Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma
Board of Trustees
Monday, October 11, 2004
7:30 to 10 pm at Naomi Davis's house

Minutes, prepared by Norb Gallery

In attendance this month were board members Greg Davis, Naomi Davis, David Dodd, Norb Gallery and Jennine Lanouette.  David chaired the meeting.  We were joined by guests T Hathaway, Mollie Twidale and Sharon Wikoff. 

Minutes of the September were approved without change. 

Agenda Construction: Jennine requested that the board reconsider the decision of the Stewardship Committee regarding the October Share the Plate.  This was added to the agenda during the report of the Stewardship Committee. 

Correspondence:  The Board received a request from Carol West for UUP participation in the fundraiser for the Polly Klass Performing Arts Center on December 5.  David announced that Larking About will perform a couple of songs and that the center will be the recipiant of the November Share the Plate offering. 

 UUP received a Thank You from the PSSC for a previous Share the Plate offering.

 Naomi announced that our insurance carrier, Church Mutual, has forwarded a copy of the Workmans Compensation binder for our policy. 

I.   Followup from Leadership Retreat: next steps  The consensus is that the leadership retreat of September 18^th brought to light the problems of our growing membership in ways nobody expected.  The big issues are bringing new people into the leadership, icluding the institutional memory and experience of the original leaders without burning anybody out.  Jennine will prepare a full review of the Leadership retreat.  \

A.     Proposal for committee strengthening from T, esp. Membership  T presented a proposal to revitalize the Membership Committee (distributed by email before the meeting).  Currently the committee has no members, its mission is too broad and it needs a strong leader.  Many points were discussed including the need to mentor new members and have non-members participate with small tasks.  David stated that the Board is responsible defining the role of the Membership Committee.  T volunteered to expand her proposal into a complete definition.  Discussion continued on likely candidates to be approached for the new Membership Committee 

B.         Proposal for Admin position  T presented a request that the board hire a part-time administrative assistant (general description distributed by email before the meeting).  The primary role si to bring consistency to many essentially clerical duties that have fallen to the committees, specifically membership.  Discussion include duties, hours and pay.  Greg moved to create a position at five hours per week and $15 per hour for a 52 week position, the monies to come from the Reserve Fund.  Second came from Norb.  The vote was unanimous.  The position will be advertised at SRJC, SSU and through various online lists.  T will hone the job description, Greg and T will conduce interviews. 

C.         Update on Terilynn’s project Terilynn was not able to attend, but did forward a request through David to be allowed to survey the congregation about our organization as part of her project.  This is to set a baseline to assess the benefit of her project to the organization.  Since this was already agreed to, no action was taken. 

II.     Facilities / Nuts and Bolts

A.          Piano possibility update  Greg reports that the Womens’ Club denied our request to place our own Baby Grand piano in front of the stage.  They are concerned about the amount of space it will take up.  Jim Hanson has offered to pay to have the existing piano retuned.  

B.         Christian Science facility issues update  David Hathaway, who is certified in the handling of Asbestos, examined the work being done at the Christian Science Reading Room building and found no reason to be concerned.  Sharon and Jennine will proceed with plans to utilize the space.  Sharon has asked for monies to put a rug on the floor.  David offered to look for a free carpet on Craig’s list. 

III.     Religious Education update (Sharon)  Sharon is creating a job desription for the Nursery Sunday School Assistant.  She will also organize a penny-drive to help defray Jennine’s expenses to monitor the Florida Election. 

IV.     Stewardship Committee report

A.       Share the Plate planning  Naomi reports that the committee has decided on recipients for Share the Plate during the next three months; October/Floroida Disaster Relier, November/Polly Hanna Kloss Performing Arts Center and December/UUSC.  The Time and Talent Auction is set for January 23^rd from noon to 2pm, Christian will act as auctioneer.  The next Pledge Drive is scheduled from 3/20 to 4/4.  Jennine moved that the entire Share the Plate for October go to the Florida Disaster Relief.  This Board agreed unanimously.  Mollie and Jamie Twidale will match the entire amount. 

B.    How did the Board recommendation for support of Jennine’s travels to Florida to monitor election not become the Share the Plate offering in October?  The Board had made a recommendation at the September meeting to support Jennine’s trip to Florida for election monitoring.  Naomi reports that multiple storms struck Floriday by the time the Stewardship Committee met.  They decided that the more worthy cause was the relief effort.  All agreed that this was not very well communicated to Jennine.  A separate announcement will be made at an upcoming service to solicit funds for Jennine’s expenses. 

V.     Treasurer’s Report  We’re pretty much on track for both income and expenses.  Naomi would like to move the reserve from Exchange Bank to World Savings in order to get a slightly better return. 

A.         Printing costs issue (newsletter, RE inserts)  Norb questioned that the costs of the Newsletter and the RE Inserts were accounted for.  This evolved into a discussion of the function and mandate for the newsletter.  Mollie stated that it came from the Leadership retreat.  The first issue was partially printed in color, but that is not necessary for future editions.  Distribution will be done primarily by having members pickup a designated copy at the Sunday service, unclaimed copies could then be mailed.  This all met with approval. 

VI.     Worship update

A.         Recording services Norb reports that he has been experimenting with recording the entire service.  A suggestion was made that the Embracing meditation should be excluded from recording so as not to limit anybody’s expression.