First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin

All Council meetings generally are held with executive and program director staff, the Chairs of church committees/groups and/or their designees once per quarter, normally on a Sunday at 1:30 p.m. You can find a listing of the All Council dates for the 2009/2010 year here:

http://www.austinuu.org/wp/category/board-docs/2009-2010-meeting-dates/

The Vice-President of the Board of Trustees establishes the agenda for meeting. If you have a request to place an item for discussion/presentation on the agenda, please send an email to the Vice-President at vicepresident@austinuu.org and copy the Secretary at secretary@austinuu.org. Whenever possible, such requests should be sent to the Vice-President by noon on the Friday one week prior to the meeting along with any written materials to be distributed related to the topic. Please provide an estimate of the time that will be required to discuss the agenda item.

Generally, church committees, groups and programs will be asked to provide any major update on their activities. Time is often very limited for such reports and you are encouraged to submit them in writing ahead of time so that persons planning to attend may read them ahead of time, making a verbal report at the meeting optional. Written reports should be submitted to the Secretary at secretary@austinuu.org by noon on the Friday one week prior to the meeting.

Thanks to everyone for their work supporting our church!

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin

All Council Meeting Notes from January 10, 2010, 1:30 P.M.

Attending: (See Appendix A)

Call to order and Welcome:

The Vice-President of The Board of Trustees (VP) welcomed those present.

Reading/Lighting of the Chalice: The Interim Minister (IM) presented the reading and the VP lit the chalice.

Overview: The VP briefly reviewed the agenda for the meeting (Appendix B, Page 1).

Introductions: The attendees introduced themselves and what committees and groups they were representing (see Appendix A).

Upcoming Visits from UUA Representatives and Covenant Work:

The IM noted that the Transition Team would be giving the next Sunday service based on common themes and threads from the church timeline on which the congregation had noted their proudest church moments, disappointments and dreams for the future upon.

She announced that Stephan Jonasson, Director for Large Congregations for the UUA, would be giving the sermon on January 24 on Covenants of Right Relationship, after which the Transition Team would be holding a series of small group discussions on developing a covenant at First UU Austin. Dr. Jonasson would also be presenting a workshop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 23 on what to do to be ready to call a settled minister. Church members could contact the IM by phone or email to RSVP, and lunch would be provided for five dollars.

The IM also announced that Gini Courter, Chief Governance Officer and UUA Moderator, would be visiting the church the week of March 10^th.

The IM noted that she and several members of the Board of Trustees would be attending a session with the Board of Trustees of the UUA in San Antonio on January 16 from 3 to 5 p.m. This session would be for the UUA board to hear from the congregations they represent, a process known as linkage.

The IM noted that the sign up sheets for participating in covenant sessions would be available immediately after the sermon on January 24 and that the sessions would run for the next two weeks. Anyone who might be interested in hosting a session should contact the minister. She noted that work on a covenant for All Council would occur between this meeting and the next.

Policy Governance Update:

The Secretary of the Board of Trustees noted that he is a part of the Bridge Builders Action Team that also includes Margaret Borden, Brendan Sterne, Janet Newman and Sean Hale. The team was formed to address most of the issues identified by the congregation in the Bridge Builders Action Report through moving the church toward a system of governance know as policy governance. This system would be a means to unite church structure (policy) and church decision making (governance) with our values, purpose and vision.

He gave an overview of Policy Governance and its potential benefits, how the system might work on a broad level (Appendix B, pages 2 through 7) and stressed that the first step in moving to policy governance would be establishing values, purpose and vision.

He noted a series of dates, starting with developing the church covenant, after which church leadership would receive training on Policy Governance and facilitating values and purpose sessions. In April, the congregation would work together in these facilitated sessions on our values and purpose (Appendix B, page 8).

Discussion:

• Inclusiveness will be vital in the process of establishing values, purpose and vision. It will be important to use as many means as possible to invite church members to participate – phone calls, email, announcements, the newsletter, etc. – treat this as a campaign.
• The church worked on a mission statement in the past that is in the bylaws and might serve as a starting point. The process of involving the congregation in establishing purpose is vital though and many current members were not a part of developing it and are not generally aware of it.
• We should set our sites on a vision of being a “shining church at the top of the hill” – a beacon for liberal religion.
• Some churches have come up with covenants, statements of purpose, etc. that were considered draft for 6 months or more to allow time to live with them and see how they work.
• It is likely that the overall church covenant will include the items that have been discussed specifically regarding membership.

Budget Update:

The Treasurer gave an update on 2009 church finances and presented a draft balance sheet (Appendix C), noting that corrections were still being made but that it was looking as if the 2009 deficit will be smaller than had been projected. He urged committee chairs to look over balances for committee funds and noted that Paradox Players had contributed $13,703 in 2009.

Discussion:

• Would it be possible for Committee Chairs to get financial statements for their committees? Answer from Executive Director — Under the old accounting system it was difficult to do this; however, a new system is being developed that should make it much easier.
• The Treasurer may be able to provide some of these reports in the next few weeks.

Upcoming Leadership Training:

Lynn Adams presented the “Harvest the Power” series of workshops that the Nominating Committee will be offering to persons interested in church leadership over the next year (Appendix D). This series offers a spiritual take on management training and will occur as 12 sessions of about 2 hours each on Wednesday evenings.

Discussion:

• Do the modules stand on their own well enough that it would be OK to miss some sessions? Answer from Lynn Adams — They are intended to be sequential, and the relationship developed between participants is important. It would be best for participants to commit to the whole series with the realistic knowledge that conflicts might come up. The schedule could also be discussed.
• Does this cost money? Answer from Nominations — No, the modules are from the UUA website.
• Are these leadership-training sessions a church priority? A board priority? Answer from Board Secretary and others — Yes, this was a priority the congregation identified in the Bridge Builders Action Plan. In adopting the plan, the board charged the nominating committee with developing them.
• The Nominating Committee will also be interviewing persons interested in serving in leadership positions soon, so please contact a member of the committee if interested in serving. The committee will also be holding a Leadership Forum at 12:45 on Sunday, January 17 to discuss the nominations process.

Calendaring Exercise:

Emily Wethington led the group in this exercise wherein upcoming church events were posted on monthly calendars for the next several months. The calendars will be posted in the volunteer office.

