Board of Trustees
Board of Trustees 2025
The Board of Trustees is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all property belonging to Wesley United Methodist Church that support its ministries. Wesley’s properties include:
- The main church campus consisting of: Sanctuary, Chapel, Administrative Building, Fellowship Hall, Education Building, and parking lot located at 566 North 5th Street
- The commercial “Soko” building with the adjacent cinder block storage building located at 565 N. 6th Street, San Jose. There are two commercial tenants on the first floor of the commercial building (Okayama Japanese Restaurant & Kushinari, the new yakitori restaurant which is still under construction)
- Two parking lots on either side of the Soko building. The 6th Street lot and the north lot (including the garden area)
- Our church parsonage (A.K.A. The Mineta House), located at 545 North 5th Street, San Jose
- Upkeep and maintenance of all church properties
- Oversee church’s budget for repair & maintenance, upgrades, insurance, property taxes, utilities, janitorial services, landscaping, etc.
- Oversight of leases for tenants of the Soko building
- Dispositioning requests to use our facilities from outside non-profit groups (in conjunction with our Council of Ministries)
Committee Members:
David Brown (Chair), Tomoko Tanaka, Cynthia Fukuda, Mark Iwagaki, Byran Longmire, Rob Hikido, & Brian Hamilton
David Brown (Chair), Tomoko Tanaka, Cynthia Fukuda, Mark Iwagaki, Byran Longmire, Rob Hikido, & Brian Hamilton
Highlights for 2025 include the following:
Main Church Campus
Parsonage
Serving the community
Looking forward…
For 2026 BOT will focus on creating detailed plans for upgrading and remodeling the Fellowship Hall kitchen, hopefully starting the upgrade in 2027.
Respectfully submitted, November 10, 2025.
David Brown
- Completion of the north parking lot Courtyard & Garden
- Removal of “Monitor Wells” that were tracking water contamination from former businesses on the other side of 6th street.
- Repair and resealing of the 6th street parking lot.
Soko Building Tenant Improvements (565 N. 6th Street)
As part of renewing the lease for ten (10) more years, we agreed to reduce their rent by $1,000/month for 25 months ($25,000 of rent relief) to help Okayama remodel their restroom to conform to ADA requirements. They also plan to modify the main entrance so that the slope/grade conforms with ADA requirements.
The Kushinari remodeling is still waiting for PG&E to install a larger building transformer before construction can be completed. PG&E has delayed the opening of the restaurant for well over a year, which has cost us well over $100,000 in lost rent.
Parsonage
The remodeling and restoration of the Mineta house parsonage is on schedule for completion by year end 2025. The project included:
- Replacing the sewer lines
- Replacing indoor water lines
- Replacing electrical wiring and circuit breakers panels
- Upgrading most of the windows to double pane glass
- Earthquake bracing the foundation
- Reconfiguring the kitchen and both bathrooms
- Tenting for termites
- Repairing exterior dry rot and roof leaks
- Refinishing and painting all interior surfaces
- Refinished all the wooden floors
- Exterior painting
- A new Trex decking across the back of the house
- Reconfiguring the bonus room attached to the garage
- Installation of fiber internet service including security cameras.
A driveway gate has not yet been installed, and landscaping remains to be done.
We do not have the final financial figures yet, but the project will run over the $400,000 budget. My current estimate is total cost will be close to $550,000.
Also of note, the Mineta house was granted property tax exemption because of how the church used the property.
An open house for the congregation and public to view the property was recently held.
Serving the community
The Japantown Business Association (JBA) which consists of local Japan town businesses, continues to rent office space in the Soko building 2nd floor and uses 17 parking spaces in the 6th sreet parking lot during the work week. The Chidori Band continues to store equipment and rehearse on the 2nd floor of the Soko building.
Other community support includes Yu-Ai-Kai using our parking lots when they schedule out of town bus trips and hosting large community meetings in our Fellowship Hall.
Looking forward…
For 2026 BOT will focus on creating detailed plans for upgrading and remodeling the Fellowship Hall kitchen, hopefully starting the upgrade in 2027.
Respectfully submitted, November 10, 2025.
David Brown
Posted in Charge Conference 2025