Minutes - March 21, 2024

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Amanda Sullivan
Arthur Henrick
Diana Mecum
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Sundar Mudupalli (OMC)
Xolani Kacela, Rev.

Quarum is majority of 7, 4

* * * Opening
19:32 Dr. xk spoke from the hymnal

* * * One process observation question – Consider those not at the table

* * * Approval of agenda – Approved

* * * Termination policy [Sundar]
19:36 Sundar presented his viewpoint of how our Termination policy compares with the UUA policy. Jim suggested that we take this up in the fall with the new minister. Rev xk stated that we went through the appropriate steps.

* * * March 24 election meeting plans
• Annual report https://sanjoseuu.org/about-us/leadership/governance/annual-reports/
• Bylaws changes
• 19:53 Ram & Jim started the conversation. We are down to CEO & COO for the name of the head of the OMC. Jim feels that the changes are in good shape. Jim plans to present a brief overview at the Congregational Meeting 3/24. We discussed the ramifications of summarizing the topic & conclusion of the Executive Sessions.
• Approve Right Relations Covenant: https://sanjoseuu.org/proposed-right-relations-covenant/ 20:13 This will pass with a 50% vote.

* * * Jim spoke of planning for the Budget meetings. Town Hall meeting May 12. Congregational meeting May 19. Jim asked for an additional Board meeting May 2. This suggestion met no opposition.

* * * Committee on Ministry
20:15 Carolyn Bowman asked if we should have a Committee on Ministry? The job of this committee to evaluate all aspects of ministry, possibly including the minister in general/overall terms. The Board evaluates the minister. The purpose is to evaluate how the committees follow the mission statement. We are planning on starting this in the fall with the new minister. Ray is willing to write the job description.

* * * Minister’s report
20:45 Rev xk spoke at length on his report. There was extensive discussion, especially about the RE position.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:58 Jim spoke of the report he emailed. Payments for this year’s pledges are coming in in the high 90 %’s.

* * * Other Business

* * * Executive Session: Watkins Award

Meeting ended about 21:20

Minutes - February 15, 2024

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Amanda Sullivan
Arthur Henrick
Diana Mecum
Jan Theiss-Guffey (OMC) (Guest)
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Xolani Kacela, Rev.

Quarum is majority of 7, 4

* * * Opening
One process observation question #6
Did we consider the voices not at the table: the under-represented, the marginalized, the broader communities we serve?

* * * Approval of agenda Approved

* * * SanJoseUU?
19:38 Ram initiated discussion. In the next year or so, we will be considering changing our name.

* * * Reminder of Watkins Award
19:43 Ram initiated discussion.

* * * March 24 election meeting plans
19:44 3 parts, new officers & board members, annual report (5 – 10 minutes), review proposed bylaw & covenant changes.
• Bylaws changes
• 19:47 Jim suggested many changes, he went through a list of changes. He referred to his shared document which he will email shortly to the Board. Ram discussed when we need open discussion & executive session. We discussed when meetings should be open or executive session. There was discussion on whether 1 or 2 years absence should cause a member to be inactive. Jan’s two proposals on membership didn’t pass. Her proposal that the hiring/firing of staff be led by the minister working with the OMC did pass.
• Covenants
• 21:20 Ram is going to ask Rev xk 16-February to revise the covenants.

* * * Minister’s report

* * * Treasurer’s report

* * * Other Business

* * * Process Observation
21:25 We discussed bullet item 6.

* * * Benediction

Meeting ended about 21:30

Minutes - January 18, 2024

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Amanda Sullivan
Arthur Henrick
Diana Mecum
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
John Hurd (Guest)
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Xolani Kacela, Rev.

Quarum is majority of 7, 4

* * * Opening
19:34 Rev xk

* * * One process observation question Question 3
” Did we listen deeply to each other and avoid cross-talk and interruptions?”

* * * Approval of agenda

* * * Request: 1st Thursdays for mtgs? Asked by the nominating committee, we would be open.

* * * Brief updates — 19:40 Ram may join Board of 3rd St. He asked if there appears to be a conflict of interest? Ram is working on the website. There is a recent issue with performance. We may look for alternative hosting.
Town Hall on Jan. 28. Search Committee will be sharing feedback from congregation. Not a Congregational meeting for which Secretary needs to take minutes.
John Hurd spoke of Healthy Relations Team. Rev xk to speak with HRT members. Rev xk would like the HRT to report to him rather than the Board. Rev xk will meet again with HRT members.

* * * Article II training 19:55 Rev xk thinks we should consider the 3rd party course. UU Wellspring has a 4-part program that costs $150 and allows the congregation to participate
in unlimited numbers. https://uuwellspring.org/proposed-article-ii/

* * * March 24 election meeting
• Bylaws changes
• Covenants

* * * Disruptive Behavior Policy 20:04 Ram discussed the proposed draft. It was explained that minor changes might still be made. Voted & passed x7. There was discussion about recent disruptive behavior. SRT not to be picked by Nominating Committee.

* * * Minister’s report 20:20 Rev xk asked, does the current membership warrant size of governance structure? Rev xk contacted the county re mental health challenges.

* * * Treasurer’s report 20:45 Jim emailed out proposed changes 17-January, such as the following:
Adopt CEO rather than Program Officer
Endowment Committee, Jim is proposing that we eliminate the committee.
Ratify sale of Endowment Fund.
Selling property under 10% of Budget ($40,000). Changed to 5%.
Board is responsible to manage long term resources. OMC year to year. Board multi-year.
• Audits? Plan an audit, function of treasurer. We should plan to do this after this fiscal year.

* * * Other Business 21:23 Ram suggested bylaw changes.

* * * Process Observation 21:41 Question 3 & 8 – we followed these for the most part.

* * * Benediction 21:45 from Dr. King

Meeting ended about 21:45.

Minutes - November 16, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Amanda Sullivan
Diana Mecum
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Xolani Kacela, Rev.

Quarum is majority of 7, i.e. 4

* * * Opening

* * * One process observation question

* * * Approval of agenda – approved

* * * March 24 election meeting
19:35 Ram discussed the election meeting. Also the cleanup of bylaws. Jim will look up the lead time for informing related to the election. 3 weeks or 2 months.
Tentative date for Budget meeting: May 19

* * * Transforming Hearts Collective course
19:41 Ram discussed.

* * * Suspension and Termination policy vote
19:42 Ram wants both. Termination removes person from being a member of the church. Termination is more final. Ram displayed the 7:30 version of the Suspension document. Going forward we want to track changes. Voted & passed x6 unanimously.

* * * Disruptive Behavior policy vote
Disruptive Behavior policy. Need to be respectful of persons acting out. Ram asked if we need this policy? We had a mutual invitation discussion. Jenn expressed that the difficult thing is having someone to implement it in the church. Rev xk recommended that bylaws be lean and policy have more detail. We need to insure that future generations have the knowledge.
Ram doesn’t want us to edit on the fly. Continue to edit. Jenn feels we should get the 5 people in place. Ram suggests that we start recruiting a team. This would include people who have read the Disruptive Behavior document. Possibly ask John Hurd to be one of the 5.

* * * Minister’s report
20:38 Rev xk. Healthy Relations team. We had a successful retreat. Rev xk is pushing the 2 online covenants. We are also working on the Suspension/Termination & Disruptive Behavior policies. Jan is going to get a report from the OMC to the Board.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:40 Jim sent out the financials. He sent his financials by email.

* * * Benediction
20:50 Rev xk gave benediction, reading from Micah 4:3.

Meeting ended at 20:55

Minutes - October 19, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Arthur Henrick
Diana Mecum
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Xolani Kacela, Rev.

* * * Opening
19:32 Opening by Rev xk. Philosophy is kindness.

* * * Approval of agenda — Approved
19:34 Ram talked about having the Board-OMC retreat in Santa Cruz. Ram will talk to Jan.

* * * Vote on using endowment funds
19:47 Jim discussed the motion. He shared slides. Motion to reallocate funds. Voted and passed unanimously x6.
TEXT OF MOTION
Move to make the following financial transactions to support the building construction
associated with the Capital Campaign:
– Withdraw the balance of the Endowment Fund account with UUCEF, except for a
nominal amount to keep the account open, and credit the money to the Capital
Improvement Fund.
– Transfer the balance of Unallocated Surplus to the Capital Improvement Fund.
– Transfer the balance of the Libby Codd Bequest to the Capital Improvement Fund.
– Transfer the balance of the PPP Fund to the Capital Improvement Fund.
– Set aside $40,000 of the money transferred above and transfer it instead to the Minister
Transition Fund. This money is to be used to pay the costs of the search and transition
cost of the new settled minister.
– Dedicate all interest from Treasury Bills to the Capital Improvement Fund through the
conclusion of the Capital Campaign building construction.
– Dedicate all realized profits from investments to the Capital Improvement Fund through
the conclusion of the Capital Campaign building construction. (The money will not be
transferred from Investment Gains until the investments are sold, because the profit can
change with the value of the investments.)

* * * Vote on Behavioral and Aspirational Covenants
19:53 Rev xk gave a summary of covenants. Ram wants Board to approve covenants for the Healthy Congregation team. Questions asked and discussion. Voted passed unanimously x6.
Covenant 1: Behavioral covenant
Covenant 2: Aspirational covenant

* * * Feedback: annual review [30 min]
20:00 We each spoke about 5 minutes. Ended at 20:30

* * * Executive Session with Search Committee from 8:30 pm
20:33 Executive session with Search Committee. Attendees: Bill Bowman, Kim Aldridge, Robert Strong, Sally Cooperrider.

Meeting ended at 21:00

Minutes - September 21, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Amanda Sullivan
Arthur Henrick
Diana Mecum
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Xolani Kacela, Rev.

* * * Opening

* * * One process observation question
19:35 Did we attend to the relationships and the process of our work, as well as to the tasks and the outcomes?

* * * Approval of agenda — Approved

* * * Preliminaries:
• Search Cttee update
• 19:37 Search Committee wants to meet with the Board in October.
• Summary of group discussions 19:40 Ram emailed the responses.

* * * Capital campaign
19:45 Jim discussed his talk on 9/17 related to the Capital Campaign. His talk lasted an hour.

* * * Treasurer’s report 20:47 Jim didn’t discuss at length.

* * * Disruptive persons plan and policy 20:50 Ram started the discussion. Amanda & Ray are in the process of writing a document.

* * * Termination policy 21:15 Ram started. Rim & Art suggested we use the word “suspension” rather than “termination”. Diana suggested renaming agenda bullet item to Suspension policy.

* * * Committee on Ministry 21:25 Spoke on this at length. Do we need this with the Board & OMC?

* * * Mental Health education 21:30 Jenn Castro recommended training. She is concerned that congregants will call 911 rather than a mental health expert.

* * * Minister’s report 21:37 Rev xk spoke briefly. Many of his topics had already been discussed in the meeting.

* * * Process Observation 21:40 Did we attend to the relationships and the process of our work, as well as to the tasks and the outcomes? Not a lot of discussion on this.

* * * Benediction 21:42 Rev xk gave a benediction.

* * * Executive Session

22:20 Meeting ended (or later. Diana logged off.)

Minutes - August 17, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Amanda Sullivan
Arthur Henrick
Diana Mecum
Jan Theiss-Guffey (Guest)
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Kathy Cordova (Guest)
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Sundar Mudupalli (Guest)
Xolani Kacela, Rev.

* * * Opening
19:33 Rev xk gave a reflection

* * * One process observation question
Chosen question: Voices not at the table

* * * Approval of agenda
Approved

* * * Preliminaries:
• Search Cttee update – Carolyn Boman & Sally Cooperrider new co-chairs
• We have a retreat this coming Saturday. Relax, etc. Tentatively on schedule.
• Town Hall followup
• 19:36 We have 3 small groups. 3 dates, on track.
• Covid Task Force: we asked if we should recommend masking again. Covid Task Force does not think so.

* * * Policy on staff and committees [Sundar/Kathy]
19:41 Sundar shared his screen and displayed his ideas on the Board Policy, etc.
Kathy secondly expressed her opinions. She expressed that she was not completely in agreement with Sundar.
Jan feels that the OMC should not get in between the staff member and their supervisor. Not fair to the staff member. The staff member can attend the meeting at the request of their supervisor. Jan is hoping that the three will come to agreement on the policy.
Ram: Clarification is whether the staff member can/should attend at the request of the supervisor. Ram asked that the 4 key persons work together to come up with a recommendation.

* * * Conflict resolution requests
20:04 Three people emailed to ask what the Board is doing on conflict resolution. Topic came up in the recent “Real Good Church” book study.
20:07 Ram initiated the conversation. Several attendees expressed their opinions. Discussed the Healthy Congregation Team. Possibly put it up on the web page.

* * * Disruptive persons policy
20:18 When is it appropriate to un-member someone? Amanda: we need training. Ray: we need a person to escalate to. Perhaps develop a plan for fire, emergency & disruption.

* * * Behavioral covenant
20:45 Ram spoke. What is the covenant of behavior? We may be asked by a new minister, what do we have in place. Ray is going to talk to people and perhaps suggest an ombudsman for next month.

* * * Minister’s report
20:55 Rev xk gave his report. Things needed, completed employee contracts, committee on ministry, covenant, policies manual, healthy congregation committee in place, process for internal conflicts.

* * * Capital Campaign
21:10 Jim: we are $400K short for the roof. Will the Board approve a second pass?
Jim wants to raise a motion: we reopen the capital campaign. Moved, seconded & approved unanimously x7. Voting on Board: Amanda, Art, Diana, Jenn, Jim, Ram & Ray. Will announce to the congregation on 17-September.

* * * Treasurer’s report
21:18 Jim gave his report.

* * * Process Observation
21:20 When we talked about staff & disruptive behavior. There were several ways that we showed consideration for voices not at the table.

* * * Benediction
Rev xk gave the benediction.

* * * Executive Session

21:45 Meeting ended (approx.)