Discussion:

• There is a need for a prioritization process whereby scheduling of events and facilities utilization gives priority to those that most closely match church values and so that scheduling is done in a way that allows the most people to participate. Several people gave examples and the group noted the difficulties inherent in this.
• The new software system will provide online access to the calendar of church events.
• The process of moving to policy governance will help with this.

Committee Reports:

Congregational Care Committee (Pat Walters): the committee has been operating “under the radar” but will engage in several more visible activities soon:

• Greater activity from the Memorial Services Group
• The Blood Drive
• Targeted events to provide transportation for those who need it such as Easter and Christmas.

If you aware of people who are ill or experiencing grief please let the committee know.

Public Affairs Forum (Cris Cunningham): The forum has had great speakers and good attendance and has been collecting more than in the past from donations given at the forum. Cris presented a document of upcoming dates and speakers but asked that it not be made public as some of it was still tentative.

Meet and Eat (part of Membership Committee) (Jeanette Swenson): Meet and Eats are the third Wednesday evening of each month and feature discussions on different issues and groups:

• January – Paradox Players
• February – New church members
• March – to be determined
• April – Purpose and Values Session

Please let Jeanette know if you have potential topics.

Membership Committee (Jacob Williamson): The membership committee is working on an Easter party and a Spring Connections Fair. Jacob announced that current membership stood at 560 and that 67 people had become members in the last year.

Children’s Programming Committee (Vicky Bailey Miller): Sixty-five people attended the Halloween Party, 65 attended for Thanksgiving and 120 came to the Christmas Pageant. The committee needs volunteers!

RE (Lara Douglas): Lara presented a list of dates to remember (Appendix E). Volunteers are needed to help repair the children’s’ playground.

Denominational Affairs (John Keohane): The committee needs members (see page 15 in Appendix B). The UUA General Assembly will be in June. See the UUA website. Thanks to all involved in setting up purchases from the UUA bookstore.

Sack Lunch Program (Mary Jane Ford): Please see page 17 of Appendix B for statistics. Volunteers pay for a large part of this program. They meet on Monday nights and are divided into teams.

Social Action Committee (Corinna Whiteaker-Lewis): Please see the report on pages 16 and 17 of Appendix B. We will be holding an open meeting at 1 p.m. on January 17 to discuss alternatives to split the plate and will have information on the hunger walk soon.

Finance Committee (Stephan Windsor): It is encouraging that 2009 may end essentially balanced after projecting a large deficit. We should hold out hope that we can exceed revenue expectations in 2010.

IT/Media Committee (Becky Moon): We are working with Sean to implement new software from a local company that is used by large churches and several UU churches. It will make membership and facilities scheduling available online and we expect it to be ready to use by the summer.

IT (Aaron Osmer): Aaron has trained his replacement for videoing services and they hope to have streaming video available soon.

Interim Ministry (Janet Newman): Information of Stephan Jonasson’s visit will be in the announcements sheet. Please RSVP early. The Interim Minister will be at a ministers’ retreat January 25 through 28 and also out of town January 20 and 21, returning the evening of the 22^nd. We are working on gathering the lay leaders into a more cohesive group, perhaps using Yahoo Groups to coordinate.

Worship Services Committee (Carol Ginn): The Worship Services Committee will be gearing up again this Spring after enjoying a break during Janet’s tenure.

Facilities Committee (John Payne): In the committee’s mailbox there are two binders for submitting requests for work on the building.

Men’s Fellowship Breakfast (Michael West): We are meeting every second Saturday morning – whoever gets here first, start cooking!

Paradox Players (Chris Jimmerson on behalf of Ann Edwards): There is a full written report on page 14 of Appendix B. Paradox Players is upgrading the stage and house lighting in Howsen Hall. The new stage lighting will be much more flexible and allow greater effects for plays and forums. The new house lighting will be bright enough to be used with the fluorescent lights turned off and will have several settings on a fader switch such as “movie” or “dinner”.

Stewardship Committee (Bill Edwards): The Stewardship Committee is continuing the process of creating a culture of generosity in the church. The 2010 canvass raised $450,000+. See Appendix F for more information,

Website/Library (Andi Windham): Andi introduced Peter Roll, who is helping with the website. They are working on a new look for the website. The library committee is working on getting it ready for a grand opening soon.

Joys/Concerns/Follow-Ups:

The VP noted that the format of the meeting had been based upon comments received after the last All Council meeting and requested that folks continue to send him their ideas for these All Council meetings.

The Secretary noted that further information and resources for learning about Policy Governance could be found on pages 11 through 14 of Appendix B.

The VP asked that presenters email their reports to the Secretary.

Michael West thanked all who had presented for coming well-prepared.

With no further business, the VP adjourned the meeting.

Respectfully Submitted,

Chris Jimmerson

Secretary

Appendix A — Attendees

Lynn	Adams	Harvest the Power Leadership Training
Gary	Bennett	Denominational Affairs, Fellowship, Forum, Paradox Players
Margaret	Borden	BoT, Bridge Builders Action Team
Cris	Cunningham	Forum
Lara	Douglas	RE
Ann	Edwards	Paradox Players
Bill	Edwards	Stewardship
Luther	Elmore	Treasurer, BoT
Mary Jane	Ford	Social Action Sack Lunch Coordinator
John	Franks	Tech (web, forum, web streaming)
Carol A.	Ginn	Worship Services
Sean	Hale	Executive Director
Derek	Howard	BoT
Chris	Jimmerson	Board, Paradox Players, Bridge Builders Action Team
John	Keohane	Denominational Affairs
Mike	LeBurkien	Adult RE, Nominating, Forum
David	Mathis	IT
Vicky Baily	Miller	Childrens Programming
Becky	Moon	Media
Janet	Newman	Interim Minister
Carol	Olewin	Denominational Affairs, Facilities
Aaron	Osmer	Tech., YRUU, BoT
John	Payne	Facilities, Building, Grounds
Jynne	Rivera	Observing
Peter	Roll	Website
Eric	Stimmel	Vice-President, BoT
Jeanette	Swenson	Membership, Meet and Eat, Nominations
Pat	Walters	Congregational Care Committee
Michael	West	Bot, Men’s Fellowship Breakfast
Emily	Wethington	Fellowship
Corinna	Whiteaker-Lewis	Social Action
Jacob	Williamson	Membership
Andi	Windham	Website, Library
Stephan	Windsor	Finance

