06-09-2024 Congregational Meeting
2023 Annual Congregational Meeting Agenda
Read Mission Bunny Hodas
Read mission @ 12:10pm
Zoom Labeling Kim St. Clair
Instructions provided to Zoom participants
Quorum check/Call to Order Bunny Hodas
Over 50 members present in person and approximately 15 on Zoom
Meeting called to order @ 12:14pm
Review Agenda Bunny Hodas
Reviewed
Tech Process Kim St. Clair
Reviewed
Discussion Guidelines Bunny Hodas
Reviewed
Opening Words/Chalice Lighting Rev. Christine
The opening words are from Li Kynvi, a Student Minister in New England, with their permission, entitled “Chalice Lighting for Businessy Meetings”
Amidst the paperwork and preparation
Amidst the emails and emotions
Amidst the getting it done and the pressure of time
Can we find a little space for lifting our heads in wonder
that we’re still here
still striving
still trying
together
Can we find— eyes wide open to all the complexity—
space for falling a little bit in love with this faith
again
— with its tenacity
its capacity
even its audacity
space to hold what we still believe is possible
without hiding it behind disclaimers
that attempt to shield our hope from cynical critique
Can we enter this workspace
with a felt sense of our deepest values
and the ways we can liberate them to humanize
the processes and forms
of our decisions and actions,
our structures and governance?
We light our chalice in hope that we center love and relationship,
creativity and community as we meet In hope that we can invite into our own hearts
and into this space between us
so much obvious respect and spacious grace that
—no matter what happens here—
we emerge connected.
Introduce Board of Trustees Bunny Hodas
Board introduced
*Approve 2023 Annual Meeting Minutes Bunny Hodas
Moved to approve as presented
No discussion
Motion: Move to approve June 11, 2023 Annual Meeting Minutes
Approved.
Board report Bunny Hodas
Bunny provided the Board report. See Addendum below.
State of the Congregation Rev. Christine
Rev. Christine provided her State of the Congregation report. See Addendum below.
Framework Project Report Susan Goldsmith and
Capacity Building Team
Bunny introduced the Framework Project and Susan and the Capacity Building Team presented the report. See Addendum below.
Financial /Budget Review 2023-2024 Carol Ackerson
Carol provided the financial report. See Addendum below.
*Vote on Budget Bunny Hodas
Carol: On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I move that you approve the 2024/25 breakeven budget as presented.
Discussion:
- Smoot Carl-Mitchell: Proposed Foundation – our pledge was $48K this year and anticipate it will be similar next year. Are you requesting additional support?
- Carol: It’s Foundation and other items. We receive gifts that come in that are not pledges. The line item for the Foundation
- Smoot Carl-Mitchell: We’re low on the total on $595,000. Are we expecting to get the remainder in June?
- Carol: Normally, we get several folks who pay their pledges in June. We have other revenue
- Smoot Carl-Mitchell: Is the congregation absorbing the deficit?
- Carol: We anticipate that will be made up by operations but can’t guarantee it. We’ll be very close.
- Jessica Pineda: Want to be cautious. Our staff is working hard. What percentage of our staff use health care benefits and are there staff members who are being missed by that?
- Carol: Our full-time staff are all on the insurance plan. We do have part-time or hourly staff who are not on our health insurance and therefore not getting a cost of living increase. Wish we could present a budget with all of those elements we would want to have. We’ve had to make difficult decisions this year. We’re in better financial shape but not where we want to be. Those of us who prepare the budget try to be as realistic as possible (rather than aspirational). Hoping that we will be in a position in the future that will include that.
- Jessica Pineda: Is there a process by which, if the budget were not approved today, that we could relook at that?
- Carol: Sometimes people give earmarked gifts, which we honor. We encourage people to support the general operation of the budget, so we do seek a balance. We do a recast in January. If there are additional dollars in January, we’ll look to make adjustments. The recast doesn’t come back to the Congregation unless the bottom line is worse. We’ve heard the Congregation’s ongoing concern and it’s in our hearts too.
- Chris Fallon: Thank you, Carol. I work closely with the staff and wondered if there is a plan for a cost of living adjustment, if not in this fiscal year, then next year or during the recast?
