Joseph Priestley District

Board of Directors

July 13-14, 2001

Reading

 

Minutes

 

Present: Evelyn Spurgin (president), Mike Harris (vice president), Ellen Cotts (treasurer), Dave Hunter (secretary), David Chandler, the Rev. Howard Dana, Marilyn Dyson, Janet Eisenhauer, the Rev. Anne Herndon, the Rev. Paula Maiorano, and Bill Stroup.

 

Absent:  Dawn Star Borchelt, Mel Harkrader-Pine, Paul Roche, and the Rev. Linda Olson Peebles (UUA trustee).

 

Also Present: the Rev. Dr. Richard Speck (district executive), the Rev. Susan Veronica Rak (Lifespan Religious Education Consultant)(Friday only), the Rev. Virginia Jerocha-Ernst (Acting Lifespan Religious Education Consultant Elect)(Friday only), Bill Reilly (Arlington, nominating committee)(Saturday only), Jim Hufford (de Benneville Foundation)(Saturday afternoon only), the Rev. John Morgan (minister, First UU Church of Berks County)(Saturday morning only), and the Rev. Lillian Nye (interim assistant minister, Main Line, and member of Young Adult Ministries Task Force)(Friday only).

 

The meeting was called to order at 6:28 p.m.

                                                                                                                                                                               

Following a check-in, Paula Maiorano led the board in worship.

 

1. Board Covenant.  Susan Rak facilitated a process of developing a board covenant.  Paula will compile the results and prepare a draft covenant.  Janet Eisenhauer will edit the draft covenant, which will then be sent to board members for feedback.  We hope to send the completed covenant to Tracey Robinson-Harris (UUA staff) prior to the October 5-6 start-up weekend, which she will facilitate.

 

2. Young Adult Ministries Task Force Report.   Susan and Lillian Nye led a discussion of the July 2001 Final Report of the Young Adult Ministries Task Force.  On the motion of Mike Harris, the board by acclamation accepted the report, expressed its appreciation to the members of the task force for their commitment and excellent work, and asked the staff to disseminate the report widely, by all appropriate means including electronic.  Evelyn Spurgin expressed the consensus of the board that we do not need to create a campus ministry task force at this time, as we had contemplated a year ago.  The Campuus committee has made progress in recent months with respect to its program; the committee, the task force, and the campus ministry organizer will communicate with each other; and the district executive will determine staff assignments.  On the other hand, we will need to have a group look at long term funding for campus ministry once we have the results of CM/YA Sunday, and we need to find a new chair for the committee, since Rob Cavenaugh as a UUA employee is not eligible to serve as chair.

 

3. Susan Veronica Rak’s Report.  Susan presented her final report to the board, which expressed to her their profound appreciation for her good work over several difficult years.

 

The Friday evening portion of the meeting concluded at 10:00 with worship led by Dave Hunter, which was followed by a farewell gathering in honor of Susan.

 

The meeting resumed Saturday morning at 8:30 with worship led by Richard Speck, which was followed by discussion by John Morgan of developments of our host congregation, the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berks County.

 

4. Board Retreat.  It was agreed that next year’s board retreat, scheduled for Friday to Sunday, May 17-19, will be held at Murray Grove.  Ellen Chulak has promised champagne and chocolates.

 

5. Long Range Planning.  Mike Harris reported on and led a discussion of long range plans, building on the work done at the board retreat, as summarized and refined in his 6/19/2001 draft five-year vision and 2001-02 annual plan (attached).  It was agreed that the board (through a yet to be staffed task force) should work on creating a culture of sustained substantial growth within the district, while the extension committee should continue its efforts to organize new congregations and to facilitate growth within existing congregations.  Marilyn Dyson agreed to work with Mike and Evelyn on how we can move toward the policy governance board model.  We agreed that the element of religious and spiritual depth should be added under the heading of UU identity.  John Morgan agreed to join Mike, Anne Herndon and Paula on the long range planning committee.  With respect to the possibility of youth serving on the district board, Richard will check on restrictions with respect to age under Delaware law; it was agreed that we should not have a reserved seat for a youth but that youth should not be excluded from serving on the board because of their age.  The April 2002 annual spring conference will be held at a hotel north of Baltimore.  (It was noted that Larry Peers, recently terminated by the UUA, may not be the keynote speaker and workshop leader.)

 

6. In-Group Bias.  Marilyn led the board in an exercise on in-group bias.  (Board members are reminded to return the forms, as requested by Marilyn.)

 

7. Congregational Liaison Responsibilities.  Evelyn reviewed the congregational liaison responsibilities of board members.