Appendix B — Agenda, Policy Governance, Paradox Players, Denominational Affairs and Social Action Reports

Appendix C — Draft 2009 Balance Sheet

Appendix D — Harvest the Power Leadership Training Reports

Appendix E — RE Save the Dates

Appendix F — Stewardship Committee Report

Appendix G – Written Reports from Music, Adult RE and Nominating not Presented Verbally at Meeting Also, see below from the Grounds Committee:

1. Sanctuary Garden:  workdays continue to complete the renovation of the Sanctuary Garden.  A number of folks have pitched in with work days, plus special help from Paige Hill (design) Lynn Adams (funding of pots-as-fountains) and David and Karen Matthis (funding of dirt, possibly plants and fountain innards).
2. Rebidding lawn and garden contracts to conform with reduced budget, with help from Barb Denny.  Contract emphasis will be on maintaining the front (eastern end) of the church, and reducing frequency of maintenance of the back (western end, grass parking lot).

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin

All Council Meeting Notes

From October 11, 2009

Attending: See Appendix A

Welcome

The Vice-President (VP) of the Board of Trustees welcomed those present. The Interim Minister provided a reading and the VP lit the chalice. The VP covered the following:

• Thanks to Emily Wethington for providing the terrific lunch.
• Please sign in on the sheets being passed around
• A time keeper will be keeping time so please adhere to time limits specified on the agenda and emphasize new activities and the needs of your committee or group.
• There will be time for “offline” discussion after the meeting.

Committee/Department Updates 

Stewardship Committee (Bill Edwards): See Appendix B.

Tech. Committee and YRUU (Aaron Osmer): The YRUU forums are going well. The committee is figuring out what to do with the donated speakers. The tech. committee is recruiting folks to train to record Sunday services. YRUU has a new advisor – Scott Butki. YRUU has many new members and needs advisors for Sundays, as well as advisors and drivers for rallies. 

Paradox Players (Ann Edwards): See Appendix C.

Worship Services Committee (Carol Ginn): After a busy nine months from January through August, the committee has enjoyed having a breather during September and October, since Janet has been taking care of all aspects of the worship service. In November we will begin scheduling guest speakers about once a month, through May.  We have a large pool of speakers that we identified between January and August, so we are in good shape.

Denominational Affairs (Carol Olewin): The committee has been working on the following:

• Networking and outreach with other UU churches
• Sending folks to the District Conference in November
• Meeting with other UU churches – examples are Kerville and Tulsa (largest congregation in the Southwest)
• Meeting with other UU churches in Austin – creating an “Austin Cluster)
• See also Appendix D

Nominations Committee (Jeannette Swenson): The committee has launched the Leadership Development Classes. Twenty four people attended the class held the previous week which was lead by Michael Kersey and drew in several potential new leaders. The next class will be Sunday, October 18 and will be on the mechanics of leadership. Another class will be held November 1 on a Community of Leaders. Classes are held on Sunday from 1:30 until 3 p.m. and lunch is provided for a five dollar donation. Please try to attend the Friday and Saturday evening Systems Theory lecture series next weekend. Committee leaders please look for and groom your replacement.

Nominations Committee (Mike Leburkien): We plan to hold one or more open meetings inviting the entire congregation to critique, present ideas, and ask questions.  We aim to further democracy and transparency in the way the Nominating Committee operates and thus in the governance of the larger community too. The Nominating Committee is working with other committees to keep antennae out for leaders in those committees who want to become chairpersons in areas in which they are, or feel competent, or are working toward the goal of competency. The Nominating Committee has found other church committees with overlapping areas of interest.  We intend to work and cooperate with these other committees to accomplish joint goals and to complement them.  We are doing this by sharing technology, modi operandi, space and personnel.  for. ex. we shared info. and ideas with the ARE.  Our ldrsp. training program is a model ARE program and we used ARE  guidance and techniques for organizing and gathering our spirit. This began with the Connections Fair and continues on.

Adult RE (Mike Leburkien): We are pursuing opportunities  to present two Adult RE workshops this Fall.  David Jones is offering a weekend on the Family/Church Systems Theory. It was most successful the first time.  The second time, the presentation will dig deeper into the questions and areas presented last time.  It is in a sense a graduate course, more intense and specific.  We need 20 people at $30 per student to sign up.  Friday night Oct. 16 and Sat. morning Oct. 17 are the proposed dates. Please respond tout de suite. Movie nights have been terrific, please join us for them.

The second opportunity is a Sat. morning workshop on Depression.  It is to be titled Racing from Ourselves, Anxiety and Depression in Modern Society, an upbeat view.  Upbeat, because the presenters are young positive PhD’s with solutions.  Dr. Mandy Blott and Pierre Choucroun, LPC are the interesting lecturers. Free entry.  Please respond timely. 

Regarding the Dance Groups, 2 of the 3 were gracious of our discontinuing sponsorship and thanked us.  The 3d group was miffed.  There are limited building spaces and time slots and so many demands.  Cost and income are considerations.

Childrens Programming Committee (Vicky Baily Miller): See Appendix E. 

Social Action (Corinna Whiteaker-Lewis): We have had good attendance for our projects. There is a Hands on Housing on the 24^th and 40 are enrolled. We are working on the Alternative Gift Fair for toward the end of the year. We are working with Nell on some alternative ways we might do Split the Plate. We are looking to develop measures with which to evaluate programs and looking at working Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 to 2:30 as a way of recommitting.

Membership Committee (Jacob Williamson): The Connections Fair went great. Several people have asked why we do not do these more often. The basic answer is that they consume a lot of work and resources. We are discussing smaller, quarterly welcoming fairs. The new member class to provide to new members to give them information and get them excited about getting involved is being developed to launch after the December Congregational Meeting. We plan to have a semifinal draft by November 8^th and then invite folks to a discussion of it November 21. We plan to deliver the final draft to the board on December 15.

Sub-Committee for Children’s Stories (George Denny): All is going well! 

Flowers and Indoor Plants (Barbara Denny): The 2009 flower calendar is almost full of sign ups for congregants to provide flowers for the Sunday Services. The new calendar will go up on the bulletin board in November for year 2010. When no one has signed up to bring flowers there are three nice, faux arrangements which are used. Indoor plant care will continue.  Luckily, most of our indoor plants are silk plants which require very little care and don’t require perfect light conditions to survive indoors!

