FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY
FALL PARISH MEETING
MINUTES
MADISON, WI
October 16, 2005
ATTENDANCE
302 members signed the attendance lists.
CALL TO ORDER
First Unitarian Society President Alan Knox called the meeting
to order
at time 1:10 p.m. and reviewed the agenda.
Reverend Kelly Crocker announced that First Unitarian Society is a
“break
through congregation” and will participate in a special way
at the
General Assembly this coming year for achieving this designation.
There
was much enthusiasm over this accomplishment. Kelly Crocker
then
read positive thoughts written by John Behrends to open the meeting.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE MAY 15, 2005 PARISH MEETING
MOTION made and seconded to approve the May 15, 2005 parish minutes.
CARRIED
APPROVAL OF SPECIAL GROUND RULES
MOTION made and seconded to approve the special ground rules for operating
the meeting.
CARRIED.
APPROVAL OF LAY MINISTERS
MOTION made and seconded to approve the list of lay ministers.
CARRIED
APPROVAL OF FOUNDATION RESOLUTIONS
MOTION made and seconded to approve the two funding resolutions related
to the historic meeting house.
CARRIED.
DISCUSSION ABOUT FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS
Initial comments
Alan Knox discussed the reasons for the Society to take action on improvement of its facilities. Packets about the project were mailed out.
There are numerous reasons why we want to build an addition. Preservation is a high priority of what we want to do. The Foundation has over $2 million dollars. It is also necessary to improve our staff space to retain quality staff. In order to maintain our quality programs we need space to support them. A fourth consideration is our ability to handle future growth. We want to collaborate with other local congregations as well as grow, but it is inevitable that we will continue to grow. Finally, a strong Society can help improve our presence in the south central Wisconsin area.
Alan introduced Vince Micha from the Kubala Washatko Architects, Inc. to present background on their work for us. Vince talked about the history of what has been done so far by his firm on this facilities project. The firm involved 32 user groups that exist within the Society and they toured three other local churches. They convened a meeting of the user groups to gather the combined input of the users. A pattern document was developed. The firm selected a construction manager. Multiple schemes were developed for an addition and peer review was done by Frank Lloyd Wright experts. There were ultimately nine options for an addition and now it has been condensed down to two. These final two options have been adjusted to be equal in price and square footage. The options are now 4a, 4b, 9a and 9b, with options 4 and 9 being the two options. The “a” and “b” alternatives for each option differ in whether or not an auditorium is initially built or not.
Tom Kabala walked through the four options in more detail. Design four uses an underutilized area now used by the annex. It also protects the historic meeting house view more than design nine. Design nine provides more space usable toward the front and creates more “space outside of itself.” As an addition it is more aesthetically pleasing. It allows for more easily including green space. The gathering space is “double loaded” meaning that more uses are incorporated together in the same or close space. It does a better job of promoting the out of doors. The effect of future development to the south is more of an unknown with design nine.
Alan Knox reviewed the timeline for making key decisions for the facilities and what is on the agenda for discussion today. We are now going to consider comments and they will be limited to two minutes per person. John Mathis served as timekeeper. Written comments will be taken by vote counters Ross Hemphill, Barb Avery, Linda Knox and Lorna Aaronson.
General Discussion and Questions
Comments were made by Mike Goodman, Eileen Newman, Nancy Ragland, Roger Backes, Hermine Davidson, Sandy Eskrich, Ken Ragland, Wendy Cooper, Elizabeth Barrett, Carol Tarr, Scott Olson, March Schweitzer, Karen Jaeger, Daniel, Gail Bliss, Charlie Davidson, Bill Cronin, Marilyn Jacobson, Chris Voight, Joanna Thompson, Lynn Wallace, Kelly Royce, Colleen Hayes, Sam Bates, Marion Meyer, Nancy Vedder Schults, Morris Waxler, Jim Helwig, Jim Jaeger, Erhart Joris, Jerry Engle, Tom Link, Gwen Harmon, Claire Box, Nancy Deer, Kat Doyle, Brian Helmer, Fran Casselman, Kristine Felton, Pat Becker, Jon Aaronson and Gordon Cunningham.
VOTE ON FLOOR PLANS
The first vote was to choose between option 9 and option 4.
Those favoring option 9 - 182
Those favoring option 4 - 89
Those abstaining - 7
VOTE ON AUDITORIUM
The second vote was to choose whether to build an auditorium with the initial construction or to do it later.
Those favoring doing it now - 258
Those favoring doing it later - 22
Those abstaining - 6
APPROVAL OF FUNDING RESOLUTION
MOTION made and seconded to approve the extension of building spending authorization.
Those approving the resolution - 246
Those voting against the resolution - 6
The meeting was adjourned at 3:15.
Minutes by Thomas Detmer, First Unitarian Society Secretary
EXHIBITS
- Minutes of May 2005 Parish Meeting.
- Resolution to adopt special ground rules to conduct the business of the meeting.
- Resolution authorizing lay ministers to perform in that capacity.
- Resolution to establish the historic meeting house fund.
- Resolution to create a building and improvement fund.
- Facilities plans packet
- Resolution authorizing continuing building design work by facilities architects
OTHER HANDOUTS
- Council Annual Reports
