Special Congregational Meeting

Mount Vernon Unitarian Church

February 6, 2004

Karen Tyson, Chair, MVUC Board of Trustees, opened the special congregational meeting which occurred between services on February 6, 2005.  Karen noted that there were two purposes of the meeting: 1) to consider a motion to carry out at MVUC the ceremony of ordination into the UU ministry of Steve Phinney, and 2) to take up a motion related to the Capital Improvements program.

Steven Phinney motion:

Mike Walker rose to offer and speak in support of the following motion:

We, the members of Mount Vernon Unitarian Church, vote to ordain Stephen Phinney to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in a ceremony on Sunday, April 17, 2005 at 4:00 PM.

After a brief discussion, this motion was passed unanimously. 

Capital Improvements motion:

Joanne Masterson, Vice-Chair of the BOT, rose to offer and speak in support of the following motion, which was seconded:

Whereas:

·         At the April 2004 Annual Meeting, the Congregation approved the general plan for improving our facilities proposed by the Facilities for the Future Task Force,

·         In the Capital Campaign that the Congregation also approved at the 2004 Annual Meeting, members of the Congregation have now pledged sufficient financial support, and

·         At two town meetings, the Congregation has reviewed the revised plan, which includes reconfiguring the space for more classrooms, making the gathering room addition an option, and eliminating the meadow parking.

We therefore authorize the Board of Trustees to:

1.      Establish a Construction Task Force with responsibility for all aspects of the remodeling project.  Under supervision of the Board, the Task Force will:

·         Complete the necessary Design Development drawings followed by the Construction Documents required  for bidding, permitting and construction,

·         Conduct the bidding and permitting processes,

·         Keep the Congregation informed on any significant changes in construction details and/or estimated costs, and

·         When these tasks have been successfully completed, proceed with construction.
 

2.      Establish a Building Fund with proceeds from the capital campaign. Under supervision of the Board, the Building Fund will be used to finance the facilities improvements.
 

3.      Assign responsibility to the Business Manager and the Finance Committee for ensuring that all costs are appropriate and all payments are accurately accounted for.

June Stumpe rose to offer an amendment to this motion as follows:

Under Recommendation #1, 4th Bullet of the motion:

Strike the words "proceed with construction" and add the following words:

"and before the beginning of construction, the Board of Trustees will call a Congregational Meeting to determine the will of the congregation in regard to the proposed building project.

Such a ballot will authorize the congregation to vote Yes or No.

Such a ballot shall include approval of a financial plan.”

After this proposed amendment was seconded, Karen Tyson indicated that the BOT agreed with the amendment as a clarification of their intent.  A motion to accept June Stumpe’s amendment was passed unanimously.

Al Searle offered an amendment to limit the cost of construction to the amount that had already been pledged for construction as of February 6, 2005, and to direct the BOT to bring a revised building plan to the congregation for consideration.  His rationale was that MVUC needs to live within its means and that borrowing for construction would divert scarce church resources from higher priority tasks, such as RE and social action.

Five church members, as well as the Chair, rose in opposition to this amendment.  Among other things, opponents felt that it was premature to tie the hands of MVUC.  The proper time for deciding whether, or how much, to borrow would be after refinement of cost estimates that would be carried out under the motion at hand.

This proposed amendment was defeated with three votes in favor and the remainder opposed.

In response to a suggestion by Al Macomber that it would be desirable to obtain permits for the meadow parking in case it was determined to be desirable to add it in the future, Karen Tyson agreed to add “possibly” before “eliminating” in the third bullet of the introduction to the motion.

The motion, as amended, was passed with two dissenting votes. 

The meeting was adjourned at 11:05.  

Note: There was a quorum with 62 voting members signing in and 23 absentee ballots submitted. 

Doug MacCleery

Secretary