October 4 Special Meeting
Here is a brief update from the October 4, 2024, special Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting:
Key Highlights:
● RDC Lease Agreement Finalized:
○ The Board discussed final revisions to the lease agreement with the Refugee Development Center (RDC). Key points include:
■ Clarified use of shared spaces, allowing RDC to request use once per month.
■ Acknowledgment of RDC’s $1.15 million capital contribution, with a $5,000 annual rent discount applied over 20 years.
■ Rent and operating cost calculations are based on a fair-share methodology, ensuring expenses are shared proportionally among tenants.
○ The lease will undergo a final legal review before it is officially signed.
● Motion Approved:
○ The Board passed a motion to approve the updated lease agreement, pending any final legal changes.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to your continued engagement.
Laura Ray, President
president@uulansing.org
September 2024 Splinters
Here is a brief update from the September 25, 2024, Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting:
Key Highlights:
● Financial Update:
○ The 2023 year-end deficit was lower than expected, thanks to cost savings. There are remaining COVID relief funds of about $53,000, which will cover the projected FY24 deficit.
○ Planning for the 2025 budget is underway, with a projected need for $514,000 in pledges. However, there is very little room to cut expenses.
● RDC Lease Agreement:
○ A draft of the new lease agreement with the Refugee Development Center (RDC) is under review. The Board will hold a special meeting on October 4 to finalize it.
● Ministerial Performance:
○ The Board reviewed Rev. Neal Anderson's year-end performance appraisal and accepted the report.
● Congregational Survey:
○ The BoT plans to gather feedback from the congregation through a survey to help monitor progress towards the church’s Ends. More discussion will take place at the upcoming Board Retreat.
Upcoming Meetings:
● October 4, 2024 – Special Board meeting to vote on the final RDC lease agreement.
● October 6, 2024 – Board Retreat after church (noon-4 PM).
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to your continued engagement.
Laura Ray, President
president@uulansing.org
August 2024 Splinters
Here is a brief update from the August 28, 2024, Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting:
Key Highlights:
● Pledge Drive:
○ The 2024 Pledge Drive will run from September 8-29, with early-bird pledgers encouraged. The theme is "Invitation to Love," focusing on building community and connections. Pledges will be collected electronically, with options for paper pledges as needed.
● 2023 Financial Update:
○ Treasurer Ralph Putnam reported that the 2023 books are nearly closed and it looks like the church will finish in the black for the year. Accurate financial reports are needed to support the upcoming pledge drive.
● Congregational Info Sessions:
○ The Board discussed ways to structure future Congregational Information Sessions to encourage more productive dialogue and reduce non-covenantal behavior. Ideas include using index cards for questions and emphasizing that these are listening sessions rather than town halls.
● Board Size:
○ The Board intends to maintain 9 elected trustees. A call for interest in Board service will be included in the next newsletter.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to your continued engagement.
Laura Ray, President
president@uulansing.org
April 2024 Splinters
The April 2024 regular monthly meeting of your Board of Trustees was highlighted by Election and Sponsorship. Laura Ray was elected by your Board to the position of President-Elect. Laura will serve as President-Elect until the December 2024 Board meeting, wherein she will assume the role of Board President. At that time, Tom Nicholas will begin one year of service as Past-President.
Your Board of Trustees wishes to express our excitement and enthusiasm in anticipation of serving together with Laura in this capacity. Congratulations Laura!
Also, your Board unanimously endorsed John-Marc Ormechea to the Unitarian Universalist Association Ministerial Fellowship Committee through a Statement of Congregational Sponsorship. This sponsorship of an applicant indicates confidence in the applicant’s potential and suitability for UU Ministry. On behalf of the entire UU Lansing Congregation, your Board of Trustees wishes John-Marc all the best in his faith development journey.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics.
Tom Nicholas, President; president@uulansing.org
March 2024 Splinters
Each month our Senior Minister, Rev. Neal Anderson, provides reporting to our Board of Trustees regarding the financial condition of the church. During our March 2924 meeting, the Board spent significant time clarifying the need for and types of specificity to include in this reporting.