Minutes - July 20, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Amanda Sullivan
Arthur Henrick
Diana Mecum
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Rev xk

* * * Opening
19:30 Rev xk opened.
One process observation question – Did we listen deeply to each other and avoid cross-talk and interruptions?

* * * Approval of agenda
19:34 approved

* * * Preliminaries:
• Search Cttee update – This was pushed out to August due to Bob Redfern’s health issues.

• Appoint Diana Mecum to Worship Coordinator –
• Move to appoint Diana Mecum to the OMC in the capacity of Worship Associate Coordinator. Passed x6 unanimously

• Appoint Steve Madden to Stewardship Chair –
• Move to appoint Steve Madden to the Board in the capacity of Stewardship Chair. Passed x6 unanimously

• Jan Theiss-Guffey emailed Ram content to share with Board, found $250 for Pride Parade, Service is Our Prayer Day, Large Pride Flag

* * * Town Hall followup
19:46 2 items to report: Small Group discussions will be available. Sessions are planned or 2 hours. Probably 20-25 people for small groups. There may be 3 facilitators with health and other issues which cause delay. Ram to talk to Jan tomorrow. Rev xk asked if there should be 2 sessions per group?
We discussed questions asked Sunday 16-July re jo’s resignation. Ram will send an email to the congregation.

* * * Disruptive persons policy
20:18 Kathryn Hedges wrote that she feels alienated because we are no longer wearing masks. Amanda, Jim & others made suggestions. 1) Follow-up: Give it a cool-down period and discuss with folks who know Kathryn. 2) Bring it forward to the church.
Rev xk will share link of UUA support for disruptive behavior.

* * * RE program check in
20:35 Ray spoke about the RE program. RE programs are on the decline generally.

* * * Minister’s report
20:48 Rev xk gave his report, which was emailed to the Board.

* * * Capital Campaign
20:55 Jim gave a report. Jim reported the progress of the construction projects to the Board, and there were some concerns over the cost of the bid.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:55 Jim gave his report.

* * * Process Observation
We thought we followed the guidelines.

* * * Benediction
21:23 Rev xk gave the benediction. Meeting ended.

Minutes - June 15, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Amanda Sullivan
Arthur Henrick
Diana Mecum
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening

* * * One process observation question – We chose mutual invitation as our one question.

* * * Approval of agenda – Agenda was approved

* * * Preliminaries:
• Board meetings start @ 7:30? – Board ok’d
• Jenn brought up 2 topics, Committee on Ministry & Disruptive Policy. Jenn offered to email Rev. xk on the “Committee on Ministry”. Jenn previously typed up an older copy and forwarded it to Ray & Rev. xk
• Appoint Francisco Hernandez to nom com to replace Robert Strong for remaining year of term.
• 19:47 Motion to accept Francisco Hernandez to replace Robert Strong on the Nomination Committee. Vote passed unanimously x7.
• Search Cttee update
• 19:54 Talked about revamping the web page.
• H4U implementation – for discussing jo’s resignation
• 19:55 Start with a Town Hall. Talk about main questions. Would break off into small groups. Town Hall is July 16th for 2 hours. Town Hall is on clarity. Then have a sign-up for Small Groups. Small Groups are for closure.

* * * Article 2 discussion
20:04 Will we move from the 7 principles into an alternate frame of belief. It is suggested that we talk about our values. Juliet Stubblebine brought this up in the OMC. Juliet & Connie Hall are very concerned. We have 3 delegates. They can vote their conscience. Jenn suggested that we communicate our viewpoint to the delegates. Ram suggested that we advise the delegates that several senior members have expressed concern about Article 2. Ram will write an email and send it from the Board to the delegates.

* * * Minister’s report – Rev. xk on vacation.

* * * A review of our governance (Jim)
20:28 Jim discussed governance. Board is policy, OMC is executive. Bylaws on website. OMC to update membership roles annually. Congregation is ultimate authority. Jim shared a Power Point presentation. The Board deals with long-term needs & policies. OMC deals with short-term needs. Discussed Annual Budget process.

* * * Treasurer’s report
Diana (scribe) left at 21:00

* * * Process Observation

* * * Benediction

Left early at 21:00

Minutes - May 18, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Frey Leigh
Greg Smith
Jan Guffey
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Rev. Xolani Kacela

* * * Opening
19:08 Dr. xk (from East coast)

* * * One process observation question

* * * Approval of agenda

* * * Preliminaries:
• Covid TF 19:10 CTF has recommended that we end the mandatory mask mandate. Jim thinks we should give congregants warning. Jim moved that we agree with Covid suggestion. Voted x5 unanimous. Diana, Jenn, Jim, Ram & Ray.

• Search Committee 19:14 Search Committee has been meeting regularly. Board’s role is to supervise the minister. OMC supervises all other staff.

• UUA meeting 19:19 MM & Ram had a meeting to get UUA guidance in sharing jo’s tenure & resignation. Might be in a small group format. May form new small groups of about 5 people.

* * * Welcoming Congregation Renewal Info
19:36 Frey & Jan attended. Group suggested that we talk about jo before we continue with Welcoming Congregation. Frey thinks that using the word renewal is good, rather than recertification. Initial certification was 2005-2006. Was a lengthy process. Process now is different. 5 practices of welcoming renewal. Frey went into detail. Some things needed for renewal are under way.

* * * OMC appointments
20:39 Jan sent a list in the chart.
Building: Sue Pelmulder and Patrick Canonge
Social Justice: Has rotating leads who report once a month
Worship: Diana Mecum, interim
Secretary: Ruby Delgros
Stewardship, currently vacant
Interdenominational Affairs: John Burk
Membership and Connections: Madeline Morrow and Connie Hall
Ruby is supposed to begin attending soon when she returns from a trip, I believe. There are other jobs on the OMC that we’ve proposed to fill but haven’t been able to, like Communications.
Board voted for appointment of listed members. People are appointed in conjunction with position. Motion raised and passed x7 unanimously. Diana, Greg, Jay, Jenn, Jim, Ram & Ray.

* * * Committee on Ministry
20:46 Per Jenn we were going to ask Rev. xk about this. Ram will ask Rev. xk if he has a proposal.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:50 Jim emailed his report. We will have a surplus which we can use next year for transition.
Ray had a conversation with Maxine who does events.

* * * Minister’s report
20:15 Rev. xk, we are at a point where we are following up on infrastructure. John Ector is back rehearsing in person. Will perform at church 1 time a month 15 times a year.

The document on disruptive behavior was discussed.

* * * Process Observation
20:56 Jim felt that the conversation about jo and the Welcoming Congregation saw many points of view.

Meeting over at 21:00

Minutes - April 20, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening

* * * One process observation question – picked sharing the air

* * * Approval of agenda – approved

* * * Preliminaries:
• Observers
• Search committee update and budget
• 19:12: Ram gave an update on these topics (search committee update and budget, music director update).
• Music director update
• Rob Strong asked about why jo resigned. Ram talked to him about this. The reasons are complex.
• 19:30 Extended discussion about what happened between Rev. Nancy & jo, etc. Possibly hold a Town Hall led by Ram & MM to discuss. Ram would like to do this before the end of the year.
• Search committee needs a budget for coaching and a retreat. Search committee needs to pay for candidates to come out. Passed unanimously x6.
• Text of motion which passed unanimously: Move to allocate $15,000 from reserves for the use of the Search Committee for their expenses and for travel expenses of ministerial candidates. The committee may request an additional allocation later if needed.
• Conversation with John Ector. John worked more than 17 hours a week and was compensated at least once.

* * * OMC membership [Ram] 20:10 Ram & Jim discussed MM’s proposal. Ray offered a revised motion. Passed unanimously x6.
Text of motion which passed unanimously: Move that the Board may appoint a person to the OMC as the leader of an OMC committee. Membership as a voting member of the OMC shall cease if the person no longer serves in the position for which they were appointed. The Board may also appoint a person as an at-large member of the OMC for a fixed term. All appointments are for two years, after which a new appointment is necessary. OMC officers are elected to the OMC by the congregation.
Add Jenn’s topic of Committee on Ministry next month.

* * * Other business?

* * * Executive session

* * * Process observation – 20:55 we did well with sharing the air.

Meeting ended about 20:55.

Minutes - March 16, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Arthur Hendrick
Diana Mecum
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Marnie Singer (guest)
MM Feldman
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening
19:30

* * * One process observation question – #4 Did we share the air space? Did we apply “move up/move back” to encourage those who do not often speak up, and to encourage those who frequently contribute to allow room for others?

* * * Approval of agenda – Approved

* * * Preliminaries:
• Observers – 2 observers
• Lay-led services – How many weeks for lay-led services. Per Jim, 20 weeks a year seem to be a lot.
• Collection of church archives [Jenn] 19:45 Jenn has tracked down notes from the OMC. She wants to archive these notes. Jenn wants to talk to Rob Strong. Jenn has a collection of hand-written notes.
• Elections meeting planning [Ram]
• 19:50 How to vote if not there in person? The nominating committee may take this on.

* * * Healing workshop [Jenn] MM, Ram & Rev. XK talked to Rev. Samantha re a workshop to include leadership. What was the problem which precipitate the event? The Process Overview by Samantha we need to consider the cost of $9,300. MM suggested that we find a marginalized proctor. Rev. Samantha is not marginalized.
How should we respond to Rev. Samantha? Should we drag her along? Extensive talking & dialog. Marnie suggested that we report what we decide to the congregation.
Diana suggested that MM write the 1-2 page description of the issue.

* * * Protocol for contacting UUA [Jenn] Jenn thinks we need to have a covenant or level of trust among each other. We need a mutual understanding of what we keep within the community and out of the community. Covenant of trust. Still in progress.

* * * Personnel policy amendment on gender [Diana] 20:50 Diana spoke of the two versions of the document. The first document was a personnel document and the second was congregation-wide. Ram felt he needed more time to read the second draft. Jim asked if Marnie thought we had a problem? Ram suggested that we give this a week or 2 and vote by email.

* * * Posting sermons [Ram] 20:56 We don’t post the sermons on the website. The Board approved posting the sermon videos on the website.

* * * Minister’s report Rev. Xolani emailed the Minister’s Report on 16-March.

* * * Treasurer’s report Jim outlined the budget, etc. The work started on the doors yesterday. We will have a video of this Sunday. We need a roof inspection. After the inspection we will put this out for bid. We don’t know if we will do this this week or next. Design issues which the building committee might not be best suited to address.

* * * Executive session 11:06

Minutes - February 16, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Xolani Kacela

* * * Opening words
19:05 Rev Xolani

* * * One process observation question
Consider those not at the table

* * * Approval of Agenda
Approved

* * * Preliminaries:
• Observers
• 19:15 Diana spoke about Tuesday’s OMC meeting
• OMC linkage
• 19:15 Diana to attend once a month
• Covid policies survey
• 19:30 Our church is in the middle of the spectrum related to Covid policies

* * * Policy on Gender
19:35 Marnie asked us in December to put the Gender Policy on the Board agenda. We considered Settled Minister topics in December and this was delayed. Diana has emailed the document to the Board and asked that the Board read this document in February prior to voting in March.

* * * Policy for Staff serving on Committees
19:40 Ram displayed the Policy for Staff serving on committees. The Board voted and approved the policy unanimously x5 or x6. Jay Porter joined mid-meeting. Ram placed the document in the BoardPolicies subfolder on the Google Drive at this link

* * * Jenn & Ray RE auditing
19:45 Jenn shared her experiences auditing various churches. She shared 4 items. Ray is attending once a week meetings with Juliet.

* * * Minister’s report
19:47 Dr. Xolani March 25 10-2 is a date for Second part of the Start-up. Rev. Xolani has emailed the Minister’s report. He summarized the report. We then discussed the topics and asked questions.

* * * Posting sermons
Not discussed

* * * Process for reviewing search applicants
20:30 Ram displayed screenshots. What kind of diversity are we seeking?
Rev. Xolani feels that a review of his first 6 months is due.

* * * Process Observation
20:48 Topic was considering people not at the table.
20:45 Several people commented.

* * * Benediction
20:52 Rev. Xolani read a reading.

* * * Executive session
21:20 Approximate time of meeting adjournment.

Minutes - January 19, 2023

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
MM Feldman
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Xolani Kacela

* * * Opening words
19:04 Opening words Rev. Xolani

* * * One process observation question

* * * Approval of Agenda

* * * Preliminaries:
• OMC meeting observers – Jenn for Feb
• Follow up from Startup Workshop
• 19:12 What does it mean to be a BIPOC minister? Workshop would be for leadership & congregation.
• Personal updates – Greg is moving to Southern California.
• 19:20 Ram wants to discuss people joining the board meetings.

* * * Process for establishing Search Committee
19:35 Ram discussed process. How do we do our job to elect 7 members.
19:58 Jim worded a draft motion. Passed unanimously x7. Jim’s wording of the motion:
Moved that the Board use the following process to form a Search Committee for the settled minister:

– The President, in the name of the Board, will call for members of the congregation to apply to serve on the Search Committee. This call will be issued on all possible channels.

– The Board will seek the advice (individually) of the members of the OMC and Nominating Committee and possibly “Distinguished Elders” regarding the applicants to aid the Board in selecting the nominees to the Search Committee. No member who has applied to serve on the Search Committee will be approached for their advice.

– The Board will nominate a slate of seven applicants to put before the congregation at the congregational meeting called to elect the Search Committee of seven members.
Members of the congregation have the right to nominate additional candidates following the process described in the bylaws, which requires four members to nominate a candidate.
The congregation will elect seven members to serve on the Search Committee.

* * * Healing workshop proposal
20:05 Ram brought up the proposal for the workshop. There was extended discussion.
Ram has asked that Rev. Xolani & MM talk to the OMC. Rev. Xolani wants to give the go ahead to have Rev. Samantha talk to the congregation at large. We ended up recommending that Rev. Xolani & MM book Rev. Samanatha to put the seminars on the calendar.

