17-05_KukuiLamalama

Kukui Lamalama Volume 2017 Number 5 May 2017 Page 15
Annual Meeting...May 21...High Noon
Aloha Members of the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu,
The Annual Meeting of the
First Unitarian Church of Honolulu
will be held on
Sunday, May 21, at 12:00 p.m.
Right now our by-laws state that our meetings use
the short form of Roberts Rules of Order. Many churches
use a consensus model. While I have never experienced
this model in a large group, I have been told there is less
divisiveness in this model. Perhaps this is something we
can consider trying in the future.
In the mean time, if you have opinions and/or want
to discuss the topics, a Board Member will be available
every Sunday morning in April at 9:00 am in the Fred Harper
Room.
You are always welcome to come to Board meetings
on the last Wednesday of the month or write letters to
the Board or speak with a Board member. The budget will
be voted on as a whole. There will be no line-item veto.
That said, the Board, especially our current Treasurer Sue
Yamane-Carpenter, has worked and continues to work to
present a balanced budget. Our income depends primarily
on our Members. Please give generously to our current
Pledge Drive.
Annual Meeting Agenda May 21, 2017
Approve Minutes from 2016 Annual Meeting. This
may be reviewed in the archive portion on our
Church website.
Change the By-Laws to reduce the number on the
Board from 10 to 7 and not mandate the Past
President serve on the Board.
Reasoning: A. The Nominating Committee can
find people who want to be on the Board more easily.
The Nominating Committee always has difficulty
finding enough Members to serve on the Board.
We currently have many more committees than in
the past, thus leadership has been diluted and
some Members are chairing more than one committee
already. B. All researched churches of our
size have Boards of 5-7. C. Less assertive Board
Members have a better opportunity to be heard. D.
New presidents may have a different style that can
be thwarted by a Past President and can ally some
Members to not give the new President confidence
to serve in his/her best capacity.
The other by-laws change concerns Membership. See
both by-laws change recommendations below.
Elect the new slate of nominees and/or nominate from
the floor members for our Board, Social Justice
Council, and Endowment Team and Nominating
Committee. Nominees are on page x.
Vote for the Budget as presented.
There will be no line-item veto. If the Budget is
voted down, we will revise it and have another
Congregational Meeting. This proposed Budget is
based on a successful Pledge Drive.
The largest expenses are the Building and the
Staff.
The major changes in staff expenses include the
following: The Religious Education Team decided
to hire 3 or 4 paid teachers who plan and execute
a lesson with a Church Member volunteer in each
classroom. This is a smaller staff expense than
hiring a ¼ time Religious Education Director and
takes away the effort of finding eight regular volunteers
every Sunday.
Since last year, we have new office personnel
with fewer hours. Instead of a live-in Building
Manager, we have hired professional cleaners,
landscapers and a Sexton.
Our Sunday music position is still at half time,
although for a Church with our budget and size, the
UUA recommends it to be 7-10% of our budget.
The Board, with input from a burned out Worship
team and listening to the meetings organized by
the Future Shapers, is looking to hire a Part-time
Consulting Minister as soon as possible. The job
description will be posted on the Board’s Bulletin
Board.
Thank you for your commitment and efforts to our presence
as a liberal religious church.
Sincerely, Nancy Schildt
President of the Congregation
Article I - Governance
BYLAWS OF THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH OF HONOLULU (2017)
The Executive Board of the Church will consist of seven church members (called Directors) who are residents
of Oahu. The minister is a non-voting participant. New Members, as needed, will be elected at each Annual
Meeting and take office at the beginning of the Fiscal Year, July 1.
Included in the seven Directors are the positions of President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary. To
the extent practicable and expedient, the President and Vice-President may serve no more than two consecutive
terms in that office (two years). The Secretary and Treasurer may be re-elected every three
years for an indefinite period. The remaining three directors may serve up to three consecutive years.
If a vacancy occurs during the year, the Board may fill the vacancy for the balance of the year.
Please note the Slate of Candidates on page 17.