Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor Council Minutes April 18 2012 Present: Tom Bickford, Chair; Lance Case, Vice-Chair; Chris Childs; Charlie Boothby; Marj Lawrence; Rev. Becky Gunn Absent: Vyvyenne Ritchie, Joe Zydlewski Guests: Ali Khvari, Phyllis Havens, Laurie Cartier, Judy Boothby, Lynne Gardner Minutes by: Cindy Todd, Clerk Attachments: TOPIC DISCUSSION ACTION Call Meeting to Order, Chalice Lighting, Checkin, Feedback from the Congregation and Choosing Members to send Thank You Cards to. Tom called the meeting to order at 6:35. Lance lit the chalice and Rev. Becky did a reading. We checked in and drew the names of a couple of church members to send thank you cards to. Ali Khavari attends the Council Meeting to Urge Council to Fairly Compensate the Staff. Ali came to the Council meeting to urge Council to provide the staff with appropriate levels of compensation. He is concerned that the church may not be giving raises and making pension contributions to the staff again this year and stressed how important the staff is to the well-being of the church. He suggested consolidating the endowment funds so that it is easier to access the endowments, many of which are currently restricted to a specific use. This has been discussed by Council before and Rev. Becky suggested that Council let the Trustees know that this action is approved by Council. Lance observed that part of the purpose of the Strategic Planning is to set priorities that are supported by the Congregation who can influence the Trustees. The Trustees have reduced the amount used from the endowments to 4.5%. Tom said that the church is now getting $49,000.00 less from the endowments than it did in 2008.
Phyllis Havens Reports from the Nominating Committee Consent Agenda -Treasurer s Report -Minutes from the last Meeting -Committee/Staff Reports Strategic Planning Committee Reviews the Plan With Council We will need to raise about an additional $20,000.00 if we give staff raises, contribute to pensions, and meet all other expenses outlined in the dream budget. The Nominating Committee has worked very hard to find volunteers for positions that need to be filled. Glen Koehler, Marie Tessier, Wilma Bradford, and Chris Childs, all whose terms end this year, have agreed to stay for at least another year in their respective positions if other volunteers can t be found. A plea for volunteers may have to be made at the Annual Meeting, if the positions have not been filled by then. This month we received for review before the Council Meeting reports from the Minister, the Church Administrator, the RE Committee and the Business and Finance Committee. We briefly discussed Susan s report and her suggestion that the Chalice and Chimes may be becoming redundant, what with the weekly E-News delivering much of the same information. Susan will be taking some vacation days this summer and volunteer office support will need to be coordinated. Members of the Strategic Planning Committee were present at the meeting to review the plan with Council. Church Committees will be encouraged to make up their own time lines that will mesh with the main time line established by the Strategic Planning Committee. This will be a collaborative effort by church members working within their committees and groups toward common goals and actions and objectives. The Strategic Planning Committee has met with all the committees and will assist new committees with agendas and time lines. The fire in the belly project will need thorough study and planning before action is taken. Another project will be developed after three years, or the same one can be continued. This project will be incorporated into all facets of church activity. An oversight committee, with Council s backing, can be established to ensure that Phyllis will put a notice in the E-News advertising the need for volunteers in the various positions yet to be filled. Approved.
Minister s Report Treasurer s Report Stained Glass Window Repair Fixing up the RE Office Volunteer Coordinator Position Filled Advertising in the Bangor Daily News committees are on target and working together to reach goals and deadlines. The Strategic Planning Committee asked Council members to study the plan so that we could provide the committee with feedback, suggestions, and comments. Rev. Becky s wanted to know if Council wished her to do another calendaring event like she did last year. This event allows church members and committees to secure dates for church space for activities, meetings, programs, etc. She is looking at having the event around the first Saturday in June but didn t want to the date to conflict with the plant sale. Council thought there wouldn t be any problem if both were held on the same day. Rev. Becky gave a brief update for Vyv, who is away. She said we are doing pretty well--pledges are on target and we are staying on budget. Tom reported that the people responsible for breaking the two stained glass windows have been caught and may go to trial. The estimated cost of the repair is $1,800.00. We have a $1,000.00 insurance deductible. Discussion of the stained glass window repairs led to discussion of fixing up the room for the DRE office. It was suggested that instead of relying on the Buildings and Grounds Committee to do the work, the project be hired out. Tom said that usually Bob Kelly is contacted in such a case. Jill Packard has been hired as the new Volunteer Coordinator. This is a stipend position which runs through June 2013. A congregant has offered to pay $15.00 to place a weekly ad in the Bangor Daily News. The $15.00 would pay for a very small ad and the thought was that we should have at least the next size up which costs $35.00. This may be more than the congregant is willing to pay. Mention was made that free advertising may be got by publishing a blurb in the religious section of the Weekly. It was suggested that digital avenues may be more effective than print and Council is hoping to set up a Marketing Committee soon which will Members of the Strategic Planning Committee will meet with Council members before church Sunday April 22 at 8:30 for input about the plan. Rev. Becky will set a date for another calendaring event this spring. Tom made a motion to approve all expenditures necessary for repairing the stained glass windows. Seconded and passed. Tom will contact Bob Kelly about taking on the job of fixing up the DRE office. Rev. Becky will write up a letter of agreement and will talk to Kara about accounting issues pertaining to this position. Tom will speak to the congregant about the various options and about the creation of the Marketing Committee which will be looking into how to advertise the church.
Informational Meeting with the Congregation to Discuss the Behavior Policy, the By-Law Revisions and to Review the Budget begin to determine how best to market the church After meeting with the Strategic Planning Committee tonight we realized that the after church meeting we had planned for May 6 to discuss the By-law revisions and the budget could not happen because the Strategic Planning Committee has already scheduled a meeting with the congregation for that time. The only possible time to have a discussion would be on April 29 when we plan to meet with the congregation about the Behavior Policy. We decided we would have to discuss all three topics at this meeting. We discussed the meeting and thought time limits for each topic may be in order. Those who want can submit written suggestions for either the Behavior Policy or the By-law revisions by May 7. Tom will write up an announcement about our meeting on April 29 for the E- News and for the Order of Worship. Lance will ask Rachel to put a copy of the Behavior Policy on the church website. Auction Update Budget Tom said he would develop a slide show and we would also have copies of all the documents to hand out. Plans for the auction are moving forward. Donation forms have been placed in the Dorothy and Tom said there have been a couple of offers of help with the auction so far. We had hopes of realizing our dream budget but current projections from the pledge drive make this appear not so. We are several thousand dollars short and again it would seem that the staff and the association dues would feel the hit. We discussed various ways to come up with money to fill the gap. One of the options discussed was accessing the Newell Fund which Council controls. The current projection of a 95% return of the $107, 000.00 pledged was reconfigured at 97%, thereby increasing revenue by a little more than $3,000.00. With the money from the Newell Fund, this totaled an increase of $6,000.00, and reduced the shortfall to $11,0000.00. Because we felt we had explored all options, and are not ready to relinquish the dream budget, we decided to present the budget as is to the congregation at the informational meeting on April 29 for comments and input. Tom made a motion to take $3,000.00 from the Newell Fund to apply towards the budget shortfall. Seconded and approved. Charlie made a motion to present an unbalanced budget to the Congregation. Seconded and passed. Rev. Becky volunteered to revise the budget to reflect the changes and would e-mail a copy to Council members. No one volunteered to write an article. Chalice and Chimes Article Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 9:30