Board minutes
Sunday July 26, 2015
Temenos Retreat Center
West Chester, PA
Approved October 17, 2015
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Maryland
Columbia, Maryland
Board Members Present
Dennis Wellnitz (President), Rev Keith Goheen (Vice President), Paul Pinson (Treasurer), Carla Johnson (Secretary), Nancy Janssen (At Large), Rev David Pyle (DE), Justis Tuia (At Large); Christian Hartranft (At Large), Rev Madelyn Campbell (At Large), Susan Bennett (At Large)
Absent:
None
Agenda
Consent Agenda
Minutes of May & June meetings
Monitoring Reports
Reports
§ Treasurer (Update FY end)
§ Finance & Audit (APF & Chalice Lighters also)
§ President
§ District Executive
§ Strategic Plan
Open Positions
FY 2015-16 Board of Directors Work Plan
New/Existing Working Group Charges and Assignments
Meeting Schedule for the Year
Motions and Decisions
Motion to remove ends monitoring report from consent agenda
Justis Tuia – moved, Christian Hartranft – seconded. Approved
Motion to accept the ends monitoring report as it stands
Justis Tuia – moved, Rev Keith Goheen – seconded. Approved
· Rev David Pyle will consider the conversation from the weekend in the next Ends monitoring report for the next quarter.
Motion to accept the Consent agenda as revised
Justis Tuia – moved, Rev Keith Goheen – seconded. Approved
Moved: The JPD Board of Trustees authorizes the District Executive to move up to $40,000 of Board Designated Funds currently held with Chalice Keepers, as needed, to operational accounts to act as Reserves for Fiscal Year 2016.
Moved by Paul Pinson, Treasurer
Seconded by Christian Hartranft
Discussion
Addition of friendly amendment after discussion
Moved by Paul Pinson
Seconded by Nancy Janssen. Passed unanimously
Moved: The JPD Board of Trustees authorizes the District Executive to Move Board Designated Funds currently held with Chalice Keepers to a separate investment fund for the District which clarifies both holdings. Further, the Board authorizes the District Executive to draw up to $40,000 from the separate account as needed to restore operating fund reserves. Existing limitations require reporting of such moves of $5,000 or more.
Motion to approve to Memorandum of Understanding on Staffing and approval for President Dennis Wellnitz to sign the MoU.
Paul Pinson moved, Rev Madelyn Campbell seconded. Approved unanimously
Motion to approve the district strategic plan for the 2015-2016 year
Rev Madelyn Campbell moved. Justis Tuia seconded. Approved unanimously.
Motion to approve new working group – JPD Transformation Working group.
Paul Pinson moved. Susan Bennett seconded. Approved unanimously.
Motion to approve new working group – JPD Transition Working group.
Rev Keith Goheen moved. Nancy Janssen seconded. Approved unanimously.
Motion to approve the working group charge– Engagement Working Group.
Justis Tuia moved. Paul Pinson seconded. Approved unanimously.
Motion to consent to the Rev Pyle chaplaincy.
Rev Madelyn Campbell moved. Justis Tuia seconded. Approved unanimously.
Motion to adjourn
Nancy Janssen moved. Susan Bennett seconded. Approved unanimously.
Meeting Notes
Consent Agenda
· Discussion on removing the ends monitoring report from the consent agenda
· Ends policy Monitoring Report (IIB) – discussion of interpretation
o Under Policy governance, the board can reject the ends monitoring report and give guidance to the DE of the concerns.
o Discussion from working sessions on interpretation of congregations
o DE interpretations of guidance given and discussion
§ Priority of resources goes to existing congregations
Treasurer’s Report
· Not yet final report for the year. Still being reviewed by District Finance administrator (Cristina Sanchis)
· Payment to the UUA for staffing has been held to the 2015-2016 fiscal year based on available funds
· See draft report below
· Motion for board reserves
o Discussion and question if we want to make a provision in the motion that the funds should be moved back to Chalice Keepers as possible.
o Could be a future motion to move the funds back to Chalice Keepers if/when the reserves allow
o Board reserve funds designated in Chalice Keepers were put there because there were not investment accounts.
o Moving money from one account to another. Is an actual transfer out of the UUA common endowment fund to the JPD operational reserve account. It would be moving the
o Point of information: All funds and accounts will be evaluated as part of transition process
o Why the $40,000 vs 10% of budget which would be approx. $58,500? This is what is needed for operational expenses.
o Should the board designated funds be moved into a separate account?
