Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of St. Ursula's Church, Berne
held in the Church on Sunday 28 March 2010 at 12:10
The meeting was attended by:
Pamela Arnaud, Dorothy Beriger, Linda Bisig, Walter Bisig, Angus Carrick, Tricia Carrick, Hector Davie, Roxanne Eicher, John Eze, Sue Faillettaz, Ruth Freiburghaus, Art Funkhouser, Donna Goepfert, Hans Goepfert,
Kathy Hoag, Sue Higson, Jennifer Hockley, Beat Hodler, Chloë Hodler, Jacqueline Holloway, Esther Hutchison, John Hutchison, Judith Josi, Cecily Klingler, Philip Klingler, Jana Kutesko, Querida Long,
Annemarie Low, David Low, Rebecca Lüthi-Eze, Tina Lutz, Allison Masciadri, Peter Masciadri, Mary Mead, Brian Morgan, Ellen Nee-Whang, Liz Perrett, Agatha Pfister, Peter Potter, Shareene Potter, Tony Read,
Rosalind Richards, Lynn Robb, Libby Stewardson, Annemarie Walthert, Adorée Weibel, Niklaus Weibel, Hans Wenger, Janet Wenger, Edi Wildhaber, Maxine Wildhaber, Ruby Wildhaber, Barbara Winfield, Julian Wong.
This represents 50 members of the electoral roll, 2 clergy and 2 guests.
Apologies were received from:
Doreen Bangerter, Joanna Davie, Peter Hawker, Vreni Hawker, Andree Kamarys, Sonia Klein, Rolf Klinger, Jacquie Messer, Eva Perrett, Pieter Perrett, Elisabeth Pfyffer, Hans-Karl Pfyffer, Marianne Simon, Vanessa Wenger, David Winfield, Mary Wittwer.
The Electoral Roll, which had been on display for over two weeks, was approved by the meeting. There had been 5 additions and 6 deletions giving a total for 2010 of 118 members.
The minutes of the last AGM were approved nem con. The minutes of the Special Meeting held on 7 June 2009 to elect a second warden were also approved nem con.
Treasurer's Report
The treasurer, Hector Davie, presented the consolidated audited accounts for the church and the charitable association, which had been approved by council and displayed for over 8 days.
In his brief report, he mentioned that the pledged giving represented Fr446.82 per day, but that our expenditure is Fr670.46 per day. Also that the pledged giving was down compared to 2008 which seemed to be part of a trend over the last seven years, as could be seen on the graph he showed. We also have income from other sources such as collections, events, sales, hall rental etc.
The expenditure on stipends and remunerations was higher than last year because we again had a full-time chaplain, which also meant an increase in other costs such as insurance and travel. This year we gave more to charity than our 10% guideline, in addition to various dedicated collections.
The final result for 2010 was heartening as it showed a surplus of Fr3813.75. However we did spend Fr3642.13 on building work, essentially the painting of the church, which basically wipes out the surplus. Our reserves are in a healthy state, representing about six months expenditure.
The treasurer noted that St Ursula's is entirely self supporting, receiving no help from the state or the church - indeed we contribute to the costs of the Archdeaconry and the Diocese.
He thanked his wife for her patience and all who had given to St Ursula's during the year. On behalf of council, he then commended the accounts to the AGM for approval.
There were no questions.
The chairman thanked Hector for all his work, which was greeted with applause.
Auditors' Report
Angus Carrick reported on behalf of the two auditors that both the full accounts and the consolidated account statement provided to the AGM give a true and fair view, in all material respects, of the financial situation of the Association of St Ursula's Church and of St Ursula's Charitable Association at 31 December 2009. He thanked the treasurer for his work and also the many other people who helped. The chairman thanked the auditors for their work.
Approval of Accounts
The approval of the accounts for 2009 was proposed by the treasurer and agreed unanimously.
The treasurer presented the budget which had been approved by council in November and was very similar to the one sent out with the pledge appeal. He commented that the amount spent on stipends will increase as we have a youth worker for the whole year. The budgeted amount for premises has been reduced to reflect reality and that for the magazine reduced because the photocopier has now been written off. However, there is very little more that can be done on the expenditure side and, as council wanted a balanced budget, we have to expect an increase in income from pledges and donations - the budget shows an increase of Fr30,000 compared with the receipts in 2008 (and 2009 is similar).
The treasurer asked people to be aware that the church doesn't run itself for nothing and to encourage newcomers to join the pledge scheme. In response to a question, the treasurer agreed that, in the absence of additional giving, existing pledgers should increase their pledge by 10-15%.
The meeting took note of the budget.
Two Churchwardens
Esther Hutchison and Maxine Wildhaber were nominated.
As there were no other nominations, the chairman declared Esther and Maxine duly elected and the meeting greeted this with applause. The chaplain commented that this was a good working team and that the wardens were a real support to him, so he was glad it would continue.
Six Council Members
Tricia Carrick, John Eze, Tony Read, Allison Masciadri and Edi Wildhaber were nominated.
As there were only five nominations for six places, the chairman declared these people duly elected. He thanked council members for all that they do and looked forward to working with them again in the coming year.
The treasurer thanked the current auditors for their work. Both were happy to continue, so Angus Carrick and Niklaus Weibel were appointed as auditors for 2010.
The chaplain referred to his written report. He commented that there are many different tasks done by many people, some of which are not noticed - but would be noticed if they weren't done. He thanked everyone for their contributions and remarked that St Ursula's had a lot going for it which we should celebrate and build on.
There was a break of 20 minutes.
The chairman referred to the written reports and proposed taking them as read, unless there were comments.
Roxanne Eicher reported that she and Donna Goepfert have taken over the running of the library and would appreciate feedback. It appears that the library is not used by many people and they wonder whether it is really wanted. The chairman thanked Roxanne and Donna for taking over and asked people to give feedback directly to them.
The chairman reported that there had been a good response to the appeal for Junior Church teachers. We could still use a few more.
There was none.
The meeting closed at 13.20 and was followed by a short presentation of the questionnaire results.
Tricia Carrick (Council Secretary)