* * * Treasurer’s report
11:00 Jim emailed out the treasury documents.

* * * Update from Jenn – Jenn provided an update.

* * * Minister’s report
11:00 Rev. Xolani shared his report. We are missing a committee on ministry. He recommends we set one up. Jim provided feedback. Rev. Xolani, MM & Ram think we need the committee. Jim suggests we form the committee after we have the search committee.

* * * Process Observation

* * * Benediction

Minutes - December 15, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Xolani Kacela

* * * Opening words
19:04 Rev. Xolani spoke

* * * This meeting to only address items related to the settled search
Documents shared. Are we thinking about the overall picture?
19:06 Ram wants to share the schedule.
Jim proposed job description for search committee.
Rev. Xolani spoke of the strength of the OMC and whether we have a Policy Manual.
Rev. Xolani spoke of an animal policy.
Rev. Xolani spoke of the healing process with jo & MM.
Was Social Justice run by Rev. Nancy?
Greg spoke up. Jim spoke up. Jenn spoke up. Ram feels that we have things in hand related to the search as of now.
We are looking for the policy binder.
Jenn has offered to look for policy documents.
19:50 Jim summarized his talk with Joyce Miller.
20:00 Jenn spoke of Claire’s comments about search.
Ram mentioned that we will need to look at the bylaws. Some people might apply and others might be recruited.
UUA recommends a different process. Settlement handbook, pages 34-47. Jim stored the handbook on the Google Drive. Also read the Settled Search Framework. We are to read the 2 documents before the January meeting.

Minutes - November 17, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Sue Pelender
Xolani Kacela

* * * Opening words
19:06 Words from Clara Barton, American Red Cross.

* * * One process observation question Sharing space

* * * Approval of Agenda Ram summarized agenda

* * * Contract for building inspection: Sue
19:16 Sue shared what we are doing. Working with Garden City. 6 to 8 weeks of work.
Text from Jim for motion: Moved that the Board authorize the Capital Campaign Construction Committee to sign a contract for up to $75,000 with Garden City Construction to conduct a detailed building inspection.
Jim moved that we do the work. Voted and passes x6 unanimously. We need to report this to the congregation. Ram thinks we should share with all methods in Sue’s document.

* * * Preliminaries:
• Report from Oct OMC meeting 19:29 Meeting cancelled. Diana to do 4th Tuesday.
• Startup report Ram gave a report. We need to vote for 7 committee members.
• 19:40 Should we have more discussion of having a minister of color? Board members shared.
• Review the settled search calendar
o meet with UUA (Feb)
o 19:58 UUA has a calendar. Early next year we meet with the transitions program. Get in touch with transitions program.
o Search Committee of 7 elected in March (Cong Elections)
o We need a search committee elected. Issue is selecting the search committee. Further conversation. Jenn feels the Board should generate the search? committee. Interview a former search committee person. Jenn will talk to Clare. Jim is talking to Joyce Miller. Ray is talking to Julia. They will email the results.
o Estimate search budget in April
o Budget approved in May (Cong. budget meeting) 20:02 Per Jim this doesn’t have to be in the annual budget.

* * * RE programs: Jenn and Ray
20:29 Ray would like to learn why some churches are more successful with the RE program. Ray & Jenn would like to go to a locally available church. Ray asked about the RE hire. Discussion about the RE hire.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:48 Diana logged out. Feeling unwell.

* * * Minister’s report
Workshop
Jan 1 closure – Approved by the Board after Diana logged out.

* * * Outreach to tech (Dr. XK)

* * * Leadership Structure: Diana (from startup meeting)

* * * Deep dive into Process Observation question

* * * Benediction

Minutes - October 20, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Xolani Kacela

* * * Opening words
19:36 Rev. Xolani: From a book called Soul Feast. Mind and heart needed to grasp the truth.

* * * One process observation question
Jenn picked a question at the end of the meeting to drill down on.

* * * Preliminaries:
• Approval of Agenda Yes

• Volunteer to attend OMC in Nov Jenn will try for Nov. 8.

• Report from Sept meeting From Greg. A few things were discussed. Pledge drive, Rick Merritt joined the meeting. Rick suggested a meeting night. SacredPlaces.org re historical buildings. Business finance. Continuing search for RE. Dec. 11 leadership party. We hired Nika as the bookkeeper.

• Melissa James program Sat Nov 12 and Sun Nov 13th
• 19:51 Agenda: she arrives Saturday morning at 8:30. Meeting with leadership (Board & OMC) from 10-12. Local lunch from 12-2. Meeting with the congregation from 2-4.

* * * Time away from meetings
20:00 According to bylaws we need 10 meetings a year. We are tentatively planning on taking December off.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:15 We have hired Nika as the bookkeeper. This should be efficient. We need to do a study prior to building enhancements. Jim will email a copy of the $70K appraisal.

* * * Minster’s report
20:34 Rev. Xolani is looking for counseling related to Rev. Nancy & jo’s leaving. Most members felt this would be beneficial. Rev. Xolani shared his minister’s report. We talked about hiring the RE person. Looking for an interim RE coordinator. Numbers down since the 1970’s. There was a Pastoral Associates meeting which Rev. Xolani had to cancel due to illness.
Ram is going to ask the OMC about parking for Nika.

* * * Deep dive into Process Observation question
21:12 We are picking one question to dive into. Jenn appreciated that Dr. XK gave a lot of time to the hiring of the RE coordinator. Ram felt it was a good thing that we decided to wait to get materials from Jim on the building appraisal before voting. Three things were mentioned.

* * * Benediction
21:24 Fasting teaches temperance & control.

Meeting ended about 21:25

Minutes - September 15, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Xolani Kacela

* * * Preliminaries:
19:05 Rev. XK started with a reading
• Approval of Agenda
• 19:05

• Volunteer to attend OMC in October Greg

• Report from August meeting
• 19:14 OMC approved Rev. XK’s housing & moving costs. Dena discussed issues with RE. We have hired a child care lead. Difficult to fill Personnel Officer position. We had our first wedding in the building since COVID. Finding people to fill positions is harder than getting money. We don’t have recycling bins.

* * * Selecting transition team
19:22 No member of the Board can be on transition team. We picked 7 or more people. Ram will go down the list and ask to get 5. There will be a congregational vote for these selections.

* * * What do we want to do for process observation?
19:42 Possibly list the items at the top of the meeting and then use pop-corn style or mutual invitation at the end. Jenn suggested that we focus on one bullet item per week. Different ideas were brought up. We will try a variety of approaches from week to week.

* * * History of elected positions on the website?
19:56 We need to store lists of officers on the Google Drive. It would be good to publish moral positions. We will publish current Board Members on the web site, but not historical members.

* * * Settled Search Calendar
20:04 Ram reviewed the calendar, which he also emailed out. We discussed church process in depth. Rev. XK discussed an outside facilitator. We will ask Melissa for hybrid workshop the second weekend in November.

* * * Views on Choir/RE director roles
20:50 Talk about the RE & Music Director positions. Ram, Jenn, Greg & I spoke on the topic.

* * * Minister’s report
21:10 Highlights from Rev. XK. His primary focus is to get to meet and know people. Pastoral visits. He is also working with the staff. Do job descriptions align with mission of the church? Think about our self-care.

* * * Treasurer’s report
21:14 Jim sent a financial report. Expenses are down and donations are on target. Finances are strong. Rev. XK will be talking to Jan about the Stewardship campaign.

* * * Parking update (Jenn)
21:16 Jenn made calls. Jenn found an escort service. Ram will convey to the OMC that we might consider the $100 a month parking cost as a “justice” issue.

* * * Process observation: Rev XK was happy with the meeting.

21:20 Meeting over.

Minutes - August 18, 2022

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Xolani Kacela

* * * Welcome Dr. XK and introductions
19:05

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
• Approval of Agenda
• Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in Sept 2022
• Jim for September
• Report from July OMC meeting – Diana & Ram gave updates. Ram discussed process observation and mutual invitation. Ram feels that for the Board, anyone can call for mutual invitation. The Board is a smaller group than the OMC.

* * * [Approval Needed] Request from Lorraine for news conference at Church August 25th. In Sanctuary?
19:26 Lorraine wants to have a news conference at the church for homeless concerns. She will invite the Board of Supervisors, etc. There will be a table in front of the church or between the buildings. Ram will encourage her to go ahead.
Lorraine will be sending a letter. This is the text of Lorraine’s request:
Lorraine Zeller asked Ram to sign as Board President a petition “to have the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors better support people with mental health disabilities who live in licensed board and care and unregulated independent living residences”.
Ram asked how often he should get approval from the Board?

* * * Creation of Transition Team
19:45 Form a transition team of about three members to evaluate the interim minister and process. Rev. Xolani suggested Deb Fenzel-Alexander & K’Ailsa Rowan. Rev. Xolani to send 2-page document with evaluation criteria/appraisal document.
Jim suggested that we start to create the settled minister search team.

* * * Construction phase of Capital Campaign
19:54 Jim discussed. Board to propose a process. Jim came up with a motion. Voted unanimously x7. This is the text of Jim’s motion:
Moved that the Board appoint a committee to manage the construction phase of the Capital Campaign. The committee shall comprise Jim Rumbaugh, chair, representing the Board, Sue Pelmulder, and Patrick Canonge. This committee shall have the authority to set priorities for projects, generate detailed project specifications, work with contractors, negotiate contracts, and oversee the construction process. They shall consider the preferences of the various stakeholders, but they shall make the final decisions on balancing various requests and priorities against the available funds. Periodically they shall give progress reports to the Board and the OMC. Before signing any contract, they shall consult with the Treasurer to ensure that sufficient pledges will be paid before payment is due for the contract. They shall have the authority to approve any contract under $50,000 without further authorization. They shall obtain a motion of the Board to approve any contract of $50,000 or more. Any contracts shall be signed by two officers of the church authorized to bind the church, such as the President or the Treasurer. In paying for projects, they may use funds in the Capital Campaign Fund, Capital Improvement Fund, or the Benevity Fund (setting aside enough to pay PACT dues). The Board may transfer additional money from other reserved funds at its discretion.

* * * Interim Minister’s report
20:14 Rev. Xolani summarized what he has done to date. He forwarded a mini report.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:24 Per Jim, not much to report. Jim emailed the financials. We have not had to pay for 2-3 month’s DFF.

* * * Executive session
. . .

20:45 End of meeting, approximate.

Minutes - July 21, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jim Rumbaugh
Melissa James
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
Approval of Agenda
19:10 Approved
Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in Aug 2022
19:11 Diana to do August meeting.
Report from June OMC meeting
19:12 Ram reported. Some discussion about preparing for Rev. Xolani’s arrival.

* * * Update on Rev. XK’s arrival
19:12 Rev. Xolani leaving NM Aug. 6 and arriving Aug. 8. He will be present for 14-Aug. Jazz service. Formal introduction is for 21-Aug. Ram will give introduction. ISC to join Ram on the chancel. Ram would like a good turn-out in the sanctuary. Sat. before Rev. Xolani’s arrival is “Service is Our Prayer” day.
Sept. 5 is a picnic. OMC will coordinate.

* * * Treasurer’s report
19:20 Jim emailed the Finance Report. We save $27,000 by going to a janitorial service. We are in strong financial shape, but our expenses went up. Closing out WF cards which we couldn’t use or log into. There were some suspicious charges on these cards. New cards from Heritage Bank which Bill Baldwin can view and look at.

* * * Approval of wire transfer — Motion needed
19:30 Wire transfers needed for Partner Church, etc. Jim wants the Partner Church dealings done through the church. Passed x5 unanimously. Jim to email Diana the wording of the motion and forms which Diana needs to sign.
Text of motion: “Move that the church be authorized to establish wire transfer service with Heritage Bank (in addition to existing ACH service).”

* * * Exit interview 60-90 min (Melissa James)
19:33 Shared discussion of 9 questions.

Finished after 21:10

Minutes - June 16, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening words & Connection
19:11 Rev. Nancy asked us to think about what part of our body is connected to a piece of furniture. She read a poem by CB Beal.

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
• Approval of Agenda
• Approved

• Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in July 2022
• No taker at conclusion – Diana to offer.

• Report from May OMC meeting
• Jenn to report – going forward we need to ask MM going forward for the link.

• Special Congregational Meeting
• To vote on resolution to confer emerita status for Rev. Nancy. Resolution organized in chronological order. Building music program. Prominent place in community re anti-racism. Her contribution of the book she cowrote. Births, deaths & services in between. Partner church. Leadership training. Currently a little long. Jenn would like it to be tightened.
• Ram & Jenn discussed specifics related to the meeting.

* * * Final report on Interim Search: Ram
Ram appreciated the fact that Rev. Xolani was at the 12-June-2022 service by Zoom. Ram appreciated Rev. Nancy & Jim’s help. Jim helped significantly with the contract.

* * * Appointment of Dena as Personnel Officer: Ram
19:43 The board was asked to extend Dena’s term as Personnel Officer 6 months.
The OMC respectfully requests the Board appoint Dena as acting Personnel Officer until the end of 2022.
Ray made the motion – Motion passed unanimously x6

* * * Welcoming process for our new Minister: Ram
19:32 Ram plans to be there on the first day. Jenn suggested a leadership retreat. Rev. Nancy recommended that we add food to the events. Possibly invite Rev. Xolani & Tamera to dinner more often.

* * * Minister’s report
19:50 Rev. Nancy wants to share with us treasures she has found. We will have an exit interview with Melissa James. Rev. Nancy received the niceness award. It is valuable to have a minister be present. (I’ve forgotten the context.) Rev. Nancy found her ordination photos.
There will be a lot of music. She talked about what the 19-June service will be. May there be pleasure in the serious work we do.

Meeting ended approximately 19:55.

Minutes - May 19, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening words & Connection:
19:05 Rev. Nancy line from Teddy Drake. Breathing exercise. Then looked for five things with right angles, three things which are blue.

