All Souls Church, Unitarian. Board of Trustees Meeting March 26, Proposed Agenda

Transcription

1 All Souls Church, Unitarian Board of Trustees Meeting March 26, 2014 Proposed Agenda 7:00 Call to Order Brian Marshall 7:02 Chalice Lighting and Reading Rev. Hardies 7:05 Welcome and Introductions All 7:10 Discussion of Communications Gary Penn 7:30 Report of the Committee on Ministry & Discussion of Biennial Evaluation Jeff Sherwood 7:50 Renovation Update & Consideration of Motion re Construction Oversight Rev. Hardies Brian Marshall 8:10 Staff Retirement Plan Jenice View 8:20 Staff Report Executive Team 8:30 Consent Agenda Trustees -- Beckner Fund Grants -- Ratification of Vote re Hiroshima Pilgrimage -- Minutes of February 26 BOT Meeting -- Minutes of March 2 BOT Meeting 8:35 Announcements Brian Marshall -- Joseph Priestly Dist. Assembly, Apr , Lafayette Hill, PA

2 -- General Assembly, June 25-29, Providence, RI 8:40 Agenda Items for Next Board Meeting, April 23, 2014, 7 p.m. -- Report of Nominating Committee Brian Marshall -- Report of Audit Committee -- Executive Limitations: Asset Protection 8:45 Discussion of Exit Interview Jenice View 8:55 Meeting Form and Feedback All 9:00 Prayer and Adjournment All Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Trustees, Officers, and Staff in Attendance: Brian Marshall, President Jenice View, First Vice President Bruce DePuyt, Second Vice President Julia Sayles, Trustee Emily Koechlin, Trustee Fred Tipson, Trustee Vickie Lindsey, Trustee Kysseline Jean-Mary Chérestal, Trustee Erika Landberg, Moderator Cledwyn Jones, Trustee Uta Allers, Assistant Treasurer Mark Matthews, Secretary Rob Hardies, Senior Minister Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes All Souls Church, Unitarian March 26, p.m.

3 Susan Moore, Associate Minister Also in attendance: Jeff Sherwood, Committee on Ministry; Gary Penn, Communications Director Not in attendance: Cheryl Gray, Treasurer; Anne Bradley, Membership Secretary; Katie Loughary, Executive Director (vacation) Call to Order: Brian Marshall Chalice lighting and reading Rob Hardies: Last board meeting before ground is broken for the renovation; has been in touch with Tom Taylor, who led a capital campaign and renovation in the 1980s; time to honor everything that brought us to this point, in particular Janet Randolph and Chuck Wooldridge, who launched the Third Century Challenge campaign in Reading from Kenneth L. Patton: This house is for the ingathering of nature and human nature... a house of friendships, a haven in trouble, an open room for the encouragement of our struggle... a house of freedom, guarding the dignity and worth of every person. Communications Cledwyn Jones, Gary Penn: Cledwyn described the new Third Century Challenge website, which will provide information on the renovation. Gary: Anne Bradley has collected information on all the church s various ministries, activities, and educational opportunities, which will be searchable through a filter on the main church website. All the groups activities will have blurbs. All Souls weekly bulletin has a percent open rate high for church newsletters and the Facebook page has 918 fans. Rob Keithan s sermon generated heavy social media traffic from his many followers. The monthly Spirit has been dropped and there would have to be a good reason to revive it. Some congregants say there s not enough communication from the church; others dislike being spammed. The City platform for churches is still being studied. Advantage: better communication and information sharing between and among church groups. However, people might be loath to adopt a new technology. Committee on Ministry Jeff Sherwood: The committee is preparing for its biennial evaluation of the senior minister and of the practice of shared ministry. Adopting an approach close to what worked well two years ago, it plans to interview staff and lay leaders and survey committee leaders and the whole congregation, including children-youth in the RE program. All groups will be asked for suggestions on how to improve shared ministry. The committee will review the responses for themes and trends; receive Rob s self-evaluation; prepare recommendations; discuss its draft with Rob; and present its findings and recommendations to the board in September. A joint BOT-COM meeting will occur in October. Deva Kyle, Tehani Collazo and Jeff are leading the planning. A public report focusing on the survey results will come out in the fall. Discussion: Praise for committee s efforts and a request that it collect specific information on what works and doesn t. No action taken.

