Annual Conference 2003

Petition Ballot Results

Petitions may be found HERE (Adobe Acrobat pdf format)

Highlights of the Wisconsin Annual Conference (uncorrected)
34th Session
Held at the Madison Marriott West Hotel and Conference Center
Middleton, Wisconsin

NOTE:
These highlights are not the official minutes of the Annual Conference and have not been corrected. They are simply a running record of the more important annual conference actions and will be replaced by the official minutes as provided by the Conference Secretary.

Sunday 15 June 2003

Members and guests of the conference gathered in the Superior, Michigan and Wisconsin rooms of the Madison Marriott West Hotel and Conference Center at 8:00 P.M.

Bishop Rader called the 34th Session of the Wisconsin Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church to order at 8:12 p.m. She invited those gathered to greet each other and share where they live, and one thing that their congregation has done this year that is about ministry with children or poor people.

She shared with the conference some of the ministries that the Annual Conference has been involved in with those on the margins of society. She invited us to remember who we are as God's people, the Body of Christ, and that we are about the task of sharing the Good News with all who need to hear it.

The Bishop offered prayer.

Recessed for the evening at 9:20 P.M.

Monday 16 June 2003

Bishop called conference to order at 8:45 a.m.

Bishop named Implications Committee: Hee-Soo Jung, Doug Stallsmith, Sheri Graeber, Kaitlyn Aliota, Jorge Mayorga, Tim Van Schyndel, Marty Chandler.

Janet Ellinger presented the report of the Petitions Committee. Teller Team 1 distributed Ballot Forms. Petitions 1 through 9 were considered and voted on.
Tom Lambrecht moved to amend petition 6 by adding the following: M2002
M2002 was approved as an amendment to petition 6.
Doris Clark moved to table Petition 8 and 9 until results of petition 7 are known. The motion to table was defeated.
Steve Zekoff moved to amend petition 9 – M2004. Motion was approved.
Teller team 2 collected the ballots on Petitions 1 through 9.

Rebecca Niese, representative of the Board of Ordained Ministry, introduced Gary Peluso-Verdend, Director of Church Relations and Associate Professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, who presented information about the "Culture of the Call."

Gathered at 10:50 for Worship, led by Grace Cajiuat, Jerry Cho, Howard Hintzman and Deb Kuehl. Justin Lowe was the pianist. Rev. Daniel Flores then led the conference in a time of study of John Wesley.

Tom Lindahl moved to suspend the rules in order to require a 2/3 vote in order to approve the Task Force Report or other alternate plans.

The question was divided. The motion to suspend the rules was approved. The motion to require a 2/3 majority was approved.

Bishop Rader noted that Action Items 10, 11 and 12 were incorrectly listed as coming from First United Methodist Church in Whitewater. They were actually submitted by Everett Refior, a lay member of that congregation. She placed Action Item 10 before the conference. It was defeated.

Bishop Rader placed Action Item 11 before the conference . It was defeated.

Bishop Rader placed Action item 12 before the conference. Steve Foster moved the previous question. The motion to cease debate was approved.

Action Item 12 was approved.

Bishop Rader announced the results of General Conference Ballot 3. There was no election. General Conference Ballot 4 was taken at this time.

The secretary and Bishop read announcements. The conference then recessed for supper at 5:05 p.m.

Elyse Krueger, CCYM, presented Action Item 9, Resolution on United Methodist Youth Ministry Sunday. The Action Item was approved.

Diane Quade, President of UMW, presented Action Item 4, United Methodist Women Sunday. The Action Item was approved.

Steve Zekoff, Chairperson of the Rules Committee, presented the report of the Rules Committee. He reported an editorial correction in Proposed Rule Change #6, changing the date "2005" to "2004," and withdrew Proposed Rules Change #7 from consideration at this year's Conference Session.

He moved Proposed Rules Change #1. It was adopted.
He moved Proposed Rules Change #2. It was adopted.
He moved Proposed Rules Change #3. It was adopted.
He moved Proposed Rules Change #4. It was adopted.
He moved Proposed Rules Change #5. It was adopted.

He moved Proposed Rules Change #6. Cliff George moved to amend the proposal by changing the word "Sunday" to "weekend" wherever it occurs in the proposed rule change. The motion to amend was defeated. A motion to close debate was approved. Proposed Rules Change #6 was approved as originally presented.

Zekoff moved proposed rules change # 8. After considerable discussion, Bishop Rader noted that it was past the scheduled 9:00 p.m. recess time. Tom Lambrecht moved to table the matter until tomorrow. The motion to table was defeated. John McBeth moved to extend the time for 15 minutes. The motion to extend the time was approved. A motion to close debate was approved. Proposed Rules Change #8 was adopted.

Rebecca Niese moved to amend rules 120.1.5 by substituting "years of service in any Methodist denomination" for "years of participation in any conference or Methodist denomination group health plan". The motion was approved. The motion was referred to the Implications Committee for consideration.

Deaner moved to extend the time to take another ballot. The motion was approved.

Bishop Rader read the results of General Conference Ballot 5. There was no election. General Conference Ballot 6 was taken at this time.

Bishop offered prayer.
Recessed at 9:26 pm.

Tuesday 17 June 2003

Bartel presented Action Item 1: Resolution on Local Church Camping Coordinator. It was approved.