IT, Website, Forum Videos (John Franks): Andi Wyndam has found a volunteer to help with the website. We are going to be adding a church bookstore page. We are looking for volunteers for recording forums and adding streaming videos of forums.

Public Affairs Forum (David Kobierowski): For October schedule, see Appendix F.

The public access station on which we have been airing our forum videos is in danger of closing. We are looking at building theme-based teams. We can go out and flyer on the forums, use Facebook, etc. Forums have had an average attendance of 80 and donations of $50 per forum. We need help with marketing the forums and would like to coordinate with other church events.

Young Adults (Brendan Sterne): We are averaging 20 to 30 attending twice per month. It is important to reach out to newcomers, avoid insider talk and make it clear that we want newcomers here.

Grounds Committee (Elizabeth Gray): We have had to cut some trees due to losses from the draught. We have been short of volunteers. The next major project is the completion of the sanctuary garden and a final design is being completed.

Fellowship Committee (Emily Wethington): The committee invites groups to contact us before setting a date for your events as we may be able to help! A tip – if you want to send flowers, send to the church first. We would like to determine what we are spending church-wide on fellowship activities, so please involve us so we can help track this.

Congregational Care Committee (Pat Walters): The committee has about 8 to 10 active participants with 30 or more who can help occasionally. We are hoping to match resources with needs. We are working on a webpage for the committee and needs lots of helping hands. Please consider joining the Joys and Concerns listserv – it is a great way to find out what peoples needs are, as well as the wonderful things that are happening. 

Music Programs (Brent Baldwin): The music programs are going well. Adult Choir membership is up as we are coaxing people back in. Childrens Choir registration is way up and we are having to stretch the budget for this. We are working to create a bridge with RE and worship. Our parent coordinator, Chris Heidel has been wonderful. We have a partnership with Austin Chamber Music as our musical guests and church members receive a 50% discount on tickets for their programs. There will be a benefit concert with Tim Woolsey for Stewardship on November 6.

Social Action Sack Lunch and U Bar U (Mary Jane Ford): We have about 35 people for sack lunches – we got several new members from the Connections Fair. For more details and for information on the U Bar U Home Coming Weekend see Appendix G.

Finance Committee: (Stephan Windsor): The Finance Committee has been working on several items including:

• Editing the Financial Assets Management Policy
• Establishing an Internal Audit Committee
• Examining issues in Quick Books
• Examining whether to change church policy on health insurance to that recommended by the UUA
• Working on the 2010 budget – have held two working sessions so far

The committee could use one or two additional members. 

Meet and Eat (Jeanette Swenson): Membership sponsors a Meet and Eat on third Wednesdays. These are a great opportunity for your group to talk with the congregation. Fellowship sponsors a Meet and Eat on first Wednesdays. Our last Meet and Eat featured the Interim Minister and the Transition Team. Attendance has gone from around 40 to over 60 on average. Upcoming topics include Radical Hospitality.

Treasurer (Luther Elmore): We are projecting about a $37,000 deficit for 2009, so please give more and spend less! For the 2010 budget, we need $600,000 from pledges to avoid cuts. The Board of Trustees and Finance Committee will be meeting on October 27 to establish the budget.

Bridge Builders Updates (Margaret Borden) 

Margaret is working on tracking whether we are meeting our goals established in the plan. There is a 5 member team working on the Mission/Vision/Values aspects of the plan and the Policy Governance aspects of it. The team has a variety of things going on and it is going pretty well but will need help with some of the other aspects of the plan. We will look at ways the council can inspire community – ways to imbed community and fellowship within groups, among groups and between groups and the larger congregation. Please bring specific ideas to Margaret.

Office/Copier Updates (Sean Hale)

The office staff has been working hard on ways to become more efficient – thanks to all for your patience and understanding. We have many, many projects going on at various stages of development. One big project is the mailroom/copy room and the new copier. The new copier is high quality and high speed and will do big projects such as the Connections Fair booklets. Black and white copies are free. Color copies are ten cents each. Please contact Natalie for training on the new copier, which take about 30 minutes. There is a smaller copier for simple, black and white copies.

Please take a look at the new mailroom as we are setting up supplies and shifting storage into it. Today we tested keeping the main office locked and directing people to the new mailroom. It went very smoothly.

We have a new Bookkeeper, Sandra King, who doing lots of cleaning up and organizing. We have begun sending out pledge statements electronically and the second set has gone out. Thank you for bearing with us as we work out the “bugs” in the system. Rental income and facilities use are way up, which is good for the life of the church and for income!

We are working on improving our system for credit card pledge payments. Two changes in how we handle these are already making a big difference – the new bookkeeper and much better electronic processing tool.

Our big goals for the near future are cleaning up financial reports and improving data systems.

Leadership Covenants (Janet Newman)

The Interim Minister thanked the groups for their invitations to her to attend their meetings. She reported that there will be some changes in the formatting and such of the newsletter as they are moving to using thematic elements for it. She reported that she will be out of town from November 8 through November 18 to attend a Ministers’ Convocation.

The Interim Minister asked the group to take a moment to reflect upon when a meeting had gone very well and how it felt. What was behind this could serve as the basis for covenants. After the group detailed some answers to these questions, the Interim Minister summarized what had been brought up that could serve as the basis for Covenant:

• Step up – Step Back – if you are not participating, step up. If you have been participating a lot, step back to let others join in.
• Safety – creating an environment where it feel safe for people to honestly state what is on their mind.
• Intentional listening for understanding.
• A sense of focus – decide the role of the Chair.
• A clear agenda that is hopefully shared ahead of time.
• Make the meeting easily available and accessible.
• Attend to bodily needs – food, etc.
• A sense of humor always helps!
• Encourage trust – have check ins.
• Maintain connections between meetings.
• Show appreciation of participants.

Follow Ups

Several attendees gave feedback for the next All Council Meeting:

• Clarify the purpose of the meeting
• Have groups submit reports in writing in advance and ask attendees to have read them before the meeting
• Put the business items of the meeting first and the committee/groups reports at the end

The Interim Minister would like volunteers to assist with developing a Congregational Covenant.

The group again thanked Emily Wethington for providing food before the meeting.

Upcoming dates:

Pre-Congregational Meeting on November 8.

