INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT OF TRES DIAS
Minutes of the business meeting held at the Community Church,
Hendersonville, Tennessee March 10-12,2000
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Members Present: Bill Boyd, Bob Decker, Sharon Sheldon, Ken Kessler, Pat Kessler, Ellison Smith, Paula Boyd, Tommy McKnight, Eric Borman, Pamela Belknap, Bill Bennett, Ann Botjer, Wilson Burton, Dawn Fossnes, Pat Fullerton, C.J. Hankins, Jo Hankins, Brenda Higgins, Ron McLoud, Jeanne Norwood, Dennis Redline, Bill Ryan, and Peter Scharfenburg
Members Not Present: John McKinney, Steve Boyd, Herb Killam, Sunkwon Lee, Babs Schneider, Peter Shinn, and Zel Walch
Observers Present: Audrey Bender, Greg Gibbons, Peggy Ann Kolb, Ed Mack, Arden Mack, Willa Dean McKnight, Maddie McLoud, Nancy Ossewaarde, George and Carol Robbins, Lina Ursolova, Lesya Michaylenco, Slutsky Valerii, Vita Kvitko, Pavel Miticchev, Sergei Shevchenko, Victor Larionov, Max Nikolaev, Brenda Reeves, Jan Campbell, Charles Falco, Judy and Merv LeMasurier, Bill and Marjorie Brown, Christeine Pavek, Doug and Dianne Leber, Mark Hill, Tom Walton, Bobby M Watts, Ed Caputo, Sheldon Stine, Walt Vink, Micheal and Harriet Holmes, Dave and Jill Routzon, Judy Borman, Buly Waller, Jalene Bennett, Jan Sheble Waggoner, Sue Ellen Watts, Billy Hill, and Eloy Gehring
Saturday Morning:
Opening remarks were given by Bobby Watts, President of Middle Tennessee Tres Dias. Billy Hill, Spiritual director for Middle Tennessee Tres Dias, gave the message stating that the best schooling he has received was through Tres Dias. He spoke about the Comforter having been sent from Jesus showing us how to reach out to a lost world. He closed his message with prayer. Wilson Burton read a note from John McKinney and the obituary for Lynette who just went home to our Lord. He followed with prayer for John and other requests.
The meeting was called to order by International Secretariat President, Bill Boyd, at 9:45 am in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
The Minutes of the October meeting were reviewed. It was noted that opening remarks were delivered by Don Farrier and that Coastal Georgia was represented. With these corrections, it was moved, seconded and approved unanimously that they be accepted.
The Financial Secretary's Report was submitted and summarized by Paula Boyd. Balances as of December 31, 1999 are as follows: Operating Capital, $9,132.91; Services Account, $8,216.02; and Savings, $27,532.46. Ellison Smith, Treasurer, distributed and reviewed our bank and checking account information. He also presented Committee expenditure breakdowns for estimating our budget for next year. The motion to accept the reports as presented was seconded and passed unanimously.
Ellison Smith requested that all expenses for this year be submitted by May 31 so that the books can be closed for audit.
Community Recognition: Kyiv was presented with their charter and recognized as our 50th Community. Mark Hill then gave a report on the fire a Northern Illinois Women's #14 weekend and how God provided the resources and organization to finish the retreat the very next
weekend!! Ed Caputo reported that the same team was able to handle the first weekend for Abundant Life - God once again providing 5-star facilities for their first weekend!!
Following a summary of written community reports, Bill Boyd requested that Wilson Burton distribute a more detailed Sunday morning agenda and noted corrections with the continental breakfast to begin at 7:30 am. Ken Kessler recommended that we continue until finished if we cannot accomplish our business by 9:30 am. Eric Borman moved and Brenda Higgins seconded that we accept the agenda as modified and the vote was unanimous. Bill reminded everyone that Secretariat members are authorized to vote while everyone else present may speak but not vote.
Bill then distributed documents regarding committee assignments, future meeting dates, Tres Dias Vision, Objectives '99, Key Schedule Dates, Proposed Addition to By-Laws (which was referred to Executive Committee for word-smithing), Committee Chairman instruction sheet and list of committees.