He presented Action Item 2: Resolution on Camp and Retreat Emphasis Sunday. It was approved.

Joan Fordham and David Ogden presented the action items from the Joint Board of Pensions, Insurance and Equitable Compensation.

Ogden moved Action Item 5: Resolution on Housing Allowance for Retired and Disabled Clergy. The motion was approved

Fordham moved Action Item 6: Resolution on Past Service Annuity Rate. The motion was approved.

Ogden moved Action Item 7: Resolution on Minimum Compensation.

Bob Blackburn moved to amend the motion by adding a resolution establishing a task force to determine a more economically just method for determining the clergy portion of health insurance premiums.

Steve Zekoff raised a point of order, that the resolution was not related to the motion before the body. Bishop Rader ruled the Blackburn motion out of order at this time, but indicated that the conference could consider it prior to the conclusion of the report from the Joint Board of Pensions, Insurance and Equitable Compensation.

Action Item 7 was approved.

Fordham moved Action Item 8: Resolution on Formal Funding Plan for Pre-1982 Pension Liability. The motion was approved.

Warren Waddell moved that the Board of Pensions & Health Care and the Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation present to the 2004 WI Annual Conference a more expanded report of the Income and expenses for the Permanent Pension Fund and MPP Fund including:
Amount in
Amount out
Interest
Dividend
And totals to give us an idea of where the funds are going.

The motion was approved.

Hee-Soo Jung presented the report on the implications committee on the implications of the Niese amendment to amend Rule 120.1.5, which was approved Monday Evening. He moved:
"to refer to the Health insurance Committee of the Joint Board of Pensions, Insurance and Equitable Compensation for further research and to bring is recommendation to the 2004 Annual Conference."

Mark Smith, Conference Benefits Officer, shared the rationale behind the recommendation.

The motion was approved.

Steve Zekoff moved "to delay implementation of revised 120.1.5 introductory paragraph until the Joint Board of Pensions, Insurance, and Equitable ompensation can present to the 2004 annual conference session the implications of this action."

The motion was approved.

Zekoff moved the adoption of the entire report of the Rules Committee. The motion was approved.

Bill Helwig, Executive Director of the Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation, presented Action Item 3: Designation of Earnings from the "New Ministries Fund." It was approved.

Janet Ellinger resumed presentation of the report of the Petitions Committee. Tellers distributed Ballot Forms.

Petitions 10 and 11 were considered and voted on.

Bishop Rader placed Action Item 12: Resolution in Support of the International Criminal Court before the conference, with the notation that it was submitted by Everett Refior, a member of the Whitewater UMC, rather than by the congregation. Action Item 12 was adopted.

The conference recessed for the evening at 10:15 p.m.

Wednesday 18 June 2003

Nancy Moffatt and Lynn Scott presented action items 13-14, Discontinuance of Cameron: Christ UMC and Big Creek UMC. Both action items were approved.

Here are the results of the written ballot on "A New Way of Superintending:"
      Total votes cast: 777
      Needed to pass: 518
      Yes: 594       No 183
      The motion is adopted.
A copy of the report may be found as a web page HERE or as an Adobe Acrobat (pdf) document HERE

Janet Ellinger presented petitions 12 through 21 were considered and voted on. Steve Foster moved that for the remaining petitions, speeches be limited to two in favor and two against, with a time limit of two minutes. The motion was seconded and adopted.
James Cotter moved to stop debate on all remaining petitions and move to vote on all remaining petitions. It was variously seconded and defeated. The remaining petitions were considered and voted on.

Jerry Eckhert made a motion requesting a declaratory decision from the judicial council under Paragraph 2610. A subsequent motion to refer was made by Myron Talcott and adopted.

In light of a tie for one of the laity reserve places, the rules specifying two reserve delegates were suspended by vote. The conference then voted to send all three reserve delegates to Jurisdictional Conference.

Sue Setterlund presented the final nominations committee report. She moved that the committee be given permission to fill vacancies as they occur througfhout the year. It was adopted. Sue moved the full report. It was adopted.

Jon Furlow presented a certificate to the Wisconsin Annual Conference, on behalf of GCFA, commending the Conference for 100% payments of General Conference Apportionments. The Waterloo UMC received the certificate for the Conference.

Doug Stallsmith (Conference Council of Finance & Administration) presented Action Item 18: the 2004 Budget. After adjusting it to include $9,000 for pastoral support for the Odana congregation, a total budget of $7,329,560 was adopted for 2004.

Results of the ingathering:
2184 layettes packed into 258 boxes
57 clergy kits
150 churches participated
40 volunteers helped load the truck
$1,508.97 was donated for shipping of the ingathering items.
God is good.

Various Youth Service Fund donations: $211.47. Jack Werner won the Bishop's slippers with a bid of $100 for the Youth Service Fund.

$2,107.70 was collected in the special Youth Service Fund offering.

$ 4870.78 was collected to help provide clergy salaries for our partners in Rio Grande Conference/Cuba/Sierra Leone.

$2,198 was the offering at the retirement service.

The offering for Rising Sun Camps totaled: $660.

Annual Conference 2004 convenes on June 13, 2004 at the Madison Marriott West.

The conference was adjourned at 4:46 p.m.