6:36 PM – Called to Order
Agenda, May meeting minutes, and finance committee reports were approved.
Finance Committee Update
The updated amount to be transferred from the Endowment Fund for the fiscal year 2026-2027 is $28,150. This is much less than was initially anticipated due to an increase in pledges.
Our overall income is expected to be less than our expected expenses.
Staff Updates
Alessandra stated they hold a multi-faceted role and worship coordination is taking more time and energy than initially anticipated. They are grateful to the childcare staff and volunteers for continuing to keep the nursery and RE programs running as they are needed for worship most Sundays. They could still use more volunteers as there are currently two who have committed to volunteer once a month.
Youth Group is hoping to meet more frequently. Harmony Camp will be the largest one in recent years. Caregivers as Sexuality Educators continues to meet monthly. Parenting Circle continues to meet monthly. Worship Co-Lab in on-track and active.
The last GLOW meeting resulted in a decision to become more experimental with services and sanctuary seating.
Adriane will be on vacation the last two weeks of July. She is looking for volunteers to help with certain tasks while she is away. She is currently working of end of the fiscal year duties. Valerie has requested to use the $300 available to her for travel expenses. She will be
attending a music directors’ conference in July.
● Ken moved to approve the $300 fund for Valerie’s travel expenses.
○ Motion passed
Ken will make sure she receives this money on time.
COSM Update
Nao stated the Committee on Shared Ministry (COSM) has reviewed the effective boundaries course recommended by the UUA through the Institute. They have discussed presenting sections of this training at GLOW meetings. They and Alessandra have discussed incorporating some of these learnings on the third Sunday of the month in the tradition of “GLOW Sundays” during service.
They will be renewing covenanting with affinity groups on September 13th, 2026.
The tri-annual survey of the congregation will also take place this year. They would like to look at previous years’ surveys in order to gauge where and how things have shifted along with new questions to reflect where we are currently. This input will be helpful in shaping the years ahead.
COSM does not currently have as many members as they need. Nao Bethea and Fenix Moon are the only formal members. They are looking at reaching out to other committees for support. Kim, Brian, and Alessandra attend meetings regularly. As Kim currently attends out of personal interest but also as a board liaison, Nao wonders if there is an incoming board member who would like to serve as this next fiscal year’s liaison. They are also interested in having a retreat with the incoming board.
This year’s UU Common Read is “Love at the Center: Unitarian Universalist Theologies”. Nao’s team at the UUA has worked to provide the Lifespan Curriculum to accompany this read along with a multi-generational mystery game. There are also resources available for committees to run small group readings. Alessandra suggested the board could facilitate a small group for this as well.
Manual of Policies and Procedures (MPP)
It will be helpful to the incoming board to look through the MPP and at the items Annette previously emailed out. She would appreciate everyone’s input before the board’s MPP meeting this coming Monday, June 29th at 1:00 PM. She wants us to review the board’s roles pertaining to committee responsibilities. “Former Board Positions and This Oversight Roles” is the document we would like to focus on.
For example, Marty Beech used to do the internal audits of committees. Currently, no one is filling this vital role. It is important to have someone outside of the Finance Committee with a
background in accounting to complete this. Kim recommends putting out a specific request for a volunteer. Ken will write up what is required of this person. He will also find a previous audit for reference. Ideally, the internal audits would be done yearly, but we will need to refer to the MPP to make sure.
Another example is the “Past President”. They used to be the person who was the designated COSM liaison. However, this position no longer exists. We need to be thinking about these things as we move forward with updating the MPP.
The 2025-2026 board will tackle as many of these MPP issues as possible. The 2026-2027 board will then pick-up where we left off to ensure the MPP gets updated. Bonnie has plans for how best to take this on moving forward.
Pastoral Care
Annette has heard back from other North Florida UU Churches who are also currently without a minister. These churches do not provide pastoral care, but some do provide counseling to congregants, whether formally or informally. We are comfortable with providing counseling services, however, it is worth having conversations with local progressive churches about providing pastoral care, especially now that there is a budget for it. Sally and Kim will continue to work on this.
Member Recognition
Sally spoke with Alessandra regarding holding recognitions on the fourth Sunday of the month. Even though she is leaving the board, she is willing to continue to be the person to organize this. She will recognize Ron and Dale next month and then the new board will take it from there.
Congregant Comments
Bob Keenan is interested in increasing church membership. He is also concerned with not having a minister. He is willing to help. Kim then expressed she has the same concerns and will be focusing on outreach this coming fiscal year. Ken then stated he was approached by another congregant with similar concerns. Kim suggested including questions regarding concerns about a minister in the upcoming COSM survey.
Church lock-ups were assigned and the public meeting was adjourned. The Board moved into a closed session at 8:00 PM
Board Members Present: Others Present:
Annette Pearce, President Regina Joseph
Bonnie Abellera, President Elect Larry Myers
Ken Kent, Finance Nao Bethea
Sally Andersen, Member at Large Alessandra Nysether-Santos Kim Ross, Member at Large Janet Temkin
Sadie Ragans, Secretary Bob Keenan
Prepared by Sadie Ragans, Secretary, on June 26th, 2026