- Carol: We’ve tried every year. Last year we had a cost of living increase. It’s one of the first things we look at. I can’t guarantee where we’ll be, but I do think that we need to think about and the reason the stewardship committee came up so clearly in the Framework Project is that we need to think about stewardship year round. The decisions that each of us make are what allow us to make the decision to support staff. By being transparent and continuing to work on stewardship year round, we hope to be in the position to support staff.
- Katie Resendiz: Important to name names of the staff. Katie, Rev. Christine, Benjie, Stefanie, Manuel receive health insurance. The only two who are eligible who don’t receive it are Nick and Rose. The other staff – Jezz and Kids Kamp staff. There are a number of people who won’t see an increase this year.
- Bunny: The staff is always our top priority of the board and we understand it’s the Congregation’s top priority. When we recast, that’s always at the top of the list. This year, with needing to have a zero dollar budget. This is the direct impact of your money and where it’s going.
- Cathy Kim: One way we can show our appreciation for our staff. One way we can show it is by our giving.
- Rev. Christine: 3% cost of living increase is not enough to reflect what we’re seeing. At the beginning of the pandemic, we looked at the midpoint guidance from the UUA on each staff’s salaries. We took a big budget increase to get to those midpoints. The midpoints have shifted and we’d like to look at that this year, looking at the cost of living and the midpoint guidelines from the UUA, where are we short and by how much. We could give 3% but it’s more important to look at it holistically and equitably. The discussion of could we cut something else to o this – this budget is so tight – what we could cut is staff hours. Do we cut staff hours to give cost of living? That affects the people who are most affected by this – our part time folks. It’s a lot of complicated questions and answers.
- Liz Merchant: This is very troubling to me. I’ve never worked in a job where a large section of the staff didn’t get any raise at all – cost of living and merit. It doesn’t conform to my values.
- Pete Creelman: Amount set aside in the budget for marketing. What was that amount? How is that money being used? Part of the problem is we need to grow the membership and that has to do with marketing.
- Carol: The amount on marketing is $225. Outreach and marketing together come the $2,418 amount, which includes our allocation to UUJAZ. We make decisions about where to put our resources and this year, we put it into paying the health care cost increases.
- Laurel Hardin: Addressing previous comment. As a school teacher, we had years without raises and an increase in health insurance we had to bear. You do what you have to do given your circumstances.
- Gary Ezzell: We have members each week and it’s up to us as a congregation to make them feel welcome and it’s up to us as the congregation to provide the money required.
- Jon Palumbo: Led the stewardship campaign. I am in awe of how much money people have given. I’m upset about this budget as much as everyone else. If we want to fix it, get more money. So I’m doing that. I’m raising my pledge each month to put my wallet where my mouth is.
- Carrie Lifshitz: I also want to name that not everyone can afford to give more money. People also give time which is just as valuable.
- Kim St. Clair: Year round stewardship team goal – a lot of folks should consider being part of that team so we can reach our goals, pay our staff well, and maintain everything else.
Vote: Approve the 2024/25 breakeven budget as presented.
- Motion approved.
- 3 opposed
- No abstentions
Close The Gap Campaign Bunny Hodas
Jon Palumbo and Bunny introduced the Close the Gap Campaign. See Addendum below.
223 pledges from individuals and families. Close to the entire congregation. 8 people who have not pledged out of the entire congregation. Total pledge is $560,355.20. About $50K short of our budget.
Affiliation of Rev. Sky Williams-Tao Rev. Christine/Bunny Hodas
Rev. Christine described the role of an Affiliated Minister and the Congregation. Rev. Christine introduced Rev. Sky Williams-Tao and recommended that we formally approve the motion.
Motion by the Board: To have the Rev. Sky Williams-Tao be an Affiliate Minister with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix.
Discussion:
- Laurel Hardin: Does Rev. Sky living near us?
- They live in Tempe.
Vote: Unanimously approved.
Building Improvements Bunny Hodas
Bunny provided an overview of desired building improvements. See addendum below.
Discussion:
- Laurel Hardin: Is there a positive balance in that fund now?
- Bunny: We’ve raised approximately $6K so far
- Nick Pineda: The reduction of children’s toilets – is it down to one or zero with the removal of the preschool?
