Wy’east UUC Board Meeting June 06, 2022
Wy’east UUC Board Meeting Monday June 6th, 2022
We are an open religious community for people of all ages. We gather for renewal and fellowship. Our spiritual search is joyful, compassionate, and curious. Together we strive to bend the world towards love, truth, and justice.
AGENDA:
- Check-In
- Grounding & Chalice Lighting:
Meeting Minutes-review and approval (tabled due to lack of quorum). - Standard Reports:
- Minister’s Report- On the advice of Craig, we will invite the members of the search committee to the next meeting. We may need to revisit our search goals.
- Worship Committee Report - was not submitted
- Social Justice Committee Report - was not submitted
- RE Committee Report- We are lacking adequate volunteers so need to look at hiring a support person for RE ASAP.
- Membership Committee Report - Submitted.
- Treasurer’s Report- Steady and not too much in the red. Gigi’s background has cleared. We are completing the collection of proper tax forms.
Gigi will be reporting to the Vice Moderator. We will invite her to use the Wy’eastBoard@googlegroups to reach all the board when needed. Congregation call reach her at admin@wyeast email, and we will limit the number of people who have her personal phone number (unless she chooses to include it in the directory).
- Following the Annual Meeting
- Welcome to new members Barbara D. and Diane A. - The treasurer role is opening, and Diane is prepared to take that on. Board Member at large is opening and Lana and Ruth are prepared to continue in their current roles.
- Credit Union will need email and signatures- Lana will share Barbara D and Diane A emails with the CU.
- Bylaws updated?- With Linda B. not present, we will move this item to the next meeting.
- Add discussion of a possible board retreat to July agenda.
- Pay raises for Kate and Jolanda- We sometimes increase by flat rate, like $.25 or we could use a percentage increase, or cost of living index increase. A pay increase has been worked into the budget already for Kate. We will check with Mathias as to the past practices. We use that practice as a model for increasing Jolanda’s pay.
- Return to In Person Planning:
- A new audio cable was purchased and installed in a new configuration - has this improved the service experience? Same issue persisted at Sunday Setup. A work around for the children's time was done and people enjoyed that.
- We have surpassed our commitment to online services. How long are we going to continue?
- Diane A. is volunteering to assist with set up on Sundays. We will coordinate for an additional rehearsal ahead of Craigs final sermon.
Lana suggests moving to half virtual services, and half in-person-only services, and dropping the hybrid model. Much agreement was expressed for this idea. The question was raised, how long a notice should be given? - Lana will write an announcement email about dropping hybrid services in July (after discussion with the Worship Co)
Ari will coordinate with Linda on communicating this change to Jolanda as it affects her job and pay. - A new laptop has been purchased by Linda Mac. She has been configuring it for use by Craig for the next service. We tested it on site.
- General Assembly:
- We have two delegates attending GA., Mariah S. and Alana G.
- Lana received and passed along an invitation to delegate training with Stan Jewett at First UU Church of Portland. It is not clear if either attended this.
- How best can the members of the congregation inform the delegate on how to represent us in the business session & votes? Alana gave feedback from a prior year that she felt uncomfortable making all the representative votes without input from the congregation, and Mariah has expressed the same concerns. Craig has arranged a virtual “meet the delegates” meeting on Tuesday June 14th. There are two major business items to vote on and a Board of Trustees elections, along with a few other agenda items.
- Ministerial Search Committee Timeline
- Admin position is filled and on-boarding of Gigi Lascurettes has begun.
- Committee updates about Ministerial Search- tabled due to lack of time.
- Lana messaged with Cythia Hopkins who is Board Moderator at Eastrose Congregation about partnership opportunities. They rotated their Board members last month. They are also conducting a ministerial search. Response/ communication has been positive and encouraging. This will not be a quick process to work out how best to support one another.
- Other items/reflections?
- Venmo virtual plate?- Could we create a QR code for in-person phone donations.
- Confirm Next Meeting Date: Tuesday July 5th 7:00 pm
Reports
Membership-
1. Hybrid services and the 3rd Sunday Membership committee meeting in a breakout room are
continuing and we are all adjusting to the new reality of this new working model going forward.
2. Craig's retirement celebration set for 8/7 will be finalized at our July Membership committee
meeting.