Congregational Meeting on December 13.

Next All Council on January 10

A more complete listing of meeting dates is on the web:

http://www.austinuu.org/wp/category/board-docs/2009-2010-meeting-dates/

 

Appendix A

 

October 11 All Council Attendees

 

Brent	Baldwin	Music
Margaret	Borden	BoT, Bridge Builders Action Team
Barbara	Denny	Flowers and Indoor Plants, Sunday Office Staffing
George	Denny	Re Sub-committee on Children’s Stories
Ann	Edwards	Paradox Players
Bill	Edwards	Stewardship
Luther	Elmore	Treasurer, BoT
Mary Jane	Ford	Social Action Sack Lunch Coordinator, Stewardship, Finance, Denominational Affairs
John	Franks	Tech (web, forum, web streaming)
Carol A.	Ginn	Worship Services
Elizabeth	Gray	Grounds
Sean	Hale	Executive Director
Derek	Howard	BoT
Chris	Jimmerson	Secr., BoT, Paradox Players, Bridge Builders Action Team
David	Kobierowski	Public Affairs Forum
Mike	LeBurkien	Adult RE, Nominating
Vicky Baily	Miller	Childrens Programming
Janet	Newman	Interim Minister, participant in committee meetings if desired
Nell	Newton	President, BoT
Carol	Olewin	Denominational Affairs, Facilities
Aaron	Osmer	Tech., YRUU, BoT
Eric	Stimmel	Vice-President, BoT
Brendan	Sterne	BoT, Bridge Builders Action Team
Jeanette	Swenson	Membership, Meet and Eat
Pat	Walters	Congregational Care
Emily	Wethington	Fellowship
Corinna	Whiteaker-Lewis	Social Action
Jacob	Williamson	Membership
Stephan	Windsor	Finance
Laura	Wood	BoT

 

 

Appendix B

 

Stewardship

Church Council

October 11, 2009

Canvass goal:  $650,000

Balanced Budget resolution by the Board

June 12 “Visioning Meeting”

• Set the goals of “Balanced budget” and Interior Facelift and Kitchen Renovation

September 20 “Celebration in Honor of Us”

More than 400 September Pledge Statements, and a welcome letter from President Nell Newton, and the 2009 Canvass Brochure went to the post office on Wednesday, October 7. 

The Canvass is in process.

• 15 Team Leaders
• 30+ Canvassers
• Over the past 2 weeks Canvassers have chosen more than 250 “pledging units” to canvass        
  • There are about 490 pledging units
  • There are about 150 who pledged less than $100 for 2009
• Completed pledges from more than 80 pledging units to date
• The Canvass ends on Sunday, November 1, 2009

We had wanted 20 Team Leaders and 100 Canvassers and to have about 300 pledging units to have completed their pledges by October 11

Barriers and Opportunities

• Asking for money has tapped into an intense depth of feeling from many of us over Davidson’s dismissal. 
  • Some of our Members have found the call from a Canvasser to represent their first platform to voice feelings over Davidson’s dismissal.
  • Some Team Leaders and Canvassers have found themselves the focal point of negative emotions and comments.
  • A fairly typical conversation may begin with something like:  “Short of money?  What do you expect after you and the Board did such-and-such to Davidson.”

 

• The Stewardship opportunity lies in the re-integration into the FUUCA community those of us who feel distressed and disrespected.

 

Appendix C

Paradox Players – Report to Church Council

Oct 11, 2009

v  one more PP event in 2009 – Cabaret on Nov 6 & 7 – A BROADWAY MELODY                       Audience limited to 50 per performance.                                                                   Silent auction items needed – please contact Kae McLaughlin (873-8258 or   kaemc2003@yahoo.com) to donate items.                                                                                Tickets can be purchased on Sundays or online (paradoxplayers.org) – $30 Singles   and $55 couples.  This event in PP’s only fundraiser for the year.

v  100% of 2009 proceeds from the 3 plays were donated to church – estimated around $12,000 

v  Readers’ Theater Mon, Oct 12, at 7:00 in room 13 – newcomers are welcome

v  2010 Season will be PP’s 10th Anniversary!

v  February  play will be a world premiere, written by Paullette – SHARDS OF LOVE,        8 short plays of less-than-perfect love relationships of couples in different decades of life, 20’s to 90’s.

v  Annual PP Party will be January 9, 2010 – for all 2009 Season Ticket Subscribers,           all 2009 volunteers, casts and crews.  Location TBA.

Respectfully submitted by Ann Edwards,

for PP Steering Committee:

Paullette MacDougal, Artistic Director

Sherry Coombes, Chair

Chris Jimmerson, Vice Chair

Leslie Ashton, Financial Manager

Barbara Weeks, Recording Secretary

Kathryn Govier, Volunteer Coordinator

Brendan Sterne, Webmaster

Charles R. Hill, At Large

 

Appendix D

Denominational Affairs

An opportunity for YoU to find even more within the Uua

How do U and we, do this?

Conferences: SW district, SWUUSI, UUA General Assembly

                the next one is November 13-15 in Glen Rose, TX

                http://swuuc.org/pages/services/conferences/fall-leadership-conference-2009.php

Visiting other UU congregations, and maybe more

one of our members will perform, musically, later this month in Kerrville

another spoke last month to a fellowship in Texas, and the next Sunday

visited the largest congregation in the SW as “a spy from Texas”

Accessing UUA.org  

                finding the UUA Bookstore, and ordering/buying/reading books

                getting on UUA-wide yahoo discussions such as Adult-Re, Leadership,

                                Memb-l, and 550-plus

                going to Find a Congregation, then checking other church www sites, to find

                                out about them

Special committee initiatives include

                coffee with other UUs when they come to Austin

                perhaps building an Austin cluster, similar to that in North Texas, with gatherings

                promoting support for doing here, what’s already done well elsewhere

                promoting knowledge of, and support for, the UUA and the SW district et cetera

               

For more information contact any member of the committee:

                Gary Bennett, Sharon Finley, Mary Jane Ford, John Franks, John Keohane, Cyndi Louden, Carol Oelwin, or Sally Scott   or (512) 371-3853  keohane@prodigy.net

We’re still looking for church members to be active on our committee

What would You like to do on Denominational Affairs?

