REPORT FROM UUA TRUSTEE - FLORIDA & MID-SOUTH DISTRICTS
by Lyn Conley, UUA Trustee, FLD & MSD, February 5, 2002
I'm going to try a new organization for this report. Let
me know if you
find it helpful. In the interest of those who are wary of attachments
I'm
simply including the report in the text of the e-mail. If you want the
fonts et al let me know and I'll send you an attachment. You'll find an
outline below. If the subject interests you go to the number in the text
and read more about it.
1. President Bill Sinkford's Report
a. misc. comments
b. consolidated UUA mailings
c. Budget FY 2002
2. Moderator Diane Olsen's Report
a. UUA BOT Mission Statement
3. Executive VP Kay Montgomery's Report
a. Staff searches
b. Melcher Book Award
c. Staff Restructuring
4. UUA Election By-laws revision proposed
5. UUA By-laws revision - FLD & MSD Separate Trustee
6. Task Force on GA Economic Accessibility
7. Finance Committee Report
a. % of budget formula
8. Youth - Young Adult Sunday
9. Socially Responsible Investing
10. Financial Advisor's Report
11. CUC - UUA report
12. Beacon Press
13. Trustee's Personal note
1. President Bill Sinkford's Report
A. President Sinkford reported that during the past three months he
has
been very busy fulfilling his promise to do Public Witness.This includes
much travel. I wonder how he packed for those trips since reviewing his
travel schedule made me wonder if he ever was in Boston.
He will continue to reach our congregations' membership with presidential
e-mail messages. His intent is to build community within our UUA community.
On Feb. 1 the new memorial in memory of the Selma campaign of 1965 was
scheduled to be dedicated in the Elliot Chapel where the Board meets.
It's
a beautiful wooden carving with slate plaques honoring those who died
in
the voter registration drive for African Americans 36 years ago - including
Jimmy Lee Jackson, whose death led to the call to which James Reeb
responded; and UUs Rev. James Reeb (beaten to death for being there) and
Viola Liuzzo (UU lay leader from Detroit who was shot on the highway from
Selma to Montgomery).
He urged all UUs to support the Youth-Young Adult Sunday planned for
later
this year. (see more below on the subject)
b. Consolidated UUA mailings. Are you among the many who have complained
for eons about the number of mailings coming out of Boston to our
congregation's offices? There are too many mailings, coming out too
frequently, and not coordinated. Well, something is being done about it!
February is the first month when an experimental "monthly mailing"
will be
tried. Each department will submit whatever might have gone out separately
to be included in a single packet with an index and cover sheet. The hope
is that it will be simple and clear. Please do your part to ensure the
contents are distributed to the person who can most use it. I image they'll
ask for feedback. I'd also like to hear from you if you think it works
- or
not.
c. Budget FY 2002
We are cautiously optimistic about the FY02 budget. Although we are
estimating lower than originally anticipated income, we are also being
cautious about expenditures. There is a list of items that will not be
implemented until we are sure that the income is sufficient to cover them.
The Finance Committee and Administration are committed to ending even
or in
the black this year.
2. Moderator Diane Olsen's Report
A very busy traveler Diane is proud of her new Silver Medallion status.
She
and her husband will be moving from Phoenix to San Francisco so she has
a
full plate. But she is enjoying it. Dianeis grateful to have a
collaborative working relationship with Bill Sinkford. As a new Board
member herself she is looking out for us with a "fresh eye"
and has
requested that we get reports in a timely manner; she just wants to be
able
to print them out before she gets on the plane! And we new members are
to
keep a list of what we wish we'd known when we started.
She also announced that plenary will be 3 ½ hours shorter this
year. This
met with great displeasure from the BOT. The purpose of General Assembly
is
to do the work of the Association. It does not seem appropriate to give
that short shrift so that more meetings, longer breaks and fewer competing
workshop times can be included. This issue will be discussed with the
GA
Planning Committee.
a. Working with Wayne Clark, the Board crafted our mission statement:
"We
assemble as a joyful, energetic spiritual community, agents for
anti-oppression, open to transformation, proclaiming the values of our
liberal faith. We commit ourselves to transparent leadership to focus
and
direct resources, fostering the growth and health of our congregations
and
our movement." In January we also worked on a covenant statement.
(BTW,
copies of the MSD Board's covenant were distributed as a fine example!
