Minutes 06/22/2009

First Unitarian Church of Cleveland

Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

June 16, 2009

 

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

 

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

 

Guest: Dan Homans

 

1.         Opening:        Wendy called the meeting to order at 6:59 p.m.  Steve Sanford provided the opening words, followed by the reading of the Board Covenant.

 

2.         Approval of 5/19/09 Minutes:          The minutes of the May 2009, Board meeting were read and approved with no changes.  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 comments or new business.

 

4.         Committee on the Ministry:             Dan Homans, on behalf of the Committee on the Ministry, presented a report.  This committee comprises Rev. Daniel Budd, Rev. George Buchanan, Dan Homans (committee chair), Eve Bendezu, Sue Butler, Jeff Chernin, and Joan Orr.  There is currently one (1) vacancy on this committee.  Dan reported that they met for the first time December 2, 2007 and discussed what the committee does.  They were scheduled to meet again in January 2008 but were snowed out; they met again in March 2008 and did George’s evaluation at that time.  They met again in April and May of 2008; after the May 2008 meeting, the committee conducted interviews with members of the congregation for feedback on George’s performance.  The results from these interviews were compiled and presented to George.

 

5.         Wendy introduced the new members of the Board:          Tom Gibson, Laurie Albright, Greer Jordan, Shelly Urdaneta, and Frank Wardega (Frank is fulfilling the unexpired term vacated by Kevin Ortner).

 

6.         SLT Reports:             Doug Aubin presented the Administrator’s Report.  Rev. George Buchanan presented his Minister for Religious Education report, and Rev. Daniel Budd 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:          Doug spoke to a professor at Lakeland Community College about website management who was interested in assisting the church in that regard, and at a reasonable cost.  Repairs to the library are under way.  Pledges are currently at about $476,000 and we are still on pace to reach the goal of $490,000.00.  The weekly basket giveaway continues to be successful, and year to date we have given away $22,890.97.  We are currently about $110,000 over the budget floor.

 

Highlights from George’s report:        George discussed district-wide workshops on healthy congregations.  George reminded all of us about his relation to Daniel and to the congregation, and that the relation is collaborative.  The Adult Education Committee has planned the 2009-10 Forums, and this committee is co-chaired by Susan Alcorn and Wayne Jennings.  George also reminded the board about the October 4, 2009, celebration of Daniel’s tenth (10th) anniversary with First Unitarian and his thirtieth (30th) anniversary in ministry.

 

Highlights from Daniel’s report:         Daniel had no written report for this month.  He is now the Ministerial Settlement Representative for the district, meaning he helps congregations search for a new minister.  He will do the blessing for an award being presented at General Assembly.  He talked about the possibility of moving ownership of the Membership Committee from Board control to SLT control.  Esther Bockhoff questioned this, and both George and Daniel responded that ideas and plans coming out of this committee may require SLT participation and as a result, it may be better to have this committee reporting directly to SLT.  Daniel added that the Communications Committee is developing a job description for a web master, and thanked Susan Walker for her work on getting people to do the Sunday morning welcome and announcements.

 

7.         Treasurer’s Report:  The budget looks good.  We are keeping fairly even between expenses and revenues.  We should end the fiscal year in the black.  Currently, the Investment Account has a balance of $1,244,542.00.  Esther also noted a clarification to the budget numbers that bequests are put into the Investment Account immediately and are not used for operating income, and that bequests will be listed as “Other Income.”

 

            Esther conducted two (2) budget reviews for the congregation in advance of the Congregational Meeting in June, and they went well.

 

            There will be an annual audit in August, and we will get the results in September.

 

            If there is a surplus at the end of the year, it will go back into the Investment Fund.

 

8.         Rev. George Buchanan’s evaluation:          The Board is required to perform an evaluation of Rev. George Buchanan’s performance as part of his [George’s] ministerial settlement with the UUA. George left the room at this point, and the Board discussed the various aspects of this review, and Chuck Segall typed up the results. 

 

9.         President’s Report:   Outgoing Board President Wendy Macklin thanked Vice-President and incoming Board President Kim Littell and Past-President Tom McKenna for their assistance and hard work in this past year.  Wendy then thanked the Board as a whole for their work in the past year.  Steve Sanford then presented a gift to Wendy, and Wendy passed the gavel to Kim.

 

10.       New Business:            No new business.  Kim took the opportunity to welcome everyone, including the new board members.  She then stated there would a Membership Committee retreat at Sandy Wilson’s apartment on June 19, 2009, from 5 to 8pm.  The new Board Member Orientation will be July 21, 2009, from 7 to 8 p.m., and the Board Advance will be August 29, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 

11.       Closing:          Esther Bockhoff provided the closing words and the meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m.