 

Appendix E

                                                                                                               FUUCA  9/2009

All Council Report 10/11/09

Children’s Programming Committee

September 2009 Attendance was 453 Children

(Includes all ages)

Recognition of the Teachers in the Sanctuary in September was well received and appreciated. Teacher Sundays, which allows teachers to attend services in proceeding well. Continuing education and spiritual development is important for the teachers. Interpretations of the curriculum and questions from the children can be challenging for the teachers.

Encourage Board Members and staff to periodically check in with the teachers and volunteers. Ask them, how is it going? RE programs are strengthened by the presence of other caring adults.

On that note, we have had a tremendous increase in the number of volunteers, which have been recruited both via e-mail and more importantly in person. Entire schedule is filled for October and mostly for November.

Chris Heidle’s work for Children’s Choir has been outstanding. Laine and Andrew Young’s work for Campfire is great. Hogwarts camp was terrific. Exciting upcoming seasonal activities: Halloween and Dial de los Muertos, Christmas Pageant and Fall Activities. We need your help to maintain the excellent quality of these activities.

I would also encourage parents of all children teens, middle school, nursery etc to join us for at least one CPC Meeting this year. A new concept would be to dedicate at least a part of every CPC Meeting to one group in particular each month. For example our September meeting was dedicated to children’s choir and we could have the same concept for the nursery.

I am also asking parents to provide some honest feed back to RE and becoming “Radically Involved with RE at the same time.” If there is an event or activity which really excites you, then make it your own.

Parents have already made two specific upcoming requests and that is for Child Dedication Sundays and they are asking for an OWL Class.

Action words: Training and Inclusion and Thank you.

 

Appendix F

October 2009 Public Affairs Forum Schedule

Sunday, October 4th

Joanne Richards, Lilith Fund Board of Directors and Mike Hirsch, NARAL ProChoice Texas Board Member

“What is the State of Women’s Reproductive Health in Texas”?

Texas ranks the highest state in the country in teenage births, while also ranked 1^st in abstinence-only sex education funding. Something is very wrong here in or great state. This is the sad state of affairs in TX. Joanne Richards, of the Lilith Fund Board of Directors and Mike Hirsch, Board Member of NARAL ProChoice Texas and also member of the Lilith Fund Board of Directors will join us for a thought-provoking presentation on the State of Women’s Reproductive Health in TX.

Sunday, October 11^th

Michael Mordecai, Jazz Trombonist, member of legendary Beto and the Fairlanes

“History and Fundamentals of the Music Business in the Live Music Capitol!”

Jazz trombonist Michael Mordecai is a longtime Austin musician and member of the legendary Beto and the Fairlanes. He was founder of Fable Records, Texas’ oldest Jazz record label, and in 1973 started his music agency BBA Management and Booking. Michael is also on the advisory board of the Austin Music Foundation. He’ll speak on the History and Fundamentals of the music business here in the Live Music Capitol!

Sunday, October 18^th

Texas Senator Kirk Watson

“Eleven TX State Constitutional Amendments; How Will You Vote on Nov. 3^rd”?

Did you know there are 11 TX State Constitutional Amendments that Texas registered voters have an opportunity to vote on Nov. 3^rd? What are these amendments? How are you going to vote on them? Join the Austin League of Women Voters and the Public Affairs Forum of Austin as we team-up to host a forum to answer questions about these 11 amendments. Our keynote speaker is Texas State Senator Kirk Watson. As with all of our First UU forums, this forum will include a presentation and a Q&A session. The LWV-Texas Voters Guide to the November 3^rd election is available at www.lwvtexas.org.

Sunday, October 25^th

Former TX State Legislator Ann Kitchen

“The State of Health Care”

Health Care has dominated our news cycle for many months as one of the most important topics of 2009. Elected in 2000, Representative Kitchen served as TX State Representative for Travis County District 48. An expert in Health Care, she managed the Health Care Regulatory Group of PwC, served as policy advisor to the TX Health and Human Svs Commission, and works with a local Heath Care non-profit. Join us for a comprehensive and timely presentation and Q&A on the State of Health Care!

 

Appendix G

SOCIAL ACTION’s SACK LUNCH PROGAM

            FOR THE WORKING HOMELESS

Every Monday night a team meets to make 30 sack lunches and deliver them to Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, “ARCH”, 500 E. 7^th St.  Each team provides its own bread, fruit, lunchmeat and cheese for the lunches, while other lunch components are bought in bulk and stored at the church for use by all the teams.   Lunch assembly usually takes 30 minutes with a 3-5 person team.  The delivery to ARCH can take 30 minutes, round trip from the church.  All teams meet in the church kitchen except for the 2^nd Monday team.   

The 2^nd Monday team meets at a member’s home in south or west Austin and has a potluck supper along with the sacking.   For details about the 2^nd Monday team, contact Rose Ann Reeser at rareeser@earthlink.net

You may contact Mary Jane Ford for further information at 926-4122 or mjaneford@grandecom.net.

Thanks to our participants for the work they have done with the Sack Lunch Program: 

1st Monday team, 6:30pm:  Roseanne Graham, Mary Jane Ford, Nancy Groblewski, Kitty Traylor, Kathleen Lawson; Effie Jarrett 

2nd Monday team, 6:00pm:   Rose Ann Reeser, John Payne, Joan Schenker, Brian Uecker, Derek and Donna Howard, Mike and Lynda West, Carol Ginn, Gretchen Paulig

3rd Monday team, 6:00pm:  Jeanette Swenson, Andrea Archer,  Eric Hartman, Melanie Haupt, Jennifer Loehlin, Wendy Miller

4th Monday team, 6:30pm:  Thomas Bodine, Judy Parken, Mary Ann Stafford, Joseph & Zosia Hunt; Eric & Alegra Azulay

5th Monday team, 6:30pm:  Joan and Bill Forbes, Barbara Tuttle and Sterling Heraty

Click Here to Download the UBarU Homecoming Flyer

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin

All Council Meeting Notes

From Saturday, June 20, 2009

Welcome

The Vice-President of the Board of Trustees welcome those present and lead them in a short reading (see bottom of agenda from meeting – Appendix A) and the lighting of the chalice. He asked each of the church leaders present to give brief update on the areas in which they are working and that they complete the sentence “If we were to accomplish only one thing this year…”.