Your Board of Trustees also updated, revised, discussed, and ultimately approved a current Ministerial Agreement. This is the document within which, conditions of Rev. Neal’s employment and compensation are described. The previous review had been completed in 2019.
Work was also completed, by a small group, and reviewed and discussed by your Board of Trustees, to update, revise and consolidate Board Covenants and Board Codes of Conduct. This work was added to the Consent agenda for the regular April 2024 meeting.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics.
Tom Nicholas, President
January and February 2024 Splinters
In 2024 your UU Lansing Board of Trustees (BoT) has been governing on your behalf through two regular monthly BoT meetings, an Emergency Executive Committee meeting, and a Special Congregational Meeting.
During our January regular BoT meeting:
Updated documents were provided to Dart Bank, authorizing the recently elected President and Treasurer to sign documents on behalf of the Church when requested.
A survey summary was produced for possible publication to the congregation. This survey was conducted in April 2023 to gauge the congregation’s understanding of its progress toward its Ends. The summary report can be viewed by following this link: Summary Report.
Work began on the revision and consolidation of several existing versions of BoT covenant and codes of conduct. This work will provide a current and concise description of a board member’s expected behavior and covenantal agreement for working together, and a board member’s engagement with the congregation.
Shortly after the January Board meeting adjourned, the BoT received a letter of resignation from Chris Clampitt. Chris had been elected as Treasurer in the most recent election at the end of 2023. In order to appoint a replacement, in accordance with our Bylaws, the Executive Committee of the BoT convened an emergency meeting. During this emergency meeting of the Executive Committee, Ralph Putnam was appointed to the office of Treasurer. Ralph’s term runs through the end of 2025.
In early February 2024, our congregation gathered for a special meeting. This meeting was held to select delegates to represent UU Lansing at the upcoming 2024 Mid-America Regional and UUA General Assemblies. Delegates selected for the Regional Assembly are: Bob Lovell, Kathy Lovell, John-Marc Ormechea, Callen Latz, Alysandra Ganem-Redd, and Sonya Schryer Norris. This regional Assembly will be held April 19-21, 2024.
Delegates selected for the General Assembly are: Bob Lovell, Kathy Lovell, Carol Nicholas, Sonya Schryer Norris, Tammy Lemer, Barbara Stoddard, Gene Mellen, and Cheryl Overly. The General Assembly will be held Jun 20-23, 2024.
Immediately following the adjournment of this Special Congregational Meeting, an informal information update session was provided. This hour-long session included an update on the current financial plan, a message from the Senior Minister, and a presentation of the results from the April 2023 Congregational Survey. Each presentation was followed by questions and answers among the attendees and presenters.
At the February meeting of your BoT:
The Board appointed Kelsea Hector to the BoT, filling a vacancy created when Ralph Putnam was appointed Treasurer.
A summary report from the 2023 survey of the Congregation was recommended for publication. The summary report can be viewed by following this link: insert link here
Your BoT established some small working groups to focus efforts throughout 2024, in the following areas:
Monitoring the policy limitations agreed upon by the Board and Senior Minister, as well as monitoring the BoT itself regarding its practices and performance.
A Linkage group will develop a plan for, and practice various methods of engagement between the Board and the Congregation focusing on the Ends.
A Survey group will begin work on our Second Annual Survey of the Congregation.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics.
Tom Nicholas, President
December 2023 Splinters
The Board held its last meeting of the 2023-year on December 27th. We thanked outgoing board members, Rob Mack (Treasurer) and Margo Smith (appointed to fill vacancy) and welcome newly elected members, Callen Latz, Cindy Lemkuhle, Michael McClellan, Ralph Putnam, Laura Ray, and Chris Clampitt (incoming Treasurer). Michael McClellan was re-elected secretary of the church. Election for president-elect was tabled. We also discussed our own compliance with Board Governance Process (Board self-evaluation) in the areas of Individual effectiveness, Board effectiveness, and Board mechanics. This may have been the first time a Board of Trustees from UU Lansing has ever conducted a formal self-evaluation. However, it is an important aspect of our shared governance policies to identify areas of board functioning that are working well and those that may need improvement. Areas we identified that need improvement include being better prepared for meetings, better understanding of policy governance for new board members; and spending more time on planning for the future. The board has mainly been focused on current issues as we have worked on governance practices.
