Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia

Board of Trustees

Minutes of March 19, 2014 Meeting

Attendance

Trustees present:  Ivy Coleman (Co-President), Robin Scherer (Co-President), Regina Moody (President Elect), Buzzie Kelly (Secretary), Bob Whitaker (Treasurer); Members at Large: Sandy Chubon, Marc Drews, Caroline Eastman, Jerry Moore, Phil Turner; Ex-Officio Members: Linda Brennison (Finance Committee Co-Chair), Ann Johnson (Past President) and Neal Jones (Minister).

Call to Order and Establishment of Quorum

The meeting was called to order by Robin Scherer (Co-President) at 6:38 p.m. She noted a quorum was present.

Reading and Check-In

Jerry Moore opened with a reading by Eckhart Tolle and lit the chalice; all present gave brief personal updates to check in.

Approval of Minutes

On a motion from Phil, seconded by Ivy (Co-President), the minutes of the Board meeting in February were approved.

Action Items from February

1. Ivy will follow up with the Worship Committee to clarify if their survey of the service will include more than questions about the Candles of Community and what other actions they are planning.

The Worship Committee has published the Candles of Community survey on-line and will distribute hard copies in the Order of Service.

2. Ivy will contact Donald Griggs about the possibility of using a wireless microphone for Candles of Community.

The Technical Services Committee will make the wireless microphone available for Candles of Community. Donald Griggs noted that it’s important to remind people to turn off the microphone when not in use to conserve the battery.

3. Sandy Chubon offered to take over the responsibility for kitchen clean up after the services. She will get with Lisa Eason (DRE) to learn how to run the SignUp Genius program, which allows volunteers to sign up on line. She will also prepare announcements for the Order of Service and the Unigram requesting volunteers.

Sandy has met with Lisa to begin learning SignUp Genius.

4. Robin Scherer will ask Karen Sundstrom to give her a list of cleanup pointers (such as rinsing one’s own plate and putting it in the dishwasher), which will be posted and presented as reminders on committee night for attendees to assist with cleanup.

Karen has indicated she doesn’t mind working in the kitchen but she would like better equipment.  A suggestion was made to include the UU as a recipient of the Christmas gift-giving bounty in order to provide the congregation with better equipment. Neal will email an existing clean-up list to Sandy.

8. Linda Brennison (Finance Committee Co-Chair) will look into whether money from one fiscal year can be carried over to the next fiscal year.
9. Ann will suggest that the Leadership Development Committee request more money in the next fiscal year in order to cover another person’s registration at SUULE in August.

Linda explained that money left over in the Leadership Development budget line at the end of a fiscal year could be placed in the Board Reserve and then applied to the Leadership Development budget in the next fiscal year. This would allow the LDC (Leadership Development Committee) to send three people to SUULE in August without having to request a bigger budget in 2014-2015. Ann Johnson (Past President) will identify three people to attend.

10. [ongoing] Ivy Coleman will prepare an announcement for the pulpit, Order of Service, and Unigram explaining the delay in the publication of the new UUCC Directory, noting that it’s behind schedule but is being prepared and will be available to members both in print and on line.

Andrea Dudick (Administrator) has compiled all the data necessary for completing the UUCC Directory and is now waiting on Life Touch to create the directory.

16. [ongoing] Robin will ask Andrea about the origin of the Lifetouch photography/directory project and will report to the Board at an upcoming meeting.

Concerns have been raised about the hard sell by the Life Touch staff that some people objected to. Neal explained that Life Touch was involved because that was the photographer used in the previous directory. Since any photography firm makes their money on the project by selling packages to individuals, any firm used will likely behave the same in their behavior towards potential clients.

11. [ongoing] Board members should email Robin information for their on-line profiles, which she will post on the UUCC website. Send a jpeg of a photo if desired.

Robin will post on-line profile information for the Board members, who need to email her the info.

12. [ongoing] Caroline will ask the Technology Services Committee to create an “open house” meeting in 2014 to train committee chairs who were unable to attend the Committee Night Training to learn how to access and update their committee’s web page.
13. [ongoing] Board members will check other UU websites and bring or email suggestions to Caroline for redesign ideas for the UUCC website.
14. [ongoing] Caroline will continue to provide an update on the website at Board meetings.

