Minutes from CST Board of Trustees Meeting

May 6, 2009

 

Present: Alice Audie-Figueroa, Edith Bernstein, Terry Finerman, Peter Goldberg, CarolAnn Gutkowski, Beth Isola, Robin Lampert, Paul Lefkowitz, Linda Lutz, Joyce May, Daniella Mechnikov, Eileen Nowikowski, Erica Peresman, Harriet Silverman, Rabbi Arnie

Guests: Marv Rich, Paul Blatt

(If you come in late after the attendance sheet has gone around please see CarolAnn at the end of the meeting to put your name on the sheet so you aren’t missed; thanks.)

 

1.     Meeting called to order by Peresman at 7:05 p.m.

2.     D’var Torah. Rabbi Arnie discussed his recent trip to Washington D.C. where he attended a play in which Josh Lefkowitz performed, visited the Judaica section of the Library of Congress and listened to a speech by Joe Biden.

3.     President Peresman welcomed new board members elect- Paul Blatt and Marv Rich, who were guests this evening.

4.     Consent Agenda. Moved by Silverman, seconded by Audie-Figueroa. Passed unanimously. Question arose about the inclusion of minutes from the 11/19/08 membership committee. Was this an error or was this actually the last time the committee met and if so, why are minutes so late in being included?

5.     Rabbi’s Report.

·       Rabbi Arnie reports there are four upcoming conversions, three or four b’nai mitzvah, 10 weddings.

·       New Prayer books. Adult ed. class and committee are meeting to study prayer books. This past Friday night the service experimented with the new reform prayer book (which is very heavy). There are benefits and drawbacks to it such as a lack of renewal components and a lack of individuality, but it is ready-made (a lot less work than doing our own). It is also pricey and very large/heavy. A recommendation will go from the committee to Religious Rituals and then to the board. Question of if we do our own book again would it be marketable to other congregations; no, there would be too many copyright issues.

·       Yoga/meditation services. Have had higher attendance than regular Saturday services (25-35 people). Likely they will be continued for next year.

·       Jewish-Muslim dialogue is going well. The discussions are getting deeper; a third meeting is planned.

6.     President’s Report. Sent ahead in packet.

7.     Education Director’s Report. (Moved to this spot in agenda due to late arrival.)

·       Registration information goes out Monday in the new electronic format.

·       CSI Report is complete and being edited. Daniella expects to see it this week. She is most interested in their feedback on the early elementary and high school programs.

·       Changes to family education clarified. Reference made at annual meeting explained. Teachers will not be paid for certain family ed. events that are not regular school session days. Family Ed. will be capped at 25 days. Pre-K and K as well as first and second grades will now be combined into split level classes which will eliminate the need for two teachers next year. They will have a new spiral curriculum concept which is center based. Madrachim program will change; to participate next year they must be in a study program here or via a day school. First year is unpaid training; subsequent years are paid.

·       May 15 is teacher appreciation Shabbat; please try to attend to support our staff. Also, Pam Spitzer will be retiring as a family ed. teacher after 15 years, but will remain a tutor.

·       End of year picnic is Sunday, May 17 and it WILL be at the regular park after all.

·       Beth Burland, Daniella and Barry Rubin will form the committee to interview and hire the new 4^th grade teacher to replace Pam.

8.     Treasurer’s Report. Budget and narrative sent ahead. They are also taking a look at off-line budget expenditures as they affect our bottom line. The new board will be the ones to approve the new budget at the July board meeting—note change in date to July 8!

·       Erica noted the second paragraph in narrative (sent ahead). There is a big difference in amounts budgeted for tuition; too many students at too high a rate were used in budget figure received from Rabbi Aaron. Must have been an error.

9.     Exceptions to Consent Agenda. None.

10.  Recommendation Packages. None.

11.  Discussion Items.

a.     Marketing and Retention of Members (Peresman). Our goal was to have a net increase in membership of 10 and we are currently up 13. A real effort is being made to clean up our database this summer as our data is hit and miss right now.

                                                        i.     Are we doing a good enough job reaching out to our members, especially new ones?

1.     JoyceMay will lead a committee to survey the membership. Beth Isola, Harriet Silverman and Robin Lampert will assist. They will coordinate with JoAnne Levy and Heidi. Focus: “Are we meeting your needs?”

                                                      ii.     In order to improve on these areas, Peresman is assigning the area of membership to the First V.P. (Leftkowitz) and that of fundraising issues to the Second V.P. (elect is Nowikowski). Survey results will help determine who to assign the area of membership retention to.

b.     Fundraising (Peresman). While we are surprisingly ahead of fundraising goals for this year despite the economy, we need to keep this up and have better organization to our efforts. Peresman shared idea from recent conference—selling ads in our annual directory of members. Board feedback was this is a viable idea if we had someone to chair it. Demographics in Troy may be an issue but we have nothing to lose. Suggestion was also given to possibly allow those selling ads to earn a percentage of the sale price to assist congregants who are out of work.

c.     Gospel-Klezmer Concert (May). Raised about $2000 after expenses and choir paid. CDs are available for $12 by sending check to CST. They will be ready in 1-2 weeks. There was great attendance despite the bad weather and they had to bring in extra chairs J.

d.     Jim Starr did video both the Seder and the concert.

e.     Thank you letters—please send to Leslie and Nadja for Seder and to the concert organizers.

f.      Prospective member list (Lefkowitz). Almost done—please try to call twice; if no response that is a message in itself; he will remove from list.

g.     Plant sale (Silverman). Annuals and Perennials on sale at her school in Pontiac. Her class planted the DTE community garden and will be on channel 4 with Guy Gordon on Thursday or Friday.

 

Meeting adjourned, 8:48 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

CarolAnn Barr-Gutkowski

Recording Secretary