Apologies to everyone for not keeping up with these reports. Chairing the Central Board created a heavy workload, and the notes from Forward Chats tended to get moved to the back burner. Writing on May 10, 2020 (Mother’s Day), I am reporting on nine meetings held from November 2019 through March 2020. In most cases, the whiteboard notes were brief. In a few, there were none taken. I am reporting what information I can find.
Meeting #30 – February 2, 2020:
Forward Chats - discuss bylaw changes and new minister
This was the first Sunday when we knew we were going to have a minister, and everybody cheered. The official business of the Chat was to discuss the proposed bylaw changes, to field questions and to see if anybody brought up any issues we hadn’t considered. There are no notes about what was said, unfortunately, but the amendments did pass at the Feb 16th meeting.
ARTICLE VII, Sect. 5b: Central Board – Notice of Meetings
Current:
Regular meeting dates and times for Central Board meetings shall be publicized to the congregation by the Central Board secretary through at least two means likely to reach interested persons in the congregation at least seven days in advance. The notices shall include the agenda for the meeting. Topics not on the public agenda may be brought up for discussion but not voted upon.
Proposed Change:
Regular meeting dates and times for Central Board meetings shall be publicized to the congregation by the Central Board secretary through at least two means likely to reach interested persons in the congregation at least seven days in advance. The agenda shall be posted two days before the meeting on the board web pages.
Reason:
The Board has been meeting every 14 days. That means only 7 days elapse before the notice of the next meeting is required. It has proven very difficult to carry out work planned at one meeting AND prepare all the new information required for the next meeting within 7 days. Announcing the meeting time & place is not a problem. It is having the final agenda in place that early. We need more flexibility. We can, however, use the Spire to announce the general topics we are working on.
ARTICLE VII, Sect. 3b: Central Board Nomination Process
Current:
. . . . All active members shall be invited to use this nomination form to indicate both:
1. A vote of confidence for all members they would be willing to acknowledge as qualified to serve on the Central Board. There is no limit to the number of names that may be checked.
Proposed Change:
. . . . All active members shall be invited to use this nomination form to indicate both:
1. A vote of confidence for up to fifteen members they would be willing to acknowledge as qualified to serve on the Central Board.
Reason:
Unlimited number of votes of confidence made the ballots very difficult and time-consuming to count accurately. Fifteen seems reasonable.
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Meeting #31 – February 9, 2020:
Forward Chats - Q&A for anyone who missed previous week
No notes survive from this meeting. It may have been quite short since it was just a second opportunity to discuss the bylaw changes also discussed the previous week.