March All-Council Meeting Notes
March 29th, 2009 All Council Meeting Notes
Board of Trustees Vice President Nell Newton called the meeting to order at 1:30pm, welcomed and thanked the leadership for coming.
29 First UU Leadership Members were in attendance:
1. Derek Howard, Trustee: hk-law (at) Austin (dot) rr (dot) com
2. Michael West, Trustee: mlwesttx (at) earthlink (dot) net
3. Brendan Sterne, Young Adults Group: bsterne (at) mail (dot) com
4. Sheila Gladstone, President Board of Trustees: sglad (at) earthlink (dot) net
5. Eric Stimmel, Trustee: estimmeluu (at) earthlink (dot) net
6. Mary Ann Stafford, Congregational Care Com: mas1038166 (at) aol (dot) com
7. Mary Jane Ford, Social Action Com, Finance Com, Stewardship: mjaneford (at) grandecom (dot) net
8. Elizabeth Gray, Grounds Com, Nominating Com; egray88 (at) hotmail (dot) com
9. Judy Sad, Social Action Committee: jsadegh (at) yahoo (dot) com
10. John Keohane, various leadership positions: Keohane (at )prodigy (dot) net
11. Cris Cunningham, Forum Committee: crisc714 (at) sbcglobal (dot) net
12. Mike Le Burkien, Worship Services Com, Adult RE, senechal18 (at) aol (dot) com
13. Jeanette Swenson, Membership Committee: jeanetteswenson (at) yahoo (dot) com
14. Edward Balaguer, High School Youth Group
15. Phil Hastings, Trustee: phastings (at) farharbor (dot) com
16. Sean Hale, Executive Director: sean (at) austinuu (dot) com
17. Eugene Balaguer, Finance Com: eugenebalaguer (at) gmail (dot) com
18. Luther Elmore, BOT Treasurer: treasurer (at) austinuu (dot) com
19. Ann Edwards, Paradox Players: annann (at) austin (dot) rr (dot) com
20. Bill Edwards, Stewardship: edwards (at) world (dot) oberlin (dot) edu
21. Gary Bennett, Denominational Affairs with Amy:
22. Amy Bennett: gbennett12 (at) austin (dot) rr (dot) com
23. David Mathis, Information/Technology Com: kdmathis (at) austin (dot) rr (dot) com
24. Andi Windham, Webmaster/Website Com: adwindham (at) earthlink (dot) net
25. Emily Wethington, Fellowship Committee: ewethington (at) austin (dot) rr (dot) com
26. John Payne, Facilities Committee: j.b.payne (at) earthlink (dot) net
27. Lara Douglass, Director of Religious Education: lara (at) austinuu (dot) com
28. Shannon Vyff, Secretary BOT, Children’s Programming Com, shannonvyff (at) yahoo (dot) com
29. Nell Newton, Vice President BOT, nell.e.newton (at) gmail (dot) com
Brent Baldwin our Music Director was not able to attend due to car troubles but will review the notes and give his regular Music report at the next board meeting.
Media Committee needs volunteers- no one is currently available to convert Forum videos for PACT. Aaron is not available as much to record sermons.
Website- we have the ability for online registrations and payments, but we need to get back-ups working again and for this a new domain is needed. Currently members or visitors are able to make donations or pledges on-line.
David Mathis is working on a project that is looking at all of our current systems and how to make them more efficient. He is meeting with various committees see what their net needs are. The goal is to match up our largest web user communities with our integral church communities such as Religious Education, Membership, Stewardship, Finance and Office Staff. Right now David is working on having the website make things work better together. Currently many of our systems are incompatible, so slowly things are being made compatible as this will save time in the future. Our current system of documenting needs analysis, as it is taking too much time the way it is. The way things are going it will probably take spring and summer trying to keep within approved budget. There is a lot of redundant data entry, as things become more compatible some of this will be alleviated.
General Assembly Gary Bennett spoke about General Assembly. FUUCA is a large church that could cast as many as 13 delegates cast votes per the amount of members we have. Gary and Amy Bennett will be going, as well as a few others who have volunteered and will be paying their own way, but we’ve not yet had 13 volunteer, so absentee voting might be possible. If you are interested in attending contact Gary for more information. Keep an eye out on our newsletter as Gary will update there after finding out more. He is looking into such things as; A. who will be going for our church and B. if absentee voting is allowed. He is also looking into the process of how or if delegates should be instructed how to vote. Gary will try to get information about the UUA presidential candidates into the gallery. It looks like there are 4 delegates currently that will attend on behalf of FirstUU. John Keohane might be willing to attend. The Spring conference is in Memphis.