Bill also referred to Policy Committee a request from James Doyle having to do with the Sacraments Rollo. He stated that Executive Committee will be developing the budget today. Bob Decker announced that he has copies of the Constitution and By-Laws to be reviewed by the committees. Bill requested that the budget estimates be done first so that Executive can develop the budget.
Bill Boyd asked each Committee Chair to describe their committee duties and invited all local attendees to choose a committee to visit. Peter Scharfenberg gave a report on maintenance of the inventory and bookkeeping procedures with a request for help in improving the efficiency and accuracy of this function.
Bill dismissed the Secretariat so the Committees could go to their meetings.
Saturday Afternoon:
The Secretariat reconvened at 4:10 PM and the President called for Committee reports.
Administration: Sharon Sheldon, Chair, confirmed the upcoming Secretariat and Assembly meeting dates and follows:
July 7 - 9, 2000, Sayville, NY October 14-15, 2000, Cleveland, OH March 10-11, 2001, Dallas, TX July 13-15, 2001, Middle Tennessee October 20-21, 2001, Delaware Valley March 9-10, 2002, Coastal Georgia July 12-14, 2002, Northern New Jersey
Mid-Hudson volunteered to take the October 2002 Secretariat meeting.
Preparations for the July Assembly on Long Island are moving along well. Discussion regarding the registration fee and the keynote speaker honorarium followed. Whether or not it is paid is up to each community: $250 seems to be in order.
Administration does not yet have enough names for the nominations slate. Sharon moved that the Secretariat approve a delay until April 15 for Administration to solicit nominations with final approval of the slate by the President of International Secretariat. Bill Boyd noted that we passed a By-Law last year which permits waiver of the two-nominations-per-position
requirement. The motion to delay until April 15 was seconded and approved unanimously. The final slate will be included with the proxy vote mailing.
Executive Committee: Bob Decker, Chair, presented the proposed budget for FY 2000-2001 and based on input from the committees, the following budget was approved for presentation to the Assembly:
Administration Committee                                   $ 1450.00
Executive Committee                                                625.00
Membership Committee                                          6900.00
Policy Committee                                                      350.00
Services Committee                                                  500.00
Home Office                                                            5000.00
President                                                                 1300.00
Secretary                                                                  275.00
Total                         $16,400.00
Executive Committee also recommended holding the assessments to $40 per unit again this year, which was also approved for presentation to the Assembly.
Bob then reviewed the changes to the By-Laws regarding removal of Secretariat Officers for non-participation. He clarified paragraph number changes that would be affected and recommended this modification by submitted to the Assembly. He also clarified the change of format - separation of the Constitution and By-Laws into two separate documents - and addition of two bullets regarding duties of the Financial Secretary which were inadvertently omitted in a previous mailing. Motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously.
Recommended additions to Sections 4.1 and 4.2 of the Constitution were discussed and approved for submission to the Assembly for vote.
Bob presented a change to the paragraph in the October Minutes regarding the establishment of the International Tres Dias Fund. The paragraph should read as follows:
"The Committe recommends the President direct the Financial Secretary to establish an account for an International Tres Dias Fund to be named as suits the Secretariat, and appoint and ad hoc committee to administer and invest any assets given to the Fund. This committee would also be responsible for publicizing the Fund with the Tres Dias communities. Interest accrued by this fund would be used to meet the expenses of the International Tres Dias Secretariat and also to foster new communities. This recommendation falls completely within Tres Dias' 501 c(3) tax exemption, and our constitution and By-6L. Reasoning: establishing a separate foundation would be very time consuming and expensive."
This requested change was approved unanimously by the Secretariat.
Executive Committee has one member who needs to be removed for non-attendance, Rudy Angelmaier. Motion was made, seconded and approved.
