Trinity Lutheran Church April 14, 2026 Council Minutes
The meeting was changed to a ZOOM format, due to pending severe weather.
Meeting was called to order by Kendra at 7:05pm Present: Kendra Von Muenster, Kim Pelzer, Beth Ahrens, Laurie Brandenburg, Elaine Moes, treasurer. Absent: Kim Chapman and Terry Hein Motion by Kim to accept the March minutes, 2nd by Beth.
MC Elaine explained that last month’s treasurer report did not show a payment to the food pantry of $20.84, but it is now corrected. Motion by Laurie to accept the March treasurer’s report, 2nd by Beth. MC Discussion was held about donations for the flooring project. Since we have not set up a separate flooring fund, all donations should be given to the Memorial Fund, and noted for flooring. There will be a notice about this in the next few bulletins.
PREVIOUS BUSINESS:
A. Flooring estimates: A congregational meeting was held on Sunday, March 29th following the service, with 28 members in attendance. Laurie Brandenburg made a motion to approve the estimate for new floor installation in all areas included in the bid, as well as the men’s and family restrooms, with 50% of the cost to be paid from the Memorial Fund and 50% from the General Fund. The motion was seconded by Kelly Thomas. The motion passed with 27 members voting in favor. As previously informed, a member of the congregation reached out to Laurie with concerns about the possibility of asbestos in the tile and our responsibility to ensure everything is handled properly. Deb followed up with Koby at Lowden Flooring, and he advised that going over the existing tile is not a good option due to loose tiles. He indicated that any new flooring would likely become loose in those same areas. Deb Cook contacted Environmental Management Services of Iowa, Inc to have the tiles tested. They tested the tiles and mastic. The bid for the abatement process is $8695. Cost to have the samples taken and sent to the lab is $353.10. Lowden Flooring said they would take the $2,983.75 for removal off the estimate since they will not be able to remove the flooring. The Memorial Fund committee will be contacted to see if they are willing to pay for the abatement cost. Kendra will contact Deb Cook. Laurie will contact the Property Committee to see how much they want to be involved with the flooring projects as well as if the bathrooms need to be remodeled at this time. Discussion was held about not redoing the flooring in the pastor’s office. It is not in bad shape, and it would be good to have a new pastor’s input before redoing it.
V. New Business
A. Roof Inspection The roofer (Hernandez), who previously shingled the church, contacted Dave Kruse to ask for permission to get on the roof and check for hail damage from the April 2nd storm. Kendra gave Dave permission to let them proceed with the inspection. Hernandez did an inspection and said there was not anything serious enough to send into insurance.
B. Choir Room Susan would like the two filing cabinets in the choir room removed to create more space for children to play during choir rehearsal. This will be looked at more closely when the contents of the choir room are taken out for the new flooring. A decision will be made before returning all items back to the room upon completion of the new floor.
C. SE Iowa ELCA Synod Assembly is Friday, May 15 & 16 at First Lutheran Church, Cedar Rapids. Registration is open. Deb Cook and Kim Chapman have registered. There could be one more person go as a congregational vote, since Deb counts as our Pastoral vote.
D. Elaine will check on the invoice for the Flags over Tipton for this year. She has not seen it come through.
E. Senior Sunday will be June 7. The Education Committee will take of it. Seniors this year are Joseph Von Muenster and Delaney Chambliss.
F. Council Term: Due to some council terms not being filled completely over the years, the annual rotation has changed. The council will not have any vacancies next year, but 3 in 2028 & 2029. This should be looked at further to get back to only having to fill one or two seats per year, due to the small size of our worshipping congregation.
G. SAM Updates : The midweek Lenten Services averaged 12-15 people each week. Trinity participated at the Easter Sunrise Service. Charline did the Welcome and Laurie gave the message. Pastor Kerri (UCC) and Pastor Tim (UMC) also participated. There were 55 in attendance. The SAM’s last Spring ZOOM training is April 25th. These will resume in the fall. All 3 SAMs have met, via ZOOM, with Bishop Amy for our annual reviews. Certificates of renewal should be here soon. The SAMs will be meeting April 15th to work on the worship schedule for the rest of the year.
H. Committee Updates: Beth gave an education update. VBS planning is going well. There has been a lot of support from the other churches during the planning meetings. The final day of VBS will be a family fun event at Bennett Park. Miss Sara will be leading this. Kendra noted that Nicki Aikman has been hired as the new custodian. Rodney Ohrt has been hired to mow the lawn. Kim closed the meeting with a devotional prayer based on John 14:3, from the book, “God Time for Teachers”.
Meeting adjourned at 7:16. Submitted by: Laurie Brandenburg, Secretary