4 Renovation Rob Hardies, Brian Marshall: Two major gifts are in play. The Cedar Tree Foundation is considering funding the gray-water recycling or another renovation project above and beyond the base plan already approved. These are requirements of the family foundation. Separately, a current donor family has pledged an additional $270,000 over and above their initial $250,000 to pay for renovating the kitchen. The family wants to remain anonymous. The pledge is a challenge grant encouraging others to pledge but not requirement a match. The payment, in $50,000 increments, will extend beyond the pledge-fulfillment period, although it could possibly accelerate. Brian says he and Cheryl Gray agree that if need be, an internal loan from the endowment could be used until the family s pledge is fulfilled. It would be crazy not to take it up. Rob asks that nothing be said publicly until the groundbreaking. Motion by Jenice View, seconded by Kysseline Jean-Mary Chérestal, to revise the previously adopted Authorization of Construction and Borrowing resolution to put the construction cost at between $7.2 million and $7.8 million (instead of the previous $7.4 million.) RESOLVED THAT: 1. The Board of Trustees authorizes the Executive Director (Katie Loughary) to execute a suitable construction General Contract on behalf of All Souls Church with Forrester Construction to renovate the All Souls Church building and grounds ( the project ) for an amount between $7,200,000 and $7,800,000, on terms acceptable to First Virginia Community Bank. Approved unanimously by voice vote. Change Orders Brian Marshall: A group of six comprising Tom Fox, Jim Heltman, Jennifer Bruneau, Fred Tipson, Treasurer Cheryl Gray, and Brian will provide oversight and approve change orders of up to $50,000. Jim and Jennifer are engineers; Fred has been involved in security discussions. Change orders usually increase costs. Amounts larger than the committee is authorized to approve would come to the Board. There will be monthly reports. Tom will chair. It will be incumbent on Brian, Fred, and Cheryl to keep the Board informed. The following motion passed unanimously by voice vote. BE IT RESOLVED THAT: Section 1. CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE The Board of Trustees establishes an ad hoc Construction Oversight Committee as a Board Committee on the following terms: (a) PURPOSE. The Purpose of the Committee is to provide advice to the Executive Director and to the Board regarding the construction of the renovation and its costs, and to review change orders as described in section 2, below.

5 (b) MEMBERSHIP. The Members of the Committee are Tom Fox (Chair), Jennifer Bruneau, Jim Heltman, Fred Tipson, Cheryl Gray (Treasurer, ex officio, voting), Brian Marshall (ex officio, President, non-voting), Katie Loughary (ex officio, Executive Director, non-voting), Charles McNear (ex officio, Construction Manager, non-voting). (c) AUTHORITY. The sole authority of the Committee is provided in Section 2 of this resolution. On other matters, the Committee serves an advisory role to the Board of Trustees and the Executive Team. (d) DURATION. The Committee s mandate ends when construction is complete. Section 2. CHANGE ORDERS. (a) Change orders to the construction contract may be approved on behalf of All Souls Church by the Construction Manager, the Executive Director (or her designee), the Committee (on the recommendation of the Construction Manager or the Executive Director), or the Board of Trustees, up to the limits listed in the table below: Authority Per Occurrence In Aggregate Construction Manager $2,500 $10,000 Executive Team $10,000 $30,000 Construction Oversight Committee $50,000 $250,000 Board of Trustees unlimited unlimited (b) Aggregate change-order spending authority for each entity listed in 2(a) shall be restored upon the approval of authorized change orders by any listed entity with a larger aggregate spending limit. (c) A brief description of all approved change orders along with their cost will be reported to the Board of Trustees and the Committee by the Executive Team on a monthly basis. Retirement contributions Jenice View: The Unitarian Universalist Association has a new policy requiring that all staff parttime and fulltime be entitled to retirement-account contributions by the church. All Souls currently contributions the equivalent of 10 percent of salary, but only to fulltime staff. The new contributions would start one year after a parttime staffer is hired. Churches that fail to implement the new policy will get dropped from UUA retirement account management. A change would not affect this year s All Souls budget. Motion by Jenice View, seconded by Vickie Lindsey, to adopt the following: Whereas the All Souls Unitarian is committed to assisting its employees prepare for their retirement years, and Whereas the Unitarian Universalist Organizations Retirement Plan (the "Plan") is the retirement plan sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association, therefore