As we reflect on 2023, we continued to build on the milestones in our multi-year project to modernize UU Lansing’s governance.
We conducted a baseline congregational survey on the Ends (an “understanding” survey).
We established written governance policies for Congregational committees.
We approved a complaint process for when disagreements and complaints with the Board’s governing policies occur: 1.10 of the UU Lansing Board Policy Document:
We posted a guide for how congregational members can attend a board meeting to be posted on the website.
We moved our Annual meeting of the Congregation to November (based on our newly approved By-Laws), where we presented 1) slates of candidates for all appropriate positions on the Board of Trustees, the Treasurer, and Congregational Committees and 2) the church’s annual financial plan for 2024.
We completed the first full year of monitoring assessments of Rev. Neal’s limitation policies (there are 8 Limitation policies in our shared-leadership governance). As part of these policies, we accepted Rev. Neal’s Operational Policies on Gift Acceptance; Living Our Values Team (which includes a process for feedback on congregational relationships and congregational operations); and an updated policy on membership removal.
We reviewed the cumulative summary of monitoring assessments which comprised Rev. Neal’s year-end performance appraisal.
We established a perpetual calendar for assessing policy compliance to help the board stay aligned with its governance system into the future.
We will have another Congregational meeting on Sunday, February 4, 2024, to vote on approval of the slate of General Assembly and Regional Assembly delegates and to present findings from the April 2023 congregational survey on how we, as a congregation and church, are meeting the Ends to achieve the goals that we set for ourselves in 2021.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics.
Tom Nicholas, President
president@uulansing.org
November 2023 Splinters
The Board held two meetings in November, one after the Senior Minister and Finance Team’s town hall where a draft of the 2024 financial plan and budget were discussed, and the second after the church’s annual meeting of November 19th. At the first meeting, the Board accepted a revised Financial Plan from the Finance Team. The Finance Team made revisions to this financial plan after hearing concerns from several congregants regarding the future of the church’s programs for youth during the town hall and previous Board meeting. We accepted a revised budget plan that included provision for a part-time Youth Faith Development manager. The Board continued to emphasize the need to increase income, specifically pledges. Using income from restricted funds was acknowledged as an unreliable long-term solution. This revised plan was ultimately approved by a vote of the congregation at our November annual meeting.
On other matters, we set the agenda for the annual meeting and began discussion on the results of the April 2023 congregational survey on how we, as a congregation and church, are meeting the Ends to achieve the goals that we set for ourselves in 2021.
At our November 29th Board meeting, we began the meeting in closed session to review Senior Minister’s year-end performance appraisal. This comprised a cumulative summary of monitoring assessments conducted through the year. We continued our discussion of the congregational survey and how to interpret the results in terms of how the congregation is meeting its Ends (outcome goals).
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
October 2023 Splinters
At our October meeting, several visitors attended, three of whom voiced their concerns about the Lifespan Faith Development program, emphasizing the importance of religious education in the church and the need for adequate funding and support. The Board heard these concerns and indicated that they would be discussed.
Following the visitor comments, several reports were discussed, including the compensation and benefits compliance monitoring report from Rev. Neal, the Board’s proposed policy on treatment of volunteers, and a draft of the 2024 financial plan from Rev. Neal and the Finance team. We approved the monitoring report and the policy on treatment of volunteers, and the Board Policy document will be updated accordingly.
