Wy’east UU Board Meeting Minutes, Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Wy’east UU Board Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, March 11, 2025 (Finalized 4/9/2025)

• Present: Debra T., Larry B., Kathy S., Marcy S., Diane A., and Leslie B.M.
  • Absent:  none

Meeting Minutes 

• February Meeting Minute
  • Minutes moved and approved
• Online Donation Service Fee: 
  • There are certain service fees when people pay via Square online for credit cards. Can we cover these credit card service fees to make it easier for D’on to account for and pay the special collections? It is about $10.
    • Unanimously approved.
• Small Groups
  • Kathy and Diane went to a nice visit to the free art museum day on 1st Thursday.
  • Diane and Larry went to a successful small group dinner in February as well with fellow members.
• Religious Education 
  • Substitute Lesson Plans for Younger Students: Marcy will print a few preschool to kindergarten age stories that can be read with some sort of simple activity. Purchasing books that you can grab and go may be an even easier option.
  • Safety issue at the last service making sure the children are being safe with equipment because a rolly cart was being used, also the noise level during the service was loud.
    • It’s hard to accommodate for everyone’s needs: there is preK, middle school, adults young and old…it is hard to please everyones’ needs from different perspectives…safety is a priority though.
    • The vision team is looking at longer term solutions for the variety of age levels we have.
• Electronic payments -  The QR code hasn’t worked lately that is on the slideshow for some.
  • We have other options check and cash.
  • However, many people don’t carry cash.
  •  We will table this for now and see if it is working again.
• Treasurer Report
  • Larry is still figuring out how all the reports work on Realm
  • In summary, we are in a strong financial situation and everyone is getting paid on time. Income is higher than expenses.
  • Larry is working to input data into the new Realm software weekly, and taking care of the special collections, pledges, bills, and rent in a timely manner.
  • For the annual meeting, Larry may be contacting the different committees and seeing if their needs are being met or if they need any changes in the coming budget proposal.
    • Are we going to be in-person the same amount? This would affect the budget.
  • Should we have a short-term task force to research organizations that would align with our UU principles to use some of our surplus in savings?
    • Maybe instead of a task force we could contact the committees to see if they have any upcoming projects or ideas for their committee? 
• Minister Report- No report at this time
• Worship Committee Report
• Staff contracts & pay rates - this is an April task, but we need to talk to Hank and D’on about guidance about how to adjust pay rates if needed. 
  • Larry will contact one of these people.
• UU Certification Update
  • Larry has filled out the forms, and this is complete.
• Social Justice Committee Report
• Membership Committee Report
• On 3/9/25 Rev. Leslie interviewed Leo Ruthe.  They had come up with some lists of things our congregation could do to be more accessible. Here were a few things discussed:
  • Set-up on Sunday morning: have an area that people can go to that is away from the main congregation (away from video if they don’t wish to be videoed and if they have health concerns)
  • What are the ways a congregant would request a special need and who to talk to…possibly Ron?
  • Maybe the worship committee would be the group to contact with these ideas.

To Do’s and Who

• Larry will contact Hank or D’On about how they went about new pay rates and staff contracts last year.
• Larry will contact various committees to see if they felt supported this year to prepare the projected budget.
• Marcy will print off some younger stories and possibly some activities in case younger children come.
• Marcy will send the February minutes to Gigi to post.

Next Meeting

• TUESDAY, April 8, 2025 at 7 pm via Zoom

Respectfully submitted by Marcy Sullwold