Wyeast UUC Board Meeting July 6, 2023
Kathy Scanlan provided a printed agenda for the meeting.
Chalice Lighting, Check-in, Mission Statement
Reading by Rev. Leslie: Katie Gelfand, “The Abundance of Our Lives Together”
Previous Minutes: from 6/6/23 meeting read and approved with corrections to spelling of Leslie Becknell Marx, Marcy Sullwold, and Craig Moro.
Future minutes are to be made available to the board at least one week before the next meeting, also sent to Anders or ? to post on web site for members to access. NOTE: Our web site currently has minutes only through January, 2023. We need to get this up to date. Larry will research the current process, bring it under board control, and update the web site.
Digest/Synopsis of board meetings: Secretary Diane has sent to Gigi by Friday after each meeting, to be shared with the membership via email. We will continue this practice?
Diane is compiling a who does what and when annual calendar for board (and staff?) tasks and deadlines. We agree this will be very helpful.
Are we using Robert’s Rules or some other method to make decisions. Leslie offered to bring alternative methods to the group to experiment with. For now we are using simplified Robert’s Rules.
Standard monthly reports: Minister, Membership, Social Justice, RE, Worship, Treasurer.
Ron sends membership committee reports to his committee membership.
Leslie suggested sending out committee reports to the entire membership rather than at board meetings. Did we adopt this practice and notify the committee chairs?
No further committee reports at this meeting.
Prioritized agenda items, including combining of several related items.
Ministerial committee. We don’t currently have one. Is it needed? How is it formed? What is its purpose? Leslie said the committee is look at the ministry of the congregation to see if we are doing what we are committed to do. Do our deeds match our mission statement. It also serves as the liaison between the congregation and the minister. Hank will examine bylaws and report back.
Evaluation of Minister and staff (Gigi and Kate) and pay raises. We agreed they are all doing commendably well and approved a 5% annual cost of living pay raise. Yolanda and Ellen are on contract so not same category.
Yolanda has given notice and will be leaving (when?).
Hank pointed out that our contract for the CPA rent hasn’t been finalized. Bruce MacPherson is our liaison with the CPA director Amber. Hank will contact Bruce to determine status.
Extensive discussion about service production issues and format going forward. We now have two Zoom only per month and two multi-platform (hybrid) Zoom/In Person. This has become difficult to sustain due to continuing technical issues with sound production. The Zoom production process is also a distraction for in-person attendees. The production process is labor-intensive for volunteers. With Yolanda leaving we are considering hiring a multiplatform Zoom tech person to take over the production process. If so, should they be contract or staff? Ruth Jenkins has a possible candidate. D’on is looking into a better microphone/audio system.
How long will we continue to use Zoom? If we drop Zoom, what effects will that have on membership? Ron reported that in-person attendance is growing, with 20-25 members plus an equal number on Zoom. Zoom-only attendance is about 25-30. One alternative would be to have two in-person and two Zoom-only, no more multi-platform. How do we decide about service format? Create a survey? What questions to ask? How to word them? What is best for carrying out our mission vs “what people want for themselves.”
We approved having Diane lead a subcommittee to research these issues and report back, composed of herself, Leslie, Linda (Worship), Ron (Membership), maybe one more?
Brief discussion about our worship space, especially the inadequate RE space and Zoom discourage children (and their families) from attending. Should we look into renting space in a real church and/or consider moving worship time back to Sunday evening. Also discussed the current usage of our rented space in the RC Presbyterian church. Issue tabled for now.
Hank asked if we want to add a “terrorist” rider coverage to our insurance, offered by the UUA. Cost about $21 per month? We discussed and tabled.
Hank also reported that we are an “honor” (?) congregation because we pay our “dues” to the UUA on time without being pressured. The amount isn’t based on membership but rather is a percentage of our annual budget. The current year assessment is $3960, about 6% (?) of our budget.
How is the wyeast-board Gmail group maintained, and who should be included? We agreed it should include only current board members, minister, and ex-officio member most recent board chair(s). Diane Arnold will research maintenance of the list and update it as needed.
When and where will we meet in August? First Monday is the 7th, but several members are not available. We agreed we can’t meet on Sunday after church, as that is our congregational first Sunday potluck. Do we have to meet every month? Hank will research the bylaws and report back.