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
• Approval of Agenda – Implicitly approved
• Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in June 2022 – Jenn
• Report from early May OMC meeting – Diana gave report
• Ram gave update on contact with jo.
• Congregational Budget Meeting – We are going to thank volunteers. Board members to take turns. Jim asked how we are going to notify the congregation re interim search? Discussion deferred. Jim noted that things may change with budget.

* * * Appointment of L. Zeller to Social Justice Committee – Voting member to OMC
19:26 Passed unanimously x6

* * * Appointment of Worship Associates Coordinator – Voting member to OMC
19:26 Passed unanimously x6

* * * Interim Search Update: Ram [20 min]
19:27 Ram spoke. 4 interviews went well, 2 didn’t. We prepared a ranked list. We learned Tuesday that we didn’t get a match. We had an emergency ISC meeting Wednesday night.
Ram discussed his call with Rev. Keith. The next round starts Monday. Ram spoke at length about the 6th ranked applicant.
If we don’t get a minister with the second round, we might be able to get a virtual retired minister.
Ram wants board approval related to next steps. Ram plans to email tomorrow morning. We will add to the meeting on Sunday with discussion.
Rev. Keith & office will put the word out.
Rev. Nancy suggested mutual invitation that we went around the room with opinions.
We should focus on the big goal of getting a settled minister, in the event we don’t get an interim minister.
Rev. Nancy feels we need the standard time to proceed.
Next step is for Ram to email the congregation Friday. Ram also wants to talk on Sunday to the congregation with a question & answer period.
Ram asked if the Board has authority to roll the money over which would have been spent on the minister.
Jim feels we should assure/promise the congregation that we will roll the money over to not have to make an appeal next year. Jim wants us to promise to put these rolled-over funds into the operating budget.
Jim outlined how he wants to run the budget part of next Sunday’s budget meeting.

* * * Interim DFF Search: Ram
20:40 Rev. Nancy spoke. We got a strong recommendation that we get our request out. There are some good people out there. Dan can help promote this. Get process started.
Dena & Rev. Nancy are revising the job posting. Job posting possibly up next week.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:40 40 thousand to the good.

* * * Minister’s report
20:52 Rev. Nancy gave report. She is working up her notes with the Teddy Drakes session. She hopes we will continue to work with Teddy.
She wants to set date for discussion about jo. Possibly after service on June 12.
Party on June 4.

21:10 Meeting ended

Minutes - April 28, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Budget
19:07 Jim Rumbaugh gave his budget presentation. He provided a link to his “living” document to both the OMC & board. He presented the 2022-2023 Proposed Budget. He went line by line through the budget. Budget is balanced. We approved the budget unanimously x6.

Contact Diana Mecum calendar year 2022 for more details if wanted.

* * * Watkins Award
20:26 Ram posted the people who were at the top of the list. List withheld for confidentiality. Recipient was voted for unanimously x6.
Jenn wants the board to write the wording for the Watkins award. We came up with suggestions of people to ask to determine a gift that the recipient would like.

21:05 Meeting ended.

Minutes - April 21, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening words
19:07 Rev. Nancy opening poem, we are worth more than the things that we do.
19:10 RN lit chalice.

* * * Preliminaries
a) Volunteer for May OMC meeting
Diana will do May.

b) report from March meeting
19: 11 Jim gave a short talk. We will hear about all-gender bathrooms.

* * * Training (Jenn)
19:12 Jenn gave an update. Rev. Nancy also gave a “pitch”.

* * * Interim Search Committee (Ram)
19:21 Ram gave an update. What do we want for the interim minister, etc? On May 2, we will hear who wants to apply. Two weeks later we supply who we want to hire.
During the two weeks we need to review the applications.
Five people picked for interviewing. Ram wants at least two people who see all applicants.
Same questions to be asked to all candidates, in fairness. Ram expressed concern about fairness.
Meeting on Sunday just for committee. It is a planning meeting.
May 18 is the date we would learn of a match, if it happens with the first pass.

* * * Financial report
19:36 Jim gave a brief report. We are at about 40K to the good because expenses were less than anticipated.

* * * Minister’s report
19:37 Rev. Nancy wants to talk of 2 things. First is praise for our interim search process.
Round of mutual invitation. What makes a good goodbye? We all participated.
Rev. Nancy’s next job will be: Clergy director with PACT. Will be taking road trips before the job starts in August. Will continue to live in San Jose and will be adjacent to FUCSJ.

* * * Executive Session
20:02 Watkins award. We spoke of 8 members, not disclosed for confidentiality,

We are all to email Ram 3 names, the top 3 votes will be on the short list for the 28-Apr BoD meeting.

* * * Evaluation questions
20:33 Ram wanted to know what topics we want to ask about? Ram noted suggestions.
20:48 Ram wants to discuss planning for Rev. Nancy’s celebration. Ram asked for a list of suggested names which we supplied.
20:50 Meeting over

Minutes - April 7, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
MM Feldman
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening
19:05 Rev. Nancy – Spilling the Light, a reading.

* * * Reason for this meeting
19:10 Ram explains reason for meeting.

* * * Questions
Ongoing momentum we would like to continue?

19:15 Ram explained what this means to him. Things we have done and want to keep the momentum going.

1. Capital Campaign and
2. Multi-platform worship. – essential per Jim.

Small Group Ministry & Pastoral Associates. Multi-cultural work. These speak to who we are as a congregation.

Connie & Madeline in welcoming new members, outreach.
Partner church, music program. Coleen’s work with indigenous peoples.
Walk through all the groups.

Continue to reopen the church.

* * * Programs and traditions we want to maintain?
Programs we want to maintain were discussed during the momentum part of the meeting.

* * * Description of minister’s role in relation to other paid staff (might skip)
19:28 Rev. Nancy: Standard language. Is the minister the head of staff? Rev. Nancy is supervisor not head of staff. When there is a hire, a search committee is formed.

We need to give clarity to the Interim Minister. How does it work now?

Who does annual reviews, etc. Some churches have a strong minister role. For us, church leadership is responsible. Rev. Nancy feels we have a shared ministry.

There is hiring for which the ministry doesn’t take charge.

* * * Guidance (Rev. Nancy)
19:35 Guidance from Rev. Nancy. Interim minister has a pastoral role. Minister needs to make space. Who are we? Pastoral & Prophetic. Prophetic: spur the church on to be who they want to be. The Interim minister needs to add the great questions.

Training with anti-racism, etc. It is likely that there will be move staff changes during interim period. Minister should be skilled with this.

Jim: Calming influence. Spur congregation to find themselves. Continue to reopen the church.

* * * Board session
1) What are the top three things your next minister should focus on to have a successful ministry with you?

Good preacher.
Able to work with tech.
Continue to reopen the church.
Risk tolerant.

2) Desired strengths of the minister

There were views expressed about hearing about God and a more spiritual service. Also a speaker & preacher. Both spiritual context & anti-racism.

Possible an extravert.
MM wants us to pick the top 3 tasks. Small Group Ministry, Pastoral Associates, Worship Associates. Bring people into the church, including tech team. Be the director of this multi-platform service. MM pulled together 3 broad topics which she may share.

Ram wants a focus on families with children.

* * * Authorize package as last item
Jim gave a talk on Interim Minister Offer.
Jim made a motion which he displayed. He has emailed details to the board & the OMC. We voted unanimously on this, 5 votes.
Meeting ended at 21:00.

Minutes - March 17, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Dr. Melissa James UUA
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening words
19:05 Rev. Nancy invited us to be quiet and allow silence. What are we bringing into the meeting? Blessed be our bodies. Offered benediction: Make love visible.

* * * Introduction of Dr. Melissa James, UUA
19:10

* * * Discussion with Rev. Nancy
19:15 Mutual invitation, we all talked about our feelings, etc. Personal statements.

* * * Our next steps
19:50 It can take 1 1/2 years to find a settled minister. The coming and going of ministers is a normal part of congregational life. It is recommended after a long-term minister, we bring on an interim minister. We need the space. Interim period can be important.
Melissa shared the timeline. Matches in May & June, to start in August.
Jim suggested Ram & MM get together to pick folks for the search committee. They will also be naming the committee. 3 – 5 people in the committee. At least one member of the board.
Jim’s motion (above paragraph) passed 7x unanimously. Ram & MM to pick a small committee over the next week. Also, to name the committee.

* * * Business items (OMC delegate, Finance)
20:55 Jim summarized finances. He sees that our expected pledge total is less than last year. Pledge payments are falling. Unlikely to have a surplus. Jim has looked at the interim cost. We have not been funding the minister’s professional expenses at 10%, but at about 2%. We have reserve funds.
We need to consider budget for interim minister.
Jenn’s update from Feb. OMC meeting. She felt some of her items were out of date as of Thursday’s BoD meeting. Many volunteer openings. We now have an office manager.

* * * Benediction
21:18 Chalice lighting reading from Rev. Nancy. Kindness is more powerful than we know. Together we can bend the arc of the universe.
Meeting over about 21:20.

Minutes - February 17, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening words & Connection:
19:03 Rev. Nancy – Poem “What we are doing here?”

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
* Approval of Agenda
Approved 19:06
* Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in March 2022
Diana
* Report from January OMC meeting Jenn attended in March, *February. We will hear her report next time.
* Congregational Meetings x2, one is elections in March 27, second is budget in May 22
19:12
* Volunteers needed
19:15 Connie Hall is asking or volunteers related to celebration Sunday. We plan to serve food.
* Rights of nature group
19:17 From Colleen Cabot. Can we support the call to action? President Biden, have more to say and do about climate change. Can we sign as a church? Board voted on this and motion carried unanimously x6

* * * Covid Task Force Update: Ram
19:23 1) Should we still enforce wearing of masks? 2) Celebration Sunday food. There was discussion about whether the Task Force has the power to relax the mask rule.
Jim proposed/made a motion that the Covid Task Force have power to make decisions. Jim wants to delegate the Board’s authority to the force. Per Jim, not just about one decision. There were dissenting arguments and this was not advanced at this time.

* * * Treasurer’s report
19:40 Jim emailed the monthly statement. Fundraising campaign is underway. Contribution statements to be mailed.

* * * Minister’s report
19:42 Rev. Nancy was not feeling well. She had a glorious trip to San Diego. There was eating outside. Much programming was outside. Online people were taken care of and privileged.
Rev. Nancy is noticing that people need to give themselves space to grieve. What is the cost of endurance, etc. Rev. Nancy’s felt that as a consequence of the seminar, grief is more accessible to her. Last thing to bring up, 3 more pledge parties. They are fun and an amazing way to get together.

* * * Action item from January meeting
20:10 Ram did talk to Rev. Nancy about John. Ram also reached out to John.
No action item for February

* * * Process Monitoring (mutual invitation)
Rev. Nancy talked about the job description for office manager.
20:16 Process monitoring discussion. Ray found the discussion respectful. Rev. Nancy suggested that we use mutual invitation.

* * * Benediction
20:30 We are here to love the world and each other, etc.
Meeting over about 20:30.

Minutes - January 20, 2022

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening words & Connection: Rev. Nancy did not feel well and did not attend. Jenn read a day-by-day book, showed a picture of Tibet.
19:05

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
• Approval of Agenda
• 19:05 Agenda approved. Ram proposed we use mutual invitation for process observation.
• Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in February 2022 – Jenn will attend for February.
• Report from November OMC meeting – Jim attended. jo recovering from an operation. Jim gave a summary. He spoke of Robin Sterling.

* * * Covid Task Force Update: Ram [20 min]
19:13 Ram gave an update. There have been two meetings since the last board meeting. Requiring masks & vaccinations. Ram feels we should review whether or not to continue in-person services. Feels the language of the signs on the door should include boosting. Recommends KN95 or N95 masks. Recommends moving the air purifiers. Possibly buy more purifiers. Stick with the 10-day isolation period. Suggestion to purchase rapid-test kits. We will have a dozen rapid-test kits on hand.

* * * Discuss proposal to remove “unallocated” from accounting: Jenn
Jenn didn’t remember and I couldn’t find in last month’s minutes.

* * * Treasurer’s report
19:30 Jim excited about the new bookkeeper. Mentioned Robin Sterling & new module for Quick Books. Jim is running payroll.

We are in good shape as of December, including pledge payments. Presented power point document. Talked about the Capital Campaign. In good shape all around.

* * * How has religion hurt us personally?
19:55 Members shared personal experiences.

* * * Minister’s report
Rev. Nancy did not feel well and did not attend.

* * * Action Item: Possibly Rev. Nancy to talk to John about over-work. What level of effort should he put into his job to not feel so badly when things go wrong with the service? Jenn suggested possibly paying for a retreat on work-life balance.

* * * Process Monitoring (mutual invitation)
10:33 Ram asked that we use mutual invitation. Personal opinions were offered. Speaking of John’s issue with the dropped musical piece was an example of considering people not at the table.

* * * Benediction
20:45 Meeting closed

Minutes - December 16, 2021

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening words & Connection:
19:05 Notice and write down one good thing which has happened today. We went around the circle and everyone mentioned one good thing which happened to them today.

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
• Approval of Agenda
• 19:16 Agenda approved
• Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in January 2022
• Jim will attend in January
• Report from November OMC meeting
• Jenn gave the report. Brochures have been done. Some talk about Omicron. Talk about office manger job. Recommendation about UUA dues.

* * * Covid Task Force Update: Ram [20 min]
19:20 Task force discussed Omicron. Indoor mask mandate. Discussed singing & UUA recommendations. Rev. Nancy talked about the upcoming services.

* * * Discuss proposal to allocate surplus: Jim [30 min] + Jay?
19:28 Jim presented in three parts, starting with the Financial report. I didn’t take extensive notes because his report(s) are on record.

