Page 8 - August 2020 Traveler

Many of you received a letter dated July 15, 2020, that closed with 20 names of people from
Trinity Lutheran Church. We are saddened that this group of people chose to gather at a
meeting that did not involve the entire congregation. No council members were invited to
this gathering. Furthermore, we are concerned that they presented facts in a way that was
misleading.

We are not sure what the real purpose of the letter was, but we would like to clear up a few
of the points that were made.

Council has been making every attempt to be transparent and provide all information to the
congregation as it becomes available. We are in the process of gathering additional infor-
mation regarding options to address our budget issues, including the possible option of selling

the church building. Many hours have been spent gathering this information to determine if
selling the building is a viable option that should be considered. It is also a challenge to deter-
mine how we can safely gather to discuss this information.

Although the Trinity Lutheran Church building was not for sale, the approach from Brian
McCorkle to purchase the building made council wonder if this is something that should be
considered. Our General Fund continues to come up short for providing the funds required to
pay our bills. As you have all been informed, as of the end of May, 2020, we were close to
$9000.00 short of being able to cover expenses for the year. Although the money to pay our
mortgage payment is available, keeping up with our other bills has been challenging. The ex-
penses associated with maintaining the church building (utility bills, insurance, repairs and
maintenance, etc.) is a significant portion of Trinity’s yearly expenses. In an attempt to con-

sider all expenses that might be reduced, council felt it was appropriate to at least evaluate
the option of selling the building along with considering reductions in other expenses.

Council is fully aware that only the congregation can vote to sell, mortgage, lease, transfer, or

otherwise dispose of its property by any lawful means. Council has made no attempt to do
any such thing, and is still in the process of collecting information to determine if it is a feasi-
ble option or not. If council feels it is a feasible option, it will be brought before the congrega-
tion for discussion and vote.

Council has not entered into any contracts that exceed $2,000 for items not included in the
budget. Yes, we have had an appraisal done on the building, as we feel that is very important

8