On July 11, the BVUUF Board held its first meeting of the 2019-2020 Fellowship year at Frasier Retirement Community. Returning members President Marky Lloyd, Vice President Nancy DiLaura, Treasurer Joan Mulcahy, and Trustee Susan Bateman welcomed the three new members: Trustees Dave Leonard and Scott Youmans, and Secretary Gloria Pearlstein. Ex-officio member Reverend Lydia was on vacation and did not attend.
Those present introduced themselves by describing their personal and UU histories, professional backgrounds, and interests. Marky then outlined the main areas the Board is expected to consider this year. These include:
–Continuing oversight of the building project,
–Overseeing the move into the completed building,
–Developing a strategic process to move toward long-term expansion of staff,
–Monitoring the annual pledge process,
–Supporting work on reorganizing the Fellowship’s Google drive documents, and
–Establishing working Stewardship and Communications Committees.
The Board also heard a presentation from Larry Sherwood, chair of the Construction Finance Team, on building project finances: To date, the Fellowship has received more than $3 million of the total $4.7 million budgeted for the building renovation. Funds have come from the capital campaign and an anonymous donor. The remainder will come from outstanding capital campaign pledges and a long-term loan. Members have pledged $2.2 million for the project and have already paid nearly $1.4 million of those pledges. Less than $2 million of the total budget has been spent to date, and less than half of the total $317,000 budgeted for contingencies has been spent.
Following Larry’s presentation, the Board briefly discussed whether it should consider reducing the Construction Management Team’s $10,000 approval level for contingency expenses at this time. The purpose would be to maintain closer Board oversight of funds as they decrease. Board members agreed to get further information about contingency fund spending at the August meeting, when Building Committee Co-Chair Jim Highsmith will make a presentation. The Board will revisit this issue when remaining contingency funds reach $150,000.
There were no motions or votes relating to old or new business. However, the Board approved the following items without discussion:
–June 13 Board meeting minutes
–June 29 Special Board meeting minutes
–Construction Finance Team Report
–Construction Management Team Report
In addition, the Board decided that it will use email to clarify content questions but will not decide any issues via email. Instead, it will address urgent matters through a Zoom or conference call and will hold additional in-person meetings if needed.
The next Regular Board Meeting is scheduled for August 15, 6:00-8:30 PM.