Mount Vernon Unitarian Church

Daria Bergen-Hill

Nance Cedar

Jack Hinman

Linda Jemison, Chair

Doug MacCleery

Jim McGovern

Ric Sears

Betsy Stephens

Karen Tyson

Will Jernigan

Bill Alsmeyer-Johnson

Hope Andonovska

Alan Bunner

Jeanne Gaylor

Carolyn Slenska

Russ Stumpe

Jan Vanderstaay

Joan Wamsley

Between July 22 and 24, the Board voted by email to approve the letting of contracts for garage restoration and Carriage House renovations.

The Board appointed Julie Carvalho to the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice Board. She replaces Peg Bartel whose term has expired.

Alan Bunner and Carolyn Slenska reported on and answered questions about Mark Zimmerman, the unanimous choice of the Search Committee for our new Music Director. The Board approved Mark’s appointment.

Russ Stumpe explained and answered questions about a proposed contract to obtain construction drawings and specifications sufficient to allow solicitation of competitive bids and Fairfax County permit applications for the Hollin Hall HVAC Design Project. The Board authorized the letting of the contract.

Jeanne Gayler and Jan Vanderstaay described and sought permission to stage a one-man play, "A Passion for Justice", about Clarence Darrow, on Sunday evening, December 7, at 7:30, as a fund-raiser for the Aesthetics Committee. The Board authorized this. Jeanne and Jan also sought authorization in principle to sell replicas of our chalice, and the Board agreed. A third request, to authorize designated gifts to the Aesthetics Committee, was deferred pending the development of a formal policy by the Finance Committee on designated contributions, and the adoption of such a policy by the Board.

Dan Logan requested that a recently formed group, Poets Against the War, be permitted to hold a reading at MVUC on Sunday evening, November 2. A lively discussion ensued, covering many issues such as the risk of alienating some members who might be offended by opinions expressed, the distinction between facilitating the airing of issues vs. providing a forum to attack individual public figures, and the implications of "sponsoring" a program vs. "permitting" a group to rent our space for a fund-raiser. In the end, the Board decided to offer Poets Against the War the same terms that apply to concerts at MVUC, i.e. MVUC will receive either $200 or 25% of the gate, whichever is larger.

The Board revised our rental policy for the small Hollin Hall apartment to state the we will not rent the apartment to MVUC members because of the potential for conflicts of interest.

Hope and Joan presented reports.

Karen reported on the status of our loan applications to finance renovations and capital improvements.

Betsy is coordinating the planning of the Ingathering Picnic. She will email Board members a list of jobs to be done. Board members will tell Betsy how they can help.

Between August 8 and 13, the Board voted by email to approve the award of a contract to BeeryRio to provide MVUC with construction documents for installing an accessible restroom and entrance to Hollin Hall.

Jim McGovern, Secretary