3. We will work with the Worship committee to assist in a Welcome Home-water communion service in mid September which could include a new member book signing and gift presentation
for those remaining New Members that have not completed this step.
4. Our Annual July family picnic is set for 7/3 at Dawson park, group side "D" will be finalized in
our June Membership committee meeting and we will coordinate with the Worship committee
to get the details our to our membership. We do have commitments from Matt to play some songs
and Ruth to lead us in some improv games.
.
5. All regular activities, Lilac Meadows, Chalice Circle and Coffee group are running fine.
6. Weekly attendance is staying in the low 30's.
7. PTM classes are suspended until the 4th Sunday in July due to scheduling conflicts.
8. We are keeping in touch with Tode, Mark and Kathryn to make ourselves available to them
if needed.
Those are the highlights for May!
Blessings to all,
Ron
Ministers Report—
Ministers Report—6-22
1) Sermon preparation, newsletter columns, etc.
2) Phone calls, e-mails. Pastoral calls, Zoom meetings with congregational
members/leaders. Lined up transportation and prescription delivery help for one member.
3) Colleague consultation.
4) Martial arts and Spanish language study.
5) UUMUAC Religious Professionals Task Force meetings.
6) Friday conversations continue going strong
7) Delivered opening words at Salem Interfaith Alliance meeting
8) Met with Desiree Eden Ocampo re: Rahab’s Sisters ongoing relationship with Wy’east
9) Discussed Wy’east/Eastrose partnership with Rev. Patti Pomerantz
10) Met with tech team several times at senior center
11) Participated in All People’s Church (Louisville , KY) adoption of proposal to include
Islam in UU Sources statement. This was the culmination of 3 years of efforts by a
partnership of Kentucky UUs and Muslims and many years of work for me.
12) Multiple meetings with UU dissenters planning GA activities.
13) Meetings with all UUA Board candidates
14) Meeting with Article 2 Commission (group tasked with rewriting UU
Principles/Sources/Purposes statement, so far without any broad-based input from UUs!)
15) Barbara Ross memorial in Salem, June 16. Zoom commemoration for congregation,
June 17.
_____________________
Personal Note:
Sadly, my sister in-law-died last month. Her funeral and memorial gathering are
scheduled to take place in Chicago during GA, so I may not be able to attend all of the
activities I helped to plan. I hope that my contributions do some good.
Institutional Note:
Please feel free to revisit—in consultation with the congregation—the decision to
pursue the “¼ time administrator, ¼ time minister” model. I feel that this decision
was urged by a loud minority of 3-4 voices. (One of the loudest and most self- assured of those voices has since left the congregation after just a few months’ stay.)
Good leaders are always willing to revisit decisions, and you are some of the best
leaders I have ever worked with. Thanks for six good years!
RE Committee Report
In person RE is working well in the CfPA. The lack of volunteering from congregants is a little disappointing and may pose a challenge. Here is an update from Kate:
“I think things are going pretty well! I would love more heads up about who might attend, but I know folks are doing their best to RSVP and pass along that information to me. It will all come with time and practice. I am glad to hear that there is no significant impact on adult worship! I was definitely worried about the noise. I love seeing the Liljeholms, Marcy/Luna, and the Springsteads! I think that will be our usual lineup plus one of my friends who wants to start coming with her baby (they came once before but haven't had the time to fit it in again). Marcy stays with us when she brings Luna, so that is definitely helpful but not her responsibility.
I think attendance is too sporadic and unpredictable to really pursue a paid child care person at this time. That said, I know Matt won't be as available starting in June, so I will need a second adult to give a hand in the classroom. We are hoping for some volunteers from the congregation to fill this need.”
Treasurer’s Report
Things are looking steady. Here is the report from April. I don’t have all the May data yet, but so far it looks fine. I expect we’ll end up using less than $5000 in savings this year.
Waiting on employment documents from Gigi for onboarding.
Worship Committee Report
Social Justice Report
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DIGITAL WY’EAST GUIDING QUESTIONS:
- How can we expand our level of inclusion and engagement in virtual congregational life?
- What additional equipment or training or assistance do our staff and volunteers need for continuing online-only worship?
- What do we need to invest in, with technology, equipment, or people-power, to keep this going until it is safe for everyone to return to in-person worship/programs?
- How can we imagine broader and more inclusive ministries, worship, and programming in a post-COVID-19 world given what we’ve been learning and implementing?