Reminder: Vote on Board Slate This Sunday, 10 a.m.

Please join us at a community meeting this Sunday (June 28) at 10 a.m. to vote on the proposed board slate submitted by the Nominating Committee.

I know you can just scroll down to read the rest of this, but it's really important, so I'm going to reiterate some additional stuff here:
The slate includes:
2-year commitments
Moderator: Ross Prater
Trustee: James Fairchild

1-year commitments
Clerk: Kristin Schutz
Treasurer: John Means
Trustee: Cara Stoneham

After this initial period, all board positions will become 2-year positions.

On Sunday during the meeting, the community will not accept open board nominations from the floor. As the Nominating Committee accepted nominations from the community for an extended period before the presentation of the board slate, the voting process will only allow participants to put forward a “yay” or “nay” vote regarding the slate. The community tasked the Nominating Committee to put a slate forward for them to vote on, and it seems that accepting open nominations from the floor would run counter to that charge.

If you are unable to attend the meeting this Sunday to vote on this slate, you may vote electronically by emailing Jen at Jenmauldin(at)yahoo.com by 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 27. (That way we will have a final vote count at the meeting on Sunday morning.)

Nominating Committee Report

The nominating committee was unable to present a full slate of board nominees to the church during our 10 a.m. meeting yesterday, as we still had one open position to fill. However, a fruitful discussion during that meeting provided the committee with some more flexibility in extending board positions. (It was decided that the committee could extend three 1-year positions and two 2-year positions, and we spent an extensive amount of time discussing contingency plans and timelines if the committee was not able to come up with a slate by the end of the week.)

However, many of those discussions are somewhat moot at this point, but as a result of the added flexibility, the nominating committee has filled the last open position, and can now present a full board slate to the community. That slate includes:
2-year commitments
Moderator: Ross Prater
Trustee: James Fairchild

1-year commitments
Clerk: Kristin Schutz
Treasurer: John Means
Trustee: Cara Stoneham

After this initial period, all board positions will become 2-year positions.

The vote on the board slate will be held at the 10 a.m. meeting on Sunday, June 28, which will give the community approximately two weeks to think about, pray about and discuss the proposed slate. As the leader of the nominating committee, Jen Mauldin is available to hear any concerns about the slate or the process.

It was also clarified at yesterday’s meeting that during the vote on June 28, we will not accept open nominations from the floor. As the Nominating Committee accepted nominations from the community for an extended period before the presentation of the board slate, the voting process will only allow participants to put forward a “yay” or “nay” vote regarding the slate. The community tasked the Nominating Committee to put a slate forward for them to vote on, and it seems that accepting open nominations from the floor would run counter to that charge.

If you are unable to attend the meeting on June 28 at 10 a.m. to vote on this slate, you may vote electronically by emailing Jen at Jenmauldin(at)yahoo.com by 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 27. (That way we will have a final vote count at the meeting on Sunday morning.)

Community meeting this Sunday (6/14) at 10 a.m.

This Sunday at our 10 a.m. community meeting, the Nominating Committee will make a report to the church regarding the status of nominations to our board. This is an important discussion, so we hope to see you there!

By-laws passed; Nominating Committee accepted

On Sunday, the By-laws passed as written. It was unanimous with 12 votes.

Also, the Board Nominating Committee was accepted. There were 11 in favor and 1 abstention. There was some discussion about the abstention, which was related to Thad's comments here on the blog. The concern was over having the pastor on the Committee. Thad and Jerry both expressed concern that a pastor's voice has too much power and can overwhelm the other members of the Committee. As I mentioned in the blog comments, the Transition Team considered this, but decided that it was one voice among seven. It was a good conversation to have, though. By naming the issue, the Committee can be particularly aware of it going forward.

There was also some discussion about not letting this become a precedent going forward. One issue left open is how Board members will be nominated and voted on in the future. This should be added to the by-laws and the Board should take this issue into consideration in crafting those provisions.

The Transition Team is on hiatus while the Board Nominating Committee does its work. Any work that needs to be done from here will be done online or with ad hoc meetings if necessary. No regularly scheduled Transition Team meetings.

We also won't have a community meeting this Sunday. We will have one on June 14 to present the slate of Board nominees. We will vote on that slate on June 28.

Proposed Board Nominating Committee

This Sunday at 10am, we will vote on whether to accept the proposed Board Nominating Committee. The proposed members are:

Rebel Calhoun
Abby Lowe
Carl Stoneham
Tiana Lightfoot
Mikel Whipple
Jen Mauldin
Courtney Pinkerton

Sarah Jane's dad will also consult with the team as an outside voice.

The job of the Board Nominating Committee is to select a slate of board members to guide the church in cooperation with Courtney and the congregation. They will present the slate June14 and then the church will vote on that slate on June 28.

Final By-laws

Board

The Board represents the interests of the Church. It is the purpose of the Board to engage in broad stroke planning, ensuring a shared vision among the members. It is expected that the Board will consult with the Pastor and Members in planning the activity of the Church. The Board will make resources available to the Pastor for the purpose of acting on this shared vision. Board members will serve a 2-year terms and may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. The initial term of two Board members, to be determined by the Board Nominating Committee, will be 1-year terms to avoid replacing the entire Board every two years, which will provide some continuity. After this inaugural term, all Board members will serve standard 2-year terms.

In accordance with this purpose, the Board:

• May call meetings of Members.
• May appoint Teams to work on Church business.
• Must develop an annual strategic plan to be voted on by Members.
• Must develop an annual budget to be voted on by Members.
• Must develop staffing recommendations to be voted on by Members.
• Must report to Members on a regular basis.
• Must consult with the Pastor and Members in their work.
• Must meet monthly.
• Must host quarterly meetings with Members.
• Must provide an agenda and notice at least two weeks in advance of all meetings with Members.
• Must consist of an odd number of members.
• May act as legal representatives of the Church.
• May change, create or disband Committees.
• May appoint Committee Chairs.
• Must not miss more than TWO consecutive board meetings without presenting a sufficient reason for the absences

Board Positions

The Board will consist of a Moderator, a Treasurer, a Clerk and two Trustees.

