Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia

Board of Trustees

Minutes of June 21, 2017 Meeting

Attendance

Phil Turner (President), Richard Culler (President Elect), Sandy Chubon (Secretary).  Members at Large: Donald Griggs, Emilio Perez-Jorge, Cheryl Soehl, Tim VanDenBerg.  Patty Drews (Past Co-President), Rev. Jennie Barrington, Joe Long (Chair, Finance Committee).

Guests: Linda Brennison, Rod Brown, Mary Maclachlan, Peck Drennan.

Absent: Marc Drews, Bob Whitaker, Joan Watterson.

Call to Order

Phil Turner called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM and presented a reading.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes of the May 17 meeting were approved with two corrections.

Reports

The minister’s and the administrator’s reports were accepted.

Treasurer’s Report

Our total revenue at the end of May was $14,430 above projections.  We currently have a positive variance  $24,400+.

Committee Reports

                Technology Services   Donald Griggs reminded trustees that those leaving the board will lose their board e-mail accounts.  He encouraged those folks to relocate the items they want to keep.

Building & Grounds   The electrical system has been modified for the kitchen area.  Several new circuits were created.

Membership  had a good meeting with Rev. Jeff Liebmann when he was candidating.

Finance   The budget is essentially balanced.  No one informed the staff that they would not get raises this year.  There was some discussion about who was responsible for doing that.

Adult RE   Emilio reported that the Ramadan dinner was very successful, about 50 people attended.

CYRE   Tim reported that the Committee and the youth group had a very good meeting with Rev Jeff.

UUCC Governance   This ad hoc committee is finishing their work this week.  Their final report was e-mailed to trustees this week.  We will discuss it at the July Board meeting; Keitha will be here to answer questions.  Richard plans to use one hour of the board retreat day to discuss how to implement it

in the coming year.

Building Renovation Committee   Richard reported that two members have offered loans for bridge financing to fill the gap between Capital Campaign collections and the ultimate cost of the renovations.

The construction plans called for using a steel beam in widening the opening between the sanctuary and the social hall as suggested in the Boudreaux Report ten years ago.  Now that it is time to implement the plan we realized that such a beam would be quite heavy and there were questions about how we could get it into the building.  The engineers have developed a new concept using a wood truss and replacing the masonry above the opening with a lighter exterior/interior wall.  The additional design and incorporation with the existing plans will take about two weeks and delays opening the project for bids.  The committee is finalizing a list of potential contractors and they would like to invite bidders instead of advertising the work publicly.  The design problems have forced a delay in the start of construction, perhaps to September 1.

Social Action   Cheryl Soehl pointed out that our congregation does not have a volunteer coordinator which makes it difficult to get people signed up for things we have committed to do, like Seeds of Hope, dinners at Transitions, etc.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Service Awards

Marc & Patty Drews have proposed that the congregation should give awards for service by members or friends.  They learned that this has been done in the past with mixed results, that many members/friends have strong feelings about the practice, and some are adamantly opposed to the idea.

NEW BUSINESS

Approval of Committee Chairs

The following were approved as committee chairs or program group leaders.  Membership: Nancie Shillington-Perez & Buzzie Kelly, Personnel: Marc Drews, Shared Ministry: TBD by Rev Jeff, Social Action: Laura Hartwig, Technology Services: TBD, Worship: TBD, Animal Ministry: Anita Grossman, Forum: Mike Kelly, Partner Church: Lee Minghi, Carita Barr, & Yolanda Ganong; Adult Religious Education: Dot Brown, Building & Grounds: Carolyn West, Caring & Hospitality: Sandy Chubon, CYRE: TBD, Denominational Connections: Keitha Whitaker, Finance: Joe Long, Green Committee: TBD, Leadership Development: Regina Moody, Building Renovation: Quillin Davis.

The CYRE Committee proposed having Morgan Hanes and a youth member serve as co-chairs.  The trustees did not accept that proposal because Morgan is an employee working under the guidance of the committee she would be chairing and youth members are not allowed to chair committees (UUCC Bylaws).

Appointment of Endowment Committee Member

Sej Harman’s death created a 1-year vacancy in this committee.  The Board appointed Phil Turner to serve the rest of her term.

Approval to Bid on Renovations

The Board voted to authorize the Committee on Building Renovations to select a list of reliable contractors and invite them to bid on our plans for renovations, rather than open the project to public bidding.  When the bids are reviewed the Board will have final approval of the results and will approve the contract with the successful bidder before construction begins.

Approval of Bridge Loan Contracts

The Board voted to approve two bridge loan contracts (promissory notes) with two members of the congregation.  The exact amount will be based on the gap between the cash received and the initial construction estimate, but will not exceed $25,409 for each contract.

New Chair of the Committee on Building Renovations

Richard agreed to chair this committee this year with the understanding that he would be relieved of that responsibility when he became President of the Board.  Quillin Davis has volunteered to chair the committee in the new fiscal year.  Richard will remain on the committee ex officio.  Phil Turner will no longer have an automatic role on the committee but he has agreed to continue to serve to maintain continuity.

Building Renovation Expenses

Richard reminded us that Peck is donating his professional fees for our renovation project but he does need to be reimbursed for his “out of pocket” expenses.  He has requested $2500 for the engineer’s work in redesigning without the steel beam and $309.70 for materials Peck has used.  The Board voted to reimburse him from the Capital Campaign funds.

Music Coordinator Position

Phil reported that a position description has been developed for the music coordinator.

Loan/Salary for New Minister

Joe Long reported that Rev. Liebmann has requested a loan of approximately $8000 from our endowment for the down payment on their home in Columbia.  Trustees agreed that was not feasible because our endowment is too small to allow such a depletion.

Final Interim Appraisal

Rev. Jenny reminded board members that we have one final appraisal of the interim year to complete.  She has obtained an extension on the deadline so we have until June 30 to submit our appraisal.  Blank forms were e-mailed to board members and need to be returned to Phil.  The Executive Committee and Rev Jenny will meet June 28 to compile the input to be submitted.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:24 PM.

Minutes recorded by

Sandy Chubon, Secretary