* * * Treasurer’s report
Financial report is available. Jim emailed financial documents for the board meeting and summarized.
Rev. Nancy’s next sabbatical might be January 2023. Consider having a sabbatical minister. Salary & benefits for 5 months.
Some discussion, questions & answers.
Proposes: Special Purchases Fund (Durable Purchases Fund)
Motion 1: Created new fund. Voted for “Durable Goods Fund”, 7 out of 7
Jim’s wording: Move to adopt the revised policy on equity funds as distributed to the Board members, but change “Special Purchases Fund” to “Durable Goods Fund”. (With the understanding that Jim R. may rearrange the order of sections to flow better, without changing the content).
Motion 2: 10,000 to DGF, balance to Capital Improvement Fund, 7 out of 7
Jim’s wording: Move to transfer the FY2020-21 surplus of $72,489.05 as follows:
–$10,000 to establish the Durable Goods Fund
–The balance to the Capital Improvement Fund

* * * Minister’s report
21:04 Rev. Nancy is very busy. She outlined her activities. Many services in December.
Rev. Nancy is thinking through working with PACT with the concept that more people are not faith based. She asked 2 questions. How has religion hurt us? Are we still too focused on religions which are book based? She is travelling early Feb & early March.
She talked about how the duties of ministers have changed. We are getting away from parish ministry.

* * * Action Item: Jenn asked that we be sure to add time for Rev. Nancy’s two questions, especially the first one: how religions have hurt us personally?

* * * Process Monitoring
21: 20 Ram went through the list. There was some discussion.

* * * Benediction
21:27 Rev. Nancy gave the benediction
21:30 (approx.) Meeting over.

Minutes - November 18, 2021

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

* * * Opening words & Connection:
19:08: Rev. Nancy, Poem: A Field Guide to Luxury. May we be awake & joyful.

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
• Approval of Agenda
• Approved
• Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in December 2021
• Jenn will volunteer for December. Just one OMC meeting in December.
• Report from October OMC meeting
• 19:13: Diana gave a report

* * * Covid Task Force Update: Ram [20 min]
19:15: Ram asked the question: will the children be in the sanctuary during the service? Parents want the children in the sanctuary.
Second item: Will the in person registration process work? Seems to be working so far.
Ram gave an update on the logistical process of recent services.
We can continue as we are with masks & vacs. We will be monitoring county & government updates.
Jim wants us to drop the registration for services. Ram will bring this up with Task Force at next meeting.
We discussed whether to drop the registration requirement & social distancing. There were a mix of responses. Jenn provided a link on Osterholm.

* * * Treasurer’s report
19:35 Jim’s report. We have a new bookkeeper. Jim worked 4 weeks to get books up to date. Jim emailed his report to the BoD. Jim put most of our vendors on autopay. Payroll is also automatic.
We finished the year in strong financial condition. Income was $59K above budget. Annual surplus $72K.
Jim cleared out the balance sheets. Paid off sanctuary lighting project. We may pay $2,500 ($5,000) PACT dues from Benevity funds.
Jim discussed the Capital Campaign.
Questions & comments were offered to Jim’s report. Thanks to Jim for the report and for the work he has done.
All 7 voting members voted to approve Jim’s request. We are to allow up to $5,000 from the Benevity fund to pay our expected $5,000 annual PACT dues. We are making a recommendation to the OMC.
Jim is proposing a new holding pot.

* * * Minister’s report
20:18 Rev. Nancy’s report. Years ago, Chris Fry explained that we were spending our reserves. We made a U turn. We have been in the black for many years.
Covid adds to our lives. Rev. Nancy wants to find a way to find relief. We have Zoom fatigue.

* * * Process Monitoring
20:45 Ram pasted the process monitoring rules in the chat. There was general discussion around this, mostly affirming.
Ram invited us again to the Dec. 3 Leader’s Zoom dinner.

* * * Action Items
Jim wants us to drop the registration for services. Ram will bring this up with the Covid Task Force at next meeting. (Follow-up, Ram emailed the Task force about this after the meeting.)

* * * Benediction
20:50 Rev. Nancy read a poem.
20:52 Meeting over.

Minutes - October 21, 2021

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala

* * * Opening words & Connection:
19:06

Rev. Nancy
Jain Shaffer passed away this morning.
Rev. Nancy lit the chalice for her.

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
Approval of Agenda – approved
19:11
Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in November 2021
19:12 Diana to attend next month

Report from September OMC meeting
Report from Jim. Many building issues. Enjoyed family social. The OWL program has kicked off. Talked about janitorial service. Linda has some issues being located next to Third Street. Susan working on Internet service.
Line of sight: antennas would be set up.

* * * Covid Task Force Update: Ram [20 min]
19:20 We need to vote on Task Force recommendation to require vaccinations.

Rev. Nancy – two possibilities. 1) Children masked and in pods. Coming together at a distance. Adults vaccinated. Children not touching anything. This is jo’s & Rev. Nancy’s ideal.
2) Start the children in the downstairs classrooms from the get-go. Children there from 11:00 to 12:15. 3) Possibly have programs outdoors.

19:34 Questions from Jenn. 1) 60 people came to ice-cream social. Fewer RSVP’d. What do we do if unvaccinated people try to attend the services. 2) Parents of children in #1 above need to be vaccinated.
Rev. Nancy recommended that we decide which children option we will take and then decide on the language for voting on the recommendation. Rev. Nancy summarized the Task Force thinking.

Greg is suggesting that we have testing, possibly at the door.

Jenn brought up the reservation question a second time. Rev. Nancy spoke about the reservation system. Jenn asked how people know our congregation rules? Rev. Nancy answered that the vaccination requirement if adopted would be on the web site and visibly posted in the sanctuary.

Ram suggested that the Covid Task Force discuss the reservation question and come back with a recommendation.

We voted and the recommendation was carried unanimously. 5 yes. We are passing back to the Covid Task Force the children at service options 1 or 2 and the reservation question.

* * * Treasurer’s report
20:20 Jim is acting as bookkeeper for now. Jim is setting up auto-pay for many bills.

Jim talked about printing checks and having a second person sign. With bill pay one officer creates the transaction and a second person approves.

* * * Minister’s report
20:32 Third celebration of life in a row. A death today. Rev. Nancy has been working on relation issues & mediation. Rev. Nancy is concerned that the Zoom numbers have dropped. We are Zoom weary.

Rev. Nancy is excited about the Stewardship & Capital Campaigns.

Rev. Nancy is happy to be the facilitator for the OWL groups.

* * * Process Monitoring
20:52 Ram asked us to speak to the points which were posted in the chat.

People contributed to the discussion.

* * * Benediction
Rev. Nancy commented on Greg & Claire’s baby Isaac.

* * * Action items
Passing back to the Covid Task Force the children at service options 1 or 2 and the reservation question.

Meeting ended about 21:00 p.m.

Minutes - September 16, 2021

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kibby

* * * Opening words & Connection:
7:06 p.m. Opening by Rev. Nancy. Read a four-line portion of poem Joy Harjo (3 year poet laureate).
Answer question for ourselves, pray thankfulness for?
* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
• Approval of Agenda
• 7:10 p.m.
• Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in October 2021
• 7:12 p.m. Jim to attend the October meeting
• Report from the May’s OMC meeting
• 7:14 p.m. Jenn gave a report. OMC voted to approve tech equipment for hybrid services. Viva de Calle is meeting this weekend. We had a good Pride turnout.
* * * Covid Task Force Update: Ram [20 min]
7:16 p.m. Ram gave a report. We (Covid Task Force) have been meeting weekly. Discussed other churches which are meeting in person. Palo Alto is meeting outside, for example. Case numbers are increasing.
Air purifiers were purchased (13). They are placed where planned. Units are labeled & tracked with spreadsheets. Preference is that they don’t move around. We take our best guess at placing them, but some may need to move. We want to follow the people.
Ram talked about outdoor social hours. We might meet after church service, to include meeting at the building. Possibly offer ice cream & coffee. First date to be determined. Possibly October 10 at 2:30 p.m.
Ram asked for ideas about where and when the board should meet for a relaxed meeting.
Ram feels we should look at the Covid numbers monthly to get a sense of when to talk again about in-person services.
* * * Treasurer’s report
7:35 p.m. Jim’s camera was not working. Income appears to be ahead of budget. Expenses are down. We have a surplus from last year.
We are moving the capital campaign to the next step. First major timeline is mid-October. Jim envisions that we will bundle the capital campaign with the yearly campaign, to start next February.
Ram asked about the big items to be covered with the capital campaign? Jim outlined the list. Large item is replacing the chairs.
* * * Minister’s report
7:55 p.m. Rev. Nancy gave Jim a shout-out for all he is doing. Rev. Nancy is grateful for all we (Board members) are doing.
The tech team has met for many hours. They are having training sessions as a group.
The tech team will have a Sunday off next month.
Rev. Nancy referred to her previously presented graphic.
Rev. Nancy has had some associates who experience burn outs. She wants to re-examine her schedule. jo will take on some of Nancy’s deliverables. Her goal is to stay healthy.
Ram appreciated learning about all of the prep which is required for the recent tech services.
Rev. Nancy expanded on her experience planning two sets of OWL classes, shorter & longer.
* * * Process Monitoring
Ram asked about obtaining sidewalk chalk. He also asked how to find out if there are any events going on at St. James Park Oct. 10.
8:24 p.m. Ram: How did we do in out meeting today? Greg thought we made a good use of time.
* * * Action items
Ram to set up a time to meet in the building.
* * * Benediction
8:27 p.m. Pray thankfulness for …
Rev. Nancy combined participant comments into a poem.
Meeting ended about 8:35 p.m.

Minutes - August 19, 2021

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Janet Berry (Covid Task force)
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kibby

* * * 7:10 Opening words & Connection:
Rev. Nancy started us off with a meditation. Identify a place which feels comfortable in our bodies right now.
* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]
• Approval of Agenda Approved 7:15
• Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in September 2021 Jenn volunteered for this.
• Report from the July’s OMC meeting Diana gave this report.
* * * Covid Task Force Governance: Ram [60 min]
The Board should be involved in key decisions for Covid policy including guidance. This includes reopening. The two options which the Board has at this time are the following:
1) We can wait for recommendations from Task force. Drawback is that the Board meets once a month.
2) We could empower the Task force to make decisions.
Ram would like a decision related to governance for the Covid Task force.
Jim asked that Ram give his whole report first before making a decision.
Two recommendations:
1) We purchase air purifiers with spare filters.
2) To reopen on Sept. 12 with hybrid in-person & Zoom. Approx. 25% – 60 people. For the Sept. 12 hybrid service – masks will be required. Recommend vaccinations. Limited seating.
Dina Dickenson has provided more guidance.
Related to 1 above: Janet Berry looked for air purifiers. She went into specifics about filters. She recommends Medify filters, total of 10-13 filters.
Jim recommended adding filters for the hallway which is adjacent to the “bull pen”.
Stair well? Jim doesn’t think so, he recommends that we keep the doors closed.
General discussion about the use of filters.
We made a motion to buy the filters.
Jim made a motion, Diana seconded, motion passes, up to $5,000. Janet suggests buying 13 filters.
* * * Reopening Plans [30 min]
Ram asks if we should reopen? All but two churches he references have cancelled this plan.
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones shared messages from Susan Frederick-Gray on reopening Sept. 12. Outdoor vs Indoor.
Ray needs to leave early and is hoping we can go back on the 12th. The group all shared individually if they thought we should come back on the 12th.
Rev. Nancy shared the document drafted Tuesday night (August 17) by the Covid Task force.
Ram suggested that we vote that the Task force be enabled to make decisions related to reopening.
We voted and passed unanimously that the Covid Task force can decide if we reopen or not. Ram has invited Board members to the next Covid Task force meeting.
Rev. Nancy suggested that we have a show of hands about reopening.
Show of hands
1) Feel moving towards Sept 12 – 3
2) Different option 1
3) Delay from Sept 12 – 3
* * * Treasurer’s report
Jim asked that we vote to begin the campaign. He made the following motion/suggestion: “Move to authorize the Capital Campaign Committee to contract a Financial Feasibility Study with Kay Crider of Stewardship for Us and to allocate up to $10K for consulting costs of the study and costs of subsequent steps”. This was discussed (which precluded a second) and passed by vote.
* * * Minister’s report
Rev. Nancy discussed her diagram about where to put her energy for 2021-2022.
Green – Capital Campaign
Gold – Leading OWL
Outside circle is work in the community including PACT
Rev. Nancy has shared a list of her continuing roles.
* * * Process Monitoring
* * * Action Items
Ram to inform Board of Covid Task force meeting. Ram will schedule well before Sept. 12.
Janet Berry (Covid Task force) will call Medify Friday August 20 with questions posed by Board members Thursday night. She will email Ram with the answers to the questions and Ram will pass the message on to the Board.
* * * Benediction
The meeting ended at 10:00 p.m.

Minutes - July 15, 2021

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kibby

7:30 Check-in

7:50 Ram displayed the agenda in the chat.

* * * Opening words & Connection:

* * * Preliminaries: [5 min]

Approval of Agenda

Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in August 2021

Diana to attend: Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in August, on the 10th or 24th.

Report from the June’s OMC meeting

Greg & Ray went to the OMC meeting in June.

* * * Updates from the Covid Task Force meetings: Ram [10 min]

Ram went to the June meeting. Items on agenda were about rental arrangements. Not for the sanctuary, but the meeting rooms. Dina Dickenson has written up guidelines related to contact tracing, etc. Wearing of masks. Coffee won’t be provided during the meeting. June 30, Task Force approved Hattie Porter Hall for two adult dance groups.

Nancy Coleman wants to resume labyrinth walks, to be reviewed Aug. 4.

Jim has asked about custodial resources to handle groups in the building. Linda feels we have enough to handle this.

* * * Treasurer’s report

Jim presented the Finance Report.

Jim informed us that we will be creating a new Google Group for access to files and for email communication.

Financial changes to go through personnel officer.

