A special Congregational Meeting, was called by the UUCS Board of Directors, on Sunday, February 7, at 12 noon for the congregation to vote on a proposed resolution to enter into a land use agreement with Habitat and Hope Village, Inc. (HHV). The meeting was held online in a webinar format. The minutes of that meeting are available on this website.

A congregational vote on this issue was required because the proposed land use agreement would encumber UUCS and UUCS by-laws provide that a “special meeting shall be held for any congregational vote on the encumbrance, sale or transfer of any real property of the Congregation.” The question was whether or not to lease a part of UUCS property to HHV for the purpose of building a house and run a program for five homeless women i

Documents for Review

Listed below are several documents for review  If you have any questions about these documents, you can email the UUCS Board Chair at boardchair@uusalem.com and/or the HHV Board at habitatandhopevillage@gmail.com.

  • Resolution: The resolution stipulates that the congregation wants the UUCS Board to negotiate the land use agreement with HHV. The addendum lists items that surfaced over the many months of discussion between the UUCS Board, HHV and a land use attorney. This list is likely not everything that must be agreed upon.
    Read the proposed congregational resolution
  • Meeting Packet: The meeting packet contains the full resolution as well as information from both the UUCS Board and HHV about what you should consider when deciding how to vote. Review the Special Congregational Meeting Packet
  • Habitat and Hope Affiliated Ministry Webpage: This page describes the HHV project and shows the layout of the planned shelter. The page also has links to the HHV website page, and several articles submitted by HHV over the last couple of years. Habitat and Hope Village
  • Read What Others Think: For this meeting, we collected opinions from the congregation. Read the In My Opinion page.