Minutes of the Board of Trustees
First Unitarian Society of Madison, Wi
Minutes
Board of Trustees
First Unitarian Society
Madison, Wisconsin
November 18, 2005 7:30
p.m.
Lower
Meeting House
Present:
Officers:
Alan Knox, President
Pat Anderson, President-Elect
Jim Christensen, Treasurer
Tom Detmer, Secretary
Jim Jaeger, Past President
Council Trustees:
Kathy Luker
John Mathis
Ross Hemphill
Barb Avery
Lorna Aaronson
Chris Glueck
Hilary Cronon, Youth Representative
Ministers:
Kelly Crocker, Associate Minister
Scott Prinster, Assistant Minister
Staff:
Susan Koenig, Interim Administrator
Jim Christensen, Facilities Project Consultant
Dan Broner, Music Director
CALL TO ORDER
After an opening and chalice lighting, Alan Knox called the meeting to
order at time 7:30 p.m. and reviewed the agenda. Lorna Aaronson mentioned
two dates that need attention. The first is December 18 when a baby
shower is being hosted for Kelly Crocker at the Meeting House at 4:00. Everyone
is invited. A book is being compiled with the “best, worst
and oddest” baby advice that members of the congregation have received. Secondly,
December 4 is the date for making contributions to Kelly and Dan’s
nursery fund, for RSVP’ing to a forthcoming invitation to the gathering
on the 18th and for providing the advice to the new parents.
Alan commented on the need to work to help the congregation to come together and to avoid divisiveness over the building and capital campaign. This is an opportunity and an area of leadership for this board. Alan did not want to shorten the meeting tonight because of the need to discuss these issues, even with the late start.
CONSENT ITEMS
MOTION made and seconded to approve the October 19, 2005 minutes. (Exhibit
1)
CARRIED
ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS
1. Introduction of Hilary Cronon.
Susan introduced Hilary Cronin who is the new youth representative.2. Contract Signing Authority. Susan presented the policy issue concerning what authority is needed for her and others signing contracts. What dollar limits are involved? The acting treasurer has recommended that authority for signing for budgeted items in the amount of $10,000 and under should be given to the Church Administrator and authority for amounts over $10,000 should require signatures of both the Church Administrator and the President. Jim Jaeger moved to approve this authority and Alan seconded it. The amounts have to be budgeted and if a question about who has the authority to sign items authorized within this authority may be resolved by the Steering Committee. It is recommended that an audit committee should be created. Susan and Jim Christensen will look into that issue and report back to the Board.
The motion as made was approved by a unanimous vote.
FACILITIES PLANNING PROCESS
Jim Christensen distributed the facilities planning report. (Exhibit 2) The first meeting of the coordinating committee has already been held and there was to be a second meeting tonight but it was deferred so the “green” building visioning committee that met tonight could do so.
Logistics for the February 5 meeting could be a challenge. We would like to have 450 attendees and handling that many people will be difficult because of the cold weather. We will look at the needs of the meeting as a Board at the December board meeting. What will we ask the parish to vote on? Paul Mack says the question should be “is this the building we want” and we will then try to find the money. It is in effect an endorsement of that design (and a connected preservation plan).
How “green” will we be will be tentatively answered by early December and built into the schematics that will be considered as part of the plan. It will be hard to make a lot of “green” decisions beyond the December board meeting. The architects have to be relied on to provide us with expertise. However we need to have a focused statement of what we want on the green issue which is why we are developing a green vision for the facilities. The time for changing much that is green about the building after the December meeting will be slight. It can not be done in January if we are to get the schematics out to the parish to consider before the parish meeting.
The board will be copied on the dates and changes in the plans over the next month because so much is happening so fast. Communication is vital and it is a challenge because so many people are involved and so much is happening. However we have to try.
COUNCIL CHARTERS
Six of the seven councils have submitted revised charters. The connections council is the only one that has not done so. Kathy thinks it’s because there were no changes to make to the prior charter but she will check.
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING
Susan talked about developing a transportation plan, both for the near and long term. We need to take the parking concern out of the issues we have for a new facility. Then we can work on longer term transportation plans on a more thoughtful basis, such as with the help that Liz Wessel’s consulting company (Madison Environmental Group) can provide. We want to desensitize the issue as a major concern and address the philosophical issues we face. We are concerned about access issues that current members have but we can address those with the available parking nearby more easily than people think. The Village of Shorewood sounds positive on getting a conditional variance for our parking issues to the extent that we need the cooperation of Shorewood to develop our plans.
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Jim Christensen reviewed the performance indicators selected by ranking the highest valued indicators from the entire list that was previously distributed to the Board. (Exhibit 3) There were no surprises and the rankings are closely grouped because they are the highest ranked indicators so all of them have a high ranking by definition.
BREAK
TREASURER’S REPORT
Review of the treasurer’s report was deferred due to the late hour.
COUNCIL REPORTS
The social justice council is continuing to struggle with having too few people to do the work that is needed. The worship council is working hard to make connections among the councils. One effort that has been undertaken has been to have the chairs of the councils and committees provide service announcements. Jim Jaeger mentioned that the nominations committee is asking the council chairs to take an active role in soliciting committee chairs for committees within their councils and therefore the nominations committee is taken out of that role.
Our relationships with other UU congregations will be a major focus in the coming year. The was highly ranked as a performance indicator and it is also a goal we have recently discussed. More to come on this goal later as we develop plans to accomplish this goal.
Beginning in January we will be starting our “breakthrough congregation” presentation for General Assembly. We intend to include our “green” plans as part of that as our plans develop.
MAJOR TOPICS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR
Budget items were a significant item during the first part of the year. We will be considering in the Steering Committee the items to address in the upcoming meetings. If anyone has suggestions, get them to Alan.
Planning for the February parish meeting will be the one major subject for the December Board meeting. Susan pointed out that the operational planning for the parish meeting has to be dealt with also, not just strategic planning. The Steering Committee can make a start at the operational planning that must be done when it meets on the 1st of December. The December Board meeting will be a meeting and a party at the Meeting House. Business will be conducted at 6:00 and a party will be at 7:00 with spouses and partners invited.
The January Board meeting will be focused on parish meeting.
The February Board meeting will be focused on results of parish meeting and on budget issues related to that.
Susan made the point that several significant issues must be considered soon. The plans for temporary locations during construction should be started now. And, what transition plans to re-energize the membership after construction are going to be developed. Also the budget will likely be flat for five or more years after the capital campaign so we need to plan for that.
Jim Jaeger reported that he was nominated by Karen to chair the MWCD assembly planning committee which is meeting on April 21-22. He is looking for workshop ideas.
Finally, there will be facilities fora on Jan 8 and 13th.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION
by to adjourn by Jim J and seconded by Alan Knox.
CARRIED
Meeting was adjourned at time 9:30 p.m.
Minutes by, Tom Detmer, First Unitarian Society Board Secretary
EXHIBITS
1. October 19, 2005 Board of Trustees Minutes
2. Facilities Planning Report
3. Performance Indicators