- We’re leaving the one in Room 12. We’ll look at whether there’s another place. We’ll also be adding a couple handicapped height toilets in both of the main bathrooms.
- Nick Pineda: Looking at the accessibility of our resources for parents – e.g., changing tables. Not entirely useable.
- Bunny: We’ll look for input on those types of things. Looking primarily at walls right now.
*Elections Leslie Stallcop
- UUCP Board of Trustees
Leslie introduced the slate of candidates.
Nominating Committee moved to approve the slate of candidates
Vote: Unanimously approved
- Nominating Committee
Leslie introduced the slate of candidates.
Nominating Committee moved to approve the slate of candidates
Vote: Unanimously approved
Installation of Leaders Rev. Christine
Leaders installed
Adjourn UUCP meeting Bunny Hodas
Meet adjourned at 2:11pm
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Addendum
Board Of Trustees Report 2023 – 2024 Bunny Hodas
I’m Bunny Hodas. My pronouns are she/her. I’m honored to be serving as the President of the Board of Trustees.
Accomplishments and Challenges in Past Year:
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● Excellent involvement and participation by all members of the Board in deep discussions about our topics of need. This Board has been a pleasure to work with and their thoughtful participation is exciting in considering the future of UUCP.
- It’s been another very busy year.
Thank you to all who support us in our work of the Congregation. We hope more of you will consider the Board as a future leadership act of service. It’s an honor to serve.
State of the Congregation Rev. Christine
I am concluding my fifth year as your minister. I have been so blessed to accompany you through these eventful and meaningful years.
This year, we were hoping for some calm after the years of dealing with and emerging from a global pandemic. Both in the world and in our congregation, that is not what we got. And yet, we strengthened our bonds of community, solidified who we were and shared in a lot of meaningful moments. Through it all, I am proud to say that our congregation is healthy and vibrant.
- The congregation is vibrant and healthy.
- Benjie was gone for half of this year. We were covered well by our sabbatical staff and our sabbatical music volunteers. We have missed him, but I get the sense that the congregation is very proud that they’ve been able to offer this. It has been a difficult year to be short-staffed, but we have learned a lot and hope to do a full debrief with Benjie of what we’ve learned.
- We had a difficult situation with a critical incident between an adult and youth in our congregation. I am very proud of our Board and how many people engaged in the response to that situation. It was difficult for all the people who were directly involved, but also the people for whom it brought up trauma from their past. I am so grateful to our Affiliate minister and past intern minister for their help.
- We had a second very rough year with the EEC preschool. They had their second year with new Executive Directors and a new direction of their board. It became very clear that their values and ours were not the same anymore. It was a mutual decision that we not continue with the lease renewal.
- Because of the preschool leaving, DVLC taking on more space and working with new renters, we are doing a lot of shifting right now. So much of that work has fallen on Katie and Stephanie, with the help of Bunny Hodas. They have handled it with teamwork and a commitment to the well-being of the congregation.
- We all grew with Rev. Brigitta Vieyra. I think overall, folks saw it as a very positive experience, up to and including her ordination. In particular, her work with our Safe Congregation team and helping us how to flock together to keep each other safe was transformative and is becoming a role model for other UU congregations. Sadly, we weren’t able to get an intern for this year, but we are hopeful that we will get one next year.
- I have loved deepening my own UU faith by exploring the new UU values in our sermon series. I hope you have enjoyed it as well. I’m going to be sending out a poll soon with a bunch of ideas of what to do for next year.
- Personally, I’m thrilled with the Framework work and how grass-roots it was and how it helps us know how to move forward.
- Next year, we will also be preparing for my sabbatical, which I will be taking starting next March or April.
- I will say that coming out of the pandemic, it has revealed some intergenerational differences—that might have been there beforehand but are exacerbated by a number of issues right now. We still have a bit of work to do on that front. A deep oversimplification is that where there are folks “taking sides,” both are feeling not seen and not understood. I think there are opportunities to do better around this.
- Next year, we are heading into a very high anxiety time, especially here in Arizona. We have a very concerning election, a statewide abortion ballot initiative and now a concerning immigration ballot from the AZ legislature. We all need to take a deep breath and hold hands and get through this together. Arizona–and especially Maricopa county–are going to be at the center again.
