Present: Janice Zerfas, Lisa Dalgleish, Dick Berndt, Amy Eklund, Dave Sarra

Lisa moved, Dick seconded, motion to approve minutes passed.

Contracts and Job Descriptions—Dave brought copies of the DRE job description from when we hired Theresa and a list of suggested duties for Office Administrator. The board will review and come back next month to finalize.

Safe Congregation—Lisa called the CMD and was referred to UUA and she spoke with Ian Evinson. He told her to look for Safe Congregation policies, which she did. She found online a protocol and policy online from Westminister Unitarian Church which seemed quite good and included “limited access agreements”. “limited access agreements” are disclosed in the annual report and there is no disclosure to the congregation of who the individual(s) are but everyone is aware that there are these agreements. There is no concensus about sharing this information with new members. There is a sense that there needs to be control over the information sharing . Lisa recommends that we disclose at the time of application for membership and adopt a policy such as this. Lisa will follow up with the insurance company, Church Mutual, to see if they have some policy or protocol guidelines. The board expressed interest in further pursuit of putting together something along these lines but tailoring carefully after discussion and thought. Lisa will email the url’s for what she has found so far and check with Church Mutual at the next board meeting.

Financial Transparency—Dick reported that the budget now balances because the “canvass continued” line item has been received. Janice moved that we accept the budget as submitted by Dick, seconded by Amy, motion passed unanimously.

Chris reported on two agencies that would help us be more accountable. The first agency stated that an audit would not be required; they would offer more of a financial review. They stated that our fellowship is not large enough for what a CPA would call an audit. They would produce a base line; therefore they would review our practices, how our Quick books were handled in the past, and make suggestions for the future. They also advised the following: 1) Two people count and sign off on the collection. 2) Independent party needed to deliver the bank depositis. They considered the lack of an outsider to deliver the bank deposits a major problems. They gave an overview of the firm, credentials of people involved in the review, people who would be involved—these are people who are involved in non-profits.

The fee for a financial review would be expensive fees --2500.00—we would be doing the collection data. Financial committee need to be involved. Endowment people would need to be involved

Chris’s second agency is a personal friend who quoted her 1200.00, for an audit, etc. The first choice may be a good beginning baseline, and working with Becky who resides locally in three oaks on a regular basis may be a good idea. We discussed who else would be possible to work with locally who has this expertise.

Havng a 24/36 month audit would be useful.

We need one more proposal before making a decision, and it needs to be discussed during the retreat.

Guests Kate and grandson Dave Fuller—wind turbine idea as a memorial for Marv. Members seem to be interested in this and have given good feedback to Dave. American Wind Association has lots of companies supplying wind turbines and he has looked through them all. He presented a summary suggesting that a 20 kw wind would be more than our need. 10 KW would be $21,000. 5 kw would be 15,000 and would probably do it, 2.5 kw would be 5200-6500. He would like to see our electric bill and see what our monthly usage is to determine what would make sense for us. Janice will ask for the utility bills and get that information to Dave so we can determine the payback period. Chris suggested there might be money through a community proposal for funding as a demonstration project if we aren’t able to get the tax rebate. There are two on the list from Michigan. More information will be gathered and it will be presented at the retreat.

Minister provision for Sept 25

Membership—Lisa contacted the Geislers and a note was in the newsletter regarding Marion. Lisa also contacted Heartha Whitlow and Gene’s obituary was published. She does not have a list yet of the members to recognize over the coming year but she did go back through the membership book and made a list of everyone who signed since 1996 so check on the status of people. She talked with Jim McConnell about doing a program regarding the “wisdom of ages” idea and Harvey and Jim will work on that. Dave and Lisa discussed the visitor’s registry and Lisa will be picking up the sheets and following up with the visitors. Lisa met with Emily Bettencourt to talk about the transition. Kitchen maintenance is part of the membership committee and she verified this with the board. She will pursue a high quality acrylic small reuseable “glass” source. It was suggested that we order the coffee at the beginning of the year for the entire year. Coffee ordering will be part of membership as well. She will explore what should go into a membership packet. Coordination with school calendars so we don’t create conflicts with scheduled events. We should probably start getting our calendar together. Bob Milne is scheduled for January 22.

Music Director—Candace Onweller has declined at this point because she has only 3 students lined up for the fall so it isn’t worth the commitment of Sundays for her.

Building and Grounds—Sign—Gary is working on changing. Janice put mulch around the trees. Heartha has suggested creating a garden for Gene and said she would pay for it. Lisa talked with her and mentioned that upkeep is difficult. One suggestion is a Memorial Area created with a hedgerow or tree lined area so that its low maintenance. Perhaps the spring is the best time for this since we will need to find out where the wind turbine will go if we proceed with that.

Motion to adjourn by Chris, seconded by Lisa, passed.