Minutes 04/21/2009

First Unitarian Church of Cleveland

Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

April 21, 2009

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

Staff Present: George Buchanan, Daniel Budd

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

2. Approval of 3-17-09 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: Daniel, in Doug’s absence, 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 receive $ 3000 from the Canterbury Country

Club/PGA for our parking lot rental during a golf tournament. The Young Adults Covenant Group will put together a group to work that week as a fundraiser. For YTD fiscal year 08/09, a total of $ 20,091.56 has been collected from the Sunday offering. These offerings are noted in the “Making a Difference” column in the newsletter. The OMD district Assembly was a great success and kudos to the custodial staff and the Kuehms and Steve Bottorff and Pat Moyer for their efforts in coordinating the most attended OMD district assembly in recent years.

George highlighted his report, noting plans for a church garden in the area behind the Abitibi recycling bins. Paul McClain will be heading the effort with plans for a working group to begin the work on May 2^nd. George noted that UUA is no longer able to provide matching funds towards a future marketing program for Unitarian Universalism in our area so the UU ministers will be meeting to try to work out an alternative use of the $ 5,000 grant money which was to support a preliminary study of the feasibility of a future marketing program.

Daniel highlighted his report, noting the renewed energy in the Social Justice Ministries Council under the new leadership of Mary Ellen McNulty with the goal of getting greater congregational involvement in at least one social justice ministry annually. Daniel and Kevin participated in the Principal for a Day program at John Raper School on April 7^th which proved enlightening for both. Daniel and George will be attending a Future Search Marketing Strategic Planning session on April 25^th.

5. 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 with overall operating margin of roughly $ 32,000. We are running slightly ahead in our anticipated pledges for February but slightly behind YTD. The stewardship campaign is on target to raise $ 490,000 in pledges. There was some discussion on the current operating budget surplus and if it persists, what to do with it. It was generally felt that the surplus should be used to pay back some of the investment funds used to support the annual operating budget. The board recommended that Esther and Doug prepare a forecast for the remainder of the budget year to see if the surplus is likely to continue, based on previous seasonal trends in income and expense. Esther reviewed the current Investment Fund Task Force “floor” policy in light of recent economic trends with devaluation of the investment fund portfolio balance. There was discussion about the need to periodically re-calculate the floor based on recent trends. Esther reported that the investment committee recently met with Craig Hardy and a Huntington Bank consultant regarding green investment opportunities. The Investment Committee has requested that Craig Hardy supply a list of companies making up the bank’s green investments and this will be compared to the current list of companies in which the church holds its investments. It was also suggested that UUA policies on green investing be reviewed and Kevin will draft a statement including a series of questions to pose to the Investment Committee regarding green investment with the plan that the committee will respond and report back to the board with recommendations.

6. President’s Report:

a. Stewardship Update: Wendy reported that that the Stewardship campaign is targeted to bring in $ 490,000 in pledges.

b. Yahoo Groups and Face Book: Concerns were brought up regarding the need to better communicate to the congregation the presence, importance and value of these groups in fostering communication within the church community. Yahoo groups, in place for 2 years, for instance, was successful in recruiting volunteers for the OMD conference. Concerns were raised regarding the need to update the church’s technology to widen communications to the larger church community. A motion was made and passed for Kevin Ortner to draft a proposal to SLT emphasizing 3 key components: ongoing website maintenance to ensure current communications and events; a church email system that effectively reaches our full church community, and ongoing support of communication groups such as Yahoo Groups and Face Book with formal links on the website. SLT will respond back to the board at the next meeting.

c. The Nominating Committee candidates for the next budget year include Steve Sanford and Kathleen Zassick. The Nominating Committee will present 4 nominees for election to the board at the annual meeting. They are Laurie Albright, Tom Gibson, Greer Jordan, and Shelly Urdaneta.

7. Congregational Delegates to GA: Daniel presented proposals for board policy on how delegates are appointed to the UUA General Assembly and OMD as well as a process for absentee voting, noting there is no current formal process in the church. The board will review and discuss this and make a decision at a future board meeting.

8. 2009-10 Operating Budget: Esther presented the proposed operating budget, which is a balanced budget of $ 682,687, which represents a 2.1% increase over the current 2008-09 budget. It is based on anticipated pledge income of $ 490,000, a reduction in rentals, a 2.86% increase in personnel with continued board commitment to a 4 year fair compensation plan for the ministers, some mild reductions in Building & Grounds maintenance and supplies, a 30% increase in UUA support (brings us to 50% of the expected commitment), and an increase in community outreach from $ 10,535 to $ 12,500. There was discussion, and a motion was made and passed unanimously to accept the budget as proposed. The dates of May 31^st after church and June 2^nd in the evening were picked for the congregational input sessions regarding the proposed budget. The budget summary will be posted by the deadline of May 14^th.

9. PBG Task Force: Tom presented the complete PBG policies to date, including the already approved policies on Limitations and Ends Statements and the proposed Board-Staff leadership Team Linkages Policies (LNK) as well as Governance policies which will 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.

9. The May reader will be George. Deanna provided the closing words and the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 pm.