minutes from the May 2016 ministry teams' meetings

1. Ministry Teams Meeting Minutes: 11 May 2016
Ministry Team: Buildings and Grounds
Team Members Present: Ken Cawthorne, David Johnston, Ken Tessier, Nancy Reed and Alfred Christensen
Agenda Items:
• Follow-up on last meeting’s action list.
Action Item Assigned to Follow-up Comment
Inclement weather policy. Matt
has a draft. Send to Nancy and it
will be distributed to all B&G
members for further discussion at
the April meeting.
Nancy 5/11/2016 Not yet
Get upholstery bid(s) for repairing
the cushion in the pews.
Ken C 5/11/2016 Kneeler fabric will not fit.
Could the fabric have
been weakened by direct
sunlight?
Get neighbor permissions to have
Leaf and Limb work in their back
yards
Alfred 5/11/2016 Have both permissions
now. Trying to contact
contractor to get the job
done
Get landscaping input from
landscaper friend
Matt 5/11/2016 Matt met with master
gardener friend. Will talk
with her to solicit
recommendations.
Photo of sample sandblasted sign
to the Communications Team
Matt 5/11/2016 Waiting
Talk with Mary Kingsley to
determine if the junk pile is
enough of a hazard to be
removed.
Nancy 5/11/2016 Nancy, Mary, Alfred to
walk the woods.
• How to make better use of the area where the two oak trees were taken down.
o Suggestion: a sandblasted sign that welcomes visitors to Nativity. Matt to provide photo of a sample sign
and let the Communications Team look at it.
o We plan to plant azaleas in the fall in the area.
o Matt to talk with a friend who is a landscape designer to get further ideas about how to make that area
friendly and welcoming.
• The torn cushion on one of the back pews in the nave.
o Matt has been researching fabric supplies, but has not yet been able to identify the fabric used on our
pews.
o Ken Cawthorne to email Alfred the name of one he just used.
Jimmy Cooper Upholstery Shop
4805 Jefferson Ln, Raleigh, NC 27616
Phone: (919) 876-3935
o Ken Cawthorne will call this contact and discuss options with him.
• Buildings and Grounds Spring 2016 Work Day follow up
o We had a very good workday with about 30 people showing up to participate.
o Most of our activities were completed; a few needs to be rescheduled:
Repair linoleum in men’s restroom off the Narthex.
• Ken Tessier repaired one piece of the linoleum Monday morning this week, and will repair
the second piece later this week.
Caulk outside around windows in class rooms 204 and 208 (Not done yet)
Potholes off Ray Road and in the entrance way to Nativity (where the oaks were taken down)
need to be repaired. We have two buckets of asphalt repair available for this.
• Some repair was done the following weekend. We need to do some final work on the
pothole just as we enter the Nativity property.

2. • Alfred to get a bag of asphalt and spread that.
Clean fire alarms with compressed air (we have some cans of compressed air available for this
purpose). Should we schedule an appointment with Simplex Grinnell to test our fire alarms? If
the fire alarms go off, the alarm will go directly to the Durham Fire Department on Norwood Rd.
Install a wireless repeater for the secure Nativity wireless network in the church building.
• Alfred will do this.
Plant annuals.
• Matt and Nancy did this the following weekend.
Playground area activities. None of these were ever defined by the Children’s ministry team. We
may have to contact and ask if there are more to be done than what was done on the work day.
Door knob on door into reception in Estill House needs to be tightened.
• Ken Tessier will do this. Ken is working on it. David J will also look at it.
Move excess garden soil down into the meadow area
• Ken Cawthorne did this the following weekend. A small amount is left; it will likely be used
in the Nativity garden.
• Carl has tilled the area in the rain garden and seeded it.
Install weather stripping around back door into the church building
• Fire marshal visit recently
o The fire marshal inspected the property recently.
o The backdoor in the Estill House hallway needs to be repaired so it can be opened by just turning the
handle down. It is supposed to work that way since it is a fire exit, but right now it doesn’t work very well.
We need to look at it.
“The unlatching of any door or leaf shall not require more than one operation”
Alfred will try with WD-40 before we call in a locksmith.
o The fire alarm systems in the church building and the education building must be tested once a year and
a printed/written log kept at the church that shows the tests were done, when and with what results.
“Provide paperwork (Simplex Grinnell) showing FACP and alarm system has been serviced –
required annually”
o A contact to Simplex Grinnell needs to be made to schedule such a test and put plans in place for them
performing such a test once every year.
• The gutters on the education building and Estill house have been cleaned – big thanks to Rene Garces
and Ken Cawthorne
o Ken and Rene took upon themselves to clean the gutters on both buildings.
o After the spring pollen and seedpod downpour from all our surrounding trees, it was needed.
o I suggest we make Rene an honorary member of the Buildings and Ground team.
o Dig a small ditch or install a pipe from downspout outside backdoor to the Education Building and to the
drain in front of the air handlers.
o Gutters must be cleaned at least once a year.
• Memorial Garden maintenance schedule.
o The following schedule is accepted for performing these activities in 2016:
June: Ken Tessier
July: Matt Chytka
August: Randy Smith
September: Rick Burts
October: Nancy Reed
November: Chris Christiansen
December: Alfred Christensen
• Inclement winter weather preparation policy.
o Nancy and Alfred will work on such a policy, but we haven’t had time yet to get started.
o Matt has a proposal and we will look at that at next month’s meeting.
• The hanging branch on the big willow oak in the circle
o This branch needs to be shortened or taken off.
o I suggest we pay for the arborist to come out and help us decide what to do.
o When the arborist is out here, we can also ask for his advice on how to best prune all the red tip photinias
we have on the campus. They have grown too tall to serve as a barrier to our neighbors.

