Members Present: Regina
Moody, Joe Kyle, Jo Conner, Sandy
Chubon, Becky Dickey, Rob Harper, Mary McGriff, Dwight Pregler, Don
Thacker,
Sharyn Walters, Jessica Kross, Tom Turnipseed, Donald Griggs, Pat Mohr,
Sej Harman, Patrick
Price, ex officio, Jessica Porter, ex officio.
Members Absent: Rusty
Wenerick, Mary Heriot, ex officio.
Guests:
Judy Turnipseed, Audrey Muck, Joan Watterson,
Tootsie Holland, Gertrude Edge, Isabel Oake, Cindy Harper.
Summary
Motions Passed
- We will hire Hope Andonovska as our Director
of Religious Education.
- The Unigram Policies and Procedures were
approved.
Decisions Made
- The board empowered the Coffee House
Committee to proceed with planning for the Coffee House for next season.
- Mary McGriff and Buzzy Kelly were approved as
members of the Finance Committee.
- The building use fee will be waived for the
Depression and Bipolar Support Group. They will be asked to provide an
in-kind service for the fellowship.
Action Items
- The MRC will develop a proposal for the
congregation to pay Patrick what we owe for his professional expenses
after he is gone.
- The Finance Committee will bring to the board
the policies developed to handle issues of budgeted funds not provided
for designated groups during a fiscal year.
- The Treasurer and Finance Committee will
investigate the cost of our telephone system.
- Audrey Muck will write a description of the
Adult Programming Committee.
Proceedings
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:15 PM by Regina Moody.
Don Thacker provided a
chalice. Sharyn Walters shared a reading. A
moment of silence was observed for Mary Heriot
who will have surgery tomorrow for a brain
tumor. Newly elected board members were
welcomed.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes of the May 19 meeting were amended and
then approved.
REPORTS
Minister In his written report, Patrick
again requested reimbursement for his professional
expenses. We owe him about $3,200 which
includes expenses for GA. At the meeting, Patrick
said we could work out a plan to pay him this
money after he is gone. The MRC will bring a
proposal to the July board meeting.
Religious Education Sharyn presented
financial statements for the RE account.
Sharyn commented that RE did not receive the
money which was budgeted for them this fiscal
year. This led to questions about how such
budget deficits are handled as we enter a new fiscal
year. Jessica Porter said Rusty and the Finance
Committee developed policies on funds owed
from the previous year. She will bring those to
the July board meeting.
Finance Committee Jessica Porter
reported that the committee sent out quarterly reports to
people in arrears on pledges. They received
$2,000 in pledges owed. There are still unpaid
pledges totally $1,400 for this fiscal year. We
received five new pledges for next year totaling
$3,800.
The committee is trying to carry out the
recommendations of the auditor who reviewed our
records last year. They are negotiating with
the RE committee to have all deposits go through
the Finance Committee and be entered in
Shephard's Staff. The Partner Church Committee has
agreed to close out their account to be in
compliance with the audit report.
Administrator Isabel submitted a report
of our current assets and liabilities (as of May 31).
Our assets totaled $8,380.86; of that, $7,267.91
is on hold for specific expenses. That leaves
$1,112.95 currently available for operating
expenses. We have a total of $6,241.92 in unpaid
expenses. The current shortage in the operating
account totals $5,128.97.
OLD BUSINESS
Coffee House Mike Paget presented a
financial report for this year's events. Their balance is
either $16.95 or $41.995 above
their initial balance; (there is a $25 difference in the two ways
of calculating the accounts which
Mike could not find.) Mike reminded us that the Coffee
House was not expected to be a
profit-maker and they met their goal of not losing money this
year. They would like to increase
attendance next year; they plan to do more targeted
advertising in the Shandon
neighborhood.
The board empowered Mike and his
committee to proceed with planning for the Coffee House
for next season. He said they
would like to schedule performers from late September or early
October through mid-May.
It was suggested that the Coffee
House might raise funds to contribute to the cost of the extra
phone line (the events line)
because they use that line and our phone costs are very high.
Patrick commented that the events
line does not ring, it goes only to voice mail. Patrick said
we need two lines coming in for
internet use as well as telephone calls. After some discussion,
we agreed that the treasurer and
finance committee will look at our phone system and its cost.
DRE Position Issues The
DRE Search Committee recommended that we hire Hope
Andonovska. They proposed a
package totaling $20,306.25; this is $3,606 higher than the
amount budgeted for this position. This led to a lengthy discussion
about staff benefits and
costs.
The Finance Committee recommended
that employees contribute to their health insurance
instead of having the fellowship
pay the total cost.
Patrick reported that the current
UUA guidelines are, for a full time position, the congregation
should pay 80% of insurance costs
and the employee would pay 20%. If the employee works
half-time, the congregation would
pay 40% of the insurance. The amount the employee pays
can be a before taxes payment;
that would affect the amount the congregation pays in taxes
for the employee. This does lower
employees' discretionary income.