Caroline reported that the Technology Services Committee has received some input about other websites UUCC members like. After some discussion about the design and upkeep of the UUCC website, it was agreed that Caroline will present 2-3 sample websites for the Board to examine at the April meeting. She will also delineate steps to be taken and responsibilities.  Currently, Andrea updates the calendar, manages rentals, and uploads the Unigram; Neal posts his sermons on-line; and the Secretary posts the approved Board meeting minutes. Committee Chairs are expected to receive website training for keeping their Committees’ pages current. The Tech Committee will schedule another “open house” to teach Committee Chairs how to do this.

Financial Report

Bob Whitaker (Treasurer) handed out the Treasurer’s Report and the Budget Variance Report and reported a pledge payment shortfall of $10,515, which is more than last year. However, because expenses continue to be less than budgeted, there is a positive variance of $6,022. Though the Buildings and Grounds budget line is underspent, there will be costs for the stage removal and renovation of that space, and for retiling the RE wing. Quarterly statements will be sent in April, highlighting members who are behind on paying their pledges.

Work on the 2014-2015 budget has started. The Finance Committee is getting budget requests from many committees. Prior to the next Board meeting, the Executive Committee will meet with the Finance Committee Co-Chairs to review the budget.

Personnel

Director of Religious Education Lisa Eason, who is moving out of town with her family, has submitted her resignation but will work until the end of May. The Personnel Committee is updating the job description and will begin a search for Lisa’s replacement. Lisa will assist with the transition if schedules allow. Ann Cargill has submitted her resignation as bookkeeper.

Pledge Update

Linda reported that we have reached 66% of the goal of $230,000 in pledges for FY 2014-2015. Fifty-one percent (51%) of the goal was collected at the Pledge Drive celebration.

Approximately 20 members haven’t paid the minimum per year in order to be considered members (per the bylaws). The practice has been for Neal Jones (Minister)to review the list created in December by the Treasurer identifying individuals who haven’t paid the minimum. The Membership Chair then sends a letter to those individuals explaining the situation. However, because of the Minister’s sabbatical, this process wasn’t followed in 2014. Therefore, Neal will review the list and follow the procedure described. Bob suggested that the process was somewhat unwieldy and the Board should consider revising the process.

There are also a number of members who are dramatically behind in paying their pledges. Linda pointed out that some members wait until the end of the fiscal year to “catch up” and pay the balance of their pledges. She also explained that the budget plan s for a shortfall in pledges of about 20%. It was agreed that there is a need to communicate the importance of fulfilling one’s pledge, but to communicate to the congregation rather than to individuals.

Endowment Committee

The Mohr Family Fund is down and it was noted that the fund would be better off had the money initially been invested in the UU Common Endowment Fund. The Endowment Committee will discuss the situation at its March 30 meeting and will present recommendations to the Board.

Share the Plate

Jerry Moore (Board liaison to the Social Action Committee) presented the final list of recipients for the 2014 Share the Plate donations. There were 11 spots available (January is reserved for the Minister’s Discretionary Fund). However, there was a tie between two organizations, and rather than addressing that issue of how to handle a tie, the Social Action Committee opted to include the UU Service Committee in the eleventh spot as another permanent recipient (even though it didn’t receive enough votes to be included).

This decision was not well received by the Board, which was concerned about circumventing the vote. A suggestion was made to award the eleventh spot to Carolina Wildlife Care (one of the organizations that tied for 11^th place), because it was heavily favored by the youth vote, and to not include UUSC as a recipient in 2014.

On a motion from Caroline, seconded by Phil, the Board voted to replace the UU Service Committee with the Carolina Wildlife Care, which had received overwhelming youth vote support. There were two no votes.

In general, the process for selecting Share the Plate recipients for 2014 has raised other concerns. A suggestion was made to create categories so all the recipients wouldn’t be for one type of charity (e.g., homeless, LGBT, pets, environment, etc.). It was also suggested that the speaker for that month’s charity be asked to limit the length of their comments at the service.  Jerry will tell the Social Action Committee that the Board would like them to redesign the process for selecting Share the Plate recipients for 2015. He will also be responsible for making sure the revised list of the Share the Plate recipients is published.

