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Meeting Minutes: Board of Trustees

of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia SC

January 14, 2004

Members Present: Regina Moody, Joe Kyle, Jo Conner, Rusty Wenerick, Sandy Chubon, Becky
Dickey, Mary McGriff, Don Thacker, Sharyn Walters, Patrick Price, ex officio.
Members Absent: Rob Harper, Dwight Pregler, Mary Heriot, ex officio.
Guests Present: Carita Barr, Tootsie Holland, Pat Mohr, Isabel Oake, Peter Kandis.

Summary 

Motions Passed

Decisions Made

     Judy Pearce was appointed to the Finance Committee.

Action Items

Proceedings 

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order by Regina Moody at 6:20 pm. In the absence of a chalice,
Regina lit a match. She thanked Becky and Carita for the snacks. Jo Conner presented the opening reading.
Regina provided board members with a copy of the mission of the fellowship and the UUA guidelines for advocacy, lobbying, and elections, to be placed in our notebooks.

MINUTES

The minutes of the December 10, 2003 meeting were approved as circulated.

REPORTS

Minister -- This report was deferred because it was not distributed in time for members to read
before the meeting.

Administrative Coordinator -- No comments.

Religious Education -- Sharyn noted that the RE committee did not meet in December. It was
noted that the RE attendance numbers are posted on the RE website. Joe will ask Susan to e-
mail the board members to tell us how to access the RE website. Board members also
requested that the attendance numbers be posted with the dates in chronological order.

Youth Coordinator -- Regina expressed concern that we have lost some youth whose parents
still participate in the fellowship. She asked what strategies might be used to find out what
happened and how to entice the youth back.
Becky reported that there is enough money to hire a new youth coordinator to start in June.
Cindy is asking for guidelines for the proper procedure to recruit and hire someone. The
board recommended a search committee including Patrick, Susan, Isabel, Cindy, a youth, a
parent, a RE teacher or youth adviser, and Becky as the board representative. Becky will
communicate that information to Cindy. Cindy can draw up a slate and send it to Regina who
will e-mail it to the board members for their approval. The process needs to begin soon to get
someone in place in a timely manner.

Treasurer's Report -- Isabel entered all deposits and checks written from July 1 to December
31, 2003 on Excel spreadsheets. She provided a year-to-date budget-to-actual comparison.
Sandy reported there were errors in her Jan-Dec, 2003 statement. Four checks that had been
cashed by the fellowship were missing from her statement. Mary Heriot told her the checks
were listed in the handwritten records but they were not entered into the computer. Sandy
asked whether the computer data is accurate. Peter Kandis responded that they have corrected
about 15 statements which contained errors.
Joe Kyle suggested that we conduct a survey of a sample of members when quarterly
statements are sent out to determine how many are accurate.
Rusty suggested that contributions should be posted by batches and that Isabel should
proofread the contribution lists before they are posted. That would ensure that the numbers
were identical in the contributions and finance modules. Regina asked if that would delay
deposits. Rusty said no. Peter agreed to take the issue to the finance committee and get
feedback and recommendations from them before the next board meeting.
Don moved that we revisit the issue of funding the Youth Coordinator as a line item in the
budget (versus funding from fundraising luncheons) at the March meeting. Sharyn seconded.
The motion passed.
Peter Kandis reported that a member donated stock worth $1220 to the UUFC in December.
It has appreciated to about $1373 now. Since the fellowship does not hold stock, we will sell
it in the next week or so. Rusty reminded him that we have a brokerage account at BB&T
which will sell it for us.
Joe Kyle moved that the income from the stock be used immediately to pay on the debt we
owe on staff pensions. Don seconded the motion. Isabel reported we currently owe about
$6,500 to those accounts. The motion passed.
Rusty thanked Isabel for her work in entering the financial data into the Excel spreadsheet.

Committee Reviews -- The Membership Committee description was reviewed and suggestions
were offered to revise it. We will review the Worship Committee description next month.