Stewardship Committee Bill Edwards spoke about the newly started Spring Stewardship Campaign that is helping close the $100,000.00 shortfall. Stewardship has sent out letters to our members and is calling everyone. They want church leadership to contribute to their Stewardship training session. These are all the short-term goals. The medium-term goal is to set up infrastructure for our Fall Stewardship Canvas. The long-term goal is to change our church culture from parsimony to abundance and generosity. Michael LeBurkien asked if we are trying to take on too much, and Bill isn’t sure, Bill said he did do this before in the budget crisis of 2000. Cris suggested letting people know that they can do one-time donations instead of just upping their pledge. Mary Jane Ford said that we now have $23,000.00 raised toward the $100,000.00 gap. It was pointed out that a one-time donation of $250.00 per family will close our shortfall.
Paradox Players- Ann Edwards passed out notes covering Paradox Players contributions to the church over the past year and projected for the next. They are offering to put a few thousand into an office redesign. Currently the main church office is hard to work in as it is full of distractions, a well-planned re-design can increase worker productivity. David Mathis would like to help with the office redesign. Paradox Players next production is to try out a two person historically based play, everyone is invited to come check it out.
Treasurer Luther Elmore said we are still in critical situation as our endowment accounts are continuing to lose value due to stock market losses, but the good news is that our investments have still beaten the market’s overall average. Nell asked if now was good time to transfer assets and the Investment Committee has been looking into that, they will give a report to the board on what they find.
Finance Committee chair Eugene Balaguer has been working on the development of an accurate cash flow chart. Finance Committee is working with Luther and Sean to develop the contingency plans that will be presented to the Congregation at our Spring Congregational meeting. Different options will be presented for the congregation to vote on for what options to implement if cash flow does not improve. It is paramount to create an accurate cash flow projection as our church has not had one in the past, we also need to improve our accounting. Sean saw this before he came on as Executive Director and our Finance Committee is working on accomplishing this now. Finance Committee is thinking of changing their meeting time to just before the regular board meeting.
Executive Director Sean Hale spoke about his 6-7 months at First UU, there have been some great improvements even amidst some great challenges. One of the largest challenges has been people’s expectations of staff vs. staff’s ability to respond right now. Things have gotten a lot better since a new office administrator has been found. Sean’s priority has been to make solid permanent changes instead of patchwork fixes of whichever “fires” are presenting themselves. Efficiency is a priority and will free up the time to do new things. After all the new systems are in place that are compatible and the staff training is done, there will be a higher output from the office. Already the newsletter has been upgraded; Linda has been doing a great job with this. A new security policy is in place and the finances that have been hard to read are being put in order. Currently Natalie has been spending 20 hours of her time each week just into managing our rental properties. Better software is being put in place that will significantly reduce the amount of time she spends on managing church rental space. Natalie is working on our key situation, a new key policy in place and the work now is to find out who exactly has keys and then implement the new key policy.
Trustee Phil Hastings said this was his last All Council Meeting since he’ll be off the board in May. He’s looking forward to seeing the new board up and running, and to continue to help with various church roles.
Youth Group Edward Balaguer said there is an active high school group and they would love for more church members to come be mentors. Youth Service is this Mother’s Day, he invited everyone to come see it. The Youth Group would like to be more visible so they are moving their meetings from 6:30pm in the evening on Sunday, to 2:30pm to 4:30pm in the hopes that more church members can come attend their meetings. If anyone is interested in being a volunteer with the youth and they do not have a background check, they can get one from the DRE’s office. Contact Lara if you would like to work with the teens. U-U has a youth camp over the summer and needs more advisors that will come work with them. To be a teen advisor you have to be over 25 years old, with no criminal background.