6 Be It Resolved that the All Souls Unitarian hereby adopts the 2014 Restatement of the Unitarian Universalist Organizations Retirement Plan and commits to complying with all the provisions of the Plan and the elections made by our (congregation/organization) in the 2014 Employer Participation Agreement until such time as we submit an updated Employer Participation Agreement to the UUA Retirement Plan Committee and they acknowledge receipt of same. Be It Further Resolved that the intended implementation date of the Restated Plan is the first day of the month of July, 2014 following submission of our 2014 Employer Participation Agreement to the UUA Retirement Plan Committee and receipt of an acknowledgment from said Committee. Passed unanimously by voice vote. Staff report Rob Hardies, Susan Moore: Amy Mulry Wesolek, All Souls membership and welcoming director, will not be returning to the staff after maternity leave. It s hoped a new membership director will be hired by the start of the next church year. Rev. Susan Moore has taken on keeping the membership database up to date. Anne Bradley, membership secretary, is working to reactivate and expand the welcoming committee. The church has 80 new members. The Executive Team position of Chief Program Officer has been posted. Core contributions to the operating budget are higher than at the same point last year. The staff has been immersed in the move to temporary office space in the dining room. A new office manager won t be hired until office renovations are finished. Motion by Julia Sayles, seconded by Kysseline Jean-Mary Chérestal, to approve the Consent Agenda: Beckner Fund Grants ($16,000 total) Ratification of Vote re. Hiroshima Pilgrimage. The BOT approved a letter from Brian Simmonds to the Unitarian Universalist Funding Panel endorsing a grant proposal to support the Heiwa Peace Pilgrimage The letter says the BOT agrees to be financially responsible for the project if funded. Minutes of February 26 BOT Meeting Minutes of March 2 BOT Meeting Passed unanimously by voice vote. Announcements: The April BOT meeting will include the Nominating Committee, Audit Committee update, and plans for the next Church Council meeting. Executive Session (with Rob Hardies and Susan Moore): Jenice View reported on an exit interview with a departing staff member.

7 Report of a Sunday morning theft of credit cards and money and a second theft of tools. The meeting adjourned at 9:29 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Mark Matthews, Secretary 2014 All Souls Church Ministerial Evaluation Outline Committee on Ministry Terms of Reference: The CoM is responsible for and committed to Leading and coordinating biennial evaluation of the practice of shared ministry at All Souls and the performance of the senior minister. This includes: Designing and managing the survey/data analysis processes. Facilitating the growth and development of our senior minister. This support will include ongoing dialogue about: meaningful support of strengths, honest and challenging assessment of areas for development, and support for that development. Presenting a biennial evaluation summary to the Board of Trustees at its October meeting including recommendations for supporting and strengthening the senior minister and shared ministry at All Souls, including but not limited to changes in the senior minister s functions or performance and changes in lay leader functions or performance. Goals of the Evaluation Identify means of enhancing the practice of ministry for the senior minister as well as the church s professional and lay leaders Identify areas for future development of shared ministry Evaluate areas of growth for professional staff development and supervision Assess awareness and practice of the Covenant of Right Relations Processes Interviews with Church staff using set questions Interviews with selected lay leadership from Board of Trustees, Church Council Steering Committee and key committees/groups Input from all committees lay leadership via Survey Monkey using same set questions as interviews Input from the congregation via Survey Monkey with most questions repeated from 2012 Include the children/youth of the congregation via a simplified survey shared and answered during RE classes (in coordination with interim DRE)

