Members Present: Regina
Moody, Joe Kyle, Jo Conner, Rusty Wenerick, Sandy Chubon, Rob
Harper, Mary McGriff, Dwight Pregler, Don Thacker, Sharyn Walters,
Patrick Price, ex
officio.
Members
Absent: Becky Dickey, Mary
Heriot, ex officio.
Guests:
Carita Barr, Audrey Muck, Mike
Paget, Peter Kandis.
Summary
Motions Passed
-
We will distribute the
questionnaire
to evaluate the minister at the May board meeting; questionnaires
will be returned by the June board meeting.
Decisions Made
-
We will evaluate the minister
again
this spring to pilot test the new form. Board members, MRC members,
Patrick, and committee chairs will fill out questionnaires. The
results will be analyzed by the MRC and shared with the board and
Patrick.
- The UUFC will host the T J District
Anti-Racism Conference in February, 2005.
Action Items
- Rob will ask Cindy to notify
Regina
of the names of people selected to serve on the search committee
for a new Youth Coordinator. Regina will e-mail the list to board
members for approval.
- Rusty will develop a policy on
how
to handle donations to the fellowship.
- Don will bring a chalice for the
March meeting; Joe will bring a reading; Sandy will provide
snacks.
Proceedings
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by
Regina Moody at 6:15 pm. Regina lit a chalice provided
by Rob. Don presented the
reading.
MINUTES
The minutes of the January 14, 2004
meeting were approved with the correction of two typos.
REPORTS
Minister -- Regina asked
whether the Adult Programming Committee has a chair.
Patrick
reported no one has agreed to chair
the group. Regina reminded him we will need a
committee description and a
representative to attend the Committee Council meetings.
Sharyn commended Patrick for
enrolling in a course in pastoral care.
Administrative Coordinator --
Collections were down in January and Isabel was not able
to
pay our regular bills until January
27; this resulted in a late fee on the lease payment for
the
copying equipment. Regina reported
that our certified membership count with the UUA is
166 members. Our congregation's ID
number is 7524.
Interim Youth
Coordinator -- Regina
asked what progress had been made in selecting a search
committee for a new youth
coordinator. Rob will tell Cindy to send the list of
search
committee members to Regina so the
board can approve the committee via e-mail.
Treasurer's Report
-- Rusty reported that our
liabilities exceed our assets by $10,816.84.
($6881 is for the outstanding
pension payments from 2003.)
Sandy questioned why we are hiring
additional staff when we are in debt $10,000. She was
reminded that the youth
coordinator's salary comes from fund-raising luncheons.
Jo suggested making the pension fund
a special project. Patrick questioned whether new
members have been canvassed. Both he
and Regina have asked the Membership & Finance
Committees to collaborate on getting
new members canvassed soon after they join. Carita
reported that pledge cards are
distributed at the orientation for new members, but some
new
members do not attend that
session.
It was suggested that the Canvass
Committee should be in operation all year and they
should
canvass new members. Regina said the
description of the Canvass Committee would need to
be re-written to include those
responsibilities.
Coffee House
-- Mike Paget reported that
attendance has been excellent for the first two
events. To date, expenses have
exceeded income by $115. The Youth Group is now offering
child care during the performance.
Mike asked how frequently he should report back to the
board. He was told to report back
again at the end of the season, although he is welcome
to
come to board meetings at any
time.
Reviews of Committee
Descriptions were
deferred until the next board meeting because of
lack of time.
OLD
BUSINESS
UUA/T J District Fair Share
Appeal -- As agreed at the last board meeting, Regina and
Sandy
drafted a letter to be sent to
members urging them to pay their dues. There was
considerable
discussion about that plan. Concern
was again expressed that contributions for dues would
result in decreased contributions
for the general fund. Some board members thought paying
the pension debt is a higher
priority than paying dues. The plan to send a letter to
members
requesting dues was
tabled.
Canvass Committee -- Regina
reported that Jessica Porter has agreed to chair the
Canvass.
Rusty, Jo Conner, Carita Barr, Dave
Dickey, Dave Crockett, Beth Crawford, and Gloria
Talcove-Woodward have agreed to
serve on the Canvass Committee. Regina cautioned the
board that these individuals have
agreed to serve on our :usual short-term Canvass
Committee; they have not consented
to serve on a :year-round Canvass Committee.
Distribution of Stock Sale --
The stock which was donated to the fellowship was sold
for
$1355. At our last board meeting we
voted to use all that money to pay on the pension debt.
However, unknown to us, the donor
had requested that half the money go to the Capital
Fund.
So only half the $1355 will be used
to pay for pensions.
Joe requested that a written policy
be developed on how to handle donations. Rusty reported
that he has a draft of such a policy
in the manual he is developing.
NEW
BUSINESS
Report of Follow-up to Minister's
Annual Review -- Sharyn reported on the work of the
subcommittee. They presented a new
form to be used to evaluate the minister. It is a
modification of a form the
Greenville congregation used. The committee believes this
form
will provide more useful information
than last year's questionnaire. There was considerable
discussion about this evaluation
process. Some board members want a survey of the whole
congregation and its ministry with
an evaluation of the minister as a part of the survey of
the
wider ministry. Other members said
we are not ready for that survey yet. There seemed to be
consensus that the purpose of this
particular evaluation is for Patrick's professional
development. A lot of work has been
done to develop the instrument and that effort could be
wasted if we do not pilot test it to
see if it does generate useful data. Sandy made a motion
that we distribute the questionnaire
at the May board meeting to be returned by the June
board
meeting. Mary seconded the motion.
It passed with one abstention. It was agreed that board
members, MRC members, Patrick, and
committee chairs will fill out questionnaires. The
results will be analyzed by the MRC
and shared with the board and Patrick.
Mission Possible Plans --
Regina reported that the next step in this endeavor is to develop 3
or
4 specific measurable objectives
which will clarify how the mission statement is to be implemented.
Eventually we could budget to meet the objectives. This is a
long-term project; it usually takes about a year to establish the
first objective, about five years to complete the process. Regina
referred us to :Making Mission Statements Work for You at the UUA
web site. We will begin the process February 29 after the service
using a table talk format to gather information about directions
the congregation wants to go, objectives they want to
establish.
Plans for Congregational Meeting
on March 7 -- This meeting was scheduled to ask the
congregation for their priorities
for the budget for next year. Regina will not be there; Don and
Dwight will not be there. Joe requested that Rusty and the Finance
Committee be there. Peter Kandis commented that our current
indebtedness equals about $70 per member. He suggested that
presenting it in those terms might make it seem more
solvable.
Hosting Anti-Racism Conference in
2005 -- Ed Wilde has requested that the UUFC host
the
T J District's Anti-Racism
Conference next year. After some discussion, we agreed to do that.
We selected the weekend of Feb 18-20, 2005 for the conference.
Regina will communicate with Ed Wilde.
Plans for March Board Meeting
-- Don will bring a chalice. Joe will provide a reading. Sandy will
bring snacks.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned without
consideration of additional agenda items because of time
constraints.
Minutes recorded by
Sandy Chubon