I cannot put into words how proud I am to be the Minister of such a dynamic, caring, prophetic, and vibrant congregation. It is an honor of my lifetime to walk with you through this ministry. Thank you for your support, trust, and care.
Framework Project Results Susan Goldsmith & Capacity Building Team
Bunny’s introduction:
- I’m really pleased this morning to let you know that, thanks to the Framework Project, we – the congregation, our teams and committees, our staff, our Board – we are all better prepared to allocate resources to mission based priorities and to assess how we are doing in living into our mission.
- A year ago at this time, the Board of Trustees had and heard a lot of questions about who we are as a congregation post Covid. We spent time talking about how we get everyone in this shared ministry on the same page and how we can ensure we are living into our mission. So in June we established the Framework Project to help us answer these questions. We gave the assignment of creating a framework for decision making to our Capacity Building team. They are here today to tell you about the final report they made to the Board a couple of weeks ago.
- Carol Ackerson and Susan Goldsmith have co-ordinated the project. They have blown us away in their ability to create and run this project in the timeframe allocated! They have had a terrific group of people helping along the way.
- And now, would anyone who participated in the fall deep dive discussion or in the spring working groups, please stand as well. We know many of you online also participated and feel free to wave at us or acknowledge yourself in chat.
- The Board thanks everyone who participated in this discussion and report preparation. Because of your participation, UUCP is well positioned to make good decisions about resource allocation and to understand more concretely whether we are living into our mission. We hope you will read the report – it’s on-line or you can request a copy at framework@phoenixuu.org or from Susan or Carol.
- I’m going to turn it over to members of the Capacity Building Team to tell you more.
Susan Goldsmith & Capacity Building Team:
I want to add my thanks to everyone who participated in this
project. Many of them have already escaped the heat and aren’t
here today. Carol was a wonderful co-leader of the project and we did have so many people participating in so many ways.
The Board received this report enthusiastically – and looks
forward to working with Capacity Building to develop the nitty-
gritty steps needed to actually make good on priorities developed
over the course of the year.
Some of you are new to this project so I want to briefly review
how we went about this work.
The first step in the process was to find out from all of you how
you see UUCP today and in the future. We needed to put some
meat on the bones of the mission. What does the mission mean
to you, to all of us as a spiritual community for our time?
We aspire to be a spiritual community for our time, theologically
diverse, radically inclusive and justice centered.
These are fine words, great aspirations pointing to a promising
future. But if you were allocating resources based on this you
would want to know more about what those words mean to
members and friends of UUCP. So we launched a listening phase
of the framework project – a time to hear from you all about your
understanding of our mission. We reported on those findings to
the Congregational meeting in January.
You all, we all, have a lot of dreams for our community – many
more than can be accomplished in one year. As we grow our
membership, as we begin to implement priorities, as we assess
our strengths and weaknesses, the Framework Project will
continue in years ahead to listen to our dreams and provide a
framework for helping us achieve them.
In February and March, the Capacity Building Team worked to
develop four central themes that emerged out of all the reports
from the fall discussions. These four themes – you’ll see them in a
minute – are the heart of what will guide decision making in the
coming year – we hope in several coming years!
In April and May, seven working groups made up of UUCP
leaders developed priorities for action in both programmatic and
operational areas of congregational.
All of the information we gathered is in the full report that you will
find online – or we can send you by email. There is a five page
summary and there are four appendices – one lays out what is
working – and there is a LOT that is working! You will be
impressed. Another appendix lays out the recommended
priorities arranged according to themes. And two appendices lay
out priorities and recommended measurements related to the
priorities. Each theme ended up with 10 – 20 priorities – all we can
do today is give you a taste. Four members of the Capacity
Building Team will outline some of the priorities for the coming
year. Reverend Christine is leading off so that I have a chance to
say something about her participation – she was an active
participant, a member of the team; her knowledge and caring and
input were invaluable AND she was careful to be a team member,
not a dominant player – such a UU minister – special thanks for
That!
Rev. Christine: ENSURE THAT ALL FEATURES OF UUCP EMBODY DIVERSITY AND RADICAL INCLUSION
The first theme that emerged from our mission discussions was
“Ensure that all features of UUCP embody diversity and radical
inclusion” – including intergenerational, theological,
socioeconomic, racial, cultural, gender, sexual orientation, ability.
