of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia SC March 10, 2004
Dwight Pregler, Don Thacker, Sharyn Walters, Patrick Price, ex officio.
Members Absent: Rusty Wenerick, Mary Heriot, ex officio.
Guests: Isabel Oake, Carita Barr, Cindy Harper, Tootsie Holland, Jessica Porter.
Summary
Motions Passed
-- We will put a separate line on the pledge cards to allow members to make a commitment to pay their UUA/TJD dues in addition to their pledge to the UUFC. Checks labeled as dues will be passed through to UUA/TJD and will not become part of the UUFC general funds. The total amount pledged for dues will be placed in the annual budget as the minimum we will pay for dues in 2004-05.
-- Proposal for Director of Religious Education: Combine Youth and DRE positions using existing job descriptions; position will be 25 hours per week; position will be 12 month, salaried at $14,500 per year; the RE Committee recommends searching and hiring as soon as possible.
Decisions Made
-- The Worship Committee description was approved with minor editorial changes.
-- We will hold two Board Meetings in April: one on April 14 to conduct our usual business and one on April 28 to plan next year's budget.
Action Items
-- Regina will send a letter to Susan Corbett from the board acknowledging her resignation and thanking her for her years of service to the UUFC.
-- The executive committee of the board, the finance committee chair, and Isabel will meet and develop guidelines/priorities for Isabel to follow when we have insufficient funds to pay our bills. They will report back to the board at the April 14 meeting.
-- Jo Conner will contact the USC School of Business to see if they will offer free consultation to us about our financial situation.
-- Cindy Harper will form a search committee for the new DRE position and will submit the names to Regina ASAP. Regina will forward the names to the board members for approval via e-mail.
-- The RE Committee will provide the board with (1) a copy of the combined youth coordinator/DRE job description and (2) a proposed evaluation system including an instrument for evaluating the person, a schedule for how often the evaluation is to be done, and a listing of who will have input into the evaluation.
-- Sharyn will develop an evaluation form for the new DRE position.
-- Joe will provide to board members a list of the suggestions generated at the March 7 congregational meeting.
-- For the April 14 meeting, Sharyn will bring snacks; Regina will bring a chalice; Mary will provide a reading.
Proceedings
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:22 pm by Regina Moody. Regina lit a chalice provided by
Don. Joe provided a reading. Regina urged members to arrive on time and be ready to begin
the meetings by 6:15 pm.
MINUTES
The minutes of the February 11, 2004 meeting were approved as circulated.
REPORTS
Minister -- It was noted that Patrick reported the lack of timely reimbursement for his
professional expenses is impacting his ability to perform his duties, and to be a financial burden
on his familiy.
Administrative Coordinator -- Isabel reported that she and the finance committee had agreed on
a method to update the membership data base. Isabel will be the only person entering
information into the membership module.
Youth Coordiator -- Report accepted.
Director of Religious Education -- has submitted her letter of retirement effective May 16.
Regina will send Susan a letter from the board acknowledging her resignation and thanking her
for her service to the fellowship.
Treasurer -- In her report, Isabel noted that she updated the deposit and check register
spreadsheets for the purpose of issuing an updated Budget-to-Actual report, but Rusty was
compiling that report for this month. Rusty was absent from the meeting and sent no report.
The most current financial information available to the board was the handout (status as of
February 29) passed out at the Congregational Meeting on March 7. That report indicated that
the current debt is $11,495.41. Isabel reported that she had written some checks since that
report was prepared. Collections for the last two months have been below the level needed to
meet our monthly bills. Isabel has had to dip into dedicated funds to pay our regular bills. She
consults with Regina and/or Rusty about writing those checks.
Although there is no criticism of the decisions Isabel has made in paying bills, it was agreed
that the board should provide better guidance to support her in making decisions about what
bills to pay when we have insufficient funds. Some months ago, we agreed that the executive
committee of the board would meet and establish guidelines but that meeting never occurred.
Tonight we agreed that the executive committee, the finance committee chair, and Isabel
should meet and draw up guidelines/priorities for Isabel to use. That group will meet in the
next month and report back to the board at our next meeting.
Don asked whether the Souper Bowl money had been paid. Isabel reported that it was paid.
Joe pointed out that $1000 was budgeted to pay for the canvass and no money is available. It
was reported that last year, the canvass chair spent $800 of his own money to finance the
canvass and gave that as a donation to the fellowship.
Jo Conner reported that she had tried to call the USC School of Business to try to get free
consultation from them. They provide services to small businesses. She will continue to try to
contact them after spring break ends.
Committee Review -- The Worship Committee description was approved with minor editorial
changes.
OLD BUSINESS
Canvass Update -- Jessica Porter and Carita Barr reported that the theme for this year's canvass
is :Our Living Village. The committee would like to collect information from different
groups in the fellowship about: What does our village look like? Are we a walled village? Do
we have a sister village? What is our role in the village? What is the culture of our village?
What is the culture of giving in our village?
The canvass committee members agree that the canvass committee should remain active all
year, should canvass new members as they join, and should conduct the pledge drive in the
spring.
Jessica presented data she collected for the last five years. This year we have 155 members in
121 households; 89 households pledge; 15 friends pledge; 32 households pledge nothing.
About 21 pledges are for more than $1,500/year. A major trend in the last five years is an
increase in the number of people who do not pay the amount they pledge. Pledges not paid
totaled $16,050 last year. Jessica said the demographics of our fellowship are changing; our
middle class and upper middle class population is shrinking, but we still have professionals
with relatively high incomes who pledge very little.
