USH Board Minutes August 14, 2007

Unitarian Society of Hartford
Board of Directors Meeting
Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Minutes

Present: Bill Young, President (presiding); Heather-Ferguson-Hull, President-Elect; Margaret Leicach, Treasurer; Marye-Gail Harrison, At-Large for Spiritual Life; Karla Principe, At-Large for Community Within; Brian Mullen, Business Manager (staff); and Gail Syring, Director of Religious Education (staff).

Absent: Nina Elgo, Secretary; Rev. Barbara Jamestone – both on vacation

Vacant Position: At-Large for Social Justice

Lighting of Chalice and Opening Reading

Karla Principe read a poem by Mary Oliver as the chalice was lit.

Group Check-In

Attendees shared what is significant in their lives at present.

Comments about Northeast Leadership School (NELS)

Discussion: Heather Ferguson-Hull and Gail Syring attended NELS for a week and summarized both their experience of the program. They strongly recommended that we encourage as many of our members as possible to attend NELS as part of our leadership development initiative. This recommendation was seconded by Bill Young, who is also a NELS graduate. Heather introduced us to the ‘five finger fist’ approach to obtaining group consensus on a proposal: rather than simply voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’, members hold up 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 fingers, with 0 indicating a negative opinion and 5 indicating enthusiastic support for the proposal.

Decision: none indicated

Updates

Discussion:

Bill Young, President and for Minister

President Bill Young and Rev. Jamestone will, starting the last week in August, begin their regular weekly check-ins from 5:15 – 6:00 PM on Wednesdays. Thus, a Board member who has an issue or concern they want looked at between Board meetings can forward it to Bill by Wednesday morning.
The four Council Chairs will begin meeting as a group on September 4th.
Bill Young and Charles Huntington, Immediate Past President and Chair of the Nominating Committee have agreed that the Nominating Committee will officially expand its role to include leadership development and will form and begin its work this fall.
A four-hour, one-session Pathways class will be held this Saturday, August 18th; about four people are registered thus far. On Sunday, August 19th, new members will be welcomed during the worship service.
The curriculum materials for “Dreaming the World” program have arrived. The course includes 26 sessions over a full year. Copies will be made for Board members and at our September meeting we will decide when the program will officially start (probably December/January), to whom it will be open, who will be in charge, etc.
Bill Young circulated a copy of the UU Pocket Guide, available from the UU Bookstore for about $5.00. Members of the Pathways classes will receive a copy and Bill recommended it to those who don’t already have a copy.

Gail Syring, Director of Religious Education

The RE brochure is in development; Gail distributed copies of the current draft. She hopes to add pictures and reduce wordiness and welcomes feedback and editorial suggestions. Some version of the final product will also be on www.ushartford.com.
Classroom renovations are proceeding nicely. All of the allocated funds have been dispersed. Anyone who can help paint is welcome to do so.
Gail Syring, Bill LaPorte-Bryan (Chair of Council on Social Justice) and John Clapp met to work on how to integrate social justice into the RE curriculum, to move the children’s participation from primarily charity (e.g. collecting money and things to donate) toward active social justice involvement.
The “Curriculum Showcase” last Sunday attracted six attendees. 160 invitations were sent to families shown in the database as having RE-aged children. Board members expressed that – based on past experience and the fact that this is August – this was a good turnout. This event focused on teacher recruitment, and future similar events will focus on outreach to parents of potential enrollees, including those outside of the congregation.
About half of the RE teachers for this year’s program have been identified, which is about average for this point in the run-up to opening day. Gail is optimistic about getting all teachers in place and anticipates that it will require some hard work to get there.
Deb Levering, the District RE Consultant, will be here in early September to assist with the start-up of this year’s RE program at USH.
Teacher training is scheduled for September 8th.
Based the stress teachers have reported in trying to carry out curriculum as written, Gail is encouraging teachers to use a more organic approach, selecting particular activities that seem to engage the children in the class.