Membership Committee: Ken Kessler, Chair, commented on the budget for his Committee — the budget for workshops and the cost of developing the second video regarding sponsorship and the 4th Day. Babs Schneider, who currently has family health difficulties, has been heading this up. All but four communities (Brazil, Jesus/Seoul, Pusan and New Life/Seoul) have paid their dues. Ann Botjer has been contacting the communities, and reviewed the topics she discusses with them. Flyers will be sent to all communities regarding the video and how they can get them. Information on workshop was distributed.
Funding for overseas communities can be difficult and there needs to be careful accounting for funds provided. We will try to work through local communities to support these new communities overseas.
Following discussion on the pros and cons of putting the Tres Dias manuals on the web, the issue was passed to Policy Committee for review and recommendations. Ken discussed with Services Committee the possibility of a new "Tres Dias" bumper sticker. He will fax Eric specific information.
Procedures for dealing with delinquent communities was discussed and it was decided no new procedures are necessary at this time. On the subject of communities' compliance with the Essentials and modification by some communities of the manuals, Membership does not feel the need to do anything further at this point, but to continue with the workshops and pray for the Lord's leadership. It was requested that Mike Holmes, Jen Wagonner and Judy LeMasurier be added as voting members and they were unanimously approved by the Secretariat. On the request that Sunkwon Lee be removed for non-attendance, Bill Boyd advised that Sunkwon is a Member of Secretariat, indicated his term expires this July, and suggested the situation will resolve itself.
GOOD NEWS!! We now have 10 budding communities, 2 of which should be official very shortly.
Policy: Tommy McKnight, Chair, stated that Bill Ryan has been working hard on the new song books. Only 11 communities have responded to his request for input on music to be included. Details and changes recommended for the Pilgrim's Guide will be incorporated prior to the next printing. The wording "Way of the Cross" will replace "stations of the cross" and in the apostles creed the words "holy catholic church" will be replaced with Christian church with an " *" directing the reader to the original wording. Peter Scharfenberg asked if communities had been contacted regarding this change. They have not and Membership Committee volunteered to handle this contact.
Policy Committee is dealing with the letter from James Doyle proposing the Sacraments talk be eliminated and replaced with days in the life of the Christian. Brenda Higgins will communicate with spiritual leaders in communities regarding this issue.
It was noted that Willa Deane McKnight was added to this committee in October and the Committee List will be corrected. Tommy's request that Maddie McLoud and Ed Mack be added as voting members was moved, seconded and approved unanimously. Peter Shinn cannot be removed for non-attendance because he is a Member of the Secretariat; however, his term also expires this July, and the situation will thus be resolved.
Services: Eric Borman Chair, reported that he is having problems with the Quickbooks program and reviewed details. He will try to resolve problems in transferring records between
himself and Peter Scharfenberg. He is also having problems with security on the internet, etc. with regard to the displaced Pescadores list. One idea is to have a page on the Tres Dias website where people can locate communities, other Pescadores, etc.
Jeanne Norwood stated that she is getting our Palanca letters translated into Korean Ukranian, etc. Ella Tewksbury recommends a reminder be sent out on the real meaning and purpose of Palanca.
Publication of the Constitution and By-Laws as separate documents will be more costly at first, but will be better in the long run. We have 5,000 Pilgrim's Guides in stock, about a year and a half supply. We will look at changing the cover and other possible changes before the next run.
A price change is requested for the video — $15 for one and $10 each for two or more. Eric asked if Tres Dias desires to recoup the cost of the production and Ken Kessler stated that the development was covered by the General Fund and need not be recovered. Services should only charge for the video and shipping. Pete Scharfenberg stated that he will speak with Les Yosek before finalizing this decision. Cost of the videos will not affect production of the new song books.
Eric also brought up the idea of putting all the manuals and guides on a CD rom. If changes occur, it would obviate all the CD roms, so the idea was presented of putting all the materials on the web page. International could maintain the covers only and people could print their own manuals from the web site. Discussion of various options followed. Requests to add David Routzon and a voting member and to remove Arlene Angelmaier for non-attendance were approved by the Secretariat.
There being no further business, Tommy McKnight moved and Bob Decker seconded that the meeting be adjourned. This motion was unanimously passed at 5:42 pm.
 
Respectfully submitted, Pat Kessler, Secretary
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