Please read through the information below with regard to our upcoming Annual Meeting, which will be held virtually on Sunday, June 7, 2020.
- Letter from the Board of Trustees
- Information on Zoom video conferencing
- Information on the Draft Proposed FY2020-21 Budget and an invitation to a Budget Forum
- Information on Election Buddy voting platform
- Summary Countdown Calendar
Dear Friends,
One of the core ideas of the Unitarian Universalist tradition is congregational polity. At it’s most basic, congregational polity means that it is the individual congregation that makes the operational (and spiritual) decisions for each church, as opposed to a denominational body making those decisions. Congregational polity means that the congregation decides on how to use its resources — budgets and buildings and staff —to further its mission. It means electing leaders to aid in implementing those decisions. It means choosing their own minister.
Each year, the UU Society of Mill Creek holds an Annual Meeting as prescribed in our by-laws. The purpose of that meeting is to vote on an operating budget for the coming fiscal year, to elect leaders to the Board of Trustees, and any other business that may come before the congregation. The Annual Meeting is also a time of celebration for the work the congregation has completed in the prior year, and often a vision-cast for what is in our future.
Of course, this year it will be different. We cannot gather together the first Sunday in June and hold this meeting face to face. Not now. Not in the midst of a global pandemic. Still, we must meet and make these decisions. The fiscal year for the church will begin July 1 and we need an operating budget in place. Three current Trustee’s terms will end on June 30, and so we will need three new Trustees. Furthermore, our Congregational President’s term is ending and is ineligible for another. So, we must elect someone for that important office.
The Board has developed a plan on how we will accomplish all of this using available technologies, but it will take your attention and intention to make it all work:
- The Annual Meeting will take place on June 7, 2020 at Noon.
- We will host the meeting on the Zoom video conferencing platform.
- Voting for the budget, the Congregational President, and the Board of Trustees will be via an electronic ballot sent to eligible members who attended the Zoom meeting. The ballot will be sent immediately following the close of the video conference. Eligible members will have a limited time in which to return their ballot.
This will be a very different way to meet and we will undoubtedly run into challenges. We ask your patience and forbearance as we adapt to our current condition. Please continue reading the remainder of this message for further details.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your Board of Trustees. Click here to email the Board (and Rev. Greg.)
Sincerely,
Board of Trustees, UU Society of Mill Creek:
Judy Pappenhagen (President)
Stephen Petterson
John Springer
Anna Hull
Melissa Bryson
Lemaine Peo
Susan Klugerman.
Please make plans to attend this virtual Annual Meeting!
Our By-Laws require one-fifth of the eligible members to attend the meeting to achieve quorum. Based on our current membership role, this means that we need a minimum of thirty (30) eligible voting members to join the online conference for the meeting to be official.
We, of course, encourage ALL members to attend!
Sunday, June 7, 2020, at Noon
As noted above, our Annual Meeting will take place virtually, using the Zoom videoconferencing platform. Many of you have become very familiar with this online platform, but we are aware that some of you have not yet experienced communication on Zoom. So, in advance of the Annual Meeting, we want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to become familiar with Zoom, so we invite you to any of the following opportunities:
Rev. Greg hosts a Virtual Coffee Hour on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 – 8:00 pm, and again on Thursday mornings from 9:00 – 10:00 am. A link to those virtual gatherings is sent via email approximately one hour beforehand. (If you have never been on Zoom before, about 10 minutes before the start of the meeting, click on the link in the email. You will be directed to download an application that will connect you to the meeting.)
We will host two orientations to the Zoom platform:
- Wednesday, May 20 at 7:00 pm (click this link to join) or Sunday, May 24 at 11:00 am (click this link to join)
- We will also host two Budget Forums (see below): May 6 and May 9
IMPORTANT: It is not required to have a computer or video to participate in a Zoom conference. You may simply call in on any telephone. Prior to each meeting, a link and a phone number will be emailed to the congregation. Included with that phone number will be a Meeting ID number that you will key in to join the meeting.
Please help: We are aware that some of our members may not be as computer-savvy and may not have or check their email frequently. If you know (or suspect) a friend is not able to connect to Zoom, please let us know immediately, so we can accommodate them. Rev. Greg or Judy Pappenhagen
Voting at the Annual Meeting
Voting at the Annual Meeting will also be done virtually. We have selected Election Buddy as our voting platform. At the conclusion of the Annual Meeting presentations, eligible participants in the meeting will recieve a ballot via email (from ElectionBuddy / UUSMC). This ballot will provide the opportunity to securely register your vote for:
- Approval of the FY2020-21 Budget
- Election of a Congregational President for the 2020-2022 term
- Election of three Trustees for the 2020-2022 term
- Election of a Nominations Committee for the coming 2021 term
Please note that our By-Laws give voting privileges to Members who have made a contribution of record in the prior year. In addition, our By-Laws do not allow for proxy voting, so only those eligible members who attend the Annual Meeting on June 7 (via the online conference) will receive ballots.