Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia

Board of Trustees

Minutes of June 8, 2011 Meeting

Attendance 

Members present were:  Don Mohr (Co-President), Pat Mohr (Co-President), Barry Ahrendt (President-Elect), Linda Brennison (Treasurer), Michael Sullivan (Secretary); Members at Large: Marcia Fletcher, Elizabeth Harris, and Walter Patterson; and Ex-Officio Members Connie Hudson (Finance Committee Chair), Neal Jones (Minister) and Joe Long (Past President).  Also present were Ann Johnson, Sonya Jones, Betsy Kaemmerlen, Peter Kandis, Buzzie Kelly, Mike Paget, and Bauer Westeren.

Call to Order and Establishment of Quorum

The meeting was called to order by Don at 6:35 PM.  He noted a quorum was present.

Reading and Check-In

Pat read a selection by Theodore Roosevelt, quoted by Rev. Galen Guengerich in one of his daily meditations from All Souls Unitarian Church.[1]  All present gave brief personal updates by way of checking in.

Approval of Minutes

On a motion by Barry, seconded by Elizabeth, the minutes of the May 11, 2011 were unanimously approved. 

Consent Agenda

The Minister’s Report, DRE report, and Administrator’s report were accepted on the consent agenda.

Treasurer’s Report – Approval of New Bank Loans

              Linda reviewed the May 31, 2011 financial reports.  Pledges have continued to come in ahead of budget, with $172,145 received versus $169,583 projected.  Overall revenues are slightly under budget at $191,293. Overall expenses are also under budget at $195,830, reflecting a small deficit of 2% of total budget.    Michael raised some questions about year-end projections for some under-expensed line items.  It is too early to know whether these will remain that way and offset a potential year-end deficit.

Linda reported on her most recent meeting with BB&T Bank to negotiate the renewal of our line of credit as required by the bank.  The bank offered two new loans in place of our current $125,000 line of credit (LOC) which matures June 10, 2011.  A new term loan of $70,000 will be used to pay off the existing balance of almost $43,488 incurred from replacement of our HVAC system.  The balance of $26,511 will be cashed out at closing and available to us for renovations.  This loan will have a fixed rate of 4.74% and a 15 year term; minimum payments will be $545 a month.  Linda noted that the long term signifies the Bank’s confidence in us (our current LOC has a 2 year term).  In addition, a new revolving line of credit for $50,000 will have a 3 year term at a rate of variable prime plus .5%; minimum payments will be 1.5% of the outstanding balance.  Closing fees for both loans total $1,634 which can be paid from our savings account which is earning only .1% interest.  These terms and conditions are an improvement over their original proposal.

The new terms will afford us greater flexibility in structuring our debt service than our previous repayment options.  Since the first payments are not due until August, and since we will likely not be advancing all the funds immediately, it is possible that we will be completely covered by our budgeted debt service payments of $1,000 per month.  The Board expressed appreciation to Linda for her work in securing such excellent terms.  A motion was made by Barry, seconded by Michael, to approve the terms of the new 15 year loan of $70,000 and the new 3 year line of credit for $50,000 from BB&T Bank. The vote in favor was unanimous. 

Chalice Lighter Funds for Playground

Sonya Jones, chair of the Religious Education (RE) Committee, updated the Board on the costs and the progress of the playground renovations.  Copies of the site plan done by Betsy Kaemmerlen and the playground budget were distributed (see attachments).  The new swing set has just been delivered, and work may be completed in 4 more volunteer work days by the end of the summer.  Some costs, including the swing set and some musical instruments, are higher than originally projected.  The budget for the playground renovations is currently $9,483.  A motion was made by Marcia, seconded by Walter, to allocate $7,000 from the Chalice Lighter grant of $27,000 for the new playground, as proposed in the grant application.  The vote in favor was unanimous. 

Plate Collections/Share the Plate

Following some email discussions of how best to account for Share the Plate funds, Don raised the possibility of allocating 25% of every loose plate collection to the designated charity.  Michael noted that the current year’s experience is that the monthly Share the Plate collections represent 56% of the total collected, whereas the weekly loose plate collections having no designated recipient represent 44% of the total of $9,982.  Barry indicated that he would like more time to research the experience of other UU congregations on this issue before we make any changes.  He also expressed the need to clarify the purpose of our loose plate collections which Connie noted have been dwindling. This will be a suitable topic of discussion at our summer Board retreat.

Renovation Project – Financing

Don introduced a series of presentations from the Planning Committee that has been working on the renovations to the Social Hall and the new Memorial Garden.  He noted that the congregation had retained the Boudreaux group to develop our Master Plan a few years ago, and they recently recommended contractors to whom he submitted the invitations to bid on our current project.