* * * Action Items

June: AI, Ram followed up with both action items.

July: Jim raised the point that voice coach Carl Franzen uses building as training space. BoD feels it is advisable that Carl’s students be vaccinated. Ram to express the board’s concern at the Covid task meeting Aug. 4.

July: Ram to follow up with MM on Aug. 4, will the OMC attend BoD meetings?

July: Ram to share June discussion related to reentry of building/Covid with the Covid task force and OMC. (Jenn asked this.)

* * * Process Monitoring
Ram shared the Process Monitoring list in the chat and several people contributed.

* * * Benediction
Rev. Nancy on leave.

Minutes - June 17, 2021

Attending (in alpha order by first name):

Diana Mecum
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy

7:05 Ram displayed the agenda in the chat.

* * * Opening words & Connection: Rev Nancy [10min]
Asked for 1 to 2 word checkin. If we were an animal, what would you be?

* * * Approval of Agenda
7:10 Agenda is ok

* * * Volunteer to Attend OMC meeting in July 2021
Greg Smith to attend in July. Jenn believes Ray attended in June.

* * * Report from the May’s OMC meeting
We didn’t get this.

* * * Update from the Covid Task Force meetings in May and June: Ram [10 min]
7:12 Meeting meets approximately every 3 weeks. It was feared that it might be too expensive to run this year. MM & others came up with some ways to assist. A green sticker means that it is ok to be less than 6 feet. Expense: the host who owns the land was able to meet the financial needs of our campout group. July 21-25.
Jim: did we get the insurance certificate? Has someone followed up. Ram will follow-up with MM.
Other things discussed: Rental policies. We will continue to rent our space to AA. Dena Dickenson has drawn up guidelines. Looking to rent out Hattie Porter Hall after AA, to be scheduled.
Small Groups have started meeting in person. Guidelines were discussed for Circle Suppers. Guidelines are being developed. I asked Ram to check that Les Faby has been contacted.
Jim recommends that the Youth Room be taken off the table for current use.
Jim asked if groups can meet without masks if all are vaccinated? Ram believes that Small Groups currently meeting without masks.
We are waiting for Cal/OSHA for guidelines.
Planning on returning to regular services Sept. 12, Homecoming Sunday.
Jenn: Will there be guidelines about the opening? Will we talk about this tonight or another time?
We will resume a hybrid model of service. A lot of work being done towards this end.
Rev. Nancy: Guidelines are in the works.
Ram: Difficulties with determining vaccination status.

* * * Discussion of concerns re reopening (added extemporaneously to agenda)
Several people entered into this conversation with their personal viewpoints: Rev. Nancy, Diana, Jay, Ray, Greg, Jenn, Jim & Ram.

* * * Discussion: Asking people their vaccination status (added extemporaneously to agenda)
Several people entered into this conversation with their personal viewpoints: Rev. Nancy, Ray, Greg, Jenn & Jim.

* * * Ministerial Evaluation Progress Report: Ram [10 min]
8:15 Ram: Board’s version of the draft is ready. Next step is to see the Minister’s report.
Rev. Nancy: This is beautifully done. She has read most of it. She appreciates the constructive feedback. She is taking the suggestions for changes seriously. She appreciates the affirmation. All the data was translated in a thorough way.

* * * Treasurer’s report
8:20 Jim: He is trying to complete last year’s numbers. Jim will check with Jean. Our expenses appear to be on budget. Income exceeds expectation. Special collections are incomplete. This year’s report may take some time to complete. Last year’s data involved extra steps. Jim is hopeful that the Capitol Campaign will happen this fall. Nancy Coleman has been working with Rev. Nancy, prior to Rev. Nancy’s time away. Jim will wait until work is started prior to sending out a message to the congregation.

* * * Minister’s report
8:25 Rev. Nancy: She feels that we have some wonderful things happening this summer. Some people are experiencing anxiety. She appreciates being able to take a longer time away. Rev. Nancy & jo are working really hard on the Owl program for the fall. She wants the program to be clear before she leaves. Owl 7th to 9th, 10th to 12th grades. Wants 4 facilitators. jo & Rev. Nancy will co-facilitate the parent programming. Owl needs 24 total sessions. Rev. Nancy went to parent’s gathering last Sunday morning. It was great to have contact with them. July 18, Rev. Nancy & Lea Morris will record a service. 13 people have taken the multi-platform workshop.

* * * Action Items
Ram to contact Les Faby re circle suppers & MM re the insurance documents.

* * * Process Monitoring
Ram: Feels that we talked about people not at the table when discussing vaccination status. We did use mutual invitation. There was a document with 6 or 7 questions related to how to assess our success with process monitoring. Ram plans to share it in the chat in the July meeting so that we can keep the questions in mind as we participate with the meeting.
Ray: He feels that Ram is doing the lifting with the process monitoring.

* * * Benediction
8:50 Rev. Nancy, prayer & meditation.

Minutes - May 20, 2021

May Meeting

Attendees:

Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Jim Runbaugh
Jenn Castro
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones
Greg Smith

guest: Diana Meecum

7:05 begin, approval of agenda

7:10 Report from Coivd-19 Task Force

7:37 Minister Evaluation Report

7:40 Discussion of Recognition of Volunteers

Stewardship team
“Worship tech” team
Covid-19 task force
Building check daily
Worship associates
Membership and welcomers

Board members will receive names from Ram and those names should be give in service.

7:55 Personnel Policies

The Board asks Ram Kakarala to thank the OMC for the newly written policies and we appreciate their consideration of our concerns.

Moved to approve the Personnel Policy as written, seconded and passed.

8:29 Treasurer’s Report

PPP loan has been forgiven as of May 5.

Estimates of capital costs are coming in and the outlook is good to be able to define goals for a Capital Campaign in the fall.

8:40 Minister’s Report

8:52 Process Monitor Review

8:56 Benediction

8:59 End

 

 

 

 

Minutes - April 21, 2020

Attendees:
Jim Rumbaugh
Ray Kiddy
Diana Meecum
Ram Kakarala
Greg Smith
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro

7:07 start

start of Budget discussion

8:00 end of discussion?

8:09 Budget moved by Jim, seconded by Jay, passed.

8:10 watkins award discssion

8:30 Moved, seconded and passed on recipeint of the Watkins award.

Dsicussion of COVID issues

8:57 end of meeting

Minutes - March 18, 2020

Board Meeting 3/18/2021

Present:
Ram Kakarala,
Jim Rumbaugh,
Jay Porter,
Grey,
Jenn Castro,
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones

Process monitor: group

Next OMC meeting : Jim

The Election Congregational Meeting is March 28. The slate is almost complete, lacking one nominations committee nominee. The committee will use Zoom polls to conduct the election.

Ram will present a Bylaws change to the congregational meeting. Changes require 1 month notice, so the change will be voted at the May Budget Congregational Meeting. The amendment modifies the name of the POC to OMC and of the Program Officer to CEO.

Ministerial Evaluation:

30+ of 40 interviews with congregants are complete, and 4 of 7 interviews with outside contacts.
It is time to move to the next stage: reflect on responses. Board members are asked to read the interviews and each provide their summaries/responses to be shared with the rest of the Board. Therefore Rev. Nancy will receive 6 responses from the Board, and we will receive one response from her. Then the Board meets with Rev. Nancy to synthesize all the responses into a single report at the next meeting. The responses are due one week before the next Board meeting, which would make them due on April 8.

We need to certify UUA General Assembly delegates. So far we have receive one request. We apparently get 6 delegates (needs to be checked).

The Budget Congregational Meeting will be on May 23.

The Board has reserved April 29 for an extra Board meeting to act on the budget submitted by the OMC, which they will create in April. The regular Board meetings did not fit the necessary schedule.

The Treasurer’s report was given.

The Minister’s report was given.

There were no motions. The action item is to review the ministerial evaluation feedback and write responses.

Minutes - February 18, 2020

In attendance: Jim Rumbaugh, Nancy Palmer Jones, Jay Porter, Ray Kiddy, Greg Smith, Ram Kakarala, Jenn Castro

7:03 Check-in

7:30 next OMC meeting – Ray will attend

7:35 Discussion of “Silent Sanctuaries” policy

8:18 Minister’s Report

8:25 Report on status of ministerial evaluation

8:30 Treasurer’s Report

Donations are up and pledge amounts incoming are higher than expected.

8:44 Report from process monitor

8:50 end

Minutes - January 21, 2021

Attending:
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones
Greg Smith
Ram Kakarala
Jay Porter
Jenn Castro
Jim Rumbaugh
Ray Kiddy

Guest: Kay Crider

7:10 Starting, reading

7:12 Introduction to Kay Crider, consultant on fundraising

8:25 to regular meeting

8:30 volunteer for OMC meeting in February – Jim R.

8:32 discussion on M.E.

8:35 discussion on congregant communications, how to share some of the things that used to be in-person conversations.

8:40 report on Covid Task Force

8:48 Treasurer’s Report

Some information is delayed because of illness, but reports will be coming.
PPP forgiveness applications are available and that is in process.
UUA certification has been submitted today.
Permits for lighting work was submitted to the CIty in December.
We are seeing no need to apply for second-round PPP. Our losses do not merit it.


Minutes - December 17, 2020

Attending:
Ram Karakala
Ray Kiddy
Jim Runbaugh
Jay Porter
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones
Greg Smith
Jenn Castro

Guest:
Dena Dickinson

7:05 Start

7:06 opening words – Rev Nancy Palmer Jones

7:11 Preliminaries – Ram Kakarala

7:17 Partnering Matches – confirmation from Jenn Castro

7:18 Personnel Committee – Policy – Dena Dickerson

review and discussion of draft Policy from Personnel Committee of OMC

8:04 Ministerial Evaluation

Working list of interviewees has been tentatively determined. Interviewers have been named. Desire to hold interviews during first two weeks of January 2021.

8:11 Treasurer’s Report

– Income $2774, total $234K v budget of $217K, net $18K above budget

– Expenses $7873, total $216K v budget of $198K, net $18K above budget

– These amounts over budget balance each other

– Capital committee has met with consultant

– Consultant meeting with the Board could be during scheduled Board meeting.

– request to Board: Send capital project wishlist

requests to capitalcampaign@sanjoseuu.org

8:26 Minister’s Report

8:45 Report from Secretary and Process Monitor

8:48 Benediction


Minutes - November 19, 2020

Attendees:
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Jay Porter
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones
Jim Rumbaugh
Jenn Castro

7:05 Begin

7:18 Review agenda, approved.

7:22 Attendee for OMC meeting

7:25 Ministerial Evaluation

Moved to adopt changes to Ministerial Evaluation by subcommittee as policy document for guiding the process.
Approved.

Review of Interview Questions. Moved, adopted.

Review of Evaluation Timeline and Process.

8:00 Finance & Budget Report

Review of 2019/2020 budget results

Moved that:
• The capital campaign be authorized to begin
• Jim Rumbaugh, Sue Pelmulder, and Nancy Coleman be confirmed as co-leaders of the capital campaign
• ‘Stewardship for Us’ be retained as consultant for the campaign
• $10K be authorized for expenses of the campaign, including consultant fees, internal expenses, and costs for project estimates or designs.
Approved.

Moved that the 2019-2020 budget surplus of $20K be distributed as follows:
• $4K to the Office Equipment Fund, for the office infrastructure project
• $11K to the Sanctuary Lighting Fund
• $5K for initial Capital Campaign expenses.
Approved.

8:27 Minister’s Report

8:45 Partnering Arrangements

8:59 Process Monitor report

9:05 Benediction


Minutes - October 15, 2020

Attendees:
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy
Jay Porter
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones
Jim Rumbaugh
Jenn Castro

Guest:
John Burk

7:07 Invocation – from last paragraph of Kendi book.

7:20 Move for approval of the agenda.

7:20 Jim will attend OMC meeting, Rev Nancy is the Process Monitor

7:22 COVID-19 Task Force: review of 3 recommendations.

1) No facility rentals unless small group, safely run; 2) No services until a vaccine is available, 3) recommendations should be made every quarter (so, Jan 21).

Discussion. Motion. The Board moves to accept the recommendations of the FUCSJ Covid19 Task Force. The Board requests an update from the Task Force before its first meeting in January 2021.

Seconded, passed.

7:28 Financial Report

Ahead of target on pledges and our percentage of pledges received are very high. Weekly donations are very strong also. Rental income is zero, but everything else is same as last year or stronger than last year.

$9k spent on repairs but fund is still in good shape.

We will be more sure of pledge income stability after December.

7:50 Roof proposal

• Accept the contract from New Age Electric for $82,211 to replace the sanctuary lights
• Allocate up to $98K to pay for the contract, city permit costs, and other incidental costs
• Authorize the Treasurer to transfer funds from Benevity Donations, Sanctuary Lighting Project, Capital Improvement Fund, and Net Income as needed
• Unspent money to be returned to the Capital Improvement Fund at the completion of the project
• Authorize Jim Rumbaugh to manage the project in coordination with the Building Committee chair

Motion passed.

8:25 Capital campaign presentation.

•Move to authorize Jim Rumbaugh to organize and lead exploration of a capital campaign, including recruiting coleaders, initiating discussions with potential campaign consultants, reaching out to stakeholders to assemble a list of potential projects, and determining construction costs. The Board will be asked to authorize an actual campaign if preliminary investigations show that a campaign is desirable at this time.

Moved, passed.

8:52 Minister Evaluation – proposed documents – Ram suggests that we handle these in an off-line vote from documents finalized by the committees.

8:53 Proposed investigation of IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory) self-inventory and education.

8:59 Climate Smart San Jose – educating on a “Carbon Footprint Tool”, suggesting that we meet as a Board with them on November 10, 7 pm. We will be receiving an e-mail on this.

9:09 Rev Nancy speaking on NAACP effort… – Count All Votes. RN will send a proposal for an electronic vote on signing on as a supporter of this effort.

