UUFRC Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
March 28, 2023
Location: UUFRC Sanctuary
Trustees Attending: Brian Ferguson (non-voting), Peter Hartzell, Rob Davis, Jeanne DeShazo, Dick Edminster, Jason Laderman-Jones, Lori Longo, Erika Pretell
Trustees Absent: None
Guests: Jen Bahr-Davidson, DeeDee Stovel
Peter Hartzell chaired the meeting and Erika Pretell acted as secretary for the meeting.
Call to order – Peter
Chalice lighting; Opening words; A moment of centering – Jeanne
Anti-Racism Reading & Discussion – conversation
Consent Agenda
- The following reports were accepted:
- Last BOT Meeting Minutes – 2-28-23
- Minister’s Report – March
- Finance Committee Report – March
- Personnel Committee Report – March
- No Connections Coordinator Report this month
Strategic Discussion – Financial Modeling
- Last year, looked at what is a sustainable budget looking several years out; analyzed historic membership data and giving
- Now in a better position and accomplishing a lot of what we’d hoped for: projected surplus for current fiscal year (rather than expected deficit); significant improvements for minister and staff benefits
- Consensus to come back to that work and refine it next fall, after Strategic Planning work is done
Operations – Board Oversight
Board Reports – Items for Discussion as Needed
Pledge Drive 2023-34 – Brian
- Expect $332-335K
- 12-14 people who pledged last year have not yet pledged; optimistic that they will
Financial Update – Dick, Jen
- Increasing benefits for minister and office administrator
- Retirement benefit. We were waiting to see if UUA will allow 7.5%. Finance recommendation to increase from 5% to 10% in January.
- Add life and disability insurance
- Medical – we pay 80% of premium for Brian and 50% his dependents. Looked at that for Gigi – $8K. Looked at some other options as well. $12,600 total package up from $3300. Not planning to offer her COLA next year because of this. Think it will be tax-free to her based on UUA info. What precedent are we setting for the future? Could tie to her salary as a percentage.
- Rob and Elisa to finalize the plan
- In the budget, finance reduced expected rental income from $3K to $500/year, however it sounds like AA and Persian cultural group may return
- Utilities – solar benefit expires but won’t hit budget until 2025.
- Concerning proposed new FY 2023-2024 budget line item for Action Sundays, BOT considers the Action Sunday team a “task force of the Board.” Brian will be approver for check requests, Treasurer will be approver if Brian is requestor. Brian will be responsible for monitoring expenditures vis-à-vis the line-item budget.
- RESOLVED: Board approved request for unbudgeted $350 for Connections for current fiscal year (raising budget from $600 to $950 for 2022-2023)
- RESOLVED: Board acknowledges receipt of Annual Review and approves finance committee’s response.
- Jason will take two of the recommendations back to Personnel Committee.
Program Council
- RESOLVED: Anna Dyer, Beth Eggers, Marianna Raymond will serve as GA delegates
- Planning Town Hall discussions about proposed new UUA Article II (values) and will discuss it at Annual Meeting
- Leadership training video has been created
OGNS – no update
Personnel Update – Jason
- Pending approval of retirement increase the board will need to approve updated contracts (Brian will do his, Personnel will do Gigi’s)
Task Force Updates
Outreach & Marketing Team – Erika
- Training sessions this week and last
Radical Hospitality training – DeeDee
- Raise consciousness among leadership about role of everyone in congregation to be welcoming
- Rev. Gretchen sermon from 2019, some ideas:
- Be aware! That’s the first step.
- We all need to act as greeters, not just ones with greeter tags
- Look around and talk with anyone standing or sitting alone
- Face the door when you gather so people coming in don’t see your backs and there’s a clear entry
- Each month, learn one new name or face
- Don’t conduct church business 15 minutes before or 30 minutes after service – just social time
- If a visitor is sitting by themselves, sit with them
- Walk them into coffee hour; introduce them to someone
- Introduce them to Jen Gill if they haven’t already met her
- On Action Sundays, explain it to them, help them choose an activity
- Note: Some newcomers may be hesitant, you need to try to read their vibe, don’t bowl them over
Past Board Presidents
- Meeting on Sunday
Nominating Committee
- Rob, Lori, Dick, Jeanne, Peter’s terms are up. Peter and Lori interested in staying. Rob, Dick, Jeanne are not planning to run again. Jeanne will lead nominating committee. She will follow up with names identified as possible committee members.
Operations – General
Upcoming dates:
- Annual Meeting – June 4th
- Budget Town hall meeting – April 23rd
- additional town halls (Brian)
Tighten the Board Announcements (Jason) (5 min)
- Jason created a new form people can use to submit announcements. We’ll test limit of 500 characters.
Building Security Discussion and Direction – Peter
- In 2019, we created a report discussing stakeholders, possible solutions, and different phases of implementation
- A number of improvements have already been made
- Propose a meeting of various stakeholder groups to discuss and present a recommendation with budget impact.
- Peter to form and kick off task force: Gigi, Kristi, Brian, Peter, John, Lori
Wrap Up
Action Items Review – Erika
- Rob and Elisa finalize benefits plan
- Jason take the two recommendations from finance committee response to Annual Review to Personnel Committee
- Brian to update his contract, Personnel to update Gigi’s contract, once the benefits situation has been finalized
- Jeanne will recruit and lead Nominating Committee
- Peter to form and kickoff Building Security Task Force
Thank You Notes (Peter)
| Name/Group | Gratitude for… |
| David Amann | Send thank you note for $1K contribution (Finance Committee request) |
| John Anning, Patty Leeper, Polly Ragusa, Liz Sloan | Creating Marketing Toolkit |
| John Anning & Becca Kieler | Organizing ALAS benefit concert |
| Paul Bocanegra | Leading Action Sunday event |
| Dick & Finance Committee | Moving the money from First Republic |
| Beth Eggers | Hosted newcomers dinner |
| Nick Kibre | Building Little Free Library |
Next Meeting
- BoT Meeting – Tuesday, April 25, 7 – 9:30pm, Sanctuary
Closing Circle – Jeanne
Adjourn: 9:27 pm