The working groups highlighted things such as considering a
focus on and sermon series on spiritual practices; uplifting elder
justice among us; developing regular surveys of the congregation;
developing adult faith development based in this theme;
augmenting our communication systems and recruiting new
members for teams critical to the functioning of the congregation.
Kim St. Clair: ENSURE THAT ALL OUR WORK AT UUCP CREATES A CULTURE OF COMMUNITY BUILDING
The second theme begins with the words on the slide – ensure
that all our work at UUCP creates a culture of community. The
rest of that sentence is “in which we all work to ensure members
and stakeholders feel welcome and included in this beloved
community.” Actions proposed include improving our database to
track skills and interests among us; promote increased awareness
of congregation programs; improve our leadership pipeline with
attention to bringing more folks younger than 60 into leadership;
do year round communication about the importance of pledging at
any level.
Chris Seashore: ENSURE THAT UUCP PROVIDES SKILLS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
The actual sentence says skills and opportunities to experience
and practice personal and spiritual development for all ages.
Several of the actions you’ve already heard, show up under this
Central Theme as well. In addition, the working groups
suggested exploring new directions/initiatives for connecting to
the broader community; creating a short and a long term plan for
facilities design and management; try a paper handout for those
who want one that highlights the week’s activities and refers
people to Compass for more information; reach consensus on the
balance of safety and security measures with our welcoming
spirit.
Carol Ackerson: DEVELOP WAYS FOR THE CONGREGATION TO REIMAGINE WHAT ‘JUSTICE CENTERED’ MEANS AND HOW WE LIVE INTO THIS ASPIRATION.
This theme acknowledges that we are somewhat uncertain about
how we define and live into our social justice aspirations. The
working group called out developing new directions for connecting
to the broader community; offering external community volunteer
opportunities to the congregation via the website; increasing
awareness among congregants of the many opportunities that
exist for engaging in social justice work.
Susan Goldsmith:
As I said a few minutes ago, this is just a taste of what we’ve said
we hope for.
Two key priorities stood out for the Capacity Building team.
YEAR-ROUND STEWARDSHIP AND MORE VOLUNTEERS!
First is to create a year-round stewardship
program, led by a committee of the Board. In other words, we
need to ensure that we have adequate financial resources to
reach our dreams – and we can’t do that well in one month a year.
DEVELOP A SEARCH PROCESS
led by the Participation Team, to recruit YOU and YOU and YOU to
committees critical to the life of the congregation. In other words
– we need more volunteers to make this community what we want
it to be.
Some priorities are already being put into action – others will
come along in the fall. There is room for everyone who finds
something interesting, for everyone who wants to build our
dreams, for everyone who really believes in a spiritual community
for our time…. So join us – expand the crowd in the “room where
it happens!”
BE IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS!
framework@phoenixuu.org. Let us know you are interested at
framework.phoenixuu.org – or tell us in person.
Thanks for listening, for being part of this beloved community –we
welcome questions and comments.
Treasurer’s Budget/Finance Report Carol Ackerson
Good Afternoon
My name is Carol Ackerson. My pronouns are she and her, and I have the honor of serving as your Treasurer. This is the third year that I have presented the Treasurer’s Report at the UUCP Annual Meeting. As part of this report, I will be sharing our May 31 Financial Report and our 2024/25 Budget for your approval.
Before we get into the numbers, I want to share that this year’s report reflects a more resilient financial position than my last two reports. As with many congregations and nonprofits our world was turned upside down because of the Covid Lockdown. The level of uncertainty about who we would be and what our financial needs were as we ventured out of the shutdown was significant. Unfortunately, many congregations and nonprofits are struggling, and more than we care to acknowledge are not going to make it.
We have turned the corner. We know what it takes to maintain our basic operation, but more importantly, we know that we have the commitment of our ongoing members and new members, who have been more than willing to support UUCP through these times.
We are not yet where we want to be to expand our efforts into living our mission, but we have a solid foundation that allows us to begin to plan for a better future.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to thank each of you for your commitment of talents and treasures, which has brought us to this point.
