UUFM Board Meeting

Wednesday, July 8

Minutes

 

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM via Zoom.

 

Present: Ken Moore, Suzanne Teller, Rev. Margo Rinehart, Dominique Bjorlin, Lewis Brown, Bettie Egerton, Kris Gabrielsen, Susan Marrant, Cheryl Martin, Meghan O’Flaherty, Nancy Schick

 

This was the first meeting of the newly elected Board. Outgoing Board members were also present.

 

Kris greeted the incoming Board members and invited them to watch Leadership Lab. We thanked outgoing members for their service.

 

Check-in  In addition to our regular check-in, members told all of us where they are from and how they arrived in McMinnville.

 

Leader Lab  

Discussion was brief but led to the scheduling of a fall Board retreat. The retreat will be held on September 12 at 9 AM, site to be announced. Bettie suggested we establish long-range goals. Bettie asked if we have a plan for in-person gatherings. Ken said we do not, but that outside gatherings of ten or fewer people are permitted.

 

Treasurer’s Report – Cheryl Martin

Cheryl shared the latest numbers: re our finances. Expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30 came in at around $17,000 under budget. We also received more non-pledged money than we anticipated, so we ended the year with approximately $25,900 more than expected. Our checking account balance as of June 30 was $40,713.92.

 

Pledges for the new fiscal year stand at $56,000. We have had a gain of four members, so we have a membership of sixty-three.

 

Kris noted that Judy Spinner’s house has sold, so UUFM likely will soon receive a check from her estate. 

 

We need to have an audit. Ken said that two auditors need to be nominated by the Nominating Committee.

 

Cheryl sees a need for a volunteer personnel coordinator to assist with tasks such as coordinating with the Senior Center, overseeing employee benefits, monitoring background checks… Over the years, many additional duties have been taken on by the treasurer, and Cheryl asks that we consider how to provide some assistance.

 

Cheryl will send Suzanne a description of what this personal coordinator would do. Suzanne will forward this description to Rob so he can post in the newsletter the description and a request for interested volunteers.

 

Minister’s Report

Rev. Margo gave her first minister report. Rev. Margo will be in town from July 13-19 and August 1-16. She has established virtual office hours and will be doing pastoral care this month. She hopes to be able to meet with “really small” groups and hopefully group size will be able to be increased.

 

Approval of Minutes

We agreed that we need to have minutes of the previous months Board meeting formally approved. Cheryl moved and Suzanne seconded the motion to approve the June Board meeting minutes. The vote to approve was unanimous.

 

Minister Salary and Housing

After reviewing her McMinnville housing expenses, Rev. Margo asked for a change in the split between salary and housing, so that her housing allowance will be $9,600.

 

Suzanne moved that the Board accept the new figures for Rev. Margo’s housing allowance. Bettie seconded the motion and the motion was passed unanimously.

 

Minister Transition Team and Committee on Shared Ministry.

Suzanne asked if the transition team will be guiding the transition to COSM. In the past members of the transition team served on the shared ministry committee. Ken asked for an assessment of the transition team’s work. Ken also asked if the Minister Transition Team would consider exploring how its members can assist with two-way communication between the congregation and Rev. Margo. Susan said she would take this to the team for its consideration. Susan, Suzanne, and Ken will collaborate to give guidance as to how we should proceed with the transition to COSM.

 

 

 

By-laws Change

We still need to change the by-laws in order to be able to have co-chairs on the Board. Cheryl and Bettie will look at how this change should be worded.

 

Sanctuary Spirit Service: How do we gather, grow, and give?

This issue was tabled, however some discussion ensued about how members can gather. 

 

UUFM Board Secretary

Nancy is concerned that there is an imbalance between the number of men and women who have been Board secretary. We do not know what the breakdown has been. Nancy wondered whether more men have served as Board chair but fewer as secretary. We discussed gender distribution in both jobs. Kris added that the nominating committee is aware of gender balance when making nominations.

 

Robert’s Rules of Order

We had a brief discussion on how much we should adhere to Robert’s Rules. We will examine this further at the fall retreat.

 

Other:

Suzanne asked for submissions for the newsletter.

We will take a Board photo at the next meeting.

 

The next meeting will be August 12 at 6:30 via Zoom. We briefly discussed moving the meeting night to Tuesday.

 

Submitted by Nancy Schick, Secretary.