. T. Leavitt feels we are being conservative in the handling our finances.
We are behind in pledges which has made cash flow difficult. The completion of our own pledges to OCWM and the Vermont Conference have been postponed. It was suggested that we take a look at the membership role for the current number of actual members which we could then present to these organizations to decide how much our church should be contributing.

P. Plagge stressed that this meeting was really called for transparency, to help everyone understand why the transfer was necessary, not to beat ourselves up over it. He says we have 54 pledging members which is very good for a church our size. J. Buck warned that even with the current good dividends, we should be keeping a close eye on our finances as the U.S. and world economies could change at any time. He suggested meetings like this were a good idea.

The motion was called for a vote and passed unanimously.

There was a question about the stained glass windows and whether their repair was being considered. P. Plagge shared that the company with the lowest bid to do the work actually noted that the windows weren’t really in such bad shape and repair could be postponed.
The meeting ended at 11:20 am.