Board of Stewards September 8th, 2026 Meeting Minutes
In-person attendees: Erin Brady, Joe Tarpley, Les Swick, Aaron Davis, Aaron Byrd, Sharon Blythe, Donna Galloway, Celeste Tolbert, Patty Olbrantz, Bill Hansen. Zoom attendees: Ed Garrison, Stephanie Knapp. Missing: Dessa Boynton. Non-board attendees: None.
Meeting called to order at 6:02pm. Quorum present.
August Minutes review and approval
After a typo in the minutes is adjusted, Board can approve the August minutes via an email vote.
Review of Action Items
* 2027 Board Kick Off meeting set for January 9, 2027 from 9:30 until noon, at the Biltmore Park neighborhood clubhouse
* Each working team should meet in September, with Joe invited
* Call for public comment to be added to Board agenda before churchwide communication
September Town Hall
Our next Town Hall will be on Wednesday September 16 during the weekly C.H.O.W. meal, to be emceed by Donna.
Other Discussion
Board discussed various edits and refinements to its Guiding Principles document.
Safe Sanctuaries document should be under continuous editing and improvement. Les moved to accept the current policy as is, Bill seconded, and it passed. It should also be shared with Around The Son, to see if they have any input or suggestion for improvement.
Working Team Updates and Votes
Refer to the attached written reports for more in-depth monthly Working Team updates.
Staff Parish Relations: Sharon moved that SUMC redact THC results from employee drug tests, Les seconded, BOS approved.
Council on Ministries: Keep In Touch ministry has a promising new leader. Blessing Box ministry needs Finance team approval for an upcoming food drive, which was granted. All Are Welcome will be doing the index card exercise during Launch Sunday, and Board will request them to make sure it’s done anonymously.
Finance: Will look at the form used to seek approval for fund raisers.
Trustees: Replacement of kitchen ranges is proceeding and should be done by end of October. Now that HVAC phase of capital improvements has been done, Trustees will begin soon to ask BOS to approve some specific next steps of the campus refresh.
Items voted on by board:
- Latest version of Safe Sanctuaries policy approved.
- For drug testing of employees, SUMC will redact the results of THC from the 5-panel analysis.
Preschool Business
Still looking for a teacher to take over the 2yo class that Rachel is currently teaching in addition to serving as Director.
Steering Committee chair Lissy began on August 1 but has already resigned, so they are still looking to fill that vacancy.
Rachel is thinking of holding a rummage sale to clear out some of the stuff that’s being stored at ATSP, with half of proceeds going to school and half to Lamb’s. Joe recommended that this event happen as soon as possible.
Sharon and Jason Gilmer will work to improve the ATSP website.
Pastoral Report, Other Items
Charge Conference will take place at 4pm on October 11. District Superintendent Mark Rawls will lead the meeting, to be attended by all Buncombe area UMC churches. 2027 leadership roles and pastor salary should be finalized before then.
Swannanoa Bridges is not currently operating due to building construction at that site.
Next meeting October 6th 6pm
Meeting moved into Executive Session at 8:07pm then adjourned at 8:41pm.