Now for the numbers: Our fiscal year is from July 1st to June 30th, and this first chart provides how we are doing in the Fiscal Year that will end on June 30th. This chart shows where we were at the end of May in the first column compared to the budget in the second column. Based on this report, it appears that we may not need additional help from the Foundation to end the year without a deficit. Once we close the books for the fiscal year on June 30, I will provide a brief update in Compass, but we are optimistic that it will be good news.
This next slide presents a summary of the 2024/25 budget for your approval. The detailed budget was in Compass, and we conducted three budget discussions during the last ten days.
I would like to take a couple of minutes to share with you how the budget was developed. This process varies at different congregations. At UUCP, it is a shared leadership process that includes staff, the Finance Committee, and the Board of Trustees.
The process begins with the Recast of the current budget in January to make sure we are on track. The Recast of the 2023/24 Budget is in the second column of this slide. The Finance Committee then establishes broad parameters for the process. For this year’s budget, which is in the first column of the slide, the Finance Committee set the Stewardship Goal of $610,000, a 2.5% increase over this year’s budget. The Finance Committee also indicated how important it is to have a break-even budget this year. We will be renegotiating our Commercial loan balloon payment, and a balanced budget will be important to that process. As our business administrator, Stephanie holds the monthly accounting process with Numbers Matters, our Accounting Service. She has an excellent understanding of our operations and was able to provide a very reasonable first draft for us to work with.
The budget being presented for next year shows a minor increase in expenses of approximately $11,000 over this year’s budget.
The major increase in the budget that we are presenting is a significant annualized increase of 12% in our healthcare costs. UUCP decided to absorb this cost and not forward any of the increase to staff. To absorb these costs and maintain a breakeven budget, the budget we are presenting does not include a cost-of-living increase for staff.
Other adjustments to the budget are minor and although we believe it is a workable budget given our current situation, it is incredibly tight, with very little room for potential emergencies or unanticipated expenses.
As in previous years, the staff, Finance Committee, and Board of Trustees will monitor the congregation’s financial position and will adjust and recast the budget in January as operations become more certain.
Therefore, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, I move
that you approve the 2024/25 breakeven budget as presented
Close The Gap Campaign Jon Palumbo & Bunny Hodas
Thank you for your commitment and participation in the democratic process at UUCP. Our Stewardship theme this year has been growing our UUCP garden. As in many community gardens, there is a large variety among us. We’ve been planting seeds and now is the time for some serious tending to our garden. At a break even budget, we don’t have any excess to trim to be able to get through the upcoming program year. Let’s congratulate ourselves on raising $560,000 in pledges for the upcoming year. Unfortunately, our budget is $610,000, so we are falling $50,000 short. So we’re going to ask you to consider an additional pledge for the upcoming year. If we all pull together, we can make this happen. It not only gives us security in entering this year, it looks great to the bank to see our commitment to our community. We hope that we are a vital part of your family and your lives and that you will support us and our shared values as such.
Here is what your Board is asking of you; We Believe That Together we can achieve this:
Think about pledging:
$25/month = $6.25/week = .89/day
$25/month x 12 months = $300/year
200 pledging units x $300 per year ($25/month) = $60,000
This would make up our shortfall before we even begin the new fiscal year.
So- In the next Two (2) weeks
Send an email to:
In that email, state your name and what you would like to add to your current pledge. We will do all the tech work within the system. If you have auto payments through your bank – you will need to adjust those, after you have notified us through email.
If you have not yet made a pledge for this year, please send us an email and we will get your information into the system.
We know that not everyone can make this commitment. For those who are doing all they can – we understand and thank you for who you are and how you are.
For those who can do more to help out, please consider that.
This ask is for everyone listening to this message, whether you are sitting in the sanctuary, watching this live on Zoom, or watching this later on YouTube. Whether you are a member, a friend, or find some comfort in just watching, please give.
We at UUCP need you. All of Us need All of Us to survive and to thrive and to grow.
If you share our values – please give as generously as you are able.
We will be sending updates and reporting our results in 2 weeks time.
Thank you so much and Together we can make this happen!!