Committee on Ministries:  The CoM has been on hiatus for the past few months. When they met with Janet Newman she expressed her preference to work with a transitions team, rather than a CoM, so they are going to continue their hiatus through this next year. Not that most of them will be slacking off! Most of the CoM members have taken on work in other areas of the church, and they might well take on the work of creating any body that might succeed the CoM. In the meantime, if people have questions or concerns about the ministries of the church, they are encouraged to take it directly to the minister, the DRE, or a board member.

Report from Director of Music:  The music program is busy finalizing plans for the 2009-2010 season. Included in the mix are special musical guest appearances by the 1001 Nights Orchestra, Kat Edmunson, Mundi, and others. The Adult Choir has a busy year before it, including two major work offerings on December 6th and June 6th. The Children’s Choirs are also preparing for a busy year. Even though we are not fully funded through the rest of 2009, we are planning a benefit concert in early September to help make up the shortfall. FUUCA Intergenerational Choir, which is the combination of the Children’s Choirs and the Adult Choir, will continue to build upon its recent successes with numerous service appearances throughout the year.

The Board of Trustees:  At a board retreat last weekend, the BoT reviewed many of the changes that are already underway at the church and identified a few more that the BoT would like to put its efforts towards. Some of the primary goals are to help make the interim ministry a success, supporting the work of clarifying our mission, vision and values.

Worship Services: The Worship Services Committee has brought many folks into the pulpit over the past few months and has made a lot connections and friends through the various folks brought in to speak. The new Interim Minister seemed very pleased with the lay leadership of this committee. The committee also presented a hand-out with the schedule of speakers through August (Appendix B).

Adult RE:  The Chair of the Adult Religious Education Committee reported that enough cannot be said for the work of Lara Douglass. The Director of RE reported that they are working on several items for the next year, including the film series that is really catching on (see Appendix C and Appendix D for further detail). She also gave several updates on Children’s Programming including the use of UU children’s books for reaching out to people who cannot get to church, Camp UU, Fall instruction on world religions will feature Christianity and Judiasm and that the Children’s Programming Committee meets on the second Sunday of the month and needs new members.

Meet and Eat: The committee has revived adding a forum with the dinners and participation has gone from 45 at the April First International Women’s Forum to 65 at the May evening with the Board of Trustees to 93 at the June evening with the new Interim Minister. July will feature reports from church members who attended this year’s Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. The committee is seeking new topics, so please share ideas. The committee would like to expand to twice per month with a goal of getting them back to weekly. 

Congregational Care Committee:  First UU already has a rich tradition of providing support to the church community (Helping Hands, Listening Ministries, Caring Cards, Mommy Meals, etc.). The consensus of a Fact Finding group last fall was that an organizational structure combining these functions could improve communications and the like.  This research led to the formation of a Congregational Care Task Force that worked from January – April, 2009, focusing on how to implement one of the core values of this congregation, that we are a caring community. 

The resulting Congregational Care Committee’s mission is “to support consistent and sensitive pastoral care within the church community while respecting the worth and dignity of all involved.”  We have a defined committee structure that is almost completely staffed, a core group of volunteer service providers, a process to provide assistance, updated contact information, and some exciting ideas for the future. Our next step is to communicate widely – let people know that they can request help and give help. We need to expand the committee, volunteers and publicity.

The committee met with the Interim Minister, who sees her role supporting this with pastoral care.

Building Committee:  The committee is somewhat idle currently given the financial situation but is looking for ways to stay involved until a capital campaign is once again feasible. A lot of the items that came out of the brainstorming for a stewardship stretch goal had to do with improving the current facilities, which may be a place for the committee to be involved.

Denominational Affairs:  Please see Appendix E for the report. The committee will be working to ensure that church members have greater recognition of the resources and value of the UUA and relationships with other UU churches. Donna Karason will be the new UU Southwest District Delegate.

Sack Lunch Program:  The sack lunch program has been going for a couple of years now, preparing lunches for homeless people. People in the program contribute perishables. Church members can connect with one of the teams if they want to help with donating perishables and may also contribute financially.

Nominations Committee:  The committee has been convened and will be meeting on the fourth Monday of each month with activities becoming heavier in the late Fall. The BoT has also asked the committee to begin working on leadership development and training.

Treasurer: The Treasurer reported that projections for the end of the year should be completed by the end of June and that there would not be another special canvass.

Bookstore: We are looking to create a bookstore presence on the web this year.

Information Tech: If we were to accomplish only one thing this year, it would be to have a new web committee chair. We do have two new committee members, Brendan and Adam, who have undertaken improving our portion of the site for committees. John and Tom continue to make the audio and web sermons available.  We have purchased an additional domain to accommodate the large number and size of audio files that we have and to facilitate back-ups of the site. We have started using a plug-in us to create on-line forms.  We used it for RSVPs for the Seder, for responses to the Interim Minister

Survey, and are currently using it for registration for Hogwarts Camp. We are also accepting payments for Hogwarts tuition via credit card online.  So far we have accepted $2500 in payments online.

Social Action Committee:  The committee is hoping to do more events where the worship service, gallery, split the plate and forum are all coordinated around an issue. They also have a goal of recruiting more leaders of individual activities to widen the circle of social action leaders. The committee will also be examining how we might increase the impact of Split the Plate.

Board Liaison to Interim Ministry Task Force:  This trustee expanded upon the board goal of having a successful interim ministry and defined it as taking advantage of the Interim Minister’s experience and great set of skills to address head-on the issues raised in the Bridge Builders Report plus any others she discovers – to rediscover the heart and soul of our church and to share it. Another goal is enhancing communications within the church.

Flowers Facilities Sub-Committee:  This sub-committee of one does the flowers on Sunday and takes care of the indoor plants with a goal this year of not killing them.

Security Task Force:  Committee members attended a conference on safety and have done an usher/greeter training on security matters. The committee is completing a report on enhancing security and will submit it to the board soon. The committee would welcome any thoughts and suggestions.

Outdoor Plants:  Phase I of the work on the sanctuary garden has been completed. Future work will include making it more readily accessible and handicapped accessible. We have deferred maintenance on the playground but to get this done. The Green Sanctuary effort has not currently functioning.

Public Affairs Forum:  The forums have really been going very well with many inspiring presenters. The forums will not be done in July and August. The forums have been averaging $70 in donation per forum and 90 people attending per forum. The forums have gotten much media attention this year and the Statesman is considering posting them online. Handing out flyers at other events has proven one of the best ways to bring people in. The group is also looking to promote the forums through blogs and other social networking sites.