 

8. Fair Share Status.  Ellen Cotts distributed statements to board members indicating the status of their liaison congregations with respect to their payment of JPD dues and urged board members to assist their congregations in appreciating the importance of paying their fare shares.

 

9. Treasurer’s Report.  Ellen presented her treasurer’s report (attached).  Mike moved and the board agreed that the long range planning committee receive a budget of $500.  Ellen moved and the board agreed to a “Policy of the Joseph Priestley District: Adherence to Budget Line Items” (attached).  The board requested Tina to maintain a binder of policies and to transmit them as appropriate to committee chairs.  With respect to Women & Religion funds, Evelyn explained that we will not try to recover past interest credited to the committee but that starting with this fiscal year, interest, as well as conference income, will go to the district.

 

10. Staff Reports.  Board members were referred to the written reports submitted by Richard and Bob Johnsen.

 

11. List Serve.  Board members were reminded, once again, that a reply to a list serve message goes to the whole list, not to the individual who sent the original message.  Mike will take charge of the list serve; an assistant is needed.

 

12. Journey Towards Wholeness.  Board members were referred to the June 22 report of the JPD Journey Towards Wholeness Team, “2000-2001 Strategic Plan: What’s Been Accomplished?” (attached).  The need for new members of the team and of further training of board members was discussed.  Jubilee 2 training is scheduled for Arlington, October 26-28, and Main Line, next February.

 

13. Board Vacancies.  Mel Harkrider-Pine’s resignation was reluctantly accepted.  It was noted that Paul Roche’s resignation is expected.  Both are unable to continue serving because of time pressures.  Their outstanding contributions were noted.  It is understood that Paul remain a member of the finance committee.

 

14. Leadership Development Committee.  Evelyn announced that Robin Sommers (Harford County) will chair the leadership development committee on an interim basis, succeeding Rich Dean, and that Meredith Higgins (All Souls) will take over as chair in January 2002, when her term as president of All Souls ends. 

 

15. Association of UU Administrators Incorporation.  The Association of Unitarian Universalist Administrators (AUUA), whose administrator is Gail Donkin (Main Line) has decided to incorporate, in the State of Delaware.  The board approved the use of our office address as the Delaware address of AUUA and for the JPD administrator to serve as registered agent.

 

16. GA Suite.  The use of the JPD suite at GA in Cleveland and the advisability of our having a suite at next year’s GA in Quebec was discussed.  It was agreed that we should postpone a final decision with respect to plans for Quebec until our November or January meeting.

 

17. Program Consultant Search Committee.  We need to have a search committee for a permanent successor for Susan in place by the time of our October meeting.  Board members Dawn Star-Borchelt and Janet Eisenhauer will be co-chairs of the committee.  Members were urged to provided Evelyn with names of prospective members of the committee.

 

18. Personnel Committee.  The Personnel Committee has decided to reach out to help congregations with personnel issues; they will send out a questionnaire to congregations.  The committee has conducted an exit interview with out-going CampUUs director Cynthia Kane and will conduct an exit interview with Susan.  Richard will request the standard background checks for incoming staff members.  Richard will put a notice in the monthly packet that we have contracted with a company for background checks, and that this service is available to district congregations (at their expense).

 

19. New Campus Ministry Organizer.  Evelyn announced that Kim Mason has been selected, from an excellent pool of applicants, to be our new Acting Campus Ministry Organizer (a half time position), to begin in September (with some preliminary work to be done in August while she winds up her present job).

 

20. UUYAN.  The board approved the UU Young Adult Network (UUYAN) as a district committee, with Darrell Duane as chair and with a budget (as recommended by the finance committee) of $2500.  It was agreed that money from YACM (Young Adult/Campus Ministry) Sunday could be used for this purpose.  Howard Dana will serve as liaison to the committee, and representatives of the committee will be invited to our November meeting.

 

21. Future Meetings.  The October 5-6 meeting will be held at the Wilmington office.  The November and January meetings will be held in the South, with Cedar Lane and Davies the most likely sites.

 

22. District Executive Installation.  Richard will be formally and ceremonially installed as district executive on Sunday, September 30, at 4:30 p.m.  His committee on ministry (Marilyn, Elyse Resnick, and the Rev. Nancy Dean) will be asked to help with arrangements.  The board approved up to $1500.

 

23. De Benneville Farm.  David Chandler and Jim Hufford briefed the board on the status of the proposed purchase of the historic de Benneville farm near Reading for use as a UU retreat center (with a field trip following the board meeting).

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:20 p.m.

 

Dave Hunter, secretary