Minutes January 20, 2009

First Unitarian Church of Cleveland

Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

January 20, 2009

Board Members Present: Esther Bockhoff, Chuck Segall, Barbara Bradley, Steve Sanford, Wendy Macklin, Kim Littell, George McGaughey, Tom McKenna, Deanna DiPetta,

Staff Present: George Buchanan, Daniel Budd

Guests Present: Jan Devereaux, Mary Ellen McNulty, Terry Robbins

1. Opening: Wendy called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. Opening words were provided by Chuck, followed by the reading of the board Covenant.

2. Approval of 11-18-08 Minutes: The minutes were approved. The Board minutes are on file and are posted in the church library.

3. Open Doors After School Enrichment Program: Jan Devereaux and Mary Ellen McNulty, Co-chairs of the Advisory Board of the Open Doors Program at First Unitarian Church of Cleveland, reviewed the current status of the Open Doors Program with the board. This included a review of the current Collaborative Agreement between The First Unitarian Church of Cleveland and the Shaker Heights Youth Center, including Mission Statement, Purpose of the Agreement, and the individual responsibilities of First Unitarian Church Board of Trustees, the Open Doors Advisory Board, our church’s Social Justice Ministries, the Open Doors Director (current director is Mary Rosenbluth), and The Shaker Heights Youth Center. Current revenue sources were noted. Twenty eight middle school students are enrolled with daily attendance at 15-20. Enrichment programming is provided and the students are involved in community service and church events, such as cooking a meal for IHN. Two of the many key responsibilities of our Board of Trustees in the Collaborative Agreement include assisting the Open Doors Program in securing financial donations, furnishings, and in-kind resources from community organizations (examples of this include the Parsons Fund donation to Open Doors, donations from the Alliance, the church basket donations, etc.) and assisting the Open Doors Program in identifying program ideas and resource persons. Board members received a handout of “21 Ways You Can Help Open Doors” and board members were encouraged to contact Mary Ellen or Jan with ideas or leads on additional financial donations, resources, etc. More involvement from church members is desired. A Chili cook-off to benefit Open Doors is planned for Friday, January 30^th at the church in Fellowship Hall.

4. Investment Task Force: Terry Robbins, a member of the Investment Task Force, reviewed the Recommendations from the Investment Task Force report. There were no recommendations to change the Church Bylaws but a number of the recommendations would require revisions of current PBG Governance Policies. Some key recommendations discussed included the recommendation to have a policy setting a “floor” for the investment fund of one year’s budgeted expenses and should the floor be reached, any variance to the budget would require a super majority (75%) approval by the Board. Other recommendations included continuing to strive for more transparency with the congregation regarding the financial state of the church such as having congregation meetings in the spring to discuss the proposed budget, an open meeting in the fall to discuss audited financial statements, a monthly operating budget financial summary in the newsletter (already initiated by our treasurer, Esther) and availability of various financial reports in the church library. A motion was made and passed to approve the Investment Task Force recommendations.

The current PBG Task Force will make the recommended Governance Policies revisions and bring the revisions back for board approval at the February meeting.

5. SLT Reports: George presented the administrator’s report. George presented his Minister for Religious Education Report, and Daniel presented his Parish Minister’s Report. These reports are on file and are posted in the church library as is a copy of the current church operating budget summary.

Highlights from Doug’s report: The major item was the flood on 1-6-09 on the first floor due to a suspended pipe that burst. The insurance companies are expected to cover all expenses with no out of pocket for the church. All the rooms are back in service. The fire line has been installed again in the Peterson Wing. Bob is upgrading the West Entrance with the same look as the East Entrance. Two new part-time custodians have been hired - Adam Romeo and George Bagnall.

For YTD fiscal year 08/09, a total of $ 13,200 has been collected from the Sunday offering. These offerings will continued to be noted in the “Making a Difference” column in the newsletter.

George highlighted his report, noting that RE attendance is down about 10% from last year. George was positive that the grant proposal at OMD would go through for the small $ 5,000 feasibility study to examine the potential of a future regional marketing campaign in Northeast Ohio possibly in 2011.