Moderator

• May call meetings of the Board or Members.
• Must facilitate meetings. The Moderator may delegate this responsibility as needed.
• Must serve on at least one committee.
• Must contribute to the financial well-being of the church.
• Must be a goodwill ambassador to the community.

Treasurer

• Must provide financial reports to the Board and Members
• May execute payments on behalf of the Church.
• Must develop an annual budget.
• Must manage the assets of the Church.
• Must serve on at least one committee.
• Must contribute to the financial well-being of the church.
• Must be a goodwill ambassador to the community.

Clerk

• Must communicate with Members about Church business.
• Must coordinate reports from Pastor on Committee activity.
• Must take notes during meetings and distribute them to the Pastor and Board.
• Must serve on at least one committee.
• Must contribute to the financial well-being of the church.
• Must be a goodwill ambassador to the community.

Trustee

• Must serve on at least one committee.
• Must contribute to the financial well-being of the church.
• Must be a goodwill ambassador to the community.

Trustee

• Must serve on at least one committee.
• Must contribute to the financial well-being of the church.
• Must be a goodwill ambassador to the community.

Pastor

The Pastor will work closely with the Board in creating and guiding a shared vision for the Church that is approved by the members. S/he is primarily responsible for planning and leading worship and coordinating the work of Committees and Teams.

• Must plan and ensure worship.
• May appoint Teams.
• Must oversee Committees and Teams.
• Must report to the Board.
• Must consult on all board work except where conflict of interest dictates.

Committee Chairs

Committees are groups of Teams that are coordinated by a Chair. There are three standing Committees: Worship, Community and Finance. These may be changed, disbanded or added to by the Board. Committee Chairs are appointed by the Board.

Committee Chairs:

• May appoint Teams.
• Must report to Pastor.
• Must manage Team activity.

Teams

Teams do the work of the Church. They may be standing teams or convened temporarily for a specific purpose. They may be created by the Board, the Pastor, Committee Chairs or formed spontaneously by Members. Each Team will fall under the purview of a Committee. Note that the Pastor, Committee Chairs and Board members are also Members and may work on Teams without assuming a leadership role.

• May act to further the Church vision.
• Must not contravene Church plans.
• Must report to a Committee Chair.

Members

• May vote on all board work, except regarding Committees and Teams.
• May join or form teams.

Also see:

Board Commitment Form
Conflict of Interest Policy

Notes from Transition Team Meeting 5/18/09

Attending: Abby, Tiana, Courtney, Rob, Teri, Wes, Ed, Scott, Jerry, Jen

Sunday recap and prep for votes

Based on feedback from Sunday, we’re adding the length and limits of Board terms to the by-laws.

We also had a discussion about the Board Nominating Committee. Teri expressed a concern that three of the proposed members had not submitted commitment cards. We agreed to discuss this with them to either secure a commitment or get a reason why a card has not been submitted. There was a general acceptance that there may be valid reasons why people might not submit a card even though they are concerned for the future of the church.

Scott will send an e-mail pointing people to the blog for information to be voted on.

Financial team report

April was an expensive month: more than $11,000 went out. There were a few reasons for this; we still had PL and Neeki on payroll for a couple of weeks; we are still paying their benefits; we sent Courtney and PL to the Alliance of Baptists conference. Additionally, we had not received checks from the Methodists for their portion of Courtney’s salary. (We have it now and it will be deposited this week.) The result is that we are in the hole to CoH to the tune of about $8000. The $3500 from UMC will cover part of that, but we will have to also dip into the remaining CityChurch account, which currently has about $8800. It was decided that we will leave this account as a safety net until the Board is in a position to make a further determination.

Perhaps of greater concern is the spending since the beginning of this fiscal year. It seems that there were a lot of expenditures that were not budgeted. The finance team is going to audit all the transactions. There is a possibility that things were simply miscoded in the CoH system. For example, we were significantly over on child care costs, which should be a fixed cost. It is certain that there were not adequate controls in place, which will be one of the first tasks for the Board.

We also discussed a sunset on the commitment cards. We need to have them by March 31. Rob will write a paragraph for the weekly e-mail explaining what they are. Wes will talk about them on Sunday.

Role of CoH

Courtney met with Jo at CoH. There has been some discussion of their role and the nature of our relationship with them. They consider us a partner and will support us in any way they can. However, they will not be a financial supporter, except in smoothing out our cash flow. CoH handles our accounting for us, so we are set up as a department of CoH in their system. They pay our bills with money from our account. If that account is short, they still pay the bills, but we are ultimately responsible for that amount. This is why we owe them the money mentioned earlier.

Music

A couple of weeks ago, Courtney asked if we could pay someone on the music team to coordinate the music each week. While it was a nominal amount, the transition team felt that it was not possible within our current budget and income. This week, Courtney reported Paul has agreed to assume this role on a volunteer basis. (Thanks, Paul!) We all agree that we would like to grow into having paid music staff.

Next two weeks

There will not be a community meeting before church this week. The Transition Team will also not meet on Monday. The following Sunday, March 31, there will be votes on whether to accept the by-laws and the Board Nominating Committee.

Action items:

Rob and Scott will speak to Board Nominating Committee about commitment cards.
Scott will send e-mails about by-laws and Board Nominating Committee.
Scott will update by-laws with information about Board terms and post to blog.
Rob will write a paragraph on commitment cards for weekly e-mail.