of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia SC June 12, 2000
Members Present: Sandra Carnesale, Donald Cooper, Heather Cunningham, Ann Johnson (Pres.), Joe Kyle, Pat Mohr, Rev. Patrick Price, ex officio, Dave Sparrow, and Rusty Wenerick
Call to Order: Ann called the meeting to order at 6:05. Ann read the opening words, and reminded all present of the Board and Committee Chair Installation on June 18th.
Minutes of Previous Meeting: The May 2000 meeting minutes were read, corrections were noted, and approved. Sandra took a moment to say goodbye to the group and commented favorably on Ann's leadership of the Board.
Treasurer's Report: Dave S. presented the Financial Summary & Statement for May 2000, attached in Sec. binder. Notables: CDs purchased are due in the next week (Dave S. will renew so due dates are staggered by 6 mo. in order to prevent them coming due at the same time.); $1255 decrease to the checking account balance; B & G is over budget by $2000, which includes a $1267 payment for A/C repairs; Vendor payment was for a renegotiation in copier contract from monthly to 2yr.contract; Affiliations payment is toward the dues.
A conversation re: dues was held. To date, we have sent $3000.00 toward the dues. Ideas were shared, including the need to get information on the benefit of paying the UUA and TJ dues and how to get members to follow-through on the pledge collection (from the canvass pledge card indications). Patrick suggested that getting the information out to members could be seen as "internal evangelism". Heather agreed to continue to work with the Finance Comm. and Pat agreed to work with Donald Griggs on the dues issue from the Denominational Affairs Comm. standpoint.
The Finance Comm. has been discussing a capital drive. The funds would be used to a) replace the A/C condenser, b) replace the furnace (before next winter), c) install electrical for the repositioning of the sound equipment, and d) have a building assessment performed. The estimate of the total cost for these expenses is $10,000. Someone from Finance will be in touch with Larry Wheeler from the Mountain, a professional fundraiser, to possibly assist in the drive.
Note re: capital drive: There are known at this time, three drives to take place over the next fiscal year, as follows: the capital drive discussed above; an endowment drive; a pledge drive.
A discussion re: the bookkeeping position was held. Ann stated we have 5 applicants, and need to discuss and approve an interviewing team. Clarification of the team vs. board authority: the Board has the hiring authority, but can empower the committee to temporarily hire a person with Board approval attained at a later date. A motion to empower the team comprised of Terry Shaw, Dave Sparrow, and Mark Tompkins, or designee if desired, to interview, select, and hire with later Board approval was made and passed.
Board Retreat: It was agreed that there should be a Board and Comm. Chair retreat this year. Open questions were "When?" and "Where?". Joe suggested a committee be appointed to make arrangements. Rusty, Joe, Patrick, and Heather volunteered to work together. August 26th was decided as the date, with the Comm. chairs coming in for = of the day. Suggestions for possible locations were given to Joe.
Other ideas discussed:
Delegates to General Assembly: A motion to choose Judy & Tom Turnipseed, Laura Ingram (if agreed), and Heather Cunningham to serve as delegates to the UUA 2000 General Assembly in Nashville, TN., was made by Joe, seconded by Pat, and passed. Patrick will carry the cards for a 5th delegate if found, and alternates if necessary.
- The pros and cons of inviting an outside speaker.
- What the results of the retreat should be, i.e. orientation of new board members, goal setting, and team building.
- Heather: each Bd. member could state reason for serving on the Board, incl. possibly writing the info to be shared in the Unigram for communication with congregation.
- Patrick: all Officers serving this year have been @ the UUFC for 4yrs. or less, indicating a new look.
- Rusty: a personality type exercise might be good in understanding each other.
- Joe: a visualization exercise to determine individual and group vision of what the Fellowship is to be in the future. Heather: could tie "vision" back into the goal setting.
DRE Report: Rusty raised an issue with the DRE report, in Paragraph #6, questioning the agreement on the total hours/week by the DRE and RE Council. Joe questioned re: paying a salary for a fixed hourly workweek, and Patrick stated this is an issue of a difference between getting paid a salary vs. part-time pay vs. full-time pay. Heather doubted whether the Board had agreed on a fixed 16hr. work schedule, and Pat related that an average 16hr. week for the new salaried pay had been discussed, but was almost sure the fixed 16hr. week was agreed in the last decision. For further clarification on this issue, Patrick will talk to Susan; Pat will speak to Alice Leeper, as new RE Chair, about the issue, in relation to the RE Council.