Membership Jeanette Swenson spoke on behalf of the Membership Committee. This month the Meet&Eat will be the 4th Wednesday instead of the third, April 22nd. Women who attended the International Convocation of UU Women recently held in Houston will be presenting at our First UU Meet&Eat about their experiences. Women who attended from the Live Oak and Wildflower UU congregations will be on hand to give their experiences as well. Connections Fair has done well the past few years and is planned for Sept. 13th from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Mark your calendars and start planning now for your committee to attend. Contact Membership for more information about Connections Fair if you want to attend. The Board asked Membership to come up with Bylaws changes for the way we count members at First UU. Our church pays about 65 dollars per member to UUA each year and some churches have this amount as a minimum donation by members. The costs for normal operations in our church are $1500.00 a family, which would translate to $125.00 monthly pledges per family. Although UUA guidelines recommend a donation of 5% of one’s income, we also support whatever a family can donate without creating a hardship. Our membership numbers have been down for the beginning of ‘09.
Worship Services Committee Mike Le Burkien spoke on behalf of Worship Services Committee. All Sundays are now filled through September! Lay Leaders are also scheduled! Thanks to the wonderful members of the Worship Services Committee and special thanks to Carol Ginn for setting up most of the bookings. Brent has been doing the Music. Brian Ferguson developed lay leader rules while he was here, and they have been working well. Nell complemented the Worship Services Committee that had just been newly created and has done such an amazing amount of high quality work.
Public Affairs Forum Cris Cunningham spoke on behalf of Public Affairs Forum, there have been many engaging speakers from our larger community. Kinky Friedman will be speaking on April 19th. This next Sunday the Robot Group will be demonstrating robots on the stage. The forum has been very full this year, and has taken in a fair amount of money during its collections. Nell let Cris know that if Forum needs help from Security (or if any committee does) to let them know.
Social Action Judy spoke on behalf of Social Action and invited members to the upcoming Hands on Housing Event April 18th. There was a great First UU turn out at the recent Austin Area Inter-religious Ministries’ CROP Walk. For more information about Social Action events join the Social Action yahoo group that is listed at our church website.
Thank you to David Kowalski for donating a large television to our church.
Nominating Committee Elizabeth Gray spoke on behalf of nominating committee. They have been working hard to fill many committees. Helping Hands, Congregational Care and others have gotten a lot of new members.
Grounds Elizabeth Gray also spoke on behalf of grounds. Everyone is encouraged to attend an upcoming grounds workday, there are activities for all ages. Dave Mathis’s son will be doing an Eagle Scout project of over-hauling the garden by the sanctuary windows. This is something that has needed an overhaul for years, currently there are a lot of nice looking weeds in the space. A church member who has landscaping experience has offered to help with the design.
Sack Lunch/Social Action Mary Jane said the Sack Lunch program is going well; about 30 lunches are made each night. Mary Jane was the treasurer for many years and on finance committee, she did a quick calculation for stewardship since she’d last spoke on behalf of stewardship and wanted to give her updated figure—39 people have upped their pledges and we are 25% towards our goal—she encouraged 100% of leadership to up their pledges or to consider a generous one-time donation.
Congregational Care Committee Mary Anne said that Congregational Care is doing well. Our church has hosted 3 freeze nights since the beginning of the year with 50 homeless housed and fed home cooked meals each time. Congregational care needs volunteers to drive people to appointments and to take meals to homebound people. The Soup Covenant group has agreed to supply soup to the congregational care committee. She thanked Michael and Lynne West for the freezer they donated, now more prepared meals can be stored. Congregational Care is looking for a coordinator to get announcements out. Anyone that is interested in helping with congregational care can sign up in the gallery on Sundays. There are many jobs that would only require one hour a week, the amount you help can be structured so as to not overwhelm you. Michael West and Nell Newton thanked Mary Ann for her work with Congregational care and noted that the need is great for the committee, they were both heartened to see 29 people attend the first congregational care meeting in January. The next congregational care committee will be April 19th.
Facilities John Payne spoke on behalf of facilities. Things are getting fixed. The sanctuary foyer AC is being downsized for efficiency. The sanctuary AC is also 30 years old and will likely need to be replaced soon. It is great that the roof is all new, but there are plenty of things to watch out for. Any members who have experience with handwork and would like to help fix things around the church are encouraged to contact John.
Trustee Eric Stimmel invited everyone to come hear the report church consultant Peter Steinke will be giving next Saturday at 9:00am. He said that the Bridgebuilding has been going well and the board is looking forward to what action is recommended by Dr. Steinke. Ours is the 200th church in crisis or transition that he has worked with, if anyone is interested in his work they can also read the many books he has written on church systems. A DVD of the Dr. Steinke’s report will be available through our church bookstore after the presentation.
