A Few UUC Board Activities in 2023-2024

In this brief report, that was also presented at our congregational meeting on June 2, I will share a few of the things that the UUC board has been up to this year.

1. The board, with the help of the finance committee, has developed and brought forward to you a budget very close to our goal of $379,000 that supports the healthy function of our church and which is consistent with UUC values and mission.

I am delighted to report that pledges received so far have brought in 99.23% of our proposed budget, which is great. The budget covers a lot of needs, but I’ll focus on several important personnel ones: We wanted to bring a fair and significant salary increases for our minister and our Director of Lifespan Faith Development, and an increase in five additional hours of support for our newly hired administrator. 

2. On October 25 of last year, Rev. Pam, Laura Robinson, the board president elect, and I held a meeting of 17 past presidents of the UUC, an impressive group, and learned a lot from them. One bit of feedback was that they encouraged us to be more visible as a board in what we do and who we are. That is part of the reason for this report.

3. In the spirit of being better acquainted with the committees in the UUC, their needs, and to encourage better communication among us all, the board invited a number of committee chairs and members to come to our meetings this year to provide feedback to us. These committees included the Auction Committee (Chris Long and Ally Dehoff), the Committee on Ministries (Ashley Dugan and Toni Cox on the evaluation of Rev. Pam; Jane Keppel-Benson, the evaluation of the grounds), Endowment Committee (Bill Baker), Connections Committee (Pauletta Copenheaver), the Right Relations Committee (Nancy Bodenhorn), and the Lay Pastoral Care Ministry (Jane Mahone). We will also meet next week with Sara Dalton, who will represent the Social Justice Team.

4. We also sought feedback on a number of important issues. For example, Dick Luke and Jamie McReynolds met with the board to provide feedback to us on their experiences with capital campaigns. Similarly, Rev. Pam did research for us on the best practices of UUC congregations in using or not using unrestricted reserve funds.

5. We developed and initiated the first annual Isabel Berney Award for Exceptional Service. As you learned earlier this month, the winners were Pauletta Copenhaver, and Cynthia and Dick Luke.

6. We reaffirmed our commitment to move forward on new playground equipment (first proposed in 2013), but in an incremental manner. This year a total of $4,614 was approved by the board and allocated toward playground improvements.

7. We approved a recommendation from the finance committee for a significant replacement and upgrade of our AV sound system. Similarly, we approved a heat pump system to provide better heat in the nursery and library, and met with Liz Crane, who has kept us aware of the substantial physical needs of the UUC.

8. We unanimously supported a public witness statement on defending democracy brought to us by Jim Bohland, Bob Stimson, and others. We are delighted that this work has expanded to important initiatives both within and outside our church. (The past president group encouraged the church to take more public stands on important issues. I think that the defending democracy initiative is the very kind of thing the past presidents had in mind.)

9. Finally, and this may seem like small potatoes, but it isn’t: The board adopted an additional organizational chart that better clarified and affirmed how both the board and the minister are guided by the congregation and the mission, vision, core values, and covenant that the congregation develops and agrees upon. Put a different way, this chart led to an important discussion and captures well our ideal as a board: What we do is not all about us, but is about us being faithful servants to the will of the congregation, guided by a mission and values that are bigger than any one of us.

These points are illustrative of the work the Board does. If you are interested in knowing more, or if you have trouble sleeping, all board meeting minutes are available on the UUC website.

     One last secret about the board: Our work is meaningful and (most of the time) fun. If you get the chance to serve on the board or a committee, I highly recommend you do You receive every bit as much as you give.

Fred Piercy, UUC Board President