A discussion ensued over the proposed financial plan, which faces a deficit of $16,773. The budget included increased payroll for staff, director hours, and building insurance. To balance the budget, income from restricted funds would be added, although this was acknowledged as an unreliable long-term solution. The need to increase income, specifically pledges, was emphasized. Additionally, funding for a lifespan faith development director was discussed, and the Board was reminded about its role in church governance, particularly regarding how the Lifespan Faith Development program is operationalized and funded. Board members voted 8 to 1 to recommend the financial plan to the congregation as presented, and also scheduled an additional meeting for November 15 at 6:30 p.m. to review any updates in the financial plan, set the annual meeting agenda, and discuss the congregational survey results from April 2023.
Lastly, the date and time for our next regular monthly meeting was decided as Wednesday, November 29 at 6:30 pm.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
August-September 2023 Splinters
The Board of Trustees took a meeting break during July to work in small groups to prepare for upcoming meetings. At our August meeting, we heard from Sonya Norris, who stepped up to lead the Stewardship Team. She outlined for us the plans for this fall’s pledge drive. We accepted the Senior Minister’s compliance plan for Treatment of Members, Friends, and Visitors. We also discussed the results of an internal survey of the Board and Senior Minister relationship.
At our September meeting, we accepted the Senior Minister’s Operational Policies on Gift Acceptance and Living Our Values Team (LOV), which includes a Process for Feedback on Congregational Relationships and Congregational Operations. An updated Safe Church Policy is forthcoming; however, the current one is here. We also accepted three compliance monitoring reports from Rev. Neal: an emergency Senior Minister succession plan, an asset protection plan, and communication and support of the Board. Monitoring the operational limitations of the Senor Minister that the Board has defined as unacceptable (such as unethical or imprudent behavior) is an important part of the Board’s responsibility. The Board evaluates progress, made by the Senior Minister, toward UU Lansing’s desired outcomes within the constraints of these operational limitations.
We were updated on possible candidates for elected positions for 2024 for the Board, the Leadership Development Committee, and the Investment Committee. The Board evaluated its own policy on Board-Senior Minister relationship and agreed that the Board’s assessment of each monitoring report forms the SM’s performance appraisal. The cumulative summary of these assessments conducted through the year form the year-end appraisal of the Senior Minister.
Lastly, we reviewed the Next Steps report of UUA consultant Mark Ewert’s presentation on stewardship and how the Board might help the Stewardship Team in moving forward.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. Our Next Board meeting is scheduled for October 25, 2023.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
June 2023 Splinters
The Board of Trustees invited the Investment Committee to our June meeting for a discussion of their needs for candidates to serve on the Investment Committee in the next term and listen to their ideas and concerns.
In other business, the Board approved two monitoring reports of the Senior Minister (there are eight total): Treatment of Staff and Treatment of Congregant Members, Friends, and Visitors. Monitoring the operational limitations of the Senor Minister that the Board has defined as unacceptable (such as unethical or imprudent behavior) is an important part of the Board’s responsibility. The Board evaluates progress, made by the Senior Minister, toward UU Lansing’s desired outcomes within the constraints of these operational limitations.
Additionally, as part of the Board’s accountability to communicate with the congregation, we approved a process for congregational members to attend Board meetings.
Lastly, we approved the date for the Annual Meeting of the UU Lansing congregation, which will be November 19, 2023.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. We will not meet in July. Our next Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 23 at 7:00 p.m.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
May 2023 Splinters
At our May Board meeting, the Board of Trustees invited the Leadership Development Committee to discuss our needs for board candidates to serve in the next term. We are looking for members who are willing to make decisions in the best interests of our congregation as a whole; who enjoy dealing with values, an outward vision, and our long-term future; and who wish to cultivate a sense of group responsibility. If you are interested in representing our congregation as a trustee, please contact us; we are happy to hear from you.
In other business, the Board has divided into two work groups: one to oversee the monitoring and evaluation of the Board’s governing processes and Senior Minister limitation policies and the other group to plan the Board’s linkages with our congregation. As part of the Board’s accountability to communicate with the congregation, we are drafting a description of how congregational members can respond to our open invitation to attend Board meetings. Look for this process to be posted on our website.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 28.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
April 2023 Splinters
During April, your Board of Trustees surveyed our congregation to discern how well we, as a congregation and church, believe that we are meeting the Ends to achieve our desired outcomes. Ends are our church’s destination, and these Ends statements, listed here, define what the Board is holding itself and the Senior Minister accountable for producing.