Building Improvements Bunny Hodas
I’d like to start by highlighting the property improvements and maintenance items that have occurred this year. The lower parking lot was finished with striping and the islands getting plants and lighting completed. By the end of this week, the roofs on all of our buildings, including the Annexes and Sanctuary will have had repairs and new coating completed with either 5 or 10 year warranties depending on the roof. On to newer items:
Once we knew that the pre-school, EEC, was leaving, it was immediately evident that the income from those spaces had to be replaced. We are so fortunate that in negotiating extra space desired by our ongoing school tenant, DVLC, and getting a new tenant for rooms 12 & 15, that our goal has been realized. We were fortunate to have DVLC’s assistance in recommending possible tenants, and that we were able to find ones that could fit into our space and time requirements. The new tenants are special ed teachers that tutor kids with learning disabilities. Their space needs, building wear and tear, and carbon footprint will all be considerably less than another pre-school would have been. Some of the best news is that they wanted to start for this school year, so we will have little to no impact on our income flow.
Now for the uncomfortable part, CHANGE! Along with CHANGE comes CHAOS. BUT – As with our beloved logo, the PHOENIX, after the change and chaos comes beauty and new life. We are UUCP and we can do this.
In order to accommodate the space we gave to DVLC and set up our new tenant space, changes to our current spaces needed to occur. We had to find space for all our current activities and programming and consider our current and future needs. We absolutely have to spend money to be able to meet our needs and open the possibilities for current and future needs and future income. All that with the least possible expenditure! While nothing is set in stone, these are the current plans after months of dreaming, arranging and rearranging with the staff, myself, the Board and some stakeholders involved, including Benjie, who was consulted before he left on sabbatical.
The areas highlighted in yellow are the areas where construction will take place. Some of this work has to happen before the new tenants arrive on August 9th. Other work will wait until we have raised the funds.
What you are hearing today will give you an overview. I’m not going to list all the possible room uses at this time, mostly just the physical changes. In order to fit our needs, we are creating defined and sometimes smaller spaces within the larger spaces that currently exist. I have a few printed copies of this plan with me today, that you can look at later and this will be put online.
Let’s do a quick run through starting left to right on this plan with room 15.
- Room 15 and 12 – This room and Room 12 next door will be new tenant spaces. These rooms are currently connected. We will be building a new wall between the rooms, where there once was one, and it will have double doors in the wall to be flexible if we need a larger space at some time. When the doors are closed, it will allow for two separate classrooms to be having activities. The bathroom in Room 15 will be equipped with adult sized fixtures. If you have wandered down the hallway recently, you can see that the door leading into room 12 has become an entry into the room again rather than a closet.
- Room 11 – This will be the new office for our Administrator and the property team. The closets on the left will be removed and a new wall in the current opening will be built separating Room 11 from Room 10 to create two rooms again.
- Room 10 – Along with being separated from Room 11, Room 10, which is large, will have an additional wall constructed to create a room within the room. The remaining space down the right side of the Room 10 will house supplies, the copier, space for counting money and other activities that volunteers do.
- This is a good time to point out that great care was taken to be sure that rooms have multiple exits to be able to access in an emergency.
- Room 9 is next. This room, which adjoins the Johnson Room, will become an extension of the Johnson room. We will not be taking the wall completely down between the two rooms, as it is needed for piping and support, but we will open it as much as possible for a more expansive space. Along the left wall in this picture, there will be a closet built to enclose the washer/dryer and create extra storage space along that wall.
- The Johnson Room – This room is a key item in the renovation, as all of us acknowledge our feelings about the current room on a regular basis! It will be made larger by claiming space in Room 9. It will also be getting some acoustical wall panels in places. All of our rooms that are renovated will have new lighting and be painted and possibly have flooring work, depending on the need and funds. The most important part to understand about this piece of the renovation, is that, aside from our own personal biases, our Sanctuary, our Patio, and our Kitchen are excellent spaces, and by upgrading and enlarging the Johnson room, we are now equipping UUCP to be more capable of attracting outside rentals for a new stream of income flow into UUCP. The Board and lead Staff foresee this as an exciting opportunity for our community.
- Let’s shift our attention farther down the hallway to rooms 3 & 4, which had been two rooms at one point in time. There will be a new wall constructed with a door, and room 4 will become a nursery again. The remainder of the space will become an access hallway, with an additional door that can be accessed from the Sanctuary as an exit to the main hallway, without disturbing or passing through the nursery. Additionally, parents with young children will be able to easily access their children in the nursery without having to go through the lobby.