• Betsy Kaemmerlen distributed her professional renderings and Site Plan of the new Social Hall windows and doors, lobby windows, outdoor patio area, and new Memorial Garden (see attachments). She detailed the scope of work, noting it also includes necessary repairs to existing windows and the outside slate wall.  The design was refined following her consultation with local architectural historian Trudy Seibels, who is knowledgeable about the original design intent that the Tree of Life Synagogue had for the construction of our building.  In keeping with the residential nature of the building’s fenestration, we will be using the existing Social Hall windows in new configurations instead of replacing them with floor to ceiling windows.  By adding French Doors and retaining the old windows, repainting them the original brown, and matching the new ones on the foyer’s new window wall, it will better fit the neighborhood surroundings.  Seibels also noted that the new memorial garden walls will improve the aesthetics of the Heyward Street side of the building by giving it a nice strong base from which to rise.

Peter Kandis noted that Betsy has donated $18,000 of professional landscape             architectural services to our project, for which the Board expressed its appreciation.

• Peter presented a comprehensive plan of financing that covers both our short term needs for the Social Hall renovations and our long term needs for replacing the RE wing. The plan builds on our continuing growth and successful fundraising history to increase our debt service capabilities to the level needed to build a new RE wing.  Using varying UUCC growth rates of 3% to 10% and increasing percentages of budget devoted to debt service up to 25%, Peter forecast our ability to finance construction of a new RE wing costing about 1.75 million dollars within 5 to 10 years.  (See attachments.)  The Board expressed its appreciation to Peter for his visionary thinking and practical plan.

• Mike Paget presented a fundraising plan to raise $10,000 in the new fiscal year through the purchase of $50 pavers engraved with donors’ names in the new patio area. He noted that this will offer a tangible member benefit that will lend itself to easily visualized progress reports, much like our successful fundraising of $15,000 for the new chairs in the sanctuary.  After factoring in the engraving and materials cost, we will raise the amount needed to net $10,000.   The amount of each donation should be within range of everyone, and at the same time some members will choose to donate several times that amount.

Renovation Project – Selecting a Bidder

Don presented the history of our efforts to obtain bids for the renovations.  Following a lack of response to an earlier Request for Bids, the Boudreaux Group recommended several commercial contractors to whom we issued an Invitation for Bids.  Three bids were subsequently received.  Don presented the committee’s recommendation of a well regarded contractor, Contract Construction, at the low bid of $98,000.  He also noted that a member’s law firm has agreed to review pro bono the construction contract submitted by the successful bidder.  He requested Board approval of the project and notification of the apparently successful bidder, so that we can have continuing discussions with the contractor about costs and contract details.

Following these presentations, the Board discussed the renovation project and financing at length.  Mike Paget pointed out that this project builds on the building and grounds recommendations in our 2006 Long Range Plan and is another step forward in implementing the subsequent Master Plan. Barry requested a specific cost breakdown of the financing.  With the Chalice Lighter grant and gifts, augmented by the new bank loans and fundraising already budgeted for 2011-2012, we anticipate paying for the total cost without any significant changes to our overall budget, as follows:

$98,000             Cost of construction

-20,000              Chalice Lighter grant remaining

-4,500                 Memorial Garden gift

-1,000                 Miscellaneous gift

-10,000              Fundraising (engraved pavers)

-26,500              Balance of new 15 year term loan

-36,000              Draw vs. new 50,000 line of credit

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Renovation project – Board actions

The Board then took action on 3 motions relating to the renovation project.

1. A motion was made by Pat, seconded by Linda, to forward for the Congregation’s approval the above financing plan for the construction project involving new doors and reconfigured windows in the Social Hall, new windows in the lobby, a new patio on the Woodrow Street side of the building, and a new Memorial Garden on the Heyward Street side, at a cost of $98,000. The vote in favor was unanimous. 

2. A motion was made by Barry, seconded by Michael, to approve July 24, 2011 as the date of the Congregational Meeting to approve the renovation project. The vote in favor was unanimous.  A Congregational Conversation about the renovations was also scheduled following the service on June 19, 2011.

3. A motion was by Linda, seconded by Barry, to approve Contract Construction as the apparently successful bidder subject to congregational approval of the renovation project. The vote in favor was unanimous. 

Delegates to General Assembly

There was brief discussion of the UUA General Assembly (GA) in Charlotte, NC later this month.  We have many more members attending than usual due to its proximity.  Don will notify them of the potential to be part of our official delegation of 4 delegates to the UUA governance meetings.  A motion was made by Michael, seconded by Barry, to authorize email approval of our GA delegates, with their names to be appended to the minutes of this meeting.  The vote in favor was unanimous[2]. 

Appreciation

The Board expressed its appreciation to Don and Pat Mohr for their service as Co-Presidents in 2010-2011, and to Marcia Fletcher and Joe Long for their service on the Board.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael Sullivan, Secretary

[2]  The delegates subsequently selected by the Board were:  Barry Ahrendt, Peter Kandis, Joe Long, and Judy Turnipseed, with Ivy Coleman as the alternate.