February 23, 2010
Wy'east Board minutes from February 23rd, 2010
Present were Karl, Tode, Susan, Elizabeth, Mark, and Alex
First, we checked in.
Then the minutes from the last board meeting were approved.
No new Treasurer's Report was given, as one has already been presented this month.
Religious education update: Ashley will be starting to teach independently this coming Sunday, the 28th. She has the little kids -- ages 3 to 5. Annie has the young grade school kids -- ages 6 to 8 or 9. Anders has the next group, ages 10 to 12.
Suggestions of a second adult to teach with Anders included Stephen R. and Dan E.
Alex and Karl will be working on figuring out how Ashley's paycheck will be broken down, in terms of withholding, etc.
Alex says his role as board liaison to the religious education committee is light at the moment. Liana is supervising Annie and Ashley, as well as handling the checks.
Elizabeth will pursue the possibility of a college level music student volunteering to work with us on creating a music program -- choir, individual presentations, etc. She might begin through posting on Craigslist.
A discussion was held on the following: a recent guest to our Sunday morning services raised the question with us this last Sunday as to how aware or not we are of having new folks in our midst, children included. We want to address this issue. Susan pointed out one difficulty: with our only connecting with each other once a week, it sets up a conflict to also be alert to reaching out to others. One immediate solution might be regular dinner gatherings for members. This issue overall is for the Connections Committee to take up.
Mark will work with Tim to see if there is a way to address this paying attention to guests issue by making a weekly announcement during the service.
There was further discussion about having more guests, and therefore more members. One approach would be to reach out to our neighbors in the Hollywood District. Another, which Tode learned about from UUA President Peter Morales at the District Assembly, would be our being a "moral beacon." This latter paradigm wouldn't be so family-focused and close.
In terms of transitioning to a new minister, we would create a packet about Wy'east, then send it to the District, and they would announce our hiring opportunity. The District would then send us the resumes they receive in response to our packet.
The Board will put together a task force to hire a new minister, if the congregation votes to go in that direction this Sunday, February 28th. Some of the proposed members of the task force might be two people from the Board, a newer Wy'east member, a young adult, and an old hand. Some names were put forth as to who might fill these positions.
We would have the advantage of having Anders' experience from the Search Committee three years ago to assist the task force.
Tode and Mark will meet to craft the Board's task force proposal to be presented to the congregation on the 28th.
We voted in favor of asking Barbara S. to be on the Nominating Committee.
We discussed the upcoming canvass. It will be under Debra's leadership. Several of the hosts where we would have canvass gatherings would be Debra, Tode, Alex, and Mark.
Our next Board meeting will be on Tuesday, March 9th, at 6:30 PM, at Tode's.