- Room 2 – which has been Office 2 has already been converted to the Children’s Ministry office and will be utilized as additional CM class space. They were able to make this shift pretty much free of cost and updates.
- Room 1, the current office 1, will become the Youth Chapel, replacing Annex C and will have a wall and door installed to create a dedicated closet under the staircase and space for electronics that need to remain within that area.
- Although I won’t get into detail now, do know that we have planned for at least 2 and possibly 3 spaces for Adult meeting space after services. Plus we can use the Annexes on the week-ends and in the evenings. Those rooms will have a TV for Hybrid meeting possibilities.
- Let’s look next at the Sanctuary, where two of the biggest changes will occur.
The Sanctuary
- At the front end of the Sanctuary, behind the choir, a partial wall will be installed. This wall will serve 2 main purposes. Its main purpose will be to house music program storage needs, easily accessible from the choir area. It will also hide a staircase to be built to safely and easily access the storage on top of the pulpit closet. The other function is that it creates much needed baffling, to allow the choir and other music to project forward toward the audience rather than getting lost in the open space behind them. The wall will have a hidden access door and be covered in wooden slats spaced slightly apart, still allowing for art to be hung from it. The top of the wall is designed so that the slats have a curve that mimics the curve of our pulpit desk. Although the rendered drawing does not show it, the wall is situated to allow for the third row of choir seats and enough room behind them to use a wheelchair, scooter or walker, for accessibility access. Benjie reviewed and contributed to this plan before he left on sabbatical. Benjie’s new dedicated office space is upstairs.
The Wiggle Room
- Once the new front wall is built, the Music Storage room at the back of the Sanctuary, where there is currently an accordion folding wall, will be transformed into our new “Wiggle Room”. On this slide you see the current wall and to the right is a drawing of the new wall concept. There will be a permanent door and 12’ of windows with speakers installed so that everyone inside that room has full listening potential. There will also be a door installed on the back wall of that room to access into the new hallway created from room 3, to provide direct access from the Sanctuary to the nursery and main hallway. This also provides another access route out of the Sanctuary in case of an emergency. There will need to be a new wall HVAC unit installed, like the ones in other rooms, because there is currently no ventilation inside that area.
Please be aware that while we will be providing a wiggle space for all ages to experience, there will be no rules instituted to require its use, as our spaces are welcoming to all.
As part of this overall project, I’d also like to share that we are currently researching a new audio system for listening devices within the Sanctuary. We hope to enhance the listening experience for those with personal listening devices, differing hearing abilities, and for those hoping to block out external noise and distraction.
Mini Capital Campaign
So, how do we get from now to then? First – know that some of these changes, NOT the Johnson Room, Music Wall, or Wiggle room, will be happening during the month of July and first week of August as those changes must happen before our new tenants arrive and in time for our next programming year. With that in mind, we hope you will join us soon in supporting our Mini-Capital Campaign. Our operating budget is our most important priority.
We’re raising $175,000 to get everything that I’ve just shared with you completed. Not only does it serve our Congregation well, but in many instances prepares us for the future in creating new income streams as well. This money will cover the cost of construction, permitting where needed, and final finishes. Our Committee is made up of myself, as the project manager, Duke Plattner, who will oversee the fundraising, and Marlene Katz, who will help communicate to the Congregation on a regular basis what is happening, what you need to know in terms of spaces, how we’re doing on our fundraising, etc. Watch the Compass and the website for regular updates. There is already a 2024 Building Improvement fund set up in the drop down menu of the giving section, if you’d like to make a pledge or an immediate gift. While we’d love to complete the bigger projects sooner than later, we will be fiscally responsible in waiting until we’ve raised those funds to proceed, so pledging and paying in increments or later in the year is just fine.
Please feel free to connect with me or other committee members with any questions that you have. In the interest of time right now, I’m going to limit us to just one or two questions, and if we have many more – we’ll schedule another meeting for those. Again – I do have a few printed copies of the layout to view after the meeting.
The Board and the Staff are so excited to see the next piece of the future of our UUCP building become a reality. Thank you for your part in making this happen. I also need to say that running our congregation is our top priority – so if you are making choices – Closing the Gap for our operating budget is the highest priority.