First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.
First UU Church of Austin, 4700 Grover, Austin, TX 78756 in Room 13
In Attendance:
Trustees: Nell Newton, President; Eric Stimmel, Vice-President; Luther Elmore, Treasurer; Chris Jimmerson, Secretary; Sheila Gladstone, Immediate Past President (Ex-Officio); Margaret Borden; Jeff Hutchens; Brendan Sterne; Michael West; Laura Wood.
Executive Team: Janet Newman, Interim Minister (Ex-Officio); Sean Hale, Executive Director (Ex-Officio);
Staff: Brent Baldwin, Director of Music
Call to Order
The President called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m.
Adoption of Agenda
The Trustees present adopted the agenda (Appendix A, 1 [numbers refer to page number where appendices may be found in attached supporting document]).
Reading and Lighting of the Chalice
The Interim Minister read the opening words and the President lit the chalice.
Visitor’s Forum
There were no visitors present.
Consent Agenda Items
Minutes from the Prior Meeting: The Trustees had reviewed the minutes from the November 2009 meeting prior to this meeting (Appendix B, 12) and noted one grammar change changing the word “effect” to “affect”.
New Members and Resignations: The Secretary reported that the following had become new members since the last meeting: Gregg Welch; H.I. “Sam” Long; Deidre Autry Madres; Troy Madres; Leona Perez
The Secretary reported that Susan Lowrance had resigned since the last meeting because she had moved.
Reports: The Trustees had reviewed the consent agenda items prior to the meeting. These included:
Interim Minister: Janet Newman (Appendix C, 9)
Executive Director: Sean Hale (Appendix D, 11)
Director of Religious Education: Lara Douglass (Appendix E, 15)
Director of Music Programs: Brent Baldwin (Appendix F, 20)
Treasurer: Luther Elmore (Appendix G, 22 – includes Finance Committee Reports)
BB A-team Report: Chris Jimmerson/Brendan Sterne (Appendix H, 51)
The Bridge Builders Action team gave an overview of upcoming events including a training on Policy Governance on February 26th and 27th of 2010 and a training in March for board members and facilitators on how to do the purpose and values sessions in the church. The team will poll the board soon on a date for the purpose and values sessions training.
These trainings should be very informative, exciting and motivating and the training for the purpose and values session will be the boards’ chance to participate in establishing the information we will use to develop values, mission and ends (vision) statements. The sessions with church members will begin in April and run through early May and will provide a great opportunity to listen directly to church members’ dreams and aspirations for the church. A Trustee advised the team to avoid Spring Break when scheduling these items.
The Interim Minister reported that she and the transition team would begin working with the congregation soon on developing a Covenant of Right Relationship. Stefan Jonasson, Director for Large Congregations with the UUA, will be coming to the church to assist and will have dinner with the board on January 22, 2010 followed by working with the congregation on January 23, possibly on the topic of “What a church need to accomplish before ready to call a settled minister”.
The Treasurer noted that the current membership count for the church was 567. The Secretary noted that Paradox Players would still be making one final contribution before the end of the year of the proceeds from their final production of the season.
Motion: Luther Elmore – accept the Consent Agenda Item Reports with the noted change to the minutes of the last meeting.
Second: Michael West
Discussion: None
Vote: All Affirmative
Discussion and Action Items
Committee on Ministries (CoM) Proposal: The Chairperson of the CoM, which had been on hiatus, brought forward a proposal to disband the CoM. This committee is not normally maintained during the interim ministry period, and churches practicing policy governance also do not use a CoM. Stefan Jonasson had made this same recommendation for our church in the past. The CoM can end up serving as a “triangulation point” between the minister and the board. As we move forward, we will need to re-envision how the role formerly played by the committee will be fulfilled.
The Trustees discussed the following:
- Church members are likely to ask whether this committee will be revived. Under policy governance it will likely not be.
- The history of the CoM has been that the role it played varied greatly from year to year, and some church members have been frustrated that when they bought concerns about the minister to the CoM, the CoM did not have full authority to address such concerns.
- A Trustee asked if perhaps this could wait until the church fully adopted policy governance since the committee was on hiatus anyway; however the Chair of the CoM believed it was cleaner to go ahead and act now.
Motion: Michael West – move that the Committee on Ministries at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin be disbanded and that all reference to the Committee and its roles and responsibilities be struck from the church’s Policies and Procedures
Second: Chris Jimmerson
Discussion: A Trustee asked where under policy governance concerns about the minister might be brought. Another Trustee noted that policy governance grants both greater authority and accountability to the minister and because of this, monitoring of the minister’s performance falls to the board. The bylaws mention the CoM; however, this is only in reference to how its members are appointed and may be changed later.
Vote: Affirmative – 7, Negative – 0, Abstain – 1 (Margaret Borden)
Nominating Committee Policy and Procedure Update: The Trustees reviewed a change to this policy and procedure that had been recommended by the Nominating Committee (Appendix I, 54). This change outlined new duties regarding leadership development charged to the committee and made the Policy and Procedure match the bylaws as regards this committee. A Trustee recommended removing a reference to the Bridge builders Report and replacing that reference with “In addition”
Motion: Brendan Sterne – approve the update with the change to remove the reference to the Bridge Builders Report made
Second: Margaret Borden
Discussion: There was no further discussion
Vote: All affirmative
Congregational Meeting Review: The trustees discussed that the meeting had gone professionally and that people came to the meeting well prepared. The Pre-Congregational Meeting had helped with this. The congregation members who had attended seemed to have supported the idea of a Covenant of Right Relationship. The Trustees discussed the need to establish a Parliamentarian position.
Interim Minister Evaluation Process: The Interim Minister presented a description of the process and the theory behind it and presented the evaluation form (Appendix K, 57) that the UUA provides. She stressed that the form is intended to be a memory “jogger” for an honest exchange between the minister and board to be held in person. This session normally take about an hour but can go as long as two hours.
The Trustees and the Interim Minister established Sunday, January 17 at 1 p.m. at the church as the time and place for the evaluation. The Secretary volunteered to send out electronic versions of the form and description of the process prior to this date.
Audit Request: The Treasurer noted that the board needed to formally request that the internal audit committee audit payroll, as this is this is this most critical area of our accounting and the place where the most corrections have been noted in the past. The board would ask the committee for a proposal on the parameters of the audit and would work with staff to ensure such parameters do not create an unachievable burden for staff. The Chair of this committee must appoint its remaining members as soon as possible so that the audit can occur in a timely manner.
The President will contact the Chair of the committee and ask that the names of the other committee members and a proposal for a payroll audit be submitted by the next board meeting.
Motion: Chris Jimmerson – Charge the Internal Audit Committee with doing an audit of payroll
Second: Jeff Hutchens
Discussion: There was no further discussion.
Vote: All Affirmative.
Board Covenant: The Trustees had reviewed a draft of the covenant (Appendix J, 56) that had been prepared by the Interim Minister and the President based upon the discussion of it at the last board meeting. The Trustees discussed several ways of streamlining and editing the document while noting that there is a need to balance conciseness with making expectations explicit. The Trustees also discussed potential ways to better define some of the issues contained in the covenant, as well as some ways of rearranging the order in which the issues are presented. The President made specific notes of the discussion and the agreements that were reached among the Trustees. She and the Interim Minister will bring a revised version to the next meeting for review and approval
With no further business, the President adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Chris Jimmerson
Secretary