Thank you, Rev. Diana Jordon-Allende) In April Diane intends to lead the
Trustees in developing goals and the definition of the role of a UUA
Trustee.
3. Executive VP Kay Montgomery's Report
a. Staff searches
Currently the Administration is searching for a Director of the Ministry
and Professional Development Staff Group (formerly Diane Miller's position
of Dept. of Ministry) and a Director of Conference Planning (Barbara
Prairie is retiring with this General Assembly. Her position will be
expanded under the restructuring. The intent is to double-fill the
position, i.e. hire someone while Barbara is still employed to train the
new person.) Visit www.uua.org to learn
more about the positions and how to
apply. The Rev. Ellen Brandenburg, the longtime Dir. of Ministerial
Education, will be leaving soon to begin work as an interim minister.
b. Melcher Book Award
This award goes to a book published in the prior year that is judged to
be
the most significant contribution to religious liberalism. This year the
award goes to Constantine's Sword by James Carroll, a book that examines
the relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism.
c. Staff Restructuring
The plan is almost complete. A consultant will be used to help implement
it. Instead of "departments" there will be "staff groups."
This isn't
mindless nomenclature; the intent is to provide more flexibility and
responsiveness and the name change is indicative of WHO should be involved
and not WHAT is the proper pigeonhole. Senior Staff will be known as the
Leadership Council and they all will not necessarily be in Boston.
As you can tell, we'll have to get used to new names. Faith in Action
will
no longer exist. There will be parts of FIA in four different areas. E.G.,
the Rev. Meg Riley, currently heading the UUA WASHINGTON Office will head
the Office of Public Witness (and, yes, Meg will stay in D.C.) The Dept.
formerly known as CD&E will be split into Congregational Services
(to be
headed by the Rev. Tracey Robinson-Harris) and District Services. There
will soon be a preview of the structure on the web. Please send questions
and comments to Kay Montgomery at kmontgomery@uua.org.
Another result of the restructuring is that the UUA Board will have to
examine our Working Group structure and perhaps "realign."
4. UUA Election By-laws revision proposed
The UUA Secretary, Wayne Arnason, proposed a revision to the by-laws
concerning advocacy by certain positions during the election process.
After
much debate the final version to be presented to the GA delegates will
require the Board Secretary to remain neutral in regard to all elections
except her/his own. Among the Secretary's responsibilities is overseer
of
elections requiring the appearance of neutrality.
5. UUA By-laws revision - FLD & MSD Separate
Trustee
The Board voted to put on the GA agenda a by-law revision that would
create
separate Trustees for the FLD & the MSD. The vote to place on the
item on
the agenda was in response to a request from the two Districts Boards.
Although there are other ways to get an item on the GA agenda they were
not
pursued by the Districts and, rather than serving as a "gatekeeper"
and
keeping it off the agenda, the Board voted to include it.
This action came after much debate about the substance of the by-law.
The
Trustees will continue this discussion in April when the role of a Trustee
is scheduled to be discussed. April is also the time the board votes on
GA
agenda items and assigns a member to present the Board vote and rationale
on the floor at GA.
If you have questions or comments about this action please ask your
District Board or me.
6. Task Force on GA Economic Accessibility
The Moderator is establishing a Task Force to examine how General
Assembly
can be made more accessible to a greater number of people who cannot afford
to attend now. I have volunteered for this Task Force and the first meeting
will be a session at GA02 inviting discussion and comments.
7. Finance Committee Report
The FY03 budget will be reviewed and approved in April. As the
administration still dealt with restructuring issues it was difficult
to
create a final, balanced budget. We did get a preliminary budget for
review. (Normally the out-year budget is passed at the Jan. meeting.)
a. % of budget formula
Mary Miles, APF Director, has presented to the Finance Committee
preliminary information about extending the % of budget Fair Share formula
to mid-size congregations. We have asked for additional information about
impact and will consider this information in April. [I'm learning a LOT
by
being on Finance, and mostly it's all pretty complicated, more than my
experience with the District budget!]
8. Youth - Young Adult Sunday
We were addressed by Bob Snow, UUA VP for Development, and two youth
involved with shepherding the "Mind the Gap Sunday." (Alison
Miller and
Peter Bowden). The goal of this event is to raise $2 million to be used
for
Youth, Campus and Young Adult ministries. This is the goal established
in
the on going "Capital Campaign for UUism." Much of the money
will go back
to Districts and congregations. There will be an endowment for a youth
office, Youth and Young Adult Long-Range Plans, and grants.