As congregants of all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs, we:
• Travel our life and spiritual journeys with integrity.
• Articulate our Unitarian Universalist faith identity, share it with succeeding generations, and live it courageously in the world.
• Practice gracious hospitality, reaching across all manner of differences.
• Connect in loving relationship and cultivate belonging and inclusion.
• Work for peace, justice, and sustainability, in partnership with the larger community.
We hope to share our analysis of the 92 responses later this summer.
Other actions by the Board included appointing Margo Smith to fill a vacancy on our Board, appointing John-Marc Ormechea to fill a vacancy on the Leadership Development Committee, and continuing with our review of Shared Governance accountability and policy limitations.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics.
Deb Feltz, President president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect president-elect@uulansing.org
March 2023 Splinters
In our progress on Board policies, we reached another milestone in finalizing and approving our complaint process. The Board put this process in place because we realize that there are times when disagreements and complaints with the Board’s governing policies occur. In those such cases, direct communication is encouraged among the people involved, in the spirit of our Congregational Covenant. If individual conversations can’t fully resolve the problem, a person can refer to the Board’s process in 1.10 of the UU Lansing Board Policy Document.
Other actions by the Board included appointing Ralph Putnam to fill a vacancy on our Board and approving a congregational survey to discern how well we, as a congregation and church, are meeting the Ends to achieve our desired outcomes. The first section of this survey asks how you think we are meeting each of the Ends. The second section has some questions about your connections with the church. You can expect this survey to reach your email or postal mailboxes sometime in early April.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. Our Next Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 26, 2023.
Deb Feltz, President president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect president-elect@uulansing.org
February 2023 Splinters
The Board has been in transition to a new governing calendar that will now synchronize with the church’s financial plan. As part of that transition, we held our first retreat on February 25th to plan our work for the year.
In addition to our retreat, we held our February Board meeting, where two congregants presented a letter they drafted to Governor Whitmer in which the Governor was asked to work with Michigan Department of Corrections Director, Heidi Washington, to end the use of segregation in our prisons and assure that rehabilitation is occurring for all individuals from the onset of their time in prison. The Board approved the letter and moved that the President and Senior Minister sign it. The signed letter was sent on February 27th.
Other actions taken by the Board included approval of Walt Wheeler to the Investment Committee and approval of a frequently asked questions document regarding how our shared leadership governance works.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. Our Next Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 22, 2023.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
January 2023 Splinters
Since our last report, we had the first Board meeting of 2023 and our Congregational Budget/Delegate approval meeting on January 29th. The congregational members approved the 2023 Financial Plan for the operating budget. The plan calls for the Church to support programs but reduce amounts; reduce, as we did last year, our contribution to UUA; avoid staff layoffs, but freeze staff salaries (despite inflation), and reduce the Church Administrator’s time; and use most of the remaining COVID relief funds. This will bring us to a balanced budget.
The membership also approved delegates to General and Regional Assembly. This year, both Assemblies will be held in the same location: Pittsburgh, PA. The following slates of delegates will represent UU Lansing:
General Assembly – Deb Feltz, Wendy Hamilton, Tammy Lemmer, Kathy Lovell, Karl Paananen, Barbara Stoddard, Gale Strasburg
Regional Assembly – Rocky Beckett, Deb Feltz, Judy Goth-Owens, Wendy Hamilton, Bob Lovell, Kathy Lovell, Gale Strasburg
Beginning this year, we will hold one Annual Meeting of the Congregation in November (based on our newly approved By-Laws), where we will present the church’s annual financial plan for 2024 and slates of candidates for all appropriate positions on the Board of Trustees and Congregational Committees instead of separating our financial plan and slates of candidates in different meetings.