3. o Alfred to set up appointment.
• Anything else we need to discuss in today’s meeting?
o If you are aware of issues, we need to discuss in this week’s meeting, please send them to me and I will
update the agenda.
The two trees on either side of the stairs down to the Narthex have grown too large for that
location and need to be removed.
The electricity wiring to the piano needs to be repaired. Alfred will do this.
If the sunlight is part of the reason for the damaged pew fabric, should we consider putting a
sunlight blocking film on the rear right window in the Nave? It should not be the very dark film.
It seems the outside doors into the Vesting room and into the Sacristy are metal and hollow.
They both seem to expand in the heat; especially the one into the Sacristy which has direct
sunlight. Let’s start by making sure the screws in the hinges are tight and fastened.
Action Items Assigned/Tracked:
Action Item Assigned to Due Date Comment
Walk the woods to see what to do with glass
pieces
Alfred and Nancy 6/8/2016 Done
Get bag of asphalt and pour into pothole next to
the entrance into our parking lot
Alfred 6/8/2016
Estill House door knob reception door Ken T and David 6/8/2016
Try and fix Estill house back door latch Alfred 6/8/2016
Solicit proposal from Simplex Grinnell for yearly
compliance testing
Alfred and Nancy 6/8/2016
Call Leaf and Limb contractor for appointment Alfred 6/8/2016
Repair wires to piano Alfred 6/8/2016 Done

4. Ministry Team: Communications
Members Present: Gail Christensen, Ben Huckaby, Jason Pace, Ailsa Tessier, Emilie Sigel, Sarah Bernart, David Cariss
Agenda/Items Discussed:
1. Weekly email replacement or redesign for Constant Contact
a. Why switch?
i. Constant Contact (CC) current design is not responsive for cellphones and mobile devices.
ii. CC current design is too long b/c wastes space with empty columns
iii. CC current design prints all Sunday Tidings in same order; needs to be reordered if we continue
CC
iv. Cost of CC - $130 per year
v. Cost of Dada Mail - anywhere from free to one-time $89.95 fee for the full license (this is what we
would do if we went with Dada Mail)
b. What would we need to do if we switched services?
.People from the Communications Team would work together to design a new HTML email layout and design.
i.Would need to learn the new system
c. With either Constant Contact or Dada Mail, we will first revisit the current Constant Contact email format to
redesign it. It’s time after 3 years.
d. Aside from the visual design, we will do a content design pass as well. Would include recommendations for
content for emails vs content for social media outlets.
.What goes in the weekly email newsletters?
1. New announcements from this week
2. Sunday school offerings (for the week)
3. Youth Group activities (for the week)
4. This Week at Nativity
5. “Contact Us” link that goes directly to the Contact Us page on the website (will need to
add on to the list of emails available)
6. Links to Twitter and Facebook
i.Things that should not go in the weekly newsletter
1. Classroom locations
2. Contact Us emails block that is currently on the email
ii.Urgent or other announcements (adverse weather, death notices/funeral notices, etc.) would be separate emails on an as-
needed basis
2. Signage on the Estill House entrance to indicate office hours, phone number, website is in progress, should be
ready by the next Communications Team meeting
3. Posters and web sliders assignments
. Adult formation sessions for summer - There are none this month or throughout the summer according to George
Douglas
a. Go Speak: Sharing Our Faith - May 18 - DONE
b. Men’s Softball
.Did we produce posters? No, and we don’t have any photos or anything.
i.We also don’t have any information, but it would be neat to have a web slider with the season schedule on it.
c. Potluck Supper - May 22 - DONE
d. Roadside banner(s) and web slider for summer schedule
.Begins May 29
i.Web slider -- done
ii.Roadside banner -- we’re using last year’s roadside banner (it didn’t have any dates on it). Need to put it up after May
22nd service.
e. VBS
.Street banner, web slider, poster
i.Contact is ?? Date is ??
ii.Assigned to David Cariss
4. Corkboard update
. Update from Karen: “Chris will measure and make the final cuts for the frame, stain the boards, varnish and
install. Hopes to finish by end of May or mid-June.”
a. Wood frames for Narthex corkboard and clip stand were designed and built by Jason’s brother-in-law and just
need finishing. Placement is up to “Narthex committee”.
5. Glad Tidings updates
. Outreach Committee is planning a multi-page series of articles on food security, etc. that will be in the June Glad
Tidings.

5. a. June issue will contain everything that’s happening over the summer (June, July, and August will all be in one
issue).
Action Items Discussed/Tracked:
Action Item Assigned To Due Date
First pass at email redesign Ben & others July
Preparing boards for the narthex Jason June
VBS Marketing Materials (roadside banner, web slider, poster) David ?? date of VBS