Each congregation should have received some information in a previous
mailing about participating in this event later this year or early next
year. Ideally the Sunday will be scheduled for October 2002 but we all
know
there are often competing events (like a Fall canvas). This is not intended
as a "Youth Service" with Young Adults thrown in for good measure.
It is
intended to be a celebration of youth, campus and young adult ministries
and an opportunity to envision the future, a future where UUs no longer
lose 90% of our youth upon HS graduation! The UUA could grow exponentially
if we hadn't lost our young people over the last few years. And shame
on us
for allowing this to happen! Here is a terrific opportunity to help do
something about it.
If you are interested in this project please contact Peter Bowden @
pbwoden@uua.org or Alison Miller @ amiller@uua.org. And let me know that
your congregation is on board and has made a commitment to our younger
generation.
9. Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
We were addressed by this committee's chair, Lucia Santini. The SRI
committee is working on a proposal to expand the screens used by the UUA
for investments. Currently the screens are only negative; they are
proposing to add positive screens, i.e. companies that are doing what
we
LIKE, not just what we don't like. The broad areas include Customer Impact,
Employee Impact, Community Impact, and Environmental Impact. She warned
us
that the subject is often hotly debated since the screens are very
subjective. It is difficult to obtain agreement on the minutia of myriad
details. [In our Board packet we were given copies of letters the
Treasurer, Jerry Gabert, sent to nine companies in which the UUA holds
stick. They made me proud as Jerry clearly stated what the UUA would like
the company to address, e.g. examine their benefits package for domestic
partners. It's the annoying kind of thing I like to do.]
10. Financial Advisor's Report
See the full report at www.uua.org. The
opening history lesson was about
the Rev. Joseph Fletcher Jordan whose portrait hangs in the Elliot Chapel.
Larry Ladd went on to discuss the negatives (including Beacon press losses)
and the positives (including that the Capital Campaign has raised or
received pledges for $22 million out of the $32 million goal). And although
the overall investment record for FY02 is down (not surprising) it actually
went up 6.1% for the most recent quarter.
11. CUC - UUA report
a. The Transition Team goes out of business at GA02.
b. The plan has been drawn very carefully, trying to anticipate all future
needs. The lines must be clear to prevent "scope creep" and
"service
creep," i.e. ensuring the CUC does not expect services for which
they are
not contributing.
c. Canadians will continue to get Youth and Young Adult services and,
thus,
the congregations are being asked to participate in "Mind the Gap
Sunday."
d. The UUA Board has asked the CUC to adapt and adopt the UUA Purposes
and
Principles.
e. The CUC will vote on accepting the plan at their Annual General Meeting
in May 2002.
12. Beacon Press
The Board of Trustees spent a considerable amount of time discussing the
Association's relationship with its Beacon Press and the reality that,
in
the current climate of publishing, it is unlikely that Beacon can be
self-sustaining. Beacon has ended six of the last eight years with a net
loss from operations. The cash reserves that have funded these deficits
in
recent years will be exhausted within 2003. Further deficits would need
to
be subsidized from the UUA's operating budget by shifting resources
currently used to fund other programs.
The Board asked the Administration and the Director of Beacon Press to
come
to the April Board meeting with a proposed multi-year plan for the Board
to
consider, designed to result in an average loss of no more than $200,000
annually. Other alternatives are also being considered.
13. Personal note
I've been using the phrase "that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger"
at work a lot lately. The two weeks since our UUA Board meeting has
consisted of mostly 10 - 12 hour work days for me. Today was the day we
started an entirely new way of doing work that involves a new software
package. That's the bad news. The good news is I only have to make it
to GA
and I'm retired (and this will all be someone else's headache)!
But I spent Sat. working in my iris bed so this Spring I have two things
to
look forward to - that retirement and an almost unbelievably spectacular
display from Mother Nature. Digging in the dirt has some inexplicable
therapeutic affect on me.
As always, if you have questions, concerns or suggestions please contact
me. I can be reached:
§ by e-mail at lconley@uua.org
or lconley@compuserve.com
,
§ by snail mail to 3072 Galangale Way, Doraville, GA 30340,
§ evening phone (770) 934-9696.
Note: The easiest way to reach me is via e-mail.
Yours in faith,
Lyn Conley
UUA Trustee, FLD & MSD
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared
to
what lies within us." Oliver Wendell Holmes
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