8 Review data for themes as well as trends from the 2012 evaluation Receive and review Rob s self-evaluation Develop committee recommendations Examples of categories and questions to be asked: Congregation Spiritual Growth What is your greatest source of spiritual growth and development at All Souls? What would you like to see more of in spiritual growth and development? Shared Ministry Do you feel like you practice a ministry yourself at All Souls? Do you have any ideas for improving the practice of shared ministry at All Souls? Covenant of Right Relations To what extent do you perceive All Souls community members to live out the practices of our Covenant of Right Relations, including: practicing hospitality, fostering diversity, listening with respect, and acknowledging our mistakes? Lay Leaders/Committee Chairs Performance What is your committee s greatest challenge? What is one change in your relationship of your committee to the staff that would most facilitate your effectiveness? Shared Ministry Do you feel the work of your committee should be different from volunteer work outside of the church? Is it? Staff Organizational support What aspect of your work at All Souls do you think has the greatest positive impact? What aspect of your ministry do you most wish you had more time or resources to invest? Rob s performance In what ways does Rob contribute to your ministry? Hinder or inhibit your ministry? Shared Ministry

9 Are there systemic issues that you recommend All Souls address to improve its ministry? Are you clear on your role in shared ministry? Timeline March: Review goals; update questions/surveys; prepare outreach materials April May: Conduct congregational survey; interview church staff and lay leadership June August: Review data and draft report September: Discuss draft report with Rob; finalize and send to Board of Trustees October: Present and discuss report with Board at special joint Board/Committee on Ministry meeting (Wed. October 1 st?); distribute to the congregation a summary of the congregational survey evaluation results November: The Committee on Ministry will do a lessons learned exercise 2014 Restatement Unitarian Universalist Organizations Retirement Plan All Souls Unitarian Adoption Motion April 2014 Whereas the All Souls Unitarian is committed to assisting its employees prepare for their retirement years, and Whereas the Unitarian Universalist Organizations Retirement Plan (the "Plan") is the retirement plan sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association, therefore Be It Resolved that the All Souls Unitarian hereby adopts the 2014 Restatement of the Unitarian Universalist Organizations Retirement Plan and commits to complying with all the provisions of the Plan and the elections made by our (congregation/organization) in the 2014 Employer Participation Agreement until such time as we submit an updated Employer Participation Agreement to the UUA Retirement Plan Committee and they acknowledge receipt of same. Be It Further Resolved that the intended implementation date of the Restated Plan is the first day of the month of July, 2014 following submission of our 2014 Employer Participation Agreement to the UUA Retirement Plan Committee and receipt of an acknowledgment from said Committee.

10 Secretary of the Board Date Memorandum TO: All Souls Church Unitarian Board of Trustees FROM: Jenice L. View, Trustee; Cheryl Gray, Treasurer; Katie Loughary, Executive Director SUBJECT: Board Resolution re UUA Retirement Plan DATE: March 26, 2014 The Issue The Unitarian Universalist Association requires equity for all staff concerning employer contributions to a retirement plan. The UUA mandates a minimum employer contribution of 5% for all employees working 1000 hours or more over a 12-month period. Any congregation failing to implement changes to the Participation Agreement (see attachment) prior to July 1, 2014 will be dropped from the UUA retirement plan. ASC Current Situation All Souls currently contributes 10% for all full-time staff after one year of employment and makes no contribution for part-time staff because none work more than 1000 hours in a 12-month period. According to our current Personnel Manual: RETIREMENT BENEFITS The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) provides a defined contribution qualified retirement plan to assist eligible employees to accumulate tax-deferred savings for retirement. The Employer contributes an amount equivalent to 10% of your earned compensation for this retirement plan for all regular, full-time employees after one year of service. For example if the employee makes $24,000 per year, earning $2,000 per month, the Employer s monthly retirement contribution on behalf of the employee would be $200. If you wish you may make additional voluntary, pre-tax contributions from your salary in accordance with the current

