UUCS Board Meeting

Minutes of meeting February 11, 2016

Board Members:

Position	Name	Term end date	Present
Chair	LJ Frederickson	June 30, 2016	Yes
Vice-Chair	Jeff Geissler	June 30, 2016	Yes
Secretary	Paul Parmley	June 30, 2016	Yes
Treasurer	Lorna Youngs	June 30, 2017	Yes
Director	John Prohodsky	June 30, 2016	Yes
Director	David Jeffers	June 30, 2016	Yes
Director	Petra Berger	June 30, 2016	Yes
Director	Stephanie Jernstedt	June 30, 2017	Yes
Director	Elenie Smith	June 30, 2017	Yes
Director	(open)	June 30, 2017	No
Past Chair	Barry Halgrimson	June 30, 2016	Yes

 

Ex-officio:

Position	Name	Present
Minister	Rick Davis	Yes

 

Visitors: Angela Gross, Samantha Scales, Lynn Cardiff

 

The meeting was called to order by LJ Frederickson at 6:08 p.m.

 

LJ conducted a brief check-in with everyone present and lit the chalice.

 

On January 27th, John P sent an email to the board with a Chalice Lighter’s Grant Proposal to replace the sanctuary sound system which required board approval. This grant included a Growth Plan for UUCS which also required board approval. Six (6) of the current ten (10) board members, including John P as he created the documents, replied to the email, all in the affirmative. On February 2nd, the vote was closed and LJ requested that John P submit the proposal.

 

A motion was made by Paul P to approve the January 14, 2016 board meeting minutes. The motion was seconded by Barry H. The motion passed unanimously.

 

A brief discuss began regarding Rick’s position on the board as the bylaws say only that the “Minister shall be expected to attend all regular Board meetings”.

 

LJ has received inquiries regarding the bylaws and will be sending information from the nominating committee.

 

Rick briefly reviewed the DRE report. It was requested that we receive the report a bit earlier when possible, but understand that things do happen to delay the process.

 

Rick reviewed the Minister’s report and added that the COM team is going really well.

 

John suggested the stewardship brochure should lead with what the people get from being good stewards. We should focus on the members.

 

Team Council reports were compiled and distributed. Jeff G expressed that the number of reports that are submitted seems low versus the number of actual teams. Barry confirmed that the number of reports submitted is normal, from a historical perspective. The board discussed if we are possibly asking too much in the way of reporting from the teams. Rick suggested having a recommended format for the team council reports and ask questions like “what should we be aware of” or “highlights”, something very short – maybe goals and the status of goals. Barry suggested not getting board reports from teams is not necessarily a bad thing, as we are trying to be more programmatic. David suggested that larger teams should maybe have a board liaison. LJ thinks we need additional leadership training and it is possible we are not providing enough support for our leaders. It was also suggested if there is a board member on a team that they identify themselves as the board liaison.

 

Jeff G expressed a concerned about the shed theft and the damage from the Ingress people. John P has communicated with the Ingress people that any “virtual items” on UUCS property should be removed and that the UUCS property should be “geo-fenced”. There was brief discussion regarding if we started using the parking lot gate again, if that would help keep unwanted individuals off the property.

 

LJ had two committee Chairs express wanting to leave their positions. She is concerned about pushing more work to the teams/committees if they are overwhelmed already. Barry suggest the board continuously create new leaders to help with the workload. Petra B asked how often team leaders get to dialog with leadership. John P suggested maybe the Vice Chair do some outreach. Petra volunteered to reach out to the various teams to discuss how the board could better support them. Petra will visit each of the teams personally.

 

John P said the Chalice Lighters grant was received well by PNWD and they would like to meet John if he ever attends the PNWD meeting.

 

Lorna briefly reviewed the treasurer’s report. She thinks we are in good shape with income and expenses. The finance team is interviewing all committees and staff for input on their individual budgets.

 

Invitations were sent to 12 people to attend a meeting on February 29th to discuss next steps for the transition. It would be good to have transition steps in place by the May congregational meeting. This could take several meetings to accomplish. David says it is premature to discuss steps or direction until the transition team has been developed/organized.
Lynn Cardiff asked the board who the chair of the Stewardship Committee is so the Women’s Alliance can give information regarding where the money they are giving should be spent. John P and Phil Carver are heading up Stewardship this year. Some discussion ensued regarding directed gifts and how they should be handled. John will create a one-page form for people/groups who want to make a donation for a specific task. The Finance Committee will be asked to develop a policy around gifts and directed gifts.

 

The Nominating Committee has been given requests to find leaders for the following teams/positions: Building Rental, Fellowship, Fundraising, and Facilities.

An Executive Session was called by LJ to discuss some HR issues and visitors were asked to leave.
The Executive Session ended. There were no formal votes conducted in the Executive Session part of the meeting. According to the bylaws, “discussions are to be kept confidential by all participants, subject to the chairs’ approval of release of information”.

 

A discuss regarding board member terms occurred in the Executive Session which LJ asked to be included in the regular board meeting minutes. John P and Stephanie J are submitting their names to serve as Vice Chair for the 2016-2017 church year. John P will run for a second term (2 years) as a Director if he is not nominated for Vice Chair. David J will run for one more year as a Director, to fill Paul P’s original term ending June 30, 2017. Barry H will be leaving the board effective June 30, 2016 when his term is up, leaving the Past Chair position vacant for the next church year. Jeff G, Vice Chair, will be leaving the board effective June 30, 2016 when his term is up. LJ will be running for another year as Chair. Paul P will be running for another year as Secretary.

 

Barry H asked generally if it would be okay if Aimee didn’t have to lead the hymns at Sunday services when the choir was not present. In general, the board had no issue with this if it would give Aimee more time to do other tasks. Aimee entered the room and LJ asked her if she is happy and if she would benefit from not having to lead the hymns during services where the choir is not performing. Aimee would like to wait to have that discussion until after the canvas and budget are done.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

 

The next Board meeting will be Thursday, March 10, at 6:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted by Paul Parmley