Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia

Board of Trustees

Minutes of February 23, 2011 Meeting

Attendance 

Members present were:  Don Mohr (Co-President), Barry Ahrendt (President-Elect), Linda Brennison (Treasurer), Michael Sullivan (Secretary); Members at Large: Ivy Coleman, Elizabeth Harris via Skype, Marcia Fletcher, Andrea Pixley, and Walter Patterson; and Ex-Officio Members Neal Jones (Minister) and Joe Long (Past President).  Also present were Regina Moody and Eve Ross.

Call to Order and Establishment of Quorum

The meeting was called to order by Don at 6:36 PM.  He noted a quorum was present.

Check-In

All present gave brief personal updates by way of checking in.

Proposed Bylaw Revisions

Barry described and circulated the text of a number of proposed bylaw revisions.  Some of these suggestions originated from the work of the task force that reviewed the annual basic cost of membership (ABC), and some mirror bylaw provisions used by other UU congregations.  The Board spent the rest of the meeting discussing and reaching consensus on many potential revisions.  No votes were taken as this was a preliminary review by the Board.  A new proposal for bylaw revisions incorporating the consensus changes will be voted on at a later meeting, when the Board will decide whether to forward the proposed revisions to the Congregation for approval at the Annual Meeting.

Among the bylaw revisions discussed preliminarily were the following:

• updating references to UUCC instead of UUFC
• clarifying the financial contribution and waiver requirements without reference to an annual basic cost of membership
• adding an honorific category of membership for longstanding supporters
• reducing the waiting period for new member voting eligibility from 30 days to 15 days
• retaining an effective date of bylaw revisions in the document.

There were also other potential revisions deferred for review at a later time owing to their complexity.  These included provisions for establishing a congregational service commitment alternative and a new category of Continuing Committees.

After all present thanked Barry for his work and research, the meeting was adjourned at 8:33 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Michael Sullivan, Secretary