UUFRC Program Council Minutes – October 26, 2020, 7 pm, via Zoom
Attendees: Alex, Marina, Lori, Ellen, Tovis, Martha, Rev. Brian
Marina led a chalice lighting.
Minutes of September meeting – approved.
PC Cluster Groups
Operations (Alex): Building, Committee on Ministries, Communications, CUUE
Congregational Life (Lori): Caring, Connections
Justice & Outreach (Ellen): Roosevelt Tutoring, Social Action, Interfaith
Sunday Services (Martha): MOCA, Music, Worship
Faith Formation (Marina): Chalice Circles, The Learning Journey, Youth & Family
Governance (Tovis): Board of Trustees, Program Council, Finance, Personnel, Stewardship
Reviewed action items:
SAQ – Seldom Asked Questions information sheet, created by Alex with input from committee members, will be uploaded to the UUFRC website and published in the next eBulletin.
The RACI discussion – postponed until the January PC meeting.
The need for laptops has been satisfied. Rev. Brian is working on creating a sign-out process for people on the Worship Committee to use the church laptop.
Program Council clarity and visibility – much discussion about the need for communication about the role and purpose of the PC.
During Committee Spotlights, to increase visibility of PC, committee chairs could mention which cluster they are in during their presentation. Or, the PC liaison for that committee could do the spotlight.
PC members could make some of the announcements during the Sunday Worship Service, like the Board members are doing.
PC & Board members record a conversation to highlight the roles of each. To explain what falls to each governing body.
Do a fun skit to show congregants where to go to get their questions answered.
Cluster Group Updates:
Operations: Because of COVID the building is not as busy. Small groups of people are entering the building, mostly on weekends, to do maintenance work and paint. All are following the COVID Task Force policy, which was publicized to the entire congregation. The sign-in and sign-out sheets for people in and out of the building will be saved for several months. It is very important to adhere to all of the COVID policies, especially the sign in and sign out procedure which could be used for contact tracing.
The Building committee chair made a list of all the work that needs to be done and will organize it so that small groups can work in the building to accomplish the work.
The Communications Committee and staff got a training on how to make updates to the website.
Congregational Life: Caring Committee chair agreed that a Pastoral Care Team could be a subcommittee of the Caring Committee.
Justice & Outreach: People have been actively working on Vote Forward and UUtheVote and phone banking. Volunteering with Second Harvest is going well.
Sunday Services: Music is doing wonderfully. Worship committee has added a few people but need more help. They have standardized some of the tech issues of the service so things are going more smoothly.
Faith Formation: Welcomed a new DRE. C-groups are in need of a coordinator; some of the existing groups are struggling. Rev. Brian hopes to meet with leaders of C-groups in the next few months for training. Tovis suggested looking in to a Chapel service that would be separate from the Sunday service. It would be a 30 minute service for families.
Mapping out the programming for The Learning Journey is ongoing with 4 Adult RE committee members. Plans are for 5 areas of programming for Spring and possibly connecting with UUSM.
Governance: Rev. Brian reported that as of September the Fellowship is in better financial shape than expected. There is an effort to bring a group together to brainstorm doing year-round stewardship. The Board wants to clarify our tax-exempt status regarding political endorsement. UUFRC can advocate around policies but not endorse a specific candidate. The Google doc from the UUA about political advocacy will be shared with PC.
Personnel committee is working on a “one pager”. They need volunteers for their committee who have HR experience.
Action Items:
Tovis –set up a meeting with Board and PC leadership to discuss clarifying functions of both bodies and familiarizing congregation with PC.
Alex – contact the UUSJ founder of the Program Operations Council (Madeline Morrow) to glean insights of how their council works.
Alex – post the SAQ and organization chart to the website.
Marina – confer with the Communications Committee regarding the Administrator making a page on the website with PC documents and information, including photos of PC members labeled with their cluster groups.
Tovis – talk to DRE Lillian Svec and the YaF committee about a Chapel service possibility.
Marina – thank the C-group leaders and encourage them to take the training that Rev. Brian will provide in the next few months.
Rev. Brian – upload the 21 page document about advocating for political policies to the PC Google Drive.
Marina – ask the Communication Committee to clarify the difference in use between mailchimp and groups.io.
Next meeting: November 23, 2020
Submitted by Lori Longo