Minutes March 17, 2009

First Unitarian Church of Cleveland

Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

March 17, 2009

Board Members Present: Esther Bockhoff, Steve Sanford, Wendy Macklin, Kim Littell, Ann Millette, Tom McKenna, Kevin Ortner, Maureen Harrington, Ray Gonzalez, Barbara Bradley, Deanna DiPetta, Chuck Segal.

Staff Present:             George Buchanan, Daniel Budd, Doug Aubin

Guests Present:         Sandy Wilson

                                   

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.                  <!--[endif]-->Opening:  Wendy called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m., followed by the reading of the board Covenant.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.                  <!--[endif]-->Approval of 2-17-09 Minutes:  The minutes were amended and approved. The Board minutes are on file and are posted in the church library and are also available on the church website.

3.         Open for comment / new business:  No visitors were present.

 

4.         SLT Reports:  Doug 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 church will be renting out its parking lot for $ 3,000 for the upcoming PGA golf tournament at nearby Canterbury Golf Club.  Members of the Young Adult’s Covenant Group will be directing cars into our lot as a fundraiser but will not be moving cars around. Our contractor’s insurance will cover all of the recent flood damage with installation of new carpet in room 104 and new floor in the Arts & Crafts Room.  Our existing custodial staff will be repairing the walls, ceilings, floors and installing new lighting in designated flood damaged areas with the insurance settlement more than covering the cost. For YTD fiscal year 03/09, a total of $ 18,234 has been collected from the Sunday offering.  These offerings are noted in the “Making a Difference” column in the newsletter. 

George highlighted his report, noting plans to run the Coming of Age class for the eighth graders on Sunday mornings, rather than Sunday evenings.  To meet parents and youth concerns that our current RE program does not give enough explicit attention to UUism, plans are to insert a “Unitarian Universalist identity” for youth in the 5th grade.  There was discussion about adding UUism even earlier in the curriculum.  OMD has agreed to the small grant proposal to partially fund a preliminary marketing study in Greater Cleveland in the fall of 2009.  Area congregations are contributing small amounts to help fund the study ($200 from our Communications Committee).

Daniel’s report centered around continuing the discussion of “What’s our Why?” suggesting the concept that a short version of our raison d’être might be “to search and to serve,” with congregational examples of searching being worship, religious education, covenant groups, book group and examples of serving being John Raper School outreach, Open Doors After School Enrichment Program, IHN, etc. He encouraged board members to begin to examine how they see themselves and the Board in relation to the above purpose.  Daniel noted his ongoing involvement in multiple church and local community events and organizations.  It was noted that Social Justice Ministries Council will be co-chaired by Mary Ellen McNulty and Edith Phillips.  The Killam fellow for the summer will be Sean Honea.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.                  <!--[endif]-->Treasurer’s Report:  Esther presented the month to date operating budget summary, noting we are in good financial condition with expenses running lower than budget. We are running slightly ahead in our anticipated pledges for February but slightly behind YTD. There was board discussion regarding whether to reduce our annual operating budget dependence on the Investment Fund to balance the budget and discussion will be continued at a future board meeting. There was concern as to whether the economy was adversely affecting our pledge income but Doug noted there were only a few cases to date. The stewardship campaign has raised $ 295,000 to date representing 56% of our goal of $527,000.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.                  <!--[endif]-->President’s Report: 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->a.       <!--[endif]-->Stewardship Update:  Wendy reported that 65-70 attended the stewardship campaign dinner on the March 14th with the raffle bringing in $179.  The Major givers reception at George McGaughey’s on February 21st was well attended.   Wendy thanked the Stewardship Committee for its ongoing efforts in coordinating events and overall campaign oversight.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->b.      <!--[endif]-->Election of New Board President:  A motion was made and unanimously passed to elect Kim Littell as the 2009-10 Board of Trustees President.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.                  <!--[endif]-->SLT Response to the Diversity Task Force Recommendations:   George presented recommendations for action by SLT in the area of our church reactivating its commitment to be a Welcoming Congregation, noting that our efforts in this area had lapsed and that we no longer had a Welcoming Congregation Committee.  The recommended action plan will be to reconstitute the Welcoming Congregation Committee, install a rainbow strip on our church sign facing Shaker East, have active ministerial participation in the Pride Parade each year in June, actively invite congregational members to participate in the parade and obtain a new banner to carry in the parade.   George noted that he and Daniel would be bringing recommendations for action at a future board meeting regarding other areas noted in the Diversity Task Force Recommendations Report.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.                  <!--[endif]-->Social Outreach:  Daniel presented a draft of recommendations from the Ad Hoc Outreach committee regarding annual outreach.   This included recommendations that the board appoint a small committee ( 3-5 members, including at least one Board member ) every January to begin the process of selecting the recipient for the following church year ( July – June ) with no group or organization receiving it more than 3 years in a row.  To select the same group or organization there must be good evidence that in the first year the monies were well used and met the goals and expectations agreed to.  The desired objectives recommended by the Ad Hoc Outreach committee are:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->a.       <!--[endif]-->Address the root causes of the social injustice and/or disparity we are targeting

