Notes from the April 18th Board Meeting
The board began to work on drafting “guiding documents” that will establish written policies and processes for Northlake. The draft list of documents we intend to put into place are as follows (many of these already exist and will be reviewed): Bylaws; Covenant of Right Relations; Dealing with Difficult Behavior; Employment and Personnel Policies; Staff Job Descriptions and Agreements; Internal Communications; Publications; Committees and Informal Groups; Congregational Meetings; Building Use/Rentals Policy; Cash Management; Fund Raising; Managing Investments; Managing Gifts; Safe Congregation Policy; Services and Celebrations Handbook.
We’ll be working with the various committees on the drafts. We hope to have these documents ready by this fall to publish for congregation feedback. They can go into effect as soon as the Board officially adopts them, but we want your feedback first. Our intent here is to clearly document policies and processes that have to date been unwritten or buried in meeting minutes. We’ll put them on the church website so they’ll be available to everyone.
Two of the anticipated changes may be of particular interest to members.
We will revise the Bylaws to more fully describe the requirements and expectations of becoming a member. And we will modify our building rental policies so that we can reserve the right to decline rental to any groups or persons whose statements or actions are in conflict with Unitarian Universalist Principles.
One other thing we will try to get done this year is a Five Year Plan. This plan will show major goals for each of the next five years and have rough projected budget numbers for each year. The plan will then be updated each succeeding year by the Board based on that year’s accomplishments and, of course, congregation feedback. Having an up–to–date and agreed–to Five Year Plan is the sign of a mature and forward–looking organization, which is what we all want Northlake to be.
NOTE: Please plan to attend the Annual Congregational Meeting on Sunday, May 20 after church. We’ll elect new board members, adopt the final 2007-2008 budget, and elect a new Nominating Committee.
Jim Mason
President, Board of Trustees