Category / From the Board

by adminuucm

From the Board: June 2023

Each month, a member of the board will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme. The theme for June is Delight. This month’s post is offered by Becky Halat. 

Have you heard the rumor? I’ve heard whisperings that Minnesota had a spring, despite the evidence. It feels like two weeks ago there was snow on the ground, and now it’s 90 degrees and humid.

Every spring and summer I watch in delight as green shoots emerge all around me, followed by colorful flowers. My delight doesn’t stop there—there’s also the prospect of the fresh produce I’ll be eating later in the summer as my (and my husband’s) efforts at tilling the garden pay dividends. Grocery store tomatoes? No match for the garden-fresh ones.

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by adminuucm

Save the Date: Annual Meeting—May 21, 2023

The Annual Meeting of the UUCM Members, as outlined in the UUCM By-Laws, will be held on Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 11:30am.  The meeting will be held both in-person at the church, and online via Zoom.  All members are encouraged to participate, as a quorum is needed to conduct business.  Friends of UUCM are also welcome to attend.   If you are planning to join by Zoom, you must pre-register at this link to join the meeting.

The full agenda is available, and we have summarized the key decisions and business items below. This page will be updated over the next few weeks as new details become available. If you have questions, please contact boardpresident@uucmtka.org.

Operating Budget for 2023-2024

The board is proposing an operating budget of $445,000 for fiscal year 2023-2024. This new budget amount represents a less than 5% increase from last year. Increased expenses come from high costs in some areas–for example, maintenance costs have increased as our building gets older. Personnel expenses account for the bulk of our budget and increases in that area account for a shift in UUA guidelines for staff compensation, and our progress towards making sure our staff continues to be paid fairly. You can see the specifics of the budget here.

Elections for Board and Nominating Committee

Per the By-Laws, Board officers (President and VP) are elected for one year terms, while Board trustees are elected for 3 years terms. Three of the Nominating Committee members are elected by the congregation for one year terms.  This year’s Nominating Committee has proposed the following slate of candidates for terms starting in July 2022. You can read all about the candidates here.

Board of Trustees

  • President (1 year): Janna Sundby
  • Vice President (1 year): Shelley Buss
  • Board Trustee (3 years): Emily Rosengren and Guy Johnson

(Note: Brian Zais, Jeff Adrian, and Fred Hulting will continue as Board Directors).

Nominating Committee

  • Members (1 year): MaryAnn Wiborg, Kathy Stuebner, and Fay LaVigne

Approval of a Resolution and Public Statement

The congregation will vote on to allow a land acknowledgment on the church website.

You can read this document to get more background on the resolution.  

UUCM Updates and Reports

We will publish reports from the Board, Council, and Minister that summarize the activities of the past year [posted by May 20].  At the meeting we will verbally share some brief comments and highlights from the reports.

Minutes from Previous Meetings

We will approve the minutes from last year’s Annual Meeting, found here.

by adminuucm

From the Board: May 2023

Each month, a member of the board will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme. The theme for May is Creativity. This month’s post is offered by Brian Zais. 

If you poll a group of kindergartners, asking them to raise their hand if they think they’re creative, almost all the hands will go up, probably quickly and emphatically.  Ask the same question of a group of adults and you’d be lucky to get 20%.  We seem to “manage out” creativity somewhere in puberty, or at least the self-identification of it.

But everyone is creative, at least in their own way.  Society just doesn’t always recognize or tend to reward one expression of it.

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by adminuucm

From the Board: April 2023

Each month, a member of the board will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme. The theme for March is Resistance. This month’s post is offered by Janna Sperry Sundby. 

As we move from “vulnerability” to “resistance” in our Soul Matters theme for the month of April, I wondered if those two ideas would sit side by side on a shelf, like bookends, and what might be held up between them.

Recently, I’d been sick for a few weeks and was not able to diagnose myself, and I was very resistant to go to my doctor. The resistance was in part because I had done a planned video meeting with her the day I returned from vacation. We were checking on some meds, a new one I started and one I was taking less of, and I said I wasn’t feeling too great but wasn’t sure why.  She said I was likely experiencing “vacation depression,” which is a real thing—Google it. Continue reading →

by adminuucm

From the Board: March 2023

Each month, a member of the board will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme. The theme for March is Vulnerability . This month’s post is offered by Betty Hartnett. 

“Vulnerability isn’t good or bad; it’s not what we call a dark emotion, nor is it always a light, positive experience. Vulnerability is the core of all emotions and feelings. To feel is to be vulnerable. To believe vulnerability is weakness is to believe that feeling is weakness. To foreclose on our emotional life out of a fear that the costs will be too high is to walk away from the very thing that gives purpose and meaning to living”  (quote from Brene Brown).
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