Brian Mullen, Business Manager

We have a new copier that can copy in color, scan and email documents, track users, and has other improved printing capability that will permit Brian to improve the quality of many of our publications and do so more efficiently.
We have a new folding machine that will also improve both quality and efficiently in our publications.
The photo directory is nearly finished. With our new equipment and software, we are able to do this in-house for the first time.
David Newton (Chair of Communications SubCouncil) will continue to edit the content of The Messenger and Brian will take over responsibility for the layout. Expect a new look for the layout, which will be done in Publisher and which may be translated in some form into the on-line version.
Sue Kinney, as part of her Stewardship SubCouncil responsibilities, is heading up the coordination of our various ‘people lists’: members, directory entries, and mailing lists. Steps in the process include: (1) getting clear, consistent definitions of who is to be included in each category, (2) identifying the ‘core people data’ that we want to collect, and developing a consistent process to keep all lists updated.

Decision: none indicated

Treasurer’s Report

Requested Revision to Budget Format

The proposed 07-08 budget attached to the Treasurer’s report contains the break down of both revenue and expenses into two columns: cash and in-kind.

Finance SubCouncil

Discussion:

It has historically been difficult to maintain an active and involved Finance SubCouncil, creating an extra task for the Treasurer (recruiting and communicating with members and potential members) and leaving much of the work to the Treasurer and Business Manager and more detailed decision-making to the Board than is practical or necessary. Based on the success of the Budget Team that met to do the mid-year budget revisions in January, Margaret Leicach, Treasurer, proposed that that same group become the Finance SubCouncil for this year, and that it meet on an as-needed basis.

Decision:

The Finance SubCouncil for this year will consist of the four Council Chairs, the three At-Large Board members, senior staff, and other who may be interested in being on Finance; per the Constitution, the Treasurer chairs this SubCouncil. It will meet on an as needed basis to fulfill its constitutionally mandated responsibilities; develop and manage the budget; propose budget revisions as indicated; and develop and propose to the Board financial management policies and procedures.

Extension of time to expend money from Adult Program SubCouncil Budget

Discussion:

The Adult Programs SubCouncil requested permission to ‘carry over’ $1,500 of unexpended funds from their 06-07 budget into 07-08 to purchase a new large screen TV for the congregation. While they did spend less than budgeted, their earned income was also less than budgeted, resulting in a net $1,198 positive difference between their budget and actual financial results. As previous Board decisions have opened the door to this request, it seems appropriate to grant it.

Decisions:

Adult Programs is granted an extension until September 15th to spend up to $1,198 from their 06-07 budget for audio video equipment for the congregation.
The Finance SubCouncil is requested to develop and recommend to the Board on-going policies and procedures that will cover similar eventualities in the future in a way that is fair to all Councils and SubCouncils and is, at the same time, fiscally responsible.

Grants

Discussion:

Board members are reminded that, as a fair share congregation, USH is eligible to apply for grants from the UUA and that any such applications must be approved by the Board before they can be submitted. Information on available grants can be found at uua.org. Contact Margaret for a copy of the USH process for developing and submitting grants.

Decision: none indicated

Fiscal Year 06-07 Year-End Results and 07-08 Budget

Discussion:

We ended the fiscal year $20,266 in the black, which is $18,135 better than budgeted.
Approximately $15,000 of that went to pay expenses carried over from the 05-06 fiscal year;
We had estimated that about $16,000 of the money we received from the endowment for Ministerial Transition would be unused as of June 30, but that turned out to be only $7,206;
We ended the 06-07 fiscal year with all expenses paid, i.e. no debt to carry over into this fiscal year – for the first time in many years; and
Also for the first time in many years, pledge income exceeded what we budgeted by 6%.

Bill Young emphasized that the budget should always be a work-in-progress, as many assumptions – especially on the revenue side – have to be made in order to arrive at a balanced budget, and these need to be constantly monitored and adjusted as new information emerges. Hence the focus of this discussion was to (1) make whatever decisions are relevant at this point in time to move us forward, and (2) convey to the Finance SubCouncil the expectation that they will continue to tackle the on-going budget work and forward well-processed recommendations to the Board as indicated.

There was agreement that all Council Chairs are expecting to have to cut their budgets a bit, though some have gone farther than others in implementing this. There was also agreement that it would be more discouraging to tell Council Chairs they don’t need to reduce their budgets after all, then come back in a month or two and tell them again to reduce them. We have a variety of options on the revenue side for obtaining a balanced budget, and not all of it has to be from Council-initiated budget cuts; some of the others will require further investigation and discussion.

