The meeting opened at 7:40 p.m. in the sanctuary with Doug McCusker, BOT President, presiding. The following Board members attended: Pam Cox, Judy Robison, Mimi Konoza, and Matt Dunham. Also attending were Council Chair Robert Laskey, Oliver Easterwood for House & Grounds, Herb Bartlett for the COOM, and Ed Cochrane for Finance.

Doug called the meeting to order, followed by sharing of joys and sorrows.

Doug called the meeting to order, followed by sharing of joys and sorrows.

Board Thank-you Notes. To recognize the work of the Ministerial Search Task Force, the Board will sponsor a dinner on Friday, June 6, 2008, in the church. Setup will start at 5:30 p.m., followed by the dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. The Board members also wanted to thank the MSTF members individually with a letter, which Doug will draft and all Board members will sign by the end of the month. Judy agreed to send dinner invitations to the MSTF as well.

Minutes. It was moved and seconded to accept to minutes of the April 8 Board meeting; motion passed. It was also moved and seconded to accept the minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Congregation, held April 26, 2008; motion passed.

Members’ Time

Coffee Supplies. Mimi asked about contacting someone about coffee supplies. Phil Runge has been managing the kitchen during fellowship on Sunday mornings. Robert reminded us that Phil is now Council Vice Chair.

Recycling Service. Robert Laskey brought forward a proposal to have our recycled items picked up with our garbage collection. The proposal was to pay for a 4-cubic-yard dumpster for $55/month with Potomac Disposal Systems. Herb pointed out that it could be applied toward our Five-Year Plan Objectives to become a Green Sanctuary for the remainder of 2008 and then put in the House & Grounds budget. Pam moved to accept this proposal as presented; Judy seconded; motion passed.

Reports

The Board received reports from the Interim Minister, Director of Lifespan Education, House & Grounds, and COOM. (See attached.) Updates were as follows.

COOM. Herb reported that some surveys had been submitted. If there are two members in a household, the COOM will accept a survey from each person. They will respond to all written comments. Robert Laskey asked Herb to change the name of the FYP to the FY Focus Plan. Herb indicated he felt the word “Strategic” should be part of any change to the name of the FYP. Not objection was made to using the word “Strategic” as part of the FYP name. Herb agreed to discuss changing the name of the FYP with the COOM members at the next COOM meeting and report the results to both the Council and the BOT.

Interim Minister. Pam reported that Rev. Lyn Plumb has accepted a new job in the Boston area.

House & Grounds. 1) Oliver said that the church has hired Ambassador Cleaning Service to clean the church on Fridays and Sundays. The flat monthly rate works out to about $12.25/hour or about $9,600/year. As this is more than what was budgeted, Pam asked Oliver if it was really necessary to have cleaning done twice a week during the summer when there is a lot less usage downstairs during the week. Ed estimated that if cleaning was cut back to only once a week, we could bring the cost down to close to what was budgeted. Oliver agreed to talk to the cleaning service.

2) Oliver also reported that he is working on a land use plan in coordination with other groups that are using the property. He was still looking for the original site plan.

Finance. Ed presented the budget execution for the first quarter of 2008. We are on track, with about 32% of our income collected and 33% of expenses spent.

Issues/Discussion/Action Items

Retreat Planning. The Board/Council retreat will be Sept. 5-67 at the Bishop Claggett Center in Maryland (moved from the August date). The Council is coordinating the retreat, and Robert reviewed plans for the retreat. We will be in the Doll Cottage, which has two-room suites. The fee will be about $150 per person for two nights, which includes meals. Themes will be Leadership, Music and the Strategic Focus Plan. Doug said we will have a facilitator from JPD, paid from the Board budget.

Ministerial Search Contributions. Board members discussed the expenses and earmarked donations given toward the ministerial search. It appears that $8,890 was donated from about 20 people, with about 10 others pledging to give something toward this. The MSTF spent about $5,777, or 65% of the contributions.