The Mountain

Around 20 people have signed up to attend this year’s retreat at the Mountain, scheduled for April 4-6. Ivy urged those who could to sign up, as the number is somewhat low. She reported that the on-line registration procedure is somewhat clumsy and suggested that people register by phone.

Policy Manual

Regina Moody (President Elect) and Buzzie Kelly (Secretary) presented a proposal for creating a Policy on Policies, which would detail how new policies are presented to the Board for approval and the creation of a Policy Manual, to be kept updated as policies are adopted or revised. The Board agreed to consider the policy for adoption at the April Board meeting.

The Finance Committee is creating a manual of its policies and procedures with input of a CPA .

John deGraaf Update

There hasn’t been much publicity for the March 25 workshop being presented by John deGraaf. Dave Crockett sent an email, which will be included in the March 20 Eblast and Sunday’s Order of Service. Marc Drews sent information to area guidance counselors and it was suggested that the information be shared with area UU churches.

New Business

The Memorial Garden ad hoc Committee has asked to proceed with Phase 1 of construction. The $5,800 has already been raised and it was felt that as people watch the progress, momentum for the project will build and it will be easier to collect the money required for Phase 2 (the construction of the fountain). Ivy will check with Betsy Kaemmerlen to see if the bidding process required in the by-laws has been followed. A Board vote to proceed may need to take place on-line.

Professionalizing Music

The need to professionalize music was raised. A budget proposal to fund the position of Music Coordinator in 2014-2015 has been submitted. Last year the proposed position was removed from the budget. It’s unclear whose responsibility it is to oversee this position and submit a request for funds, the Worship Committee or the ad hoc Music Committee, whose stated task was completed with their 2012 recommendation. Robin will ask the Worship Committee the status of the Music Coordinator position.

Seating in the Sanctuary

Ann requested that the Board begin to think about the future of seating in the sanctuary. Some Sundays the sanctuary is completely full before the children go to their RE classes. The possibility of holding two services has been suggested and generally rejected. She pointed out that Kevin Meredith drew up a plan for changing the seating but that no action has been authorized and money will have to be raised to implement any change. The topic will be revisited at the May Board meeting (April will be devoted to discussing the budget), but Ann urged us to be proactive.

Action Items

Below are the action items to be followed up at the next Board meeting.

1. Sandy Chubon has met with Lisa Eason (DRE) to begin learning SignUp Genius. When the system is ready, Sandy will prepare announcements for the Order of Service and the Unigram requesting volunteers to help with kitchen clean-up.
2. Neal Jones (Minister) will email an existing clean-up list to Sandy.
3. Ann Johnson (Past President) will identify three people to attend SUULE in August.
4. Caroline Eastman will present 2-3 sample websites for the Board to examine at the April meeting. She will also delineate steps to be taken and responsibilities.
5. Neal Jones (Minister) will review the list by the Membership Committee identifying individuals who didn’t pay the minimum pledge as required by the bylaws and will ask the Membership Chair to send a letter to those individuals explaining the situation.
6. Jerry Moore (Board liaison to the Social Action Committee) will request that the committee redesign the process for selecting Share the Plate recipients for 2015. He will also be responsible for making sure the revised list of the Share the Plate recipients is published.
7. Ivy will check with Betsy Kaemmerlen to see if the Memorial Garden ad hoc Committee has followed the required bidding process to begin with Phase 1 of construction.
8. Robin will ask the Worship Committee the status of the Music Coordinator position.
9. Board members are encouraged to think about the future of seating in the sanctuary. The topic will be discussed in more detail at the May Board meeting.
10. [ongoing] Caroline will ask the Technology Services Committee to create an “open house” meeting in 2014 to train committee chairs who were unable to attend the Committee Night Training to learn how to access and update their committee’s web page.
11. [ongoing] Caroline will continue to provide an update on the website at Board meetings.
12. [ongoing] Caroline will investigate what visitor information can be gathered for the website and will explain at a future Board meeting.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Buzzie Kelly, Secretary