Our current health insurance plan
(by BC&BS) is through the Chamber of Commerce and
requires that we have two employees
working half time or more. In our budget for next year,
we included money for insurance for
the administrator only.
Pat Mohr suggested we compare our
health insurance plan with some other group plans to
determine costs/benefits.
Joe Kyle said the 80%/20% split
recommended by UUA seems plausible. The board agreed.
The search committee proposal
listed $5,100 for insurance for Hope. Joe questioned the source
of that number and Cindy Harper
said it was an estimate. If Hope works 25 hours, that equals
62.5% of 40 hours (full time);
62.5% of 80% equals 50%, which would be the congregation's
share of her insurance. Using the
estimate of $5,100, our share of her insurance would be
$2,550.
The discussion then moved to
pension costs. The UUA recommends that all employees receive
pension benefits at the same
percentage of their salary as the rate of the highest compensated
employee. Patrick receives 14%,
the amount UUA recommended when he was hired. UUA
now recommends 10-13%. Hope is
vested in the UUA pension plan. We would need to pay
14% of her salary for pension for
the two months Patrick will be employed here. Beginning in
September, we can lower the pension
rate to 10%. For Hope, the pension costs for next fiscal
year would be $1,337.
With these modifications in health
insurance and pension benefits, Hope's package for next
year would total $17,343. This is
$600 above the amount budgeted and it includes $1,800 of
one-time money (from fund raising
luncheons); hence, the over-budget costs that would carry
over to next year would be $2,400.
Becky moved that we hire Hope. Rob
seconded the motion. Everyone was in agreement that
Hope is admirably qualified for the
position and that she would be an asset for our fellowship.
There was considerable discussion
related to the cost. It was suggested that we negotiate with
her for a later start date; the
response was that she needs an answer now and she needs the
summer hours to prepare for fall
programming. It was suggested that those who vote to hire
her have the responsibility to give
the money to cover the cost. Several people commented that
young families with children are
the lifeblood and the future of our fellowship; we need a good
RE program to attract and retain them. Having a strong DRE could help
us attract a good
minister. Hiring Hope would be an
investment in the congregation's portfolio. The board
voted by paper ballot: 6 yes, 3 no,
1 abstention.
During the discussion, visitors
wrote checks totaling $225 designated for the RE program.
Committee Descriptions The descriptions
of the Endowment, Worship, and Ministerial
Relations Committees were approved by the board
earlier. It was suggested that we look at
how to modify the MRC to change it to a committee
on ministry.
We have an Adult Programming Committee in our
bylaws but not in reality. Audrey will work
on a description for that committee, giving
consideration to how already-existing groups fit in
(CUUPs, forum, etc.).
Unigram Policies and Procedures
circulated to the board members earlier. Sharyn moved that
we accept them as written. Becky
seconded. The motion passed.
Finance Committee The
board approved Mary McGriff and Buzzy Kelly as new members of
the committee. They join Mary
Heriot, Jessica Porter, Carita Barr, Dave Dickey, Judy Pearce,
David Crockett, and Renee Wedding
who will be serving in 2004-05.
Building Use Fee Waiver for
Depression & Bipolar Support Alliance Tracey Osborne
provided more information for the
board about this group. They plan to meet twice a month;
the rental fee would be $60/month. Becky moved that we approve waiver
of the rental fee with
a request that, in the future, the
group select an in-kind service they can provide for the
fellowship. We will monitor this
annually. Mary seconded. The motion passed.
NEW BUSINESS
Personnel Committee The
Interim Planning Group has assembled a group to identify the
primary tasks of a personnel
committee: Jessica Porter, Tootsie Holland, Pat Mohr, and Dave
Dickey. They developed a
description of the personnel committee which was circulated to
board members. Suggestions were
offered for some revisions. We will re-visit that description
in July.
Staff Handbook will be
given to the Personnel Committee for their review.
Interim Planning Group (IPG)
Regina reported that this ad hoc committee established by the
board in May has begun meeting. Members include Regina Moody, Joe Kyle,
Don Mohr,
Gertrude Edge, Tootsie Holland,
Jessica Porter, Audrey Muck, and Pat Mohr. Regina provided
board members with a handout
outlining areas the committee plans to address.
Anti-Racism Conference 2005
We have agreed to host this district conference in February,
2005.
We need to begin
working on this soon. Don Thacker and Carita Barr have volunteered
to work on preparations for the
conference.
Congregational Recognition for
Dues Payment (Annual Program Fund) UUA has notified us
that, because we paid more than 20%
above our FY03 contribution, we have been designated as
a Merit Congregation for FY04. We paid $100 in FY03 and at least
$1,200 in FY04. Any
fellowship members who attend GA
will get a Merit ribbon and beads to wear.
Installation Service for
new board members will be held some time in July.
Financial Consultant Regina
reported that Phil Sterner is available to meet with us July 10.
However, because of vacations and
other commitments, no one is available to make the
arrangements. We will try to
schedule him in the early fall.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM.
Minutes
recorded by
Sandy
Chubon