Jessica said the pledge drive is based on three assumptions:
1. We will take good care of the money and spend it according to the budget.
2. Donated money goes to support the best work of the church.
3. If individuals give more money, it will go to support more great work of the church.
The UUFC's average pledge per member ranks lowest (or near the bottom) of all the congregations in the TJ District. Jessica said the culture of giving in our congregation needs to change and she challenged the board to lead that change. She reported that the members currently serving on the board pledged $14,400 last year; she challenged us to raise our pledges to $16,500 this year.
Don asked what the Canvass Committee plans to do about collecting money to pay the UUA/TJD dues. Jessica said they plan to put a separate line on the pledge cards for members to pledge to pay their dues. Regina said the decision to do that should be made by the board, not the Canvass Committee. A lengthy discussion ensued about whether to ask members to pledge to pay dues separately from their pledges to the UUFC.
Sandy moved that we put a separate line on the pledge cards to allow members to make a commitment to pay their UUA/TJD dues in addition to their pledge to the UUFC. Checks labeled as dues will be passed through to UUA/TJD and will not become part of the UUFC general funds. The total amount pledged for dues will be placed in the annual budget as the minimum we will pay for dues in 2004-05. Becky seconded the motion. It passed.
Congregational Meeting on March 7 -- There was a brief discussion of the congregational meeting. Board members were disappointed with the low attendance. Members of the fellowship who attended seemed to get a more realistic understanding of our current financial situation.
NEW BUSINESS
DRE/Youth Coordiator (Search & Budget Issues) -- Cindy Harper presented a recommendation
from the RE Committee that we should combine the Youth Coordinator and DRE positions and
hire one person for 25 hours/week at a 12-month salary of $14,500 annually.
There was considerable discussion of the proposal. Some board members said it was fiscally
irresponsible to hire new personnel when we are in debt and cannot pay their salaries. Others
said not to fund the position would be to slit our throats financially, that the RE program is very
important to many families in the fellowship, cutting the position would create a downward
spiral and would be the worst thing we could do before the annual canvass. Joe proposed
hiring someone for fewer hours and was shouted down by a chorus of voices proclaiming that
the work cannot be done in fewer than 25 hours/week. Joe asked for documentation of that
claim and received none.
Board members advocating for this position said the new person will need training which
would require even more money, but they refused to discuss how that could be funded. Patrick
said our congregation is not poor, we just act poor. We could easily get a bank loan, using our
property as collateral, and use it for appropriate expenses. He said when congregations are not
in debt, they go into a downward spiral because they have nothing to work for.
Mary moved to accept the RE Committee proposal: :Combine Youth and DRE positions using
existing job descriptions; position will be 25 hours per week; position will be 12 month,
salaried at $14,500 per year; the REC recommends searching and hiring as soon as possible.
Jo seconded the motion. The motion passed with 5 yes votes and 3 nos.
Regina instructed Cindy to form a search committee as soon as possible, forward the names to
Regina for approval via e-mail by the board, and get the search process underway.
Joe requested that the RE Committee provide the board with (1) a copy of the combined youth
coordinator/DRE job description, and (2) a proposed evaluation system including an instrument
for evaluating the person, a schedule for how often the evaluation is to be done and a listing of
who will have input into the evaluation. Cindy agreed to do that. Sharyn volunteered to
develop an evaluation form based on the instrument developed to evaluate Patrick.
Mission Possible Initiatives -- The suggestions/input from the table talks are posted in the social
hall. Regina urged board members to review those and add any further ideas they have. The
task force will continue their work on this project.
Decision Making Process re Sandra Carnesale Bequest -- There was much discussion at the
March 7 Congregational Meeting about how to spend (or not spend) Sandra Carnesale's
bequest of $25,000. Strongly held and opposing opinions were expressed about the use of that
money. Joe will provide a list of those ideas for board members. Joe is continuing to collect
recommendations from committees about how the money should be spent; the ideas will be
forwarded to the Finance Committee; they will formulate a plan and submit it to the Board.
The Board's recommendation will go to the congregation at the May annual meeting. If a
decision is made to use any of that money to reduce our debt, we will need to know that before
preparing our final budget proposal.
Regina promised the board that when the bequest is received, it will be placed in a separate
account so it cannot be spent until decisions are made; it will not become a part of the general
fund.
T J District Meeting -- is scheduled for April 16-17 in Charlotte. Regina encouraged board
members to attend.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UUA General Assembly -- will be held in Long Beach, CA in late June. The UUA will pay the
registration for Joe if he can attend.
Leadership School -- is held at the Mountain for a week in August. Regina described it as an
incredible experience. Cost is $700.
Raising the Roof Conference -- A team from our fellowship (Regina Moody, Morgan
Maclachlan, Jo Conner, Janet Swigler, & Patrick Price) attended this conference in Atlanta.
They will be presenting what they learned next Sunday.
FUTURE PLANS
TWO BOARD MEETINGS IN APRIL -- The board agreed we cannot conduct board business
and approve a final budget proposal in a single meeting. We scheduled an additional Board
Meeting for April 28 at 6 pm to deal with next year's budget.
April 14 Board Meeting -- Sharyn will bring snacks; Regina will bring a chalice; Mary will
provide a reading.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 pm.
Minutes recorded by
Sandy Chubon
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