OLD BUSINESS

December Congregational Meeting Feedback

UUA/TJ District Dues -- Several people at the December congregational meeting
spoke in favor of collecting money for dues before the end of this fiscal year. In
recent years we have paid no dues to the district or the UUA. We send $100 a year so
we can participate in General Assembly. Donald Griggs requested that we take two
offerings before the end of June and apply them to our dues. Some board members
expressed strong feelings that paying one's annual dues should be a condition of
membership in the UUFC. Regina said dues are $65 this year. Patrick said if
members pay their dues, they will contribute that much less to the fellowship. Don
asked whether dues are a priority of the congregation.
Patrick said the average pledge to the UUFC is half the level of other UUA
congregations in the area: Charleston, Spartanburg, Greenville, Augusta. Low
contributions have been an issue for this congregation for 30 years or longer. He
suggested that we have a consultant come in to help the congregation to have a serious
conversation about money. We are not able to deal with the issue ourselves. A
consultant could, in effect, hold up a mirror and help us confront our
issues/attitudes/behaviors related to money.
Sandy moved that we offer members of the congregation the opportunity to pay dues
before the end of the fiscal year and that the board guarantee that the money will be
passed on to the UUA/TJ District. Sharyn seconded the motion. Rusty spoke against
the motion saying that special fundraisers violate our budget for this year. He urged
that we concentrate on visioning a budget for next year. The motion passed. It was
agreed that we should send a letter to all members informing them of this opportunity
to pay dues this year. Regina and Sandy will work on a letter and collaborate with the
finance committee. We will also put a notice in the Unigram and order of service.

Congregational Meeting in March -- Another comment from the December
congregational meeting was that members would like more frequent communication
with the board. Quarterly meetings were suggested. Joe suggested that we have a
congregational meeting in March to hear people's priorities for next year's budget.
Don spoke in favor of building the budget on consensus of what our priorities are.

Don moved that we have a congregational meeting March 7. Sharyn seconded the
motion. The purpose of the meeting will be to hear the congregation's concerns, but
especially to hear their priorities for the budget and to hear what they believe should
be cut from the budget if they propose additional expenses. The motion passed.

Conflict Management Summary/Plan -- Regina sent Qiyamah's notes from the December 6
meeting to board members. We had discussed sponsoring a Conflict Management Workshop
in March, but Qiyamah's calendar is full the last half of March. We postponed any action on
those plans.

NEW BUSINESS

Capital Funds & Projects -- The heating contractor has not submitted his bill for the
installation of the social hall furnace but when that bill is paid, we will have $762 left in the
Capital Fund.

Sanctuary Painting -- Pat Mohr, Secretary of the Interior, reported that we can rent
scaffolding for one month and paint the sanctuary, the alcove, and the social hall for
about $600-700, using volunteers to do the painting. Patrick pledged to donate $100
to buy paint.

Deadbolt Locks -- Regina expressed concern because our doors cannot be opened from
the inside without a key when they are locked. This could result in injuries or loss of
life in an emergency. We have an estimate of $200 to replace all the locks with
deadbolts with a thumbturn on the inside which would prevent people being locked in
the building. Doors will still have to be locked with a key from the outside when we
leave the building.

Joe moved that we spend $700 for painting and $200 for deadbolt locks. Jo seconded
the motion. The motion passed. Regina said the locks can be replaced within the next
two weeks.

Furnace Controls -- We agreed that these are not a priority at this time.

Doorbell -- Pat Mohr will get an estimate for this.

Canvass -- Regina reported that Tom and Judy Turnipseed may chair the canvass. Dave Crockett, Jessica Porter, Rusty Wenerick, and Jo Conner have agreed to serve on the committee. The committee needs to start planning early in February. The canvass should take place in March and early April. The annual congregational meeting will be May 16 and the budget needs to be ready by then.

New Member of Finance Committee -- The board approved the appointment of Judy Pearce to the finance committee.

Mission Possible II -- Regina reported that Janet Swigler, Judy Turnipseed, Dave Dickey, Cheryl Soehl, and Peter Kandis have agreed to work on this project.

Support of the People's Agenda for Economic Justice -- Patrick urged that we do all we can to support this event January 30 and 31.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 pm.

Minutes recorded by

Sandy Chubon


In the event of discrepancies the paper copy of the minutes as contained in the board minutes binder shall be the official version.  This binder is maintained by the administrator in the congregation office.

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Your comments/corrections are welcome. Email to Donald Griggs at dgriggs@chaliceweb.org