Daniel highlighted his report, noting that the Committee on the Ministry has been convened. Plans are underway to reconstitute the Lay Pastoral Care Team and the Social Justice Ministries Council. Daniel noted that the Ad Hoc Committee for Outreach completed their task of picking a beneficiary (John Raper School) and will be now focusing on their other task of looking at a structure and process for subsequent year(s) outreach projects. Daniel presented the committee’s desired objective from our church’s engagement with John Raper School, which include addressing the root cause of the social injustice and/or disparity we are targeting, contributing to positive social change, and providing opportunities for our congregants to participate in a hands-on way, including opportunities for intergenerational or family participation. A motion was made and passed approving the desired objectives of the committee and approving Elaine Stevens as heading up a new task force to implement the John Raper School outreach project. The newly designed website continues to grow and Anne Sanford and the Communications committee were thanked for their work.

6. Consent Items: George presented a proposed 2009/2010 Planning Budget to be used in the upcoming Annual Stewardship campaign. The planning budget builds upon the momentum and established goals from the 2008/2009 budget that was approved by the congregation. The planning budget is balanced, again draws income from the investment fund as in past years, as recommended by the Investment Task Force, with a recommended $ 75,000, representing a drop of $ 6,000 from the 08/09 budget. Pledge income is assumed to be $ 527,000, representing a $ 57,000 increase from budgeted 08/09 which represents a % increase of 12% relative to the 15% increase obtained in the 08/09 budget. All other income items remain the same as in 08/09. Goals on the expense side include continuing to grow our Outreach funding (an increase from $ 10,500 to $ 15,000), continuing our planned steps towards fair compensation for our two ministers (combined increase of $ 13,000 for salary and benefits), allocating $ 5,000 for fair compensation for other staff, continuing to increase the building and grounds general repairs by $ 15,000, and reaching full “Faire Share” UUA denominational dues, representing a $ 13,000 increase. There was active discussion and then a motion was made and passed to accept the 2009/2010 Planning Budget for use in the upcoming Stewardship campaign.

7. Treasurer’s Report: Esther reviewed the monthly operating summary, noting we are behind on projected pledge income but $ 21,184 ahead of last year at this time. Prior year pledge income is doing well and is within $534 of reaching our budgeted projections for the fiscal year. Review of the operating budget summary MTD December finds we are $ 9,562 behind on Offerings and overall revenue YTD is $ 8,422 behind budget but expenses are $ 19,486 below budget so a budget surplus of a little over $ 10,000 remains YTD fiscal year 08/09.

The Investment Committee has recommended that the Cora Haake bequest be placed in the Investment Fund and used to buy a bond. The total value of our Investment Account as of 12-31-08 is $1,225,264.

8. President’s Report:

a. Membership: The feedback has been very positive on the Membership Committee’s recent telephone contact survey of the congregation. The Membership Committee is reviewing the membership sections and recommendations in the Durall report and will report to the Board at the February meeting. The Board task force that was appointed to review the final Durall report will present recommendations on action items at the February meeting.

b. Stewardship: As no co-chairs have come forth, a Stewardship committee has been initiated by the board to coordinate the upcoming Stewardship campaign. The committee convened during the hour prior to the current board meeting and arrived at a theme along the lines of “Together, We Make a Difference.” Without co-chairs, Daniel presented the idea that all of us are stewards. Wendy reported the Stewardship Committee’s tentative plans for a Prime Givers reception on 2-21-08 (will be held at George McGaughey’s home), a kickoff dinner at the church in the beginning of March (dates still being set). The goal will be to highlight what the church has done in the key areas of outreach, fair share UUA, fair compensation for staff, and Building and Grounds.

c. Peter Morales: A motion was made and passed to recommend nomination of Peter Morales for president of the UUA.

9. Other new business: Chuck noted a survey that 25% of our churches nationally

post Bylaws on their websites. Chuck made a motion to publish the Church Bylaws on the church website. The motion passed unanimously. Chuck also made a motion to publish the monthly Board minutes on the website. The motion passed unanimously.

10. PBG: Barbara and Tom reviewed the PBG task force’s recent ongoing work. SLT Limitations Policy 11. Communication and Support to the Board of Trustees was presented in final form and as this is an SLT Limitations policy and as SLR Limitations policies were previously approved by the Board, a motion was made and passed to approve the LSR Limitations Policy 11. The final Governance Process Policies were also reviewed and these will be approved at a later board meeting. The Board-SLT Linkage Process Policies are the last phase of PBG policies and will be present in rough draft for board review at a future board meeting, with the goal of completing all PBG policies by May of 2009.

11. The February reader will be Esther. Chuck provided closing words and the meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:02 pm.

Submitted by Steve Sanford, Board Secretary