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ALL FAITHS UNITARIAN CONGREGATION
BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING MINUTES
TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2008
1.
Call to order. The meeting was called to order by Joyce Ramay,
president, at 4 p.m. Present in addition to Joyce were Lloyd Fish, vice
president; Carol Elrod, secretary; Doug Cartwright, treasurer; Lou Pizzini,
past president; and governors Ernie Fierro, Lisa Leonhardt, Robert Bennett
and Tom Poe. Also present were Carol Siferd, chairman of the nominating
committee; Lyle Olson, chairman of the audit committee, and Wayne Robinson,
minister.
2. Secretary’s report - The
minutes of the February meeting were approved as distributed.
3. Financial reports (See handouts)
a. Treasurer’s report: Doug
Cartwright said that February wasn’t a good month. Income was $12,857, and
expenses were $15,198. We anticipated being $1200 short, as February
historically has been a down month, but instead were short nearly $2400. He
noted that April, October and December have been our best months.
He said we are “continuing to operate
frugally and within the budget guidelines approved in January by the
congregation.”
As of March 17, our accounts were:
Checking: $8,370.88
Florida Gulf Money Market: $8,546.64
Raymond James Money Market (our
operating reserve): $24,141.59
This is 53.7 percent of our operating
reserve goal.
Dedicated Funds were $1,272.52
Doug said All Faiths members continue to
support the congregation however they can, and he thanked them. In addition
to giving money for the operation of All Faiths, they give generously to
various charities the congregation supports - Hope House and the McGregor
Clinic, for example.
The board voted to submit the treasurer’s
report for audit.
b. Audit committee - Lyle Olson,
chairman of the audit committee, reported to the finance committee last week
and today to the board about the nine-month audit, 2007 recently completed.
The written report was signed by him, Robert Nuding and Joe Guardiano.
Lyle said the finance committee is one of
All Faiths’ strengths, and he also praised Sarah Hanna for her work as
office manager.
He and his committee had several
recommendations for better operation of our office. We have been using
Quicken software, and that no longer works for us as the requirements of the
All Faiths have become more complex. Therefore, it is recommended that we
install church-based accounting software, of which there are several on the
market. Lyle will report back to the board after he completes testing one
such software package at home. New software might cost $400-500, he said.
Support from the vendor might cost an additional $500.
Lyle said there is currently no manual of
accounting procedures for the day-to-day business operations of All Faiths.
If Sarah were to become incapacitated, “you would have quite a time,” he
said. The audit committee recommends drafting such a manual.
In addition, the computer system Sarah is
using is almost totally “peaked out,” Lyle said. Many old files have been
kept that could either be deleted or saved to CDs. This might alleviate some
of the overload, but it could be that we need to buy a new computer, which
would have a greater capacity. Or, alternatively, more memory could be
loaded onto the present computer. The budget might have to be amended to
take care of these needed purchases, Lyle said.
How the congregation controls money coming
in is quite good, he said, but better controls need to be in place before
checks are written.
The audit committee reviewed our insurance
policies and concluded that some matters require attention – and soon. Our
multi-peril (liability) policy will be cancelled as of June 9 and must be
replaced. The finance committee chair is working on finding a new carrier.
It was noted that board members are covered until June 9. The premium on the
life insurance policy the congregation has taken out on Wayne rises to
$25,000 annually in 2012, and we will need to make a decision regarding this
policy.
A team should work out a list of how long
records are kept.
The congregation already has an inventory of
what it owns, but that list needs to be kept up to date, Lyle said. The
inventory will need to be built into the new software.
We need to have written policies to protect
privacy, he said. Some groups go so far as to refuse to give out e-mail
addresses of members without their consent.
c. Finance committee report:
The committee recommends increasing Sarah Hanna’s hours to five hours per
day, beginning April 1. She will soon have added responsibilities, including
doing the layouts for “Connections.” (Jan Guardiano is retiring after 7
years.) The board approved Sarah’s additional hours. (About $4,000 must be
added to the budget to cover Hipolito Molina’s per-Sunday wage increase and
Sarah’s new hours.)
Lloyd Fish said the fund-raising committee
has decided time is too short for this season to launch a major campaign,
but a brief fund-raising letter will be sent. For the next 4-5 Sundays
members will talk briefly about why they are members of All Faiths. The
committee is discussing long-term fund-raising possibilities and will meet
again in April.