<!--[if !supportLists]-->b.      <!--[endif]-->Contribute to positive social change

<!--[if !supportLists]-->c.       <!--[endif]-->Provide opportunities for congregants to participate in a hands-on-way including intergenerational or family participation.

The draft also emphasized that the social outreach fund meets the spirit of our church’s Global Ends Statement and our Affirmation/Mission Statement.  Based on the significant success of the John Raper School project to date and the fact that 42 volunteers have already been involved with the project, a motion was made and passed to continue to support John Raper School as next year’s recipient of social outreach monies within the operating budget. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->9.                  <!--[endif]-->Membership Committee Update:  Sandy Wilson, Chair of the Membership Committee reviewed the committee’s recent work in two areas: discussion of the 5 Elements of Membership guidelines from the Durall report and the results of the recent telephonic membership survey.   Regarding the 5 elements of membership, there was discussion on how this would be practically implemented in the church.  George noted that the elements were already being incorporated in the new member orientation, noting that new members were curious and were looking for guidance on what is expected of new members.   It was generally felt that as long as the elements were presented as guidelines, they could be useful to those who are examining the value of the church in their lives.  A motion was made and passed to accept the 5 Elements of Meaningful Membership in the language and form that the Membership Committee recommended as noted below:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.      <!--[endif]-->Attend Sunday worship regularly.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.      <!--[endif]-->At least once per year, participate in an education program that deepens my faith.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.      <!--[endif]-->Be involved with at least one outreach program per year.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.      <!--[endif]-->Support financially at a stewardship level.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.      <!--[endif]-->Tell others about the congregation.

Sandy then reviewed the results of the telephonic congregational survey where congregants were polled about the concerns and strengths of the church in their lives, The average score was 8 out of 10 ( 10 at positive end of scale ) and the median a 7 out of 10.  Between 185-195 were contacted.   Comments were grouped into roughly 15 categories.  Two areas that the Membership Committee will be focusing on are Membership Growth (9 comments) and Congregational Life (23 comments).  Several board members offered to take the data and type it up in a summary format that the board and SLT could then more easily review to see where actions need to be taken.

 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->10.              <!--[endif]-->Board Discussion:  “What’s our Why?”  Due to lack of time, discussion will be postponed to a later board meeting.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->11.              <!--[endif]-->PBG Task Force:  Due to time constraints, Tom recommended that all of the policies to be voted on, including the Board-Staff leadership Team Linkage Policies ( LNK ) as well as governance policies would be presented for final vote at the May board meeting with further discussion on how to best continue to communicate the PBG process/policies to the congregation.

           

12.    The April reader will be Deanna.   Kim provided the closing words and the meeting was adjourned at 9:08 pm.