President Sheila Gladstone says she has been working on transition issues. The executive board will be meeting next Tuesday to get all the items for the Congregational meeting finalized. The mailing for the congregational meeting will need to be sent out before the next regular board meeting, so the executive board meeting is the deadline for getting anything included. She help with the transition to the new board.
Young Adults Group Brenden Sterne just attended the UU Young Adults Ministry Conference in Houston last week. Aaron White our summer minister from last year was one of the organizers of the conference. Brenden learned a lot of things that cross committees here in our church, ways to get people more involved. Sheila asked Brenden if he can bring a report to the board at the next board meeting, and he agreed to do so. Luther thanked Brenden for circulating the words of wisdom from “The Purpose Driven Church” by Rick Warren.
Trustee Michael West is the board liaison for the Interim Minister Task Force. The complete application to UUA describing our available position is due April 15th. The Task Force has to put the salary, the length of time and what our congregation is looking for on the application so that UUA can make a better match. UUA will usually match up 3 candidates from all the available Interim ministers and will give us the opportunity to review them and choose, or ask for a new slate of recommendations. The normal start time is September 1st and that is our goal for ’09. The Task Force is recommending a 2-year placement. Garry Bennett, Nancy Bene, Chris Jimmerson, Dale Witaker-Lewis, Gary Beach and Brian E. from music as staff representation, are all on the Task Force, you can talk to any of them for what you would like to see in our Interim Minister. Also there is a survey on our website where you can say what priorities you’d like to see in our Interim Minister, the deadline to fill it out is April 9th. The board voted on a $100,000.00 package for the Interim Minister. John Weston from UUA will be our “match maker”. Bill Edwards of stewardship, asked what will happen if the budget gap is not filled in. Sheila gave an overview of the contingency plans that will be presented to the congregation at the congregational meeting for voting, they will be sent out to the congregation for review first in the congregational meeting mailing. Michael said that as soon as April 29th we may have our first set of matches to look over. We’ll be giving Dr. Steinke’s report to our congregation to the Interim minister, along with our board documents and various documents relating to the dismissal and the current divisions in our church and healing processes. UUA has resources on the national website about the Interim process, as well as a video. Our church fits into the “betrayed congregation” category. The questions our congregation choose as priorities through the on-line survey will be given to the potential Interims along with all the documents about what our church has been going through so we can hear from the potential Interims what their plans for our congregation will be.
Religious Education Shannon Vyff gave an update on children’s RE. The Seder dinner registration is on-line and the dinner will be next Saturday, with a matzah ball making party this coming Friday from 2 to 5 at church. The children’s RE classes are all going well. The Children’s Programming Committee meets the last Sunday of the month at 1:00pm and is looking for volunteers to help with the planning of next year’s family events. If you’d like to join contact Shannon or come join a meeting. Mike LeBurkien gave an update on adult RE, they’ve started the Spiritual Movie night again and the last one was well attended with many members of leadership in attendance as well. The movie night even made a small profit which will help cover the popcorn, drinks and snacks costs.
Fellowship Emily Wethington is the co-chair of Fellowship. People have come to Fellowship since it has just gotten volunteers, with a bunch of stuff that they want done. The chairs of Fellowship know that none of these things are emergencies and they’ll be help where they can. They will be focusing on activities that increase togetherness at our church and will make sure they structure things so that they do not get overburdened. They will be learning how to make coffee and run the kitchen equipment for starters. Committees can come to them for help when planning their own events and parties.
Men’s Group Michael West said that the men’s group meets the second Saturday of each month at church for a large breakfast. If anyone is interested in attending contact Michael West or Eric Stimmel for more information.
Solar Panels Luther Elmore said that we are only waiting for the city to turn on the switch. Sean will be coordinating a training on how to run the system with a few church members who want to help with it. As soon as the training is done we’ll be able to start making our own energy with the help of the sun.
The next All Council Meeting will be after the new board elections at the Spring Congregational Meeting. The next All Council Meting date will be set after the Executive Committee meeting.
Vice President Nell Newton adjourned the meeting at 3:35pm
and again thanked everyone for attending.
Notes respectfully submitted by Shannon Vyff