4. Minister’s report (See handout.)
Wayne said he thinks the Conversation Café has enhanced the service and that
the singers have helped the congregation with the hymns.
About 175 attended the memorial service for
Pete Forcey on March 2 at the Crestwell School. Hank Shapiro and Lloyd Fish
provided the music, and members of the Services Support Council took care of
the sound, refreshments and arrangements.
Dan Tudor has been performing very well as
the music director, Wayne said. Charlene Jassim will fill in for him on
Easter Sunday, and Pamela Linkhart will be the guest soloist.
Wayne said the input about topic selection
for summer services was excellent. Potential overall subjects are
spirituality, outreach and relationships. After the service on March 16,
members of the congregation voted on more specific topics of interest to
them within each category. Kay Riegler designed the process by which topics
were chosen.
The minister’s report was approved.
5. Committees:
a. Nominating Committee – Carol
Siferd, chairman, announced that the nominees for new board positions are:
Evelyn Evans, vice chairman
Midge Magstadt, secretary
Dave Morgan and Bob Nuding, governors
Up for re-election are:
Joyce Ramay, board chair
Carol Elrod, governor
Tom Poe, Lisa Leonhardt, Lloyd Fish
and Karen Nathan will be retiring.
(Board members whose terms expire in
2009 are: Robert Bennett, Ernie Fierro and Doug Cartwright, treasurer.)
b. Social Circles – The board
praised Carol Siferd on her superb organization of the “gala” held at
Colonial Country Club. She said members of the congregation were generous in
subsidizing some who couldn’t afford to pay for all or part of their
tickets. The raffles were quite successful; $356 was raised. We had an
overall $236 profit on the gala.
c. Membership (see handout) Pat
Nuding announced that as of March 14, 2008, we had 240 Members and 84
Friends.
A new column “Directory Update” will be in
“Connections” starting in April. There will be a big list of changes and
additions then – accumulated since the pictorial directory came out in 2007.
After April, the update will be done monthly.
d. Music: Carol Elrod, co-chair,
reported it has been difficult to entice singers up to the front to help
with the singing of hymns. The same is true of the instrumentalists. The
music committee has been choosing hymns to complement sermon topics provided
in advance by Wayne.
e. Social Outreach - Robert
Bennett, chairman, reported that $177 was collected for the McGregor Clinic
via the recent book sale.
All Faiths will participate in a peace vigil
at 6 p.m. March 19 in conjunction with MoveOn. This is in addition to the
every-Wednesday demonstration by All Faiths members.
Chris and Steve Fisher continue feeding the
homeless monthly at All Souls Episcopal Church. Robert Bennett will fill in
when they are not available. He would like to expand this outreach beyond
what’s being done presently.
Although the All Faiths group helping the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers would like to have a vegetable sale on Sunday
mornings, that may not be possible because of our restrictions at Crestwell.
Robert said his committee is working on a
social outreach brochure for All Faiths.
f. Services Support Council:
Doug Cartwright, co-chairman, said Hipolito will be asked to be sure the
music practice room is locked during and after the service, as it has been,
on occasion, left in bad condition, perhaps by some of our children. Also,
he has been asked not to wander around taking attendance while Wayne is
delivering the sermon.
6. Old Business
Agenda for Annual Elections Meeting – March
30
Minutes from last year’s meeting
Treasurer’s report
Auditor’s report
Election of new board members
and officers.
(Election by voice vote unless there is someone
nominated
from the floor.)
Longevity Planning Report and
Open Discussion
on Future –
3 year
financial plan – report by Doug Cartwright
Ministerial
succession
Facilities –
report by Ernie Fierro
Open discussion
7. New Business –
Certificates of Appreciation will be given
to:
Carol Siferd,
Nathalie Hahn and Dan Tudor – for the gala
Lyle Olson, Joe Guardiano, Robert Nuding - for the audit
Jan Guardiano – for
7 years doing the layout on the newsletter
and management of the website. On April
13, there will
be a special recognition for Jan.
The meeting adjourned at 5:50 p.m.
Next Meeting – Tuesday, April 15 – 4 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Carol Elrod,
secretary |
