HUNTLEY – After months of intense and wide-ranging debate, the request for the church room rental agreement extension came down to improper use of Sun City logos and pictures on church materials.
By a 6-1 vote, the Sun City Association Board of Directors decided on June 22 to terminate Community Christian Church’s 90-day agreement on July 10. The church’s final service in Meadow View Lodge will be held that day. President Bill Ziletti said the reason for the action was that the church “repeatedly” violated its room rental agreement by displaying Sun City pictures and logos on its materials.
Board member Harry Leopold explained his vote. “There were no problems or disruptions on Sunday mornings during church services,” he said. “But there were other violations that had to be addressed.” Joining him in voting yes to terminate were Bonnie Bayser, Pat Oakley, Bob Beaupre, Larry LaBeau, and President Ziletti. Voting no was member Jim Henley.
“It was unfortunate, and I don’t know yet what we’ll do or where we’ll go,” said Dr. Perry Martin, the church’s pastor, who attended the board meeting. “I’ll meet with my board to make a decision as soon as possible. We didn’t realize at first what the rules were about the pictures, but when we found out we tried our best to take them all out of our archives. Maybe we didn’t do that fast enough.”
About 250 residents attended the board meeting in Prairie Lodge’s Drendel Hall. There was light applause after the board’s action. During a public comment time a few minutes later, residents both praised and criticized the board, some for issues unrelated to the church.
The termination action came immediately after the board rejected, by another 6-1 vote, a Covenants Compliance Committee recommendation that the association’s Room Reservation Guidelines be amended to place time limits on future room rentals by business groups, including churches. The recommendation was sent back to the committee for additional study. A board member said that the association staff and board have more work to do before a new policy on room rentals by business and church groups is put together.
Dr. Martin’s congregation numbered about 30-35 in recent weeks, after starting with somewhat larger numbers. They held services in the Oak/Elm rooms of Meadow View, a facility that holds about 100 persons.
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