Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Annual Congregational Meeting. Sunday, January 28, 2018

Transcription

1 Welcome: President, Rachel Rott Chalice Lighting: Reverend Dr. Beth Johnson Call to Order: Rachel Rott 12:38pm Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Annual Congregational Meeting Sunday, January 28, 2018 Appoint Parliamentarian: Rachel Rott appointed Dan Finkenthal as Parliamentarian Agenda Approval: Rachel Rott presented Stacy C made motion to approve the agenda; seconded by Kelley Grimes. No discussion. Motion approved. Confirm Quorum: Past President, Julie Mack & Secretary, Marianne Swift-Gifford; Quorum was confirmed. Approval of June 2017 Congregational Meeting Minutes: Julie Mack made a motion to approve the June 2017 Congregational Meeting Minutes; Stacy Carlson seconded the motion. No discussion. Motion approved. One abstention. Reports Minister s Sabbatical: President Elect and Chair of Sabbatical Committee, Kelley Grimes reported that Rev. Beth Johnson will take a Sabbatical from April 2-June 30 th, then take a 2 week vacation. She will be back in the pulpit on 7/22. Patrick Staight asked question about how often the minister takes Sabbatical. Rev. Beth has not been on Sabbatical since Council of Committees, Activities and Teams (C-CAT): C-CAT Chair, Eileen Maurer reported. She explained what CCAT does. Any committee with a budget plus chairs of activities and teams gather once per month (4 th Tuesdays of each month at 6:30-8:30pm). Leadership training will be prioritized during CCAT meetings this year. All friends and members are invited to attend these important monthly meetings. Children & Families Ministry: Staff Director of CFM, Kathleen Moscato reported on the Religious Explorations program. This fall brought the highest numbers, to date.high 30s-40 children and youth attend most Sundays! Coming of Age is happening at this time for 6 youth (8 th -10 th graders). Thank you to Jennifer White for assisting Kathleen with the CoA program. She also reported that she, Kelley Grimes, and Marianne Swift-Gifford are on the planning team for the upcoming Camp de Benneville Pines Womens Retreat. Summer camps at PUUF will happen again this summer; Our Whole Lives will happen again, as will 1-2 other camps; these camps help raise funds for the RE program, as well. Music Ministry: Kimberly Lilley reported that since Caroline Celia retired, she has been trying to hire a qualified accompanist. Augustus Moscato, Adrian Andersen, and Deanna Peirson assisted. Play piano in choir, choir practices, and play on Sundays. Thank you to librarians, Beth and John Bissell and Elenah Buckner. Music fundraiser to happen in July, 2018.

2 Minister s Update: Rev. Beth Johnson reported that after a thorough search for a qualified office administrator, Lisa Wellens was hired to fill that role. Rev. Beth thanked Lisa for her service. This position/title and job description has changed as Lisa brought additional skills to the position which once was Office Manager. Rev. Beth thanked Kathleen Moscato and Kimberly Lilley, who stepped up during the absence of office personnel. More thanks were given to Patrick Staight (website), MaryAnn Barbee and Sarah Carlson (both for helping with the Telescope). Also, Kathleen Moscato and Rev. Beth attended an Emergency Preparedness for Congregations session. Acknowledgement was given to Kathleen for using the new curriculum for the Coming of Age Program, during which Rev. Beth was doing a 5 week Parent session. Building Your Own Theology with Susan Thayer and Rev. Beth was happening after a couple years since last session; 24 people are participating. Sunday services are flourishing and packed full! Sunday Service Committee was credited for doing a great job! Sally Orlando-Rorick was thanked for leading up Saging Gracefully. Jennifer White was thanked for being PUUF s UUA information point person all were reminded up the upcoming Regional Assembly (last week of April) and General Assembly (third week of June). Pastoral care has been ongoing. Forward Together (part of PUUF Peace and Justice) has been happening on the third Mondays during which Kathleen M and Eileen Maurer make food for Meatless Mondays. Healing The Earth Healers, a retreat at Questhaven grounded in Joanna Macey s work was announced. Stewardship Task Force: Past President, Julie Mack reported on the calling of a PUUF Stewardship Task Force. Julie posed the questions: How do we spend our money? and How do we plan for the financial health of our community? She reported that we need a plan, a vision. Palomar UU Fellowship needs to be forward thinking in our active stewardship, as we have a budget deficit currently (money in reserves). The goal is to have a Stewardship Task Force in place by the end of February. If you have any questions about this task force, please ask Julie. Finance: Finance Director, Stacy Carlson reported on Income and Expenditures, to date.