As the Board wishes to be transparent with the budget and expenses, it was decided to contact these individual donors to ask them what they may prefer the BOT to do with the extra amount. The choices will be that 1) AUUC will return the unspent portion of the contribution; 2) contribute the unspent portion to the church’s general fund; or 3) to direct the unspent portion to next year’s budget, to be applied toward the installation costs for the new minister. The Board directed the MSTF, to draft a letter to be sent from the Board to these donors so they may designate their option.

Doug and Board commended the MSTF for raising this issue to be clarified for the congregation

Fundraising Plan for 2008. Doug reviewed the “income generation plan” that he and Mimi had drafted some months ago. We have budgeted $21,000 in this year’s budget, but we may fall short of that without some major fundraisers.

Yard Sale: Dean is coordinating a church wide Yard Sale for Saturday, July 12, which will be open to the public. We hope to raise about $5,000 from this. The Communications Committee was tasked with publicizing this event. We will need volunteers and donations for this.

Silent Auction: The silent auction, the Summer Splash 2008, is ongoing through June 15. The first round will close May 25 and the second round will run June 1-15. Judy estimated we may raise about $2,000 from this.

Burke Centre Fall Festival: Judy said she had contacted the Burke Centre Conservancy for information about participating in the Fall Festival, to be held the second weekend in September. One option is to be a sponsor for a donation of $1,000 toward the festival, which would give us some visibility with signs and publicity; or we could do an activity for children to get our name up. The Conservancy staff said that 11,000 people go through the festival on a good weekend, or about 5,000 if there’s bad weather. Judy will continue to check on this.

Other Ideas: Board members discussed other fundraisers, such as Bingo night, dances, youth concerts, and selling bricks for walkways. We’ll continue to follow up on these ideas.

Memorial Plaque Policy. The Board discussed ways to memorialize names of those who have made significant contributions in some way to the church, such as bequests, endowment donations, or gifts given in memorial to someone. Doug had an example of a plaque from the Richmond church, which recognizes different levels and types of giving. Dean was seeking support from the Board to pursue this idea, create a policy on this and find a location in the church to hang something. This was also in response to an e-mail request from the Endowment Committee. One proposal was to have a 30/30 Challenge: to raise $30,000 for the endowment fund to recognize our 30th anniversary, coming in two years. There was some discussion on how this would tie in with the Memorial Garden. Pam reminded us that there were two separate issues here, to recognize those who have given monetarily to the church, such as endowments or bequests, versus remembrance of deceased members. Pam agreed to serve as liaison to other groups that will be involved in this, including the Endowment Committee, the Memorial Garden task force, and the LEC’s Remembrance Garden for the Youth.

Capital Campaign. Dean sent word that he has contacted the UUA office on stewardship, which could help us with an assessment on our financial options, such as a capital campaign or pledge drive. This was tabled for the June meeting.

Safe Congregations. In his last year as Board President, Doug said he would like to make this issue a strategic focus. Basically it’s a risk management plan, with two main aspects: proactive issues for security and prevention; and our response to crises should they arise, such as a pandemic or unruly member. To begin, we need to gather materials and do some research on this, and we’ll see what the UUA and other churches have done. In the future, we may have a workshop for the congregation to raise awareness on these issues. Doug will assign tasks to the Board members and said he would like something in place in 6-9 months. Once completed, this would be posted in our Policies & Procedures and on the website.

New Business

Preschool Contract. Oliver Easterwood, for House & Grounds, said the Spring-Mar Preschool is working to amend our special use permit to allow an increase in the number of students it has during the week, from 40 to 49. This will not affect our church program.

Pictorial Directory. Judy reminded the Board members to schedule their appointments for the pictorial directory. These appointments can be made online by going to the church website, which has instructions and a link to Lifetouch. She needs volunteers to help with several tasks, such as layout/design, signups and hosting on the days of the photo shoots June 11-14.

Youth Matters. Matt reported there was to be a lock-in next Saturday, May 17. There will be a Boston trip this summer that may be open to families. More information will be announced.

Closing. Matt gave the wrangler report and Mimi closed with a reading. After the fellowship circle, the meeting adjourned at 10:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Judy Robison, Board Secretary

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