Technical Team:  Tom Martin had sent a report by email that contained a good overview of all of the technical team components and that made some recommendations. It is attached as Appendix F.

Paradox Players: Paradox Players (PP) is in the middle of the run of “Trying” and it has received a lot of written positive reviews on how engaging people find it. A goal for PP in the coming year is to integrate more deeply into the church. For example, PP might choose a benefit partner for a show that matches with one of the church social action programs or split the plate recipients. PP hopes to have a presence in sanctuary more. PP is also working on having a greater presence on the internet and got a good review for the current show on Austin Live Theatre blog. People who come to PP productions often get interested in the church. Finally, PP is working on upgrading both the ambient and stage lighting in Howsen Hall.

Board of Trustees: The BoT recently held a retreat at Cherry Springs Ranch and established goals for the coming year. Some of these included:

• Make the board more visible. Be available on Sundays in the gallery and foyer.
• Move towards policy governance.
• A successful interim ministry.
• Identify, support mission/vision/values.
• Have more fun!
• Develop a covenant – hold ourselves to being in right relationship – how we treat each other.

Bridge Builders Report: The basic issue areas and goals/ends are on the church webpage. The Action Planning Team (APT) is working on finalizing some dates and timelines and person responsible that resulted from a meeting with Peter Steinke after he had issued his report. The APT saved all comments from the focus groups and will soon be looking for ways to present the final version of the report to the congregation.

Office 101: Natalie Freeburg from the staff presented an overview of office staff and procedures, which was also summarized in a written report she handed out (Appendix G). She highlighted that these is now a Room Reservation Request Form that can be turned by hard copy (Appendix H) or online and she also distributed the new Facilities Rental Contract (Appendix I). She highlighted that alcohol may not be sold in the church and that alcohol in exchange for a donation is considered selling it by law. She also handed out the church leadership list and the church membership list (both available through the church office).

Religious Education (RE):  The Director of RE thanked everyone for their support. She added to the prior report that attendance at RE events such as movie night had been constant or on the increase since January. There are now 28 covenant groups. She commented that the RE committees and committee chairs had been incredibly supportive. OWL classes (featured in O Magazine) will be held for middle school age children in the Fall and Pre-K in the Spring. A member suggested that the church look into establishing on overall event calendar.

Fellowship Committee:  The Chair of the committee reported that it is re-emerging from a quiet phase.  There are five members and a Chair thus far.  We will not be able to single-handedly initiate large events for quite some time.  We can, however begin functioning in many helpful ways as we strengthen and grow. We will be Catalysts not Caterers.

1. Fanning the flames already glowing in functional groups in our community-Assisting and advising groups who want to hold an event that fulfills the goals of the Board and greater UU Church.  Examples (volunteer recruitment, party planning, etc.)

2. Keeping the flame – providing a clearinghouse of the institutional memory of traditional events (e.g. when and how they are staged most efficiently, resource allocation, scheduling, etc…)  This means that if a group wants to host a traditional event, we can help a lot!

3. Gathering and allocating resources (fuel) responsibly-Our process will be to take requests for event support and consider those request at each monthly meeting.  Please make requests either in writing, dropped off in the Fellowship Box or via e-mail.  We will soon develop an Event Consideration process that a Fellowship Cmte member will call you back with.

4. Connecting to the big flame-Our Board Liaison, Brendan Sterne, will help us set priorities and will help us get feedback on how we are doing to best meet the needs of 1st UU.

Budget 101:  The Chair of the Finance Committee gave an overview of the process of establishing the budget. Various committees and programs submit budget requests by September with justifications on how the church would benefit. From there, the expense budget gets pruned to match what income estimates the Stewardship Committee is making from the Fall Canvass. The Finance Committee Chair and the Treasurer do a first draft. The Finance Committee then presents to the BoT. The Finance Committee and BoT have a joint budget meeting, after which the BoT takes the budget to the congregation. Persons with a budget request should attend these meetings to present on them. Anyone can offer a budget-neutral amendment at the Congregational Meeting. This year the Finance Committee intends to submit a balanced budget. The timeline for this process is September through the December Congregational Meeting, which means a “final budget” for submitting to the congregation needs to be in place by November.

Stewardship Committee: The Chair of the Stewardship Committee reported the committee is engaged in changing the culture of giving in the church. The Spring Canvass (sort-term, one-time) had raised $100,000+, indicating the congregation has gained a maturity when it comes to meeting the fiscal needs of the church. Based upon the “dream goals” that had been established at an earlier meeting of members of the congregation, the Stewardship Committee is preparing to launch the Fall Canvass lasting through early November. They are using the UUA “how to” book on canvassing, involving team captains and their teams that go out and work on raising funds. Each canvasser has 2 to 4 people each to contact. This will be kicking off October 10 after several weeks of training. The committee is also working on improving on collecting pledges that have already been paid as First UU Austin’s rate of pledges not being paid is higher than the average. It would help for pledges to have a date stamp.

Membership Committee:  The Chair of the Membership Committee reported on several initiatives this committee is working on including a Connections Fair/Program Guide, a New Member Class, Guests/New Member Greeters, Meet-and-Eat/Wednesday Forums, and The Transparent Ear Round Table. He handed out a written report that provided further details on these items (attached as Appendix J).

Children’s Programming Committee:  The Chair of this committee outlined several activities they are planning such as for Halloween and Valentines and reiterated the need for more committee members/assistants.

Joys and Concerns, Follow-Ups, Questions:  The Vice-President invited those present to raise any further issues, etc. The following were raised:

• The Denominational Affairs Committee is seeking more members.
• The UUA can be very helpful and has good resources. If enough people contribute to the UUA directly as “Friends of the UUA” the church is recognized.
• The church must take care to reach those who do not have computer access and/or who are not computer literate.

Adjourn:  The Vice-President thanked those present for attending and adjourned the meeting.

Attending: Please see Appendix K

June 2009 All Council Notes with Appendices

        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 4^th Wednesday instead of the third, April 22^nd.  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. 13^th 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 19^th.  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 18^th.  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 19^th.

 

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 200^th 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 15^th.  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 1^st 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 9^th.  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 29^th 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