3 Based on what we ve budgeted, we re a little behind. Pledges still to come. Total for expenses, were about where we should be; might go over by end of the year. Reported on Investments. Finance committee has been working on transferring finances from Power Church to QuickBooks, which should be much more user friendly. Committee has been working on policies and procedures and being transparent. A Payroll company has been put in place for PUUF staff. End of year contributions statement reports have been distributed. Moving forward, the committee has seen a trend that PUUF spends every dollar that is brought in to the fellowship. As we grow, we need more space, but if we continue to budget the way we have in the past, we will not be able to grow/build a new building. What would it look like for us to be a congregation that budgets in alignment with our values, mission and vision? Stacy posed the question what do you hope for the legacy of Palomar UU Fellowship? The finance committee is asking all members to increase their pledges by 10-15% ($30-$45k) in order to grow/build our reserves. This is roughly $12/month more for all members, in order to build our reserves. Carol Hilton commented: she praised Rev. Beth for bringing paid Religious Education and Music Staff, Stacy Carlson for talking about the new building, the entire community! State of the Fellowship: President, Rachel Rott Good afternoon. My name is Rachel Rott and it is my honor to serve as the President of the Executive Board of Palomar UU Fellowship. I m grateful to serve alongside my fellow board members, our past president, Julie Mack, president elect Kelley Grimes, secretary, Marianne Swift-Gifford, and finance director Stacy Carlson. I am grateful that we have a committed partner in Reverend Beth, who is an ex officio member of the Executive Board, and who helps to hold the mission and vision of the congregation, as well as the institutional knowledge that is so important to serving with integrity. Thank you to the folks that helped with today s meeting: the Board, Rev. Beth, Kathleen Moscato, Lisa Wellens, Kimberly Lilley, Eileen Maurer, Mary Ann Barbee, and thanks to our childcare folks, Weston Gifford and Sadie St. James. We are now midway through what is called our church year, or our fiscal year. So at this meeting, we don t have big business items like elections or a budget to vote on. The January meeting is generally an opportunity for us to do any business that has arisen, to update you on the financial status, to give you the opportunity to hear reports from key leaders at the fellowship, and to hear a state of the fellowship from the Board President--me, in this case.

4 You ve had a chance to hear from some folks today about what s happening here at Palomar. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to our volunteer leadership and to our staff, for everything they do to make this faith community vibrant. I know that it takes a tremendous commitment of time and energy, and it makes a difference. This community is powered by the investment made by those of you who have committed yourselves to its care, as members or as friends. This point marks, roughly, the halfway point through my term as President. I took ove r that role from Julie last June. It has been an incredible learning experience for me. Coming onto the Board, I didn t really know what to expect. I almost turned down the call by the Nominating Committee--the word No was on the tip of my tongue. But I decided to answer that call because it felt like I owed it to this community that had done so much for me and for my family. I was worried that I would mess up or not be up to the task, and frankly, I m sure I have messed up, and I imagine I have fallen short as well, but I can t think of any job I ve done that has been more rewarding to me than the volunteer job of serving on this board. The reason I say all of that is that I really encourage each of you to find ways to serve our faith community that are nourishing to your spirit and that give you an opportunity to learn. The last calendar year has been both successful and challenging for our congregation. We have continued to grow in membership. We are now at a little under 200 members. Our children and youth programs have seen exciting growth, and we are so grateful to Kathleen Moscato, our Director of Children and Family Ministries, and the volunteers that staff her programs, from Sunday school teachers and nursery helpers, to those who are serving as mentors in our Coming of Age program. Kimberly Lilley took over our Music Ministry after Caroline Celia s retirement last year, and she is doing an outstanding job. Our music program is evolving and thriving under her leadership and her unique vision, and we are fortunate to have her in that role. Our long-time Office Administrator left last fall, and we have Lisa Wellens who just recently came on board permanently. She is updating our processes and bringing her commitment to our UU values to that job. For those who don t know, Lisa served as our Director of Religious Exploration before Kathleen Moscato, so she is a familiar face to a number of you, and someone who deeply understands our UU values and will bring them to the work that she does. Reverend Beth has been doing the work of ministry, which means she wears a lot of different hats. Rev. Beth organizes and leads Sunday morning services, in cooperation with the Sunday Services Committee, and she creates worship to inspire and support us all in spiritual deepening. She provides pastoral care to members of our fellowship and to members of the community. Much of that is not anything that you will hear her speak about because it is private and personal for folks, but know that she shows up, and that if you need her, she will be there. Some of us may not be accustomed to asking, but I assure you, there is a circle of caring in this congregation that will hold you, and that does hold you, even if you don t ask. Reverend Beth provides pastoral support for other community members as well, and she has received particular praise from the immigrant community for her pastoral care during what has been a traumatic and scary year. She has helped to nurture group ministries here, which is one of the most

