Report of Meeting 10/27 at St. Andrew
Present:From St. A: Rev. Mary Alice, Kate—Secretary, 2 St. Andrew members
From MMOJ: Michael, Mary Al, Lee(late) Joan by telephone
The meeting began with Mary Alice giving a summary of hurricane damage. The air conditioning unit needs to be replaced due to constant surging during storm. This is a big expense. The tree between the buildings was blown down but did not hit either building. Electricity was down and has only been temporarily fixed so they can operate. It will be permanently fixed in due time. The lack of power prevented their streaming services for two weeks. This past Sunday, problems arose with their sound and so was cancelled.
This brought us to the first agenda item which Joan had submitted from MMOJ:
—Procedure for reporting audio/video equipment failures and obtaining repairs.
Joan explained the situation that occurred September 1st when Rick and MMOJ members met to reconfigure seating for our hybrid liturgies. Rick turned on equipment and there was not video or audio. Joan gave the details using Rick’s invoice. The invoice explained the video issue which resulted from an unplugged cord (St. A issue) Then the testing of sound equipment by Darren, Focused Technology consultant, and finally Microsoft and Zoom upgrades needed on our laptop (MMOJ issue).
Mary Alice reviewed the invoice. She said that they had no information about the situation. The situation clearly raised the need for a communication process. Mary Alice gave the name of David Hauser, Co-chair of the Stewardship team as the St. A point person for reporting equipment issues. Joan said that Rick Miller would be the MMOJ point person in communication with her. Rick will report issues, get info on repair and costs and contact Joan for approval. Kate emailed contact info for David Hauser to Joan. Joan will send Rick’s contact info and her contact info to David Hauser.
In discussing the invoice, Michael indicated that MMOJ had paid the invoice ($640). Mary Alice said that they have had other equipment problems that resulted in expenses which they also covered. This brought us to our next agenda item which MMOJ had raised: Policy and procedure for covering equipment repair expense. We agreed that we need to take time to think about and discuss possible ways to decide this issue. Mary Alice stated that there is a piece of equipment that needs to be replaced right now and has been ordered. She called it an amplifier but wasn’t sure of the exact name. She said that it is an expensive piece and is something needed for both Zoom and streaming. Mary Alice acknowledged that we know that we all want to be fair, generous and cooperative so that is understood and need to take these into consideration as we try to develop a solution.
Joan then brought up the final agenda item: MMOJ Membership Survey and 2023 plans.
Joan explained that MMOJ would be sending a survey to all members to help decide a variety of issues for the new year. Joan gave some examples Increase or decrease number of hybrid liturgies; options for liturgies such as Zoom only with monthly socials and use of St. A for special events. Donation to St. A for each event. Once we survey members, the results will be discussed at our December 10th Annual Meeting and decisions would be made. Rev. Mary Alice asked if she could receive a copy of the Survey (not the results) We agreed to send it to her.
The next meeting at St. Andrew will be Thursday, December 29th. We will be able to share our plans for 2023 at that time.