Break for lunch
Recess for lunch – unanimous by consent
Resume at 12:03
DCL Rev. Scott Tayler joins for scheduling
Discussion with Scott on progress of weekend related to regionalization
Christian Hartranft leaves meeting at 1:10
Finance & Audit (APF & Chalice Lighters also) -Rev Keith Goheen
· Nothing unusual to report
· Recommend to committee to reach out for a committee member that has skillsets of professional auditing firm with GAPP accounting, etc.
· APF and chalice lighters.
o APF – a little lower than usual.
o Chalice lighters – still on downward decline.
§ Possibly pursue Faithify program and social media reachouts
President’s Report
· Nothing additional to report
District Executive’s Report
· MoU on staffing
· Motion to approve final MoU on Staffing and Dennis to sign
· Going forward the DE Report will be the quarterly Ends Monitoring report
o Will be more effect metrics going forward in addition to performance metrics
· Strategic Plan
o High level recap. (Reviewed in depth earlier in weekend)
Open Positions
· Dennis to follow-up on candidates for open board position
· Keith to follow-up at F&A meeting this week to see if someone on the committee would be willing to be an Assistant Treasurer. Would be good to have someone to publish the October month-end Treasurer’s report while Paul is traveling.
FY 2015-16 Board of Directors Work Plan
· Developed and Reviewed during weekend retreat
New/Existing Working Group Charges and Assignments
· Approve motions
New business
Rev David Pyle’s reserve chaplaincy
· Consent to Rev David Pyle’s chaplaincy service.
· First ever military chaplain on UUA staff.
Working Group Charges
Engagement Working Work
Members: Nancy Janssen, Susan Bennett, Rev Keith Goheen
The Charge: a non-anxious communications presence researching, developing, and maintaining communications with our constituent congregations with the goals of surveying and educating congregational leadership on the process of regionalization.
· Maximize in-person engagement during Regional meetings
· Survey congregations on linkage effectiveness
· Board visits to congregation monitoring
· Support Transition Team in communications
· Establish a work calendar
JPD Transformation working group charge
Members: Christian Hartranft, Carla Johnson, Rev Madelyn Campbell, Justis Tuia. Rev David Pyle - consulting member
We understand our charge for this year to include:
· The examination of bylaws and policies and subsequent development of proposed changes as needed
· The continued provision of seamless service delivery to our congregations through the transition
· The provision of continued representation to the UUA through examination of possible governance structures and recommendations to the JPD board and/or the CERG boards
· Other work as necessary to define the scope and work of the JPD board to include the possibility of transitioning any or all responsibilities to other entities
JPD Transition working group charge
Members: Paul Pinson, Dennis Wellnitz, Carla Johnson (alternate)
Work with the Transition Team members from other districts to reach agreement on the formation and structure of the Central East Region and support our Districts in gaining support for the change in anticipation of a Spring 2016 vote.
Meeting Notes
Follow up TasksTask / Owner / Date restrictions
None
Meeting Documents
Treasurer’s Report /
DE Monitoring Report - Ends /
Memo of Understanding - draft /
JPD Strategic Plan /
Future Meeting Schedule for Year
Meeting Purpose / Date / Location
Exec committee - Sept / Sept 3 at 7:30
Full board – conf call / Tues Sept 15. 7:30 pm
Exec committee - Oct / Oct 8 at 7-7:30
In person – fall. With Baltimore cluster meeting / Oct 16-17. 5 pm thru Sat afternoon / David to find location
Exec committee - Nov / Nov 5 at 7:30
Full board – conf call / Tues, Nov 24. 7:30
Dec leadership meetings / Sat. Dec 5. / North and South
Exec committee - Dec / Dec 3 at 7:30
Full board – conf call / Thurs, dec 17 at 7:30
Exec committee - Jan / Jan 7 at 7:30
In person – winter / Jan 29-30 / Fairfax or other “deep south” part of the district
Exec committee - Feb / Feb 4 at 7:30
Full board – conf call / Feb 25 at 7:30 pm
Exec committee - Mar / Mar 3 at 7:30
Full board – conf call / March 17 at 7:30 pm
Exec comm – DA walk-thru / Meet Thurs eve at hotel / Pending DA
District Assembly / April 8-9 / York, PA
Possibly meet with Jim Key prior to meeting
Exec committee - May / May 5 at 7:30
Full board – conf call / May 19 at 7:30 pm
Exec committee - June / June 9 at 7
Full board – conf call / Jun 16 at 7:30 pm
General Assembly / June 22-26 / Columbus, OH
Exec committee - July / July 7 at 7:30
Board retreat / July 22-24 / Temenos retreat center
Meeting adjourned 3:00 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Carla Johnson, JPD Board Secretary
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