5 important ways that we can live and deepen in our faith. She has said some already about what she s doing and her goals. I could go on and on about our outstanding staff, but I think you get the idea--the Board is grateful to work with these incredible professional women who make this community richer by their presence. Thanks so much to Stacy Carlson for her leadership as our finance director. I can t tell you all how much critical work the finance director does, and it is work that requires a very specific skill set so we are really fortunate to have her. And look--this isn t something that any of us on the Board view as simply number crunching. As a Board, we understand the budget to be a reflection of our values as a congregation. When you look at our budget, what you see is that this congregation values children and youth, that music is deeply meaningful to us as a way to connect and to deepen spiritually, that we understand the value of clergy leadership and pastoral care, and that we want to contribute to the well being of our wider community. As a congregation, I understand us as a people who want to be welcoming and caring, both toward one another and toward our neighbors unknown. You, my friends, have big hearts. Stacy outlined our challenges, and I think it s important that we all are clear-eyed about them. As we head into Pledge season soon, I really encourage each of you to reflect on what this community means to you and to your values, and what you hope our legacy will be. It really is within our reach to do big things. It is for that reason that the Board was grateful for the opportunity to have a cell tower placed on our property. We got helpful feedback from the congregation on the short survey that we sent to gauge membership support for the project before we moved forward. Here s a chart showing how you responded to the question of whether or not you supported us moving forward with the cell tower. The lease was signed a couple of months ago, and now we are in a holding pattern as Eco-Site works on the implementation on their end. We ll keep you updated as the timeline unfolds. We won t start to make money on the tower until they break ground, but once they do, we will receive $2700 per month for as long as the contract is in force. It is an initial 10-year term with three 5-year options after that, for a total possible lease term of 25 years. This is roughly $32,000 each year that we will make with, we hope, very little work or impact on our end of things. Mention where tower will be on the grounds. This is a time of great opportunity for us to be stewards of this place that we all love and hope to pass along to the next generation. Our congregation s word for the year is willingness, so let s be willing to risk, to dream together, to make justice manifest in the world, and to be present and accounted for in this community, in every way. What we do here is the work of relationship. It is empowering, exhilarating, life-changing and lifeaffirming, difficult work. We are a covenanted community. The Board is committed to and has prioritized the vision and health of the congregation. That is the lens through which we work together and make decisions. A congregation is like a living organism, itself composed of each of us, with smaller groups that make the organs and limbs.

6 Together, we each are the determining factor in the health of the overall system of this body, if you will. Sometimes the culture and the patterns of a system are good and healthy, and other times they are not. One of the most important tools that we have each committed to using as members here is mindful communication. How many of you have looked recently at the full text of our covenant? I admit it s been a while since I read through the whole thing, but this is what it says under the Mindful Communication bullet: We foster healthy relationships through honest, responsible, and direct communication, valuing humor and joy. We express ourselves and set our boundaries with love and kindness while presuming one another s good intentions. We listen attentively, speak our truth with compassion, convey appreciation, practice forgiveness, and welcome ourselves and others back into covenant. When we, as individuals, committees, or as a congregation, fall short in treating one another with the inherent worth and dignity that our First Principle calls on us to recognize as Unitarian Universalists, if we can communicate directly and authentically with one another, we build a stronger, healthier community. Equally important to that is the willingness - there s our word for the year! - to hear from one another about the places that we may have fallen short, and to trust that there is always the space for forgiveness and change, and for healing and renewed trust. Each of us can decide any time to step back into covenant, back into right relationship. Each of us can welcome one another back into covenant. Anne Lamott wrote, I do not understand the mystery of grace--only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us. As UUs, we can offer the grace that is extended by the gods of other faiths. We have that capacity, and when we have the courage and vulnerability to extend grace, we bring light and meaning to the whole community. Glennon Doyle Melton, activist and philanthropist, said Be messy and complicated and afraid and show up anyway. In this world of fake news, disrespect, etc., this Board is committed to helping our congregation have tools to have direct, mindful communication. Let us be the beacons, Let us be the ones in this fractured world who choose to bring health and light to the spaces we inhabit. May it be so. Adjournment: Rachel Rott adjourned the meeting at 1:54pm Extinguishing Chalice Meeting Minutes prepared by PUUF Board Secretary, Marianne Swift-Gifford