A discussion was also held re: the need for an A/C unit in Susan's office. Heather said she would get an estimate of the cost of installing a 220v. outlet in the office, and Pat asked that we compare the price with a 5,000btu unit, which would run on 110v. and only cost ~$149.00.
Administrator's Report: Patrick called attention to the June 16th deadline for Unigram items.
Minister's Report: It was noted Sabbatical information is now being recorded in the Minister's Report.
Evaluation: Ann passed around evaluation forms for members to consider. These same eval. forms are to be used by the Co-Council and the Committees to assess progress made and goals met through the year. The Board held a discussion regarding our evaluation of the 1999-2000 Board year, with the following highlights:
Committee Council (Co-Council) Report: Ann congratulated Joe on a successful year of creating a symbiosis between the Board and the Co-Council. A discussion was held regarding asking additional committees to participate in the Co-Council, such as the MRC and Personnel committees.
- Goals met mostly or completely:
- Setting the staff job descriptions.
- The committee job descriptions are almost all completed.
- There is higher Board visibility.
- Joe agreed to write the first Unigram article, introducing himself and his reason(s) for serving as President.
- There was a feeling of a lack of community with the higher emphasis on more worshipful services (with regards to the absence of impromptu announcements at the beginning of services).
- The need to get more people involved was discussed:
- How to let people know about the Committees available to be served on.
- Introduce the Committees in a worship service?
- A need to be more concise in the recording, maintaining, and storage of the Board minutes was discussed, and the following were suggestions to be considered*:
- The use of a "Minutes" structure or template, that would include areas such as "Decisions Made", "Motions Passed", and "Action Items". *
- The indexing of items recorded in the minutes was suggested by Donald. *
- The possibility of creating a Minutes binder to store hard copies of the Board minutes in.
- The possibility of keeping a library of the Minutes on diskette.
President's Farewell: The Board of Trustees took a few minutes to congratulate and thank Ann for a successful and busy year as President. She received a round of applause and thanked everyone present for their hard work.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned around 9:00pm.
Respectfully submitted for approval,
Heather Cunningham
*A new format is being attempted; please see the attached Summary Sheet for these items.
Summary of June 12, 2000, Minutes
Motions Passed:
Action Items:
- The May 2000 Board Meeting minutes were approved.
- The Board empowered the team of Terry Shaw, Dave Sparrow, and Mark Tompkins (or his designee) to interview, select, and hire a person to fill the bookkeeping position for the UUFC with Board approval at a later time.
- Judy & Tom Turnipseed, Laura Ingram (if agreed), and Heather Cunningham will serve as delegates for the Fellowship at the UUA 2000 General Assembly.
Decisions Made:
- UUA and TJ District dues full share payment. (Heather Cunningham with Finance; Pat Mohr with Denominational Affairs.)
- $10,000 capital drive to be held by the Finance Committee.
- Selection and hiring of bookkeeper. (Team indicated above.)
- Planning of the Board and Committee Chair retreat on August 26th. (Team of Joe Kyle, Rusty Wenerick, Patrick Price, and Heather Cunningham.)
- Patrick Price and Pat Mohr to follow-up with Susan Corbett and Alice Leeper re: hours set for DRE.
- Heather Cunningham to check on cost of 220v. for A/C in DRE office; Pat Mohr to handle if too expensive.
- Joe Kyle to write first introductory article for the Unigram.
- Standardization of recording and storing for future reference the Board Meeting minutes. (Heather Cunningham)
- Invitation of MRC and Personnel to participate on the Co-Council.
Notes about the new minutes format (this time only):
- The Board Retreat will be held on August 26th.
- Dave Sparrow will renew the CDs, staggering the dates they are due.
- Items in bold are headings for quick reference of a topic.
- Items underlined are considered for indexing reference in the future.
- Items in bold and italic indicate motions made and passed by the Board of Trustees.
If there are any suggestions for additional indexing of items, or if there are any other recommendations about the minutes, please contact Heather Cunningham at 803-xxx-xxxx, or via email to heather@LFS-SC.org . Thank you.
In the event of discrepancies the paper copy of the minutes as contained the the board minutes binder shall be the official version. This binder is maintained by the administrator in the congregation office.
Your comments/corrections are welcome. Email to Donald Griggs at dgriggs@chaliceweb.org