9:11 Proposed “thank you” for Jean Rivers and Christine Plascencia, our bookkeeper. Approved by Board.

9:13 Process Observation.

9:20 Review of motions.

9:21 Benediction


Minutes - September 17, 2020

in attendance:
Ray Kiddy,
Ram Kakarala,
Jenn Castro,
Jim Rumbaugh,
Jay Porter,
Greg Smith,
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones.

Guests:
Susan Pelmulder,
Rob Strong

7:06 opening words

7:11 agenda, approved

7:15 – Jenn will attend second OMC meeting in October.

7:16 report on Leadership Summit last Saturday –
“Leadership in Liminal Times”
info on policy-based governance

7:20 mutual invitation on OMC partnership

7:29 Silent Sanctuaries for Black Lives – minor edits from Jim

The First Unitarian Church of San José Board fully and unequivocally supports the Declaration of the Black Caucus of the Association for Unitarian Universalist Music Ministries, which states the need for absence from congregational and organizational life for a period immediately following commissive and omissive acts of violent racism. We resolve to support and honor the claim to space and spiritual care by Black, Brown, Latinx, and Indigenous members of this church and its staff without fear of retaliation or consequence with regard to compensation, benefits, promotion, employment or volunteer position. We resolve that each First Unitarian Church of San José staff person and volunteer has the freedom and agency to decide when it feels safe to return, to what extent they are absent, and what plan for substitution (if any) is appropriate.

– Moved, seconded and passed.

7:35 Minister Evaluation
review membership of committee and policy.
review changes to policy suggested by subcommittee.
review purposes of evaluation.
“beautifully imperfect”
review meeting of question-determination subcommittee.
review meeting of community contacts.

8:15 Treasurer’s Report: Jim
Report on issues with accounting software/payroll.
Donations from Sundays? On-line donations through PP now greater than in-person was.
Pledge payments? We seem to be on-track
– There have not been enough months to see, will know more in December.
Text-to-Pay – current effort terminated at this point.
lighting in the sanctuary – potential bid for lighting for $80k.
SP brought up issues with roof and other capital improvements.

8:52 Minister’s Report: Rev. Nancy
(explicit item on next agenda on process governance)

9:01 Invitation to attend play together: Jenn
Justice Project of PACT. On-line performance of play written by mothers of SJ kids
killed in protests.

9:05 Report from Process Monitor

9:07 Benediction


Minutes - August 20, 2020

Attendance:
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones,
Greg Smith,
Jim Rumbaugh,
Jenn Castro,
Jay Porter,
Ram Kakarala,
Ray Kiddy
Guest: Madeline Morrow

7:30 COVID-19 task force has been meeting every two months. We will be getting recommendations from them next month.

The sentiment of the Board is in favor of the sentiment and review and act on Greg, Jenn, Ram, Ray with Rev Nancy for a review.

7:52 Minister Evaluation Effort – Going over committee membership and interview strategies and making sure the Board understands the bases of evaluation that we should be using.

The Board discussed many parts of what we will do and divided up work.

8:40 (skip) Code of Ethics

8:40 Treasurer’s Report

Not much real data to report. We have a preliminary set of materials from our bank to look at to make sure we will be ready to answer questions about the PPP loan forgiveness.

8:45 Minister’s report – Took breaks as two smaller vacations, instead of one big vacation. Took advantage of some educational opportunities that were serendipitous. There is a lot to think about how the changes we are dealing with are bringing us to a different wisdom about our lives. Discussion of RN’s online ministry meetings.

8:55 Secretary Report on meeting

8:58 Process Review

9:00 Benediction


Minutes - July 16, 2020

Attendees: Ray Kiddy, Ram Kakarala, Jenn Castro, Jay Porter, Jim Rumbaugh, Rev Nancy Palmer Jones, Greg Smith

7:04 start & check-in

7:17 review agenda

7:19 partnering check-in:

7:25 update on C-19 task force. 17 attendees.
recommendations will come by end of September.

7:31 Ministerial evaluation
rN asks that this be started after or in November.

7:40 code of ethics for the Board?
mutual invitation -> discuss

8:00 Treasurer’s report
pledges reached 95% of promised, probably on budget.
bank is still determining PPP loan forgiveness procedures.
to determine if not-profit statement needed vis a vis the federal government?
contractors have been in to provide bids for lighting in the sanctuary.

8:07 Minister’s report
discuss Goals for Congregational Year 20/21

8:40 Silent Sanctuaries for Black Lives
Ram will be putting together a motion for electronic approval before the next meeting.

9:00 Support for Amah Mutsen panel on Protecting Sacred Landscapes

9:05
Moved to approve co-sponsorship of the panel on Protecting Sacred Landscapes hosted by the Amah Mutsun Tribe on 5 Aug 2020.
Moved. Seconded. Approved.

9:08 Benediction


Minutes - June 18, 2020

Attendance: Ray Kiddy, Ram Kakarala, Jenn Castro, Jay Porter, Jim Rumbaugh, Rev Nancy Palmer Jones, Greg Smith

7:10 Intro and sharing

7:18 volunteer for OMC on next Tuesday. Greg Smith.

7:19 discussion of DFF hours and expectations and question on attendance in Board meetings. The Board is not asking DFF to regularly attend Board meetings, but the DFF is very welcome to raise issues to the Board and present them as they prefer. No motion required.

7:45 report on COVID-19 Task Force, is meeting,15 volunteers, incl from Third Street. Recommendations should come by the end of September.

7:48 Update on Congregational Suggestions:
– budget rationale – perhaps in written form
– code of ethics, in relation to the Board’s Covenant

7:52 presentation Jenn Castro on partnership meetings with OMC.

7:58 Managing the PPP is going well.
Mail processing is slowing things down a bit and needs to be managed.
Trying to establish procedures with the OMC, checks and signing authorizations.
No financial report for May yet.

8:06 Motion: Moved that the Program and Operations Council be renamed the Operations Management Council, and that the Program Officer be renamed the Chief Executive Officer. All references in the Bylaws to the Program and Operations Council and to the Program Officer shall remain valid under these new names.
Seconded. Passed.

8:10 Minister’s Report: “What am I doing?” – Worship, Staff work, Networking, Mentoring, Social Justice. GA is next week.

8:23 Black Caucus Letter on “time to heal”.

8:29 “Taking shifts” – taking our service at neighboring congregations.

8:47 Benediction


Minutes - May 21, 2020

7:03 Opening words

Attendees: Rob Strong, Jenn Castro, Greg Smith, Jim Rumbaugh, Rev Nancy Palmer Jones, Ram Kakarala, Jay Porter, Ray Kiddy
Guests: Madeline Morrow

7:05 Reflections

7:15 Staying in the Loop
– report vis-a-vis our partnering with POC members.
– info on building security

7:27 Treasurer’s Report
– Hired a new bookkeeper, she is transitioned by previous.
– Budget seems to be in decent shape, so far, for this year.
– Delays are occurring in inputs and outputs.
– $365k pledges received + 10k EFT + 10k checks – so on track for $385k.
– Rents will be $3k in the red.
– Probably $9k under in terms of income.
– Building upkeep was high last year, and will probably be high this year.
– Bookkeeping expenses are high because of two sequential hires.
– Budget will be “about in balance” +/- $5k.
– PPP Loan report – will be heard from after the loan is forgiven.

7:43 Madeline – presentation on Memberships & Connections.
– checks/conversations with some people will begin in June. Board is welcome to participate.

“Moved that the Board appoint Dena Dickinson to the position of Personnel Officer from now until May 31, 2021. The congregation will vote on filling the second year of the term during the election meeting in March 2021.” – Jim moved, jenn seconded. Passed.

“Moved that the Board appoint jo mosher, in their role as the Director of Faith Formation, as a member of the Program and Operations Council.” – Jim moved. () seconded. Passed.

“Moved that the Board, at the recommendation of the Program Officer, appoint John Burk, Connie Hall, Madeline Morrow, Sue Pelmulder, and Jan Theiss-Guffey as members of the Program and Operations Council for a 2-year term from June 2020 through May 2022.” – Jim moved. Jenn seconded. Passed.

8:13 CoVID-19 Response:
– UUA president had sent letter to all ministers and Board Presidents.
– Task force can be set up to lead our thinking on this pandemic.
– MM has called for volunteers.
– Nancy will get form othew

“Moved to call for the formation of a task force to coordinate our responses to the pandemic and its effects on our church and our community. The President and the head of the POAC should create this task force.” Moved. Passed.

“Moved that the Board expresses thanks to Robert Strong for his service as President of the Board.” – Passed by acclimation.

8:52 Report from process monitor.
8:54 End meeting.


Minutes - April 30, 2020

In attendance: Robert Strong, Jim Rumbaugh, Ram Kakarala, Jenn Castro, Ray Kiddy, Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones, Jay Porter
Guests: Jean Rivers

7:03 Begin

7:19 Treasurer’s Report
Will hire a bookkeeper before this weekend.
Now at $296k in special donations.
PPP Fund: has been submitted.
EIDL: needing more documentation, might not come in time.

“Moved that the Board designate a fiduciary committee, comprising the Treasurer, Finance Officer, President, and Program Officer, to oversee disposition of funds received from the PPP or other government emergency programs.” Jim Rumbaugh moved. Ram Kakarala second. Passed.

7:30 Budget Report
“Moved to recommend the budget as proposed.” Rob Strong moved, Jim Rumbaugh seconded. Passed.

8:10 Internet & Phone Service report – Ram Kakarala will take to POC, comm with Linda Y and comm with Sue Pelmulder.

8:25 Volunteers

Move to recognize the contributors to the web project. Jim Rumbaugh moved. Jay Porter seconded. Passed.

Move to recognize the contributions for the stewardship/leadership project. Ram Kakarala moved. Jenn Castro seconded. Passed.

Watkins Award report from Jenn Castro.

Our next meeting is on the 21st of May.

8:42 Process report.


Minutes - April 16, 2020

In attendance: Robert Strong, Jim Rumbaugh, Ram Kakarala, Jenn Castro, Susie Idzik, Ray Kiddy, Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Absent: [open directorship]

Start 7:00

7:02 Joys and Sorrows

7:24 Review of agenda, some items moved.

7:27 Move to appoint Jay Porter to Board, finishing Kristin’s term. Moved, seconded and approved.

7:28 Staying in the Loop

7:31 Treasurer’s Report
– bookkeeper to leave at end of May, new job to be posted soon.
– report on possible programs for money.
– report: Benevity money can be spent on capital impr fund.
– pledge payments: $360k assured. looking at donors, may get $375k.
– we will lose $7k rentals income.
– expenses were be $3k over, to be $10 deficit.
– building exp were up, $4k of which came out of building reserve.
– upcoming pledges: $362k in hand, plus $5k special donation,
perhaps going to $375k.

7:47 Observations on POC attendance.

“it is the sense of the Board to discourage directed pledges, and the Board will be developing a policy from this.” Moved, seconded and approved.

8:00 Minister’s Report
– staying in touch with support groups and congregants’ concerns.
– idea discussed in re “corona cash” and video for ask.
– discussing N’s offer to be cut 20% of salary. Mutual invite.
– 6 weeks to figure out how to make Rev Nancy’s schedule work.

8:28 Delegates: have yet to assign 2 delegates, cost $150.

8:32 Electronic document storage.

8:36 Next meeting? Yes. April 30. So declared by Rob Strong.

8:40 Review of motions and actions.

8:42 Process report.

8:48 Closing words.


Minutes - March 19, 2020

In attendance: Robert Strong, Jim Rumbaugh, Ram Kakarala, Greg Smith, Jenn Castro, Susie Idzik, Ray Kiddy, Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Guests: Jan Theiss-Guffey, Linda Yépiz
Absent: [open directorship]

Start 7:03

2nd and 4th Tuesday is POC meeting. Ray can attend.

7:04 Jan raised a question of whether the Board could attend one or both of the POC meetings in April that deal with the budget. She will check with the POC to see how they feel about it.

7:05 start

7:15 approved the all previous minutes: Sep.t, Oct, Nov, Jan and Feb

7:17 approved agenda

7:20 Discussed pledges and amounts.

Rev Nancy mentions “stewardship salons” from UUA, Jan is going to
send email to people in UUA for information.

Jim will analyze gaps in pledging.

7:40 Hiring for DFF

Committee discussed offer to go to Jo Moser.

No action is required of the Board. Rob Strong commends the hiring committee for their work.

7:50 Treasurer’s Report

Rental income will flatten. 10-12k may be lost. Expenses are down also.
Pledge receipts through beginning of March are $316K out of $385K budgeted.
The amount of “almost certain” payments would bring us to $350k.
Likely payments are $372k.
Budget could have a deficit of about $10k.
Lisa is coming in for work, seems safe to do so. Bob Redfern said receiving could happen every other week and they could do the deposit.
Effects of coronavirus: casual donations lost, in-service donations lost, rentals gone.
We may lose pledges.
We are reducing the pledge yield in calculations from 96% to 90%.

8:00 COVID-19 and meeting plans

8:24 Discussed congregational meeting

Will be using surveymonkey and help from: Rob Strong, Rev Nancy.

8:30 A vote is needed for adding Karen Conratto as delegate to GA. Moved and Seconded. Passed.

Delegates will be John Burk, Karen Conratto, and Jenny Cressman.

8:35 Minister’s Report

8:37 Process report


Minutes - February 20, 2020

In attendance: Robert Strong, Jim Rumbaugh, Ram Kakarala, Greg Smith, Jenn Castro, ex officio: Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Guests: Susie Idzik, Madeline Morrow, Jan Theiss-Guffey (by phone for her report)
Absent: Ray Kiddy, [open directorship]

Action Items:
Madeline to send draft on building rental.
Greg to attend 2/25 POC.
Robert to send minutes on to Ray for publication with the rest of the Minutes. Notify delegates. Send out (confidential) list of possible candidates for Watkins Award.

