Update from the Board — December 2019

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The BVUUF Board of Officers and Trustees met twice in December.  At its regular meeting on December 19, the Board approved the following actions, all unanimously: 

  • Authorized hiring City Wide Building Maintenance for 90 days to clean the renovated building at an average cost of $815 per month.  The benefits of hiring this firm include that no long-term contract is needed; after a 90-day set up period, their contract runs month-to-month.  City Wide hires local people as much as possible and pays them minimum wage. Also, needed supplies can be ordered at a discount through City Wide contacts at Staples.
  • Modified the 2019-2020 Operating Budget to merge three line Items for Lifespan Faith Formation into one line item.  The three current line items are Supplies, Lifespan Faith Formation, and Tuition Program Expenses. These line items reflected a breakout that was needed when the Fellowship was attempting to recover the cost of paid Religious Education (RE) teachers via tuition income from camp and RE programs. Since the board decided in August 2019 that RE teacher salaries would henceforth be a part of the budget without regard to income from the RE program, the breakout of RE expenses into three categories is no longer necessary or meaningful.
  • Adopted the policy that BVUUF will redeem reward points earned by employees’ corporate credit cards for cash that will be deposited into the Fellowship’s Business Checking account. The BVUUF Treasurer, as program administrator, will redeem these points for all card holders at least once annually and report the redemption to the office staff and the BVUUF accountant for recording as “Other Income.”  On average, the reward program is expected to generate approximately $300 to $600 a year for BVUUF.  
  • Voted (1) to amend the existing policy of subsidizing registration of delegates to the General Assembly (GA) by specifying that subsidies will be provided at the early bird registration rate, and (2) to clarify that subsidies for the 2020 GA will be $400 each for up to six delegates, with funding to be taken from the Legacy Fund.  This amendment seeks to conserve funds by specifying that GA delegate subsidies will be at the early bird registration rate. 
  • Approved hiring marketing consultant Sandi Rhynard on a part-time, hourly basis to direct the communications strategy to re-introduce BVUUF to the local community as we move into the renovated building.  

At a special Board meeting on December 21, the Board discussed options for paving the parking lot at the new building.  Asphalt paving has been delayed by the weather and could be delayed for months. After discussing options, the Board voted to temporarily pave the parking lot at the new building with crushed concrete ASAP if the following conditions apply:

  • The fire marshal approves the crushed concrete option.
  • The bank providing our long-term loan assures us that we’ll be able to adjust the date of our final payment to our contractor, Milo, beyond May 6. 
  • Milo confirms that both the interior and exterior can be completed and ready for temporary occupancy by the end of January.
  • The city of Lafayette approves a temporary occupancy permit that is at least 90 days and extendable. 
  • The change order (for the temporary paving and for removing the crushed concrete so that the final asphalt can be applied) does not exceed $90,000.

The temporary paving option will allow us to move back into the building earlier than if we wait for a spring thaw.  The Board was pleased that the anonymous donor, who has already given so much to the building, has offered another $75,000, which can be used for the paving.  As the year ended, BVUUF was waiting to hear whether these conditions will be met.

For more information about any of these items, please contact Gloria Pearlstein, secretary@bvuuf.org.