February 9, 2010
(Please note that the Board also met in Executive Session on Tuesday, January 19th, following Rev. Susan Maginn's notice to the Board Moderator, Tode Oshin, on Saturday, January 16th, that she would be resigning as the minister of Wy'east as of June 30th of this year.)
Wy'east Board minutes for February 9th, 2010
Present were Karl, Tode, Elizabeth, Alex, Susan, and Mark
First we did check-ins. Then the minutes of the January board minutes were approved.
Karl presented the financial reports for December and January. We look good in both instances. Karl will be adding a line item in the budget for fundraising costs.
Susan suggested, and Alex will follow up with, looking into the PNWD Sproul Library catalogue for RE curriculum for Ashley.
Mark will follow up with Marie in terms of encouraging her to be at the new member ceremony on March 7th.
Wy'east will have two delegates at the upcoming District Assembly: Barbara and Sarah.
A discussion was held on some of the by-law logistics of our hiring a new, part-time minister. The Board itself would not do this, but a ministerial search committee. There is a by-law stating the necessity of having a congregational meeting to create such a committee, and a written notice to members re that meeting is required 10 days prior to.
Further discussion took place regarding having a minister at Wy'east this next church year, and by when. Tode, as our board moderator, will be taking the next step in this process by speaking with the PNWD ministerial consultant, Linda Kaufman, who is herself a community minister. They will connect at the District Assembly, Feb. 19-21. Some of the questions we are needing clarification on are what kind of a minister do we want, and what kind of a search do we need to create in order to accomplish that goal.
We decided to have a congregational meeting on February 28th, following the service, to discuss whether we want to have a ministerial search committee. Karl will draft a letter informing Wy'east members of that meeting, and Alex is taking responsibility for getting it in people's hands before the 10-day deadline.
We decided to have a second congregational meeting on March 14th, after the service, to choose a ministerial search committee, should the membership vote to move in that direction.
Susan stated that she is not necessarily looking for more ministerial hours between now and June 30th.
We discussed responsibilities in regard to the office, the search, and worship services. Notices about the upcoming services are due for the bi-monthly newsletter by Thursday, February 18th.
In terms of the search, the UUA guidelines say not to have ministers under consideration be in the congregation's pulpit for some time prior to the search process, in order to have all candidates have an equal chance. Since we are not likely to be conducting a national search for a quarter-time minister, the strict rules don't necessarily apply here, however, as a general guideline in our situation, this is still a good plan to follow.
The board voted to take $97 out of the money we got from the fundraiser, and adding it to the $103 we already have left in the budget for another outside speaker this church year, to have that speaker possibly be Linda Kaufman. This will add to our search knowledge.
Susan will be putting some of her energy into supporting the canvass up ahead.
The next board meeting (now moving to twice monthly for the foreseeable future), is on Tuesday, February 23rd, at Tode's. 7:15 PM.
minutes by Mark --