Summary Minutes of the UUFRC Board Meeting, April 27th 2021
Attending: Steve Hill, Chris Stovall, David Stoutamire, Polly Ragusa, Tovis Page, Rob Davis, Rev. Brian Ferguson. Partial attendance: Graham Abra (arrived later).
Started at 6:30 pm. Brian provided opening words and we had a check in.
Accept the consent agenda – David motioned; Rob seconded. Passed by all (Graham absent).
Covid Task Force: Steve relayed that the committee had met and had sent the email to the congregation about the decision to keep the building closed until September 12th. The task force does not plan on opening the building for small groups and/or committee meetings. The task force will be putting together a project plan to open the building.
Program Committee Report: Tovis summarized the latest Program council meetings. The program council is working on a general calendar for governance, administrative and ministerial matters. The wayside pulpit will have a new sign. Tovis plans to step off next year as board liaison.
Auction report: David summarized the results of this year’s church auction. Consensus was that this year was easier than previous years and went very well. This may just reflect that the committee members enjoyed it more, not that they necessarily worked less. The incorporation of the technology and setup of this year’s auction will be seriously considered when planning future auctions.
Video proposal: John Cooney and the Program council’s video proposal was reviewed and discussed. The consensus was that the board (and the congregation) wants to go forward with this but needs a proposal to vote on. The board asked the video task force to put together a proposal that can be voted on.
Strategic Task Force: Last week’s meeting was canceled due to all the activity currently occurring in the community.
Finance Committee report: Graham reviewed the latest finance committee report. The congregation is doing well financially – we will have overage from what was estimated. There was some concern that the church is paying significant fees to PayPal when collecting offertory and other funds through them. The finance committee is looking into ways around the fees, if possible.
Professional audit of Church financials: Graham reported on the research on removing the requirement to “every 5 years have an external audit” requirement from the finance Committee charter. There is no legal requirement for a non-profit with revenue less than $5million to have an external professional audit. The financial committee will update their charter and submit it to the board for approval at the next board meeting.
Church Budget: The board reviewed next year’s budget proposal and the slides presented at the town hall. Tovis moved to accept this as next year’s budget, Rob seconded. Passed unanimously.
Nominating Committee: David reviewed the results of his analysis of the church by-laws and what has happened in board meeting elections in the past. This year is a normal odd year as per the by-laws where four board seats are elected (for two-year terms each). The by-laws should be clarified about the explicit rules the board can exercise for appointing new board members when a board member must step down partly through their term. David has made a proposal for the by-laws update, but since it is not urgent it will be addressed in a future year.
Open Gate Lease: David reviewed the plan to reset Open Gate’s lease back to its pre-COVID time rates. David will review with Open Gate and get back to the board.
Volunteer Gift Giving/Recognition: The board discussed setting up standards for a more formal process for recognizing and rewarding volunteers who have done work for the congregation. A process with rules and standards for who is recognized, where the funds come from, and what should the nature of the gift be, will be worked on by the Program council. Tovis will consult with the program council and various congregants who may have institutional knowledge regarding past recognition standards and practices.
Minister social media posting: The board discussed clarifying the rules around giving approval to Brian to speak and or make public statements for UUFRC. Specifically, it was pointed out that the Communications committee has the responsibility from their charter to decide who can speak/post/tweet etc for UUFRC.
Our next meeting will be Tuesday May 25th at 6:30 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Rob Davis, Recording Secretary