In terms of Board work for 2023, we continue our review of Shared Governance accountability and policy limitations and begin our monitoring process of comparing performance data against a reasonable interpretation of Ends policies and Senior Minister limitations policies. We have begun work on developing a baseline congregational survey on the Ends (an “understanding” survey) and establishing written governance policies for Congregational committees.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. Our Next Board meeting is scheduled for February 22, 2023.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
December 2022 Splinters
As we reflect on 2022, please be aware that your Board of Trustees has reached significant milestones in our multi-year project to modernize UU Lansing’s governance.
We voted unanimously to adopt a comprehensive set of Board policies.
We approved an Administrative Governance chart showing the structure of our accountability to our Mission and Values.
We established a perpetual calendar for assessing policy compliance to help the board stay aligned with its governance system into the future.
Lastly, we presented revised By-Laws of The Unitarian-Universalist Church of Greater Lansing, which the membership approved with amendments.
These governing policies, structure, and By-Laws will help us govern more efficiently. They also will allow us to lean more heavily on the leadership, experience, and expertise of our talented staff; provide latitude and limits to encourage innovation; encourage a shared-leadership process that involves the congregation in creating a strategic plan; establish regular performance reviews for all of our programs; and establish a clear process to receive and address concerns.
We will have another Congregational meeting on Sunday, January 29, 2023, to vote on approval of the church’s financial plan and a slate of General Assembly and Regional Assembly delegates.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
November 2022 Splinters
Now that our new Bylaws have been approved by the congregation, to take effect January 1, 2023, your Board of Trustees has resumed its work on Shared Governance accountability and policy limitations. We continue our work with Rev. Neal on interpretations of Ends policies and policy limitation interpretations. We are on schedule to finish this process by the end of February 2023. We also hope to have a Shared Governance FAQs on our website by early next year.
We will have another Congregational Meeting on Sunday, January 29 to vote on approval of the church’s financial plan and a slate of General Assembly and Regional Assembly delegates.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. Our next Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 28.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
October 2022 Splinters
Our biggest news is that we have new By-laws! The By-laws of The Unitarian-Universalist Church of Greater Lansing were approved by its members with amendments on November 6, 2022 to take effect January 1, 2023.
The Board hosted two town halls in October (one on Zoom and one in person) to inform our members of the proposed changes to our By-laws, which had not been updated since 2015, and to answer any questions. We also provided a form using Breeze where congregants could provide feedback and ask questions. The questions, comments, and feedback we received were very helpful to the Board in making additional changes to our proposal before presenting them to the voting members of the Congregation for discussion and final vote.
The membership also approved that term limits for Congregational Committees will be refreshed starting January 1, 2023. This means that if a committee member is finishing their third, two-year term in 2023 (that is, they are term-limited), they may still run again for election to that committee for two more two-year terms if they are nominated by the Leadership Development Committee.
We are excited by the possibilities in these changes and look forward to moving ahead toward building and supporting Beloved Community.
If you have any questions regarding “Splinters from the Board” or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. Our next Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 22, 2022.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org
September 2022 Splinters
Splinters from the September 28, 2022 Board Meeting
During the months of September and October, your Board of Trustees continues its focus on Shared Governance in the areas of accountability, bylaws, finance, and policy limitations. Specifically, we have constructed and formally adopted an Administrative Governance Chart at our September meeting. This chart shows the structure of our accountability to our Mission and Values.
We discussed plans for our two town halls (October 5 and October 16) to provide information regarding our proposed revision of UU-Lansing’s bylaws and hear feedback. We will hold a Special Congregational Meeting in November, when the Bylaws revisions will be put to a vote. This meeting will be in person.
We discussed a financial report indicating that our recurring utilities will be over budget, driven mainly by increased electricity usage.
We continued to make progress on working with Rev. Neal on interpretations of Ends policies and policies limitation interpretations. We are on schedule to finish this process by the end of February 2023.
If you have any questions regarding Splinters from the Board or the work of your Board, please reach out to us. We look forward to future engagement on these and other topics. Our next Board meeting is scheduled for October 26, 2022.
Deb Feltz, President
president@uulansing.org
Tom Nicholas, President-Elect
president-elect@uulansing.org