11 Our proposal provisions of the tax laws. All contributions whether they are made by the Employer or yourself grow tax free until withdrawal and are vested immediately. Upon termination you may leave the account where it is or roll it over, without charge, to another qualified plan. A complete description of the plan is available at the UUA website or from the Executive Director. 1. Extend the 10% contribution to part time employees (over 1000 hours). 2. Expand definition of eligible employees to include anyone scheduled for over 1000 hours annually (19+ hours per week) 3. Auto-enroll new eligible employees to participate in the plan as soon as they are hired at a rate of 1% to 3% of their own money, to encourage employee contributions to the retirement account, allowing them to opt out altogether. Implications Our 10% maximum will have no implications for All Souls in the current budget, since we have no current part-time employees who meet eligibility. New eligible full- and part-time employees will be subject to the new policy. RESOLUTION 1: Revision to Authorization of Construction and Borrowing RESOLVED THAT: 1. The Board of Trustees authorizes the Executive Director (Katie Loughary) to execute a suitable construction General Contract on behalf of All Souls Church with Forrester Construction to renovate the All Souls Church building and grounds ( the project ) for an amount between $7,200,000 and $7,400,000$7,800,000, on terms acceptable to First Virginia Community Bank. 2. The Board of Trustees authorizes the Executive Director to execute a loan agreement on behalf of All Souls Church with First Virginia Community Bank for a construction and renovation loan of up to $5,500,000, to convert to a term loan of up to $3,500,000 two years after loan closing, to be reduced to $2,500,000 or less within three years of loan closing, on terms not materially different from the terms proposed the commitment letter dated February 19, The Board of Trustees authorizes the Executive Director to enter into, execute, and deliver any document or agreement on behalf of All Souls Church which the Executive Director deems necessary or desirable to carry out the foregoing, including without limitation any loan agreement, deed, note, mortgage, deed of trust, security agreement, guaranty, indemnification, certificate, modification agreement, or assignment or tax agreement. 4. The Board of Trustees authorizes each member of the Executive Team (the Senior Minister [Rev. Robert Hardies], the Associate Minister [Rev. Susan Moore], and the Executive Director) to take other such actions as are necessary and desirable to complete the project, and ratifies, confirms and approves any and all actions previously taken by each member of the Executive

12 Team in connection with the project.

13 RESOLUTION 2: Construction Oversight & Change Orders BE IT RESOLVED THAT: Section 1. CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE The Board of Trustees establishes an ad hoc Construction Oversight Committee as a Board Committee on the following terms: (a) PURPOSE. The Purpose of the Committee is to provide advice to the Executive Director and to the Board regarding the construction of the renovation and its costs, and to review change orders as described in section 2, below. (b) MEMBERSHIP. The Members of the Committee are Tom Fox (Chair), Jennifer Bruneau, Jim Heltman, Fred Tipson, Cheryl Gray (Treasurer, ex officio, voting), Brian Marshall (ex officio, President, non-voting), Katie Loughary (ex officio, Executive Director, non-voting), Charles McNear (ex officio, Construction Manager, non-voting). (c) AUTHORITY. The sole authority of the Committee is provided in Section 2 of this resolution. On other matters, the Committee serves an advisory role to the Board of Trustees and the Executive Team. (d) DURATION. The Committee s mandate ends when construction is substantially complete. Section 2. CHANGE ORDERS. (a) Change orders to the construction contract may be approved on behalf of All Souls Church by the Construction Manager, the Executive Director (or her designee), the Committee (on the recommendation of the Construction Manager or the Executive Director), or the Board of Trustees, up to the limits listed in the table below: Authority Per Occurrence In Aggregate Construction Manager $2,500 $10,000 Executive Team $10,000 $30,000 Construction Oversight Committee $50,000 $250,000 Board of Trustees unlimited unlimited (b) A brief description of all approved change orders along with their cost will be reported to the Board of Trustees and the Committee by the Executive Team on a monthly basis.

14 To: All Souls Board of Trustees From: Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Director of Social Justice Ministries, on behalf of the All Souls-Beckner Advancement Fund Committee Date: March 20, 2014 The Beckner Committee recommends the following internal grants be given: $15,000 for the Heiwa Peace Pilgrimage in August This money will be used for partial scholarships for All Souls travelers based on need and specifically targeting young adults. Beckner funds will also be applied to our 2 youth chaperones and some special youth programming costs for our Youth Delegation of seven nearly fully funded All Souls youth. $1,000 for the Social Justice Working Group of CAPT for the printing and distribution of a manual on how churches can promote employment and related social justice goals in construction/renovation projects based on our experience with CAPT.