Minutes 03/16/2010

First Unitarian Church of Cleveland

Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

March 16, 2010

Board Members Present: Barbara Bradley, Esther Bockhoff, Maureen Harrington, Kim Littell, Tom Gibson, George McGaughey, Ann Millette, Chuck Segall, Ray Gonzalez, Frank Wardega, Greer Jordan, Laurie Albright

Staff Members Present: Rev. Daniel Budd, Doug Aubin, Rev. George Buchanan

Guests Present:  Dan Paxson, Ellen Hanson-Ellis

1.      Opening:        Kim Littell called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.  Rev. Daniel Budd provided the opening words followed by a reading of the Board Covenant.

2.      February Minutes:  The February minutes were approved as amended.

3.      Open for Comment/New Business: Kim Littell read a letter from Elke Chodorow and Bill Kunkin opposing the line item in the budget allotted for outreach. They do not want others to decide where their charitable contributions are allocated.

4.      There have been questions from the congregation about the money allocated for John Raper School and what will happen to the budgeted money due to the fact that Raper is being closed at the end of the school year.  Daniel stated there would be something about this in the April newsletter.  Incidentally, this Sunday is Raper Sunday.

5.      SLT Reports: Doug Aubin presented the Administrator’s Report.  Rev. George Buchanan presented the Minster for Religious Education Report.  Rev. Daniel Budd presented the Parish Minister’s Report. 

Highlights from Doug’s Report: CBIZ Technologies has done an assessment of the church’s computer network and has made some recommendations.  Doug has gotten a quote for new network equipment and computers in an amount of $10,898.  Part of the funding for this would come from the Alliance.  Doug spent most of March working on the draft budget.  Pledges are at $180,000.00.  Doug expects to have several projects that will need the Board’s approval for the April meeting.

Highlights from George’s Report:  George reported that he has been working to implement more adult RE programs, and is happy to report that Covenant Group participation is up 60% from a year ago.  George reported that some other types of adult RE programming has been offered, such as music and spirit programs, but there was not a lot of interest in those programs.  There was, however, a series of programs on Buddhism, led by Ani Palmo, a Buddhist nun, and there was a lot of interest and support for that.  Coming of Age will be the second weekend of May.  As of right now, Joe Littell is the only senior participating in Senior Sunday, slated for April 18.  The Youth Musical is coming along well, and will be performed May 14-16.  There is the possibility of a Senior OWL class being offered next year.

Highlights from Daniel’s Report:  Daniel and George attended a gathering of North East Ohio ministers in Akron.  At that meeting, Daniel gave a presentation on the work of Carl Jung and its meaning to him [Daniel] in ministry.  That evening, Daniel, along with the Spiritual Conversations Covenant Group, attended a screening of Journey to Freedom, a documentary about the work of Rev. Waitstill and Martha Sharp, Unitarians who helped the Jews escape from Nazi Germany.  This screening took place at the Maltz Museum.  Daniel is attempting to have a showing of this movie at our church.

In his broader work, Daniel attended meetings of the InterAct/Cleveland InterReligious Affairs Committee, the Jung/Cleveland Program Committee, the Shaker Clergy Group, and the We Believe Steering Committee.    Daniel met with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson on March 8, along with the We Believe Committee to lend support for Mayor Jackson’s Sustainable Cleveland 2019 efforts.  Finally, Daniel offered the prayer of installation for the Rev. Tim Temerson at the Akron church.

Finally, the Killiam Fellow has been selected for this year, and it is Katie Norris, who is a member of West Shore.

6.      President’s Report:

-          Kim reviewed the Board’s Goals:

a.       The First Unitarian Church of Cleveland will provide the environment for adults to learn and grow as moral, religious and spiritual beings.  The SLT will implement this and report to the Board.

b.      The First Unitarian Church of Cleveland will have Sunday services which engage and involve more members of the congregation.  The SLT will propose ways to put this into effect.  The proposals will include more effective intergenerational Sunday worship services and could include a redesign of our Sunday morning program.

c.       The First Unitarian Church of Cleveland Board of Trustees will promote the church by doing at least one (1) visible service project per year.

-          Volunteers are needed for the Stewardship Party, both greeters and ticket sellers.

-          First UU will have eleven (11) Delegates for the upcoming OMD District Assembly.  We will be “showing off” our proudest moments of the last year, which include (1) our community garden, (2) our work with John Raper School, (3) IHN, and (4) the weekly collection basket giveaway.

-          OMD Board of Directors Nominating Committee is currently seeking nominations.

-          Maureen Harrington was elected the Board President for the 2010-2011 Church Year unanimously.

Southwest UU:  This is a Unitarian Universalist congregation located in Berea.  Dan

Paxson, the Board President, and Ellen Hanson-Ellis, the Music Director and the Capital Campaign Director for Southwest Unitarian Universalist Church (“SUU”), presented First UU with a request for a loan.  SUU has been renting from Baldwin-Wallace College for the last ten years and just bought a building in North Royalton.  The building they bought is 150 years old, and has some problems, namely it is not handicap accessible, it is not environmentally friendly, and is not inviting to newcomers.  Basically, “it’s old.”  They have their own capital campaign under way, with the goal of raising $250,000.  They are at $200,000 in pledges from their leadership with more than 50% of the membership still to be canvassed.  SUU has applied for grants and loans through the UUA.  They are seeking a loan of $68,000.00.  They propose a three (3) year repayment schedule, with monthly payments to First UU.  There were several questions directed to Dan and Ellen, mostly about church finances and pledges.

Daniel (Budd) stated that First UU has provided the “seed” money for ALL the other UU congregations in North East Ohio, with an outright grant of $5,000.00 to West Shore in 1950. 

MOTION: We ask for all necessary materials from SUU in order to perform our due diligence to review this loan request, with the following conditions:

1.      Certain that the UUA grant and loans are in place.

2.      Cash from the Helen Ittner estate is in hand.

3.      We obtain any necessary legal advice.

4.      If the above conditions are met, we provide the loan to SUU.

The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

7.      Treasurer’s Report: We continue to be financially stable.  Income continues to exceed expenses.  The building is looking good thanks to hard work and efforts of Doug and the custodial staff.  Our Investment Fund continues to rebound.  As of the end of February 2010, the market value of the Fund was $1,273,087, which is a 10.5% increase from the end of January 2009, when the Fund was valued at $1,151,485.  For the upcoming fiscal year, we will receive only $70,000 from the Investment Fund for our annual draw, down from $75,000 for the current fiscal year.  We continue to be a generous church, as we devote approximately $38,000 to Social Justice programs.  $22,000 of this amount comes from the weekly basket giveaway.

8.      Highlights from Chapter 6, The Coconut Captivity of the Church: George asked, “What do you think your Board needs to learn?” and “What should we be open to learning?”

1.      History of our relationship to other UU congregations in NEO and the OMD.

2.      What exactly is meant by the term “Green Investing?

3.      Looking at more socially responsible investing.

4.      Policy Based Governance.

5.      Local demographics, environment.

6.      Developing more intergenerational ties.

George charged us to read Chapter 7 for the April 2010 meeting.

      9.  New Business: Laurie Albright pitched the Sunday Forum she is leading March 21, 2010.

      10. Closing:  Rev. Daniel Budd provided the closing words and the meeting was adjourned at 9:06 p.m.