MOUNT VERNON UNITARIAN CHURCH

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION

April 29. 2001

MINUTES

Scott Shepard, chairman of the Board of Trustees, called the annual meeting of the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church to order at 6:36 p. m., on April 29, 2001. Board Secretary, Al Erickson, reported that 126 members were present or represented by proxies, more than a quorum.

The Rev. Linda Olson Peebles presented a Call to Community, including appropriate music. Trustee Bill Clontz gave a brief presentation on ways and means of conducting discussions in which members might differ while maintaining love and respect for one another. The chair appointed Jim Southerland as parliamentarian of the meeting. Trustee Ron Brandt described and explained a proposed process by which revisions to the set of church by-laws were to be considered.

Bill Clontz reported on the Long Range Plan. Three new task forces have been established and the original steering committee has been phased out. The new groups are:

• Facilities for the Future Task Force, chaired by Brett Alexander. It will assemble detailed information needed prior to decisions on construction.
• Finances for the Future Task Force, chaired by Nancy Fox. It will make projections of future church incomes and expenses, and the amounts that might be raised in a capital campaign, and details of such a campaign, should the congregation decide to have one.
• Karen Tyson chairs a new steering committee. It will coordinate and direct the task forces, oversee and implement plans not requiring funds, and consult with other UU churches that have recently done long range planning. It plans a report to the Board of Trustees by the end of summer or early fall.

Michael Hentges chairs the pledge drive for the fiscal year beginning in July under the recently revised church calendar. He enlightened listeners with a report of a learned study that said there are three kinds of people, those who can count and those who can’t. He said all kinds of MVUC members who especially like one church activity should recognize they need to support the whole church in order for all activities to flourish.

For the Nominating Committee, Ralph Slawson, chair, presented its slate of individuals to fill church positions in the coming year. All were elected by voice vote, without opposition. They are:

• Board of Trustees

Linda Davidson, Jim McGovern, Maria Meuse and Betsy Stephens, three-year terms; Russ Stumpe, one-year term to fill a vacancy; Hayley Holser-Green, one-year term as youth representative.

• 2002 Nominating Committee

Martin Bredeck, Meg Clontz, Maureen Novotne, Patricia Kenny-Priest and Pat Smith.

• Delegates to the UUA General Assembly

Peg Bartel, Janice Fitzpatrick, Kenn Hurto, Elspeth Peebles, Linda Olson Peebles.

• Endowment Committee

John Henrehan and Deborah Matthews

During this discussion it became known that MVUC was entitled to two additional delegates to the General Assembly. Heather Noble and Steve Phinney received floor nominations and were elected without opposition.

The chair reported that Maria Meuse’s election as a trustee created a vacancy on the Program Council as coordinator for Our Larger World. Peg Bartel was nominated from the floor and elected without opposition.

The chair then announced that a recent resignation by Bob Kuhns created another Board vacancy for the one year remaining of his term. Linda Jemison and Mike Walker were nominated from the floor. Linda was elected by a vote of 76 to 44.

In a ceremony, all members of the Board were then installed by the outgoing chair, Scott Shepard. Continuing as trustees are Ron Brandt, Carrie Alexander, Al Erickson, Nancy Fox and Carl Lohmann. Thanks and gifts were presented to those members present whose terms were completed: Scott Shepard, Oma Elliott, Bill Clontz, Leila Goodman and Robby Tinker.

The proposed new by-laws were a result of more than a year of work by a committee chaired by June Stumpe. Other members were Ron Brandt and Jim Southerland. June said that the committee had received important help from Rob Dickinson, Gary Fitzpatrick, Ken Krogh, Deborah Matthews, Sally Joy Remington, Kris Rosenthal and Marge Witting. The committee then invited comments from members of the congregation at four meetings following church services in February and March of this year. The proposal was then reviewed and modified somewhat by the Board of Trustees.

Ron Brandt led the discussion of the by-law changes. The meeting approved a procedure in which members first raised questions or made objections to specific items, which were then set aside. A vote was then taken on the remaining bulk of the new by-laws, which were approved without opposition. This was then followed by individual votes on items in question.

Altogether, five changes were voted in the proposed by-laws. They are as follows:

• General.

Motion was made and seconded that wherever the word “ministers” appears in the Bylaws it be written as “minister(s)” and that Article XI be amended to read “from the Minister OR DIRECTOR of Religious Education. The motion carried.

• Article III.

Motion was made and seconded to remove section 4 from Article III. Motion failed.

• Article VII.

Motion was made and seconded to replace the proposed wording of Article VII, section 1.b. with the sentence in Article VI, section 2 which reads “One of the adult members of the Board shall be elected to serve as chair for a one-year term,” inserting after “elected” the words “by the new Board”. The motion carried.

Article VII, section 1. b. now reads “One of the adult members of the Board shall be elected by the new Board to serve as chair for a one-year term.”

Motion was made and seconded to strike from Article VII, section 1.a. the sentence “The chair shall be the chief executive officer of the church.” Motion failed.

• Article VIII

Motion was made and seconded to add to section 4, the words “In the event of a vacancy on the Program Council, the Board may appoint a resident member of the congregation to serve until the next annual meeting, at which time the congregation shall elect a replacement to serve the remainder of any unexpired term.” Motion carried.

• Article X

Motion was made and seconded to add to the end of section 1. Instrumentalities, “The Board of Trustees shall have the authority to repeal or modify the ‘50% requirement’, if such repeal or modification is in the best interest of MVUC.” Motion carried.

Motion was made and seconded to add to the end of section 2. Church Affiliated Organizations, the sentence “ Bylaws of all church affiliated organizations and any amendments to those bylaws must be approved by the Board.” Motion carried.

Motion was made and seconded to add to section 3. second sentence, after the word instrumentality insert “and church affiliated organization”. Motion failed.

Chair Scott Shepard asked if there was any new business. Pete Bloom urged the congregaton to keep up our good Social Justice work in the church and to especially remember social justice in our search for a new minister. Suzanne Cleary urged the congregation to continue our work on environment. Thanks were given to the women who set up the dinner. Scott expressed his thanks for the opportunity to serve on the Board of Trustees.

At the close of the meeting members gave a standing vote of thanks to our ministers, Kenn Hurto and Linda Olson Peebles, for their energetic service, capability and talented efforts on our behalf.

Announcements were made of the planned art auction May 19 and the church retreat Memorial Day weekend.

Kenn Hurto congratulated the members on a remarkable effort to revise the by-laws successfully and in an orderly fashion.

The meeting came to a close at 8:50 p. m.