MINUTES OF SPECIAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING-OCTOBER 15, 2006 PRESENT: 52 people signed the sign-in sheet, which is attached Called to order at 11:46 am, Mike Briggs presiding. Mike announced our congregational meeting scheduled October 22, 2006 to consider Rev. Ralph Tyksinski as our new consulting minister. He also announced that at that meeting we will consider a resolution from the Social Action committee that Prairie go on record as a congregation as opposing the death penalty resolution in the upcoming election. Mike then announced that although the meeting today had originally been scheduled in order to discuss and vote on our options for a new meeting house, the Board has subsequently recommended that no vote be taken today, for reasons to be discussed. Mike, Dirk Herr-Hoyman, and Ken Skog then made presentations regarding the current status of our efforts in this regard, summarized below. There were questions and discussion after each presentation. Dirk reviewed the recent interest in a Raymond Road property as a possible new meeting house. Numerous members have looked at this. It looked to them like it could work as a space for Prairie, though like all options it had limitations. However for this to work financially, we would need to quickly resell the Fitchburg property previously purchased, and this is not currently feasible. Hence we are not at a point that we could make an offer to purchase the Raymond Road property, so it does not make sense to put forth a resolution for a vote on this issue. Ken and Dirk then reviewed the process begun previously regarding the Fitchburg site. Resolutions at previous congregational meetings have supported purchasing the property and planning for the design and construction of a new building. Working with architects, we have developed plans and models for both larger and smaller versions of a building. Most recently the Board has looked at the numbers in detail and come to the conclusion that there is still considerable uncertainty regarding the precise requirements for financing this building project. The Board needs to work more on this over the next month or two, considering questions such as what level of membership growth we can reasonably anticipate, what financial risks are reasonable, and how we can design a series of steps through which we can minimize our financial risk. Mike then distributed and discussed a summary of “Fitchburg Land Financing,” noting that we currently have approximately $113,000 in equity in this land. This analysis is attached. He also noted that under the terms of our purchase of this land, Fitchburg Center has the right to buy back the property if we do not build, though they are not obligated to do so. Norma added that, based on her discussions with them, they are not at all prepared to buy back the property at this time, but might be prepared to do so in the future if they get another interested buyer and we have not started to build. During the question/answer periods, it was clarified that the site search is still open regardless of purchase of the Fitchburg land and engagement of architects who have drawn up plans. We have not exhausted the $10,000 in funds allocated for BWZ architects. Concerns were raised about whether the remaining allocation would cover architect's fees for working with contractors to get bids. So far 10 families have pledged $164,000 toward a new building on the Fitchburg Center site. The total cost of a reduced size building was quoted at $900,000. Including the land, the cost was said to be $1,200,000. It was also clarified that we do not have any organization that has agreed to share the new building by renting. Congregation Shaarei Shamayim, our current renter, has definitely said no to this. Paula Pachciarz announced that three new members have signed the book over the past few weeks: Carl Wacker, Kurt Gutnecht, and Andrew (Drew) Schultz. Adjourned at 12:43 pm Respectfully submitted, Jerry Simmons, Secretary |