Consent Agenda
Agenda: added a few minutes to discuss allocation of last year’s surplus, then approved the agenda. Several sets of past minutes are yet to be approved 10/17, 11/21, 1/16 …

Staying in the Loop

  • In progress: Active Shooter Protocol – either 4/4 or 4/11 with Police Department
  • Common Read – Study Group Mistakes and Miracles
  • Elements of a Policy on Building Use by Outside Groups – POC
  • Policy on staff assistance – (FinCom)
  • Security & Building updates
  • S&B&C March 8 (Budget Process)
  • Cong. Elections March 22
  • Celebration Sunday March 1
  • Popcorn Theology this Sat evening & Leadership Dinner this Sun evening

POC Connection: Greg Smith has volunteered to attend the Feb. 25th meeting.

Treasurer’s Report: Contribution reports were sent out this past Monday. No new financial info this month yet. Contributions are running about $20K below projection . The audit committee is about to start its work. Lisa, the new bookkeeper, is very good at identifying strange problems and tracking down their source.

Leadership Partnering: Individuals reported their conversations with POC partners have been enlightening.

Hiring for Faith Formation: There have been 10 inquiries, resulting in 2 acceptable candidates. Interviews are being lined up with Rev. Nancy for these.

Path to Engagement: Madeline reported that the Path for Engagement will launch in March/April with a “bingo card” activity: A list of 6 different types of activities, each with 6 or more specifics that people could choose to perform sometime during the 6 months until September. Some prize would be promised if at least one from each type was performed during that time.

Delegate applications: Applications to serve as delegates at General Assembly (GA, in June) have been received from John Burke and from Jenny Cressman, and both are approved by vote of the Board. John also applied to be a delegate for Regional Assembly and was approved … although it is not yet announced when RA will occur. FUCSJ, with 220 members, is entitled to 5 delegates at GA.

Minister’s Report: Rev. Nancy gave an overview of her work-in-progress: hiring for Director of Faith Formation, Stewardship planning, Faith in Action, creating worship services & Celebration Sunday, Active Shooter Protocol.

Please recall we also are with the POC to read the intro and first chapter of “How to Lead when You Don’t Know Where You Are Going”.

Physical Security Updates
: Jan reported via phone on progress towards securing the basement exits from the building. Concerns have arisen about homeless using the spaces for shelter and living and rubbish. The back gate has been secured with a padlock, and more substantial fencing is yet being investigated with the Capital Club. The Capital Club rents the parking lot behind us for their staff’s use, and provides them with the combo. Our emergency egress is all towards 3rd Street; egress via the back gates are not required by the evacuation plan approved by the fire marshal.

Allocation of Surplus from last year: Susie initiated a discussion as to whether the surplus from the last financial year could, in light of the increased pledge revenue in response to last year’s ((post budget cycle)) appeal, could be recommended to the POC to be spent upon the refurbishment of the upstairs Youth Room. The discussion resulted in encouragement to pursue the issue by normal channels beginning with the POC. The POC has capability & initial responsibility for operational Budget adjustments.

Watkins Award consideration: Robert will send separately a (confidential) list of possible Watkins Award recipients (developed in this section of this meeting). Also, a special volunteer project recognition.

Process Monitor Report

Adjourned at 9:15 pm


Minutes - January 16, 2020

In attendance: Robert Strong, Susie Idzik, Nancy Palmer Jones, Jim Rumbaugh, Ram Kakarala, Greg Smith, Jenn Castro

Absent: Ray Kiddy, [open directorship]

Consent Agenda

Agenda approved. Several sets of past minutes yet to come …

Staying in the Loop

Active Shooter Protocal: meeting of us (& other leaders) with Police rep. tentatively set for 2/8 morning.

POC Connection

Ray Kiddy attended a January POC meeting, and Greg Smith has volunteered to attend the Feb. 25th meeting.

Treasurer’s Report

Jim reported that the membership has fallen from 248 to 220, which shifts us off being on the boundary of Small/Midsize to inside of small.

The financial team is calling for budget requests now (a month earlier than last year) to be able to better prepare the congregation.

The accounting reports have been revised to be less confusing: In-and-out item are separated from those for which there are budget constraints, and the building value is no longer listed among assets.

Due to constraints on matching grants from corporations, we are revising our accounting to separate out non-religious purposes from religious purposes: PACT Third StreeT, homeless concerns, food banks. This will open up new possibilities for direct service.

A bank error concerning withdrawls on 3rd Wednesdays resulted in missed automatic withdrawls of $3900 … some donors have written replacement checks.

Cash flow is a bit behind expectation, 5%, may be dure to the preceding combined with a couple of large donors not yet received.

There is a question around Book Proceeds Income.

Leadership Partnering

Jenn Castro reminded us of our Leadership Partnering, and a few of us reported that their meetings with their counterparts have been productive. Others are encouraged to followup.

Hiring for Faith Formation

Susie reported that the job was posted in November, and a revised posting will go up before our next meeting.

Policy: Financial Assistance to Staff

We are expecting that the POC will draft a proposal for a policy on Financial Assistance to Staff in the next couple of months.

Followup on the Soup & Bread & Conversation

Robert Strong presented a condensation of the feedback we received on the Activities in support of the Vision 2020. There were 82 comments collected, 20 suggested accomplishments that had not been mentioned, 20 that dealt with suggestions as to how to better accomplish connection, 12 that mentioned improvements to the building, 8 that suggested expansion of adult religious education, 6 that suggested changes to wording of our Vision, 5 that suggested ways to improve our finances, 5 that suggested ways to improve our visibility, 2 that suggested improvements to our worship, 1 that suggested and expansion of our musical capabilities, and 3 that stated in effect “Wow! I appreciate that we have been able to accomplish so much towards our Vision!”. The details will be reported in the February Circular and forwarded to the appropriate committees by Rob.

Minister’s Report
The Leadership Dinner (ahead of the Celebration Sunday March 1st) will be at 6pm on February 23rd. Expect names for personal calls to be distributed.

The Book Study of M&M (Mistakes & Miracles) begins Feb 2nd, the fist of eight sessions.

The Social Justice wants to reform the display of our leadership in the narthex, and use the existing folding panel box in HPH for Social Justice.

Please recall we also are with the POC to read the intro and first chapter of “How to Lead when You Don’t Know Where You Are Going”.

Staying in the Loop

Jenn Castro expressed a desire for a “shared experience” for the Board, such as “Just Mercy” or the “UU the Vote” seminar. She will find something to propose to the Board.

Process Monitor Report

Adjourned at 9:00 pm


Minutes - December 19, 2019 (CANCELLED)


Minutes - November 21, 2019

Present: Greg Smith, Jim Rumbaugh, Rob Strong, Jenn Castro, Susie Idzik, Rev Nancy Palmer Jones

Announced that Kristin is resigning from the Board.

7:15 finished opening, Rev Nancy

7:20 discussed minutes. Sept and Oct minutes to be distributed electronically.

7:25 Active Shooter – we need to create appointment with San Jose Police Dept. Will be sending out invites.

7:30 Web progress report, Common Read, Path to Volunteer Engagement discussed.

7:32 Finance Report – Hand-off to new bookkeeper going well. Audit committee starting well, on task. Final FY 2019/2018 report done, final funds transferred. “Bread, Soup, and Conversation” finance discussion occurred, nobody staying after to discuss. Reported on “new pot” to be set up where funds from Benevity (eg Apple and Google employee-match donations) can be held and used for non-religious purposes (those being PACT, homeless concerns, hunger campaigns, other Social Justice issues). [The “non-religious” purpose will be vetted by the Finance committee. – jr] No estimate of this year’s potential income.

JR propose to replace Monty Low with Dina Dickesnson on Audit committee. Passed.

Action: RS to discuss RE surplus with POC.

7:54 Leadership Partnering reports: Jenn met with Ervin. Ray met with Jean. Greg met with Connie.

Action: Ray will attend 12/10 POC meeting. Board members to meet with POC counterparts.

8:03 Hiring for Faith Formation: report on first gathering of committee. Job listing is in process of being posted.

8:07 Expectations for the Board: Reading of covenants and commitment. Mutual invitation to discuss what we think we need to say about the Board.

8:25 Follow-up on Soup, Bread & Conversation.

Action: Board member with their packets.

8:35 Minister’s Report:

8:55: finis


Minutes - October 24, 2019

Attendees:

Jenn Castro
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones, senior minister
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy, Board Secretary
Rob Strong, Board President
Susie Idzik, Interim DRE

Absent:
Jim Rumbaugh, Board Treasurer
Kristen Rivers
Greg Smith

19:01 Call to Order

19:05 Welcome and reflections

19:40 Conversation on POC partnership…

The board endorses the proposition as presented for leader
partnership and ask Board members to initiate the process.
Moved by Rob Strong, Ram seconded, all votes yes.

20:00 Rev Nancy report

web page report – Jean Rivers to project manage

Active Shooter training – not so great
TSCC is waiting on us so we can define what we want
New members – how to include new members more quickly

PACT Beloved Community – police transparency
5:00 – 8:30 sat 10/26/2019 at Westminster Presbyterian
RSVP to harriet_wolf@yahoo.com
Two suggested books.

20:30 New member on POC
Jan for Stewardship role in POC – Ram moved, Ray seconded. All votes yes.

20:32 Outside Groups, initiated by Ram (MM in POC)
Had been voted on by POC, to allow use without payment, vote was 3 to 3.

RS
example: Dances of Universal Peace – takes donations for carpet
what about groups not in our tradition, eg exclusive, etc?
Clause to deal with politics, exclusion,
Example: candidate forums might be good but not candidate advocacy

RayK:
We want to be open but people have to maintain the facility. What is the balance
between open and risking?

Maxine Goulding – booking for bridals and ???

RamK:
Leans (following Nancy’s example?) to an open church. Groups could be asked
to take up donations to help us with our facilities. A sponsor could be asked for from
Board or POC.

May be hard to find the language for the policy. But sponsorship could act as
policy direction.

JC:
Sympathetic to need to open church. Need rules.

SI:
UUA might have model policies.

Noon Arts – not free for us…

20:57 Cut short of “staying in the loop”


Minutes - September 19, 2019

Attendees:
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy, Board Secretary
Rob Strong, Board President
Jim Rumbaugh, Board Treasurer
Jenn Castro
Greg Smith
Susie Idzik, Interim DRE
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones, senior minister

Absent:
Kristen Rivers

The August minutes were approved.

The treasurer’s report required two motions, one to approve the signers, and the other to Approve the Audit Committee.   Both passed.

Colleen Cabot presented a Statement In Support of our Moral Positions on Rights of Nature and Racial Equity: Juristac (attached).  Passed.

Susie Idzik presented her Interim’s 6-month report and a brief update upon the Search process.

Ram reported that in the POC meeting he attended, there were concerns raised that indicate a policy on use of Church space is needed.  Among the concerns needing guidance raised were:

1) need to be compensated for both setup/cleanup and wear and tear

2) Social Justice use for meetings by groups supporting side in conflict: India/Pakistan or Israel/Palestine

3) groups that might make political endorsements

4) groups that charge admission

5) groups that are not Welcoming

6) groups that do not support our Board-enacted positions.


Minutes - August 15, 2019

Attendees:

Jim Rumbaugh, Board Treasurer
Jenn Castro
Kristen Rivers
Rev Nancy Palmer Jones, senior minister
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy, Board Secretary
Rob Strong, Board President
Susie Idzik, Interim DRE

19:01 Call to Order

19:19 Consent Agenda

19:20 Staying in the Loop
Jim – Move new topic onto agenda, RE Hiring ProcessDiscussion, after Allocation item
Meeting is scheduled with SJPD in re Active Shooter – Aug 27
FUCSJ will be re-certified by the end of this church year (May 2020)
Web work – in progress, beginning and growable to be opened 9/8.
Pride – “unbranded” content sharing in tent, not church-specific.

19:32 Treasurer’s Report

19:34 2018-19 Surplus Allocation & Proposal

Motion made, Kristen moved, Ray seconded.

1. Transfer 6500 of the 2018-2019 Fiscal Budget Surplus into the Operating Reserve Fund.
2. Recommend the POC allocate said funds to raise the interim DRE’s hours from 28 to 32 hours.
3. Transfer the remainder of the surplus into the Capital Improvement Fund.

Passed.

20:55 Motion made, Jenn moved, Jim seconded.

Move that we adopt this resolution as follows:

Whereas the First Unitarian Church of San José supports and is committed to dismantling
racism and white supremacy in our church culture and church institutions, the Board of
Directors therefore and hereby approves, endorses, and supports FUCSJ Beloved Conversations
to begin its work to make FUCSJ’s commitment to racial justice visible and accountable in
all FUCSJ structures and institutions.

Passed.

21:05 Action Item

Ram will send us information on a potential Board Policy on access to our spaces for outside groups.

21:10 Adjourn


Minutes - July 18, 2019

Attendees:
Greg Smith
Jim Rumbaugh, Board Treasurer
Kristen Rivers
Ram Kakarala
Ray Kiddy, Board Secretary
Rob Strong, Board President
Susie Idzik, Interim DRE

19:03 Call to order

19:04 Connection

19:20 Consent Agenda

19:20 Financial Report
have surplus of $22,087.27
Jim – offers suggestion to move to Capital Fund
other suggestions made that our previous statements suggest
we would fund some salaries or program
motion tabled – committee to examine: Kristin, Jim, Ray
group heard of at GA can help with funding campaigns:
name: Stewardship for Us
website: stewardshipforus.com

19:54 Participation in Pride – Rob presented, group discussed.

20:11 Staying in the Loop
Susie – presented on Recertification of Welcoming Congregation
Susie – contacting person at SJPD for Active Shooter presentation
Ram – attending PoC meeting for Board

20:20 Board Policy collection to construct – Jim, Rob

20:20 Web Report – Ray

20:30 How can the Board support the RE vision?

20:45 Review, Process Check, Checkout