Board Minutes
October 27, 2005
Members present: Margaret Knudsen, Shelley Ferer, Art Vaeni, Mary Walton Cameron, Peter Teets, Tim Ransom, Melissa Denton, Samantha Ritchie, Bernie Brady
Guest: Pam Davidson
Members absent: Mike Harbour
Decision Item Regarding Share The Plate
- Bread and Roses was proposed by the Social Justice Committee to be the recipient of half the Share The Plate contributions for the next month. The Board agreed with this proposal.
Update on the B & G Annex
- Tim told us that the furnace is currently nonfunctional. One room in the building is currently being heated by space heaters. A professional will evaluate the furnace this week, and more information should be forthcoming.
- Ray and Gypsy are working on the B&G, removing trash, etc.
- Mary Walton and Tim met with the OTW board members. Further meetings are planned. Goals include defining the relationship more clearly between the two organizations.
Proposal for a Part-Time Bookkeeper
Peter, representing the Finance Committee, presented a job description for the new position of a bookkeeper. The job will average 10 hours/week at $15/ hour. This person will be a contract employee of OUUC.
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The Finance Committee feels that this person should be hired as quickly as possible. Several avenues will be used to find the right person, including announcing the job to the church congregation, calling other churches, and looking in the phone book for bookkeepers.
- The Board accepted the proposal that we will hire a bookkeeper at least through the end of this year. Funding for this position will come from savings incurred as a result of our recent mortgage refinance and the reduction in building payments
2006 Proposed Budget Discussion
- The 2005 canvass has been quite successful. It has garnered more money than any canvass we have ever had before, and as we examine the proposed 2006 budget, we are in better financial shape than in past years. However, the canvass is approximately $19,000 less than our 2006 proposed budget. We will need to trim the budget, raise the extra money, or do a combination of the two.
- Our goal was to get the congregational vote on the 2006 budget before the end of the year. It’s not clear if this will be possible, but we can still aim for that.
- If we need to trim $19,000 from the budget, this will come from discretionary costs associated with different committees (such as Social Justice, Choir Fund, Adult RE, etc.) as opposed to staff compensation and hours. The committees will, on average, need to cut their budgets by 22.5%.
- The Finance Committee will contact the individual committees and ask them to start working on ways to decrease their budgets. Specifically, the committees will be asked to look at the increase in their budgets from last year, and cut that increase by 20-50%.
- At the same time, the board will go back to the congregation and see if we can raise more money. If the average pledge was raised by 7%, we would have enough for our proposed 2006 budget, and no program cuts would be necessary.
- Tim will write a letter to the congregation, describing the situation, and ask people to consider digging a little deeper into their pockets to support the programs that they cherish.
Next meeting scheduled for November 17 th and 7 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
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Samantha Ritchie, Co-Secretary
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Tim Ransom, Board President
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