Decisions:

By August 15, Margaret will write a letter to Council Chairs, asking each Council to improve their bottom line number by 1% of their budget by whatever combination of expense reduction and income generation is practical.
By September 1, Brian will research the exact amount of 05-06 expenses that were carried over to be paid in 06-07 and which should, therefore, be subtracted from the $18,135 positive cash flow from 06-07 to determine how much may be considered by the Board as ‘income’ in the 07-08 budget. The $1,198 Adult Programs will spend from last year’s budget will also be deducted from that amount.
The remaining $7,206 from the Endowment’s allocation for Ministerial Transition will be applied as income in the 07-08 budget.
By September 15, Brian and Margaret will look at the current status of 07-08 pledges and, in consultation with the Stewardship SubCouncil, determine whether current pledges and/or the 06-07 pledge collection rate of 106% merit a change in the budget projections for pledge income.
By September 15, Margaret will bring the result of these efforts to the Finance SubCouncil for consideration in making potential budget adjustments and the Finance SubCouncil will make whatever budget recommendations seem appropriate to the Board.

New Business

Nominee for vacancy in position of At-Large Board Member for Social Justice

Discussion:

There is a vacancy in this position from now until June 30, 2008 due to Peg Otto’s having moved out of the area. The constitution gives to the Board the responsibility for filling the position until the next annual meeting. Important skills for both Council Chair and At-Large Board members include the ability to manage process, keep the big-picture in mind, and motivate and energize others to do the work that needs doing and the congregation to support it. Therefore, the best candidates may not be those most prominently known in the congregation for their involvement in the work of that particular Council.

Decisions:

By September 1, Bill will ask the candidate discussed to accept this temporary appointment to the Board and will notify Board members via email of the response.
By September 1, other Board members will contact Bill via email with other recommended candidates, in case the first candidate declines the appointment.

Commissioning of Audit Process

Discussion:

The constitution requires that the Board appoint an audit team to review all of the congregation’s records, both fiscal and other, and give a written report to the Board. We need to get the process going this fall so that the process can be completed in time for the Board to accept it and for it to be presented to the congregation at the June 2008 annual meeting.

Decision:

By September 1, Board members will send Bill Young recommendations for members to serve on the Audit Team.

Minister’s One-Year Evaluation

Discussion:

According to Rev. Jamestone’s contract, the Board of Directors is to evaluate her ministry at the end of her first year and at least once every three years thereafter. September 5th is the first anniversary of her employment with USH. BJ has written a self-evaluation which she has already discussed with the Committee on Ministry. We need to appoint a team to conduct the formal evaluation in September.

Decisions:

By September 1, Bill Young will forward a copy of BJ’s self-evaluation to Board members.
By September 1, Board members interested and willing in serving on the evaluation team will contact Bill Young about their interest. In addition, Bill will contact former members of the Board (last year) who’s terms ended in June.

Visioning

Discussion:

In spite of our best intentions, we did not have enough time for this discussion as long as we stuck to our agreement to end at 9:00 PM. We briefly commented on the data that Bill distributed.

Decision:

This item will be moved to the September agenda.

Process De-Briefing

Discussion:

We collectively acknowledge a tendency at times to say more about topics than we need to in order to get the work done. Sometimes, we need to spend the time discussing topics so that everyone can get up-to-speed on the topic and related information. It is our hope and expectation that the newly constituted Finance SubCouncil’s work will reduce the amount of time the Board needs to spend on detailed fiscal discussions. We think that knowing, for each agenda item, what we need to accomplish, – e.g. brainstorming, feedback, information-only, or a decision/vote – might help us focus and limit our discussion more efficiently. We think that – in order to avoid running out of time for the visioning discussion – we may need to set a specific time limit for discussion of each topic, especially those that will not require a vote/decision. Scheduling the visioning topic near the beginning of the meeting is also an option. If we don’t start right at 7:00 PM and still commit ourselves to stopping at 9:00, we really have less than two hours to carry out a two-hour agenda. Margaret thanked members for their willingness to engage the fiscal/budget discussion, and emphasized that this process is much more important than the specific numbers that result, though those, of course, need careful attention in their own right.

Adjournment

Bill Young adjourned the meeting at 9:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Margaret B. Leicach, TreasurerActing Secretary for this Meeting

Let us know of any comments, errors and corrections - thanks (revised 09/05/07)