Minutes of Most Recent Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the First Religious Society of Newburyport Universalist Unitarian was convened at 7:40 PM on May 29, 2002 in the Parish Hall on Pleasant St. in Newburyport. A quorum was reached and the meeting began as scheduled.

The Moderator, Florence Mercer, opened the meeting and read the warrant. She introduced the Parish Clerk, Peg Nicol and Marge Peterson. Moderator read the warrant.

Article 1: To act upon the reports of the officers and committees.
Susan Ricker made a motion to accept the reports. Seconded by Roger Hatch.

Florence asked for a moment of silence for friends and members who had died this past year.

The Volunteer of the Year Award was given to Liz Kray and Rochelle Perry-Platine for their work on the 2001 Anniversary Committee.

Todd Hermann, representing the Music Committee, reminded us that Barbara Owen's retirement party is Sunday, June 2nd at 4:00 PM.

The article passed unanimously.

Article 2: To act upon the 2002-2003 budget recommended by the Parish Committee.
Peter Erickson moved to accept the budget as proposed. It was seconded by Betty Pike.

Susan Ricker reviewed the highlights of the budget. The proposed budget projects expenses of $370,358. This represents a 6% increase over expenses of the 2001-2002 fiscal year. Increases include a salary raise of 2.5% for all staff, and improved benefits for all eligible staff (those working at least 1000 hours/year or at least ½ time). The proposed budget is balanced with a 9% increase in contributions. We are a growing community with a budget 50% higher than five years ago.

There was no further discussion.

The motion to accept the budget was passed unanimously.

Article 3: To act upon the recommendations of the Nominating Committee for the election of officers and chairpersons.
Anne Verret-Speck moved to accept the recommendations of the Nominating Committee. It was seconded by Forrest Speck.

Betty Pike reviewed the proposals.

There was no further discussion.

The motion to accept the recommendations of the Nominating Committee was passed unanimously.

Article 4: To act upon the recommendations of the Renovation Steering Committee to approve the Building Renovation Project including: project scope, commitment of funds, authorization for the parish Committee to borrow funds, and project administration.
Lynn Kettleson made a motion to postpone any action on this warrant article until the next meeting of the Parish. Anne Verret-Speck seconded.

A Building Renovation Project Update was handed out with these amounts:

Income amounts in hand, pledged, or conservatively estimated are these:

Capital Campaign	$800,000
Outside funding	$50,000
Additional giving	$65,000
Mortgage financing	$200,000
Total project funding	$1,115,000

The project currently has these as estimated costs:

Construction	$1,053,483
Furntiture and fixtures	$35,000
Fund raising	$8,000
*Debt service	$100,000
Contingency	$125,000
Total	$1,397,015
Minus cost savings	$100,000
Grand total project cost	$1,297,015

* - Debt service on a construction-bridge loan to account for the project taking only seven to nine months while the pledges will span three years.

Lynn Kettleson gave a financial perspective of the project. We have raised $782,000 in the campaign and not all calls have been completed. This is encouraging and is more than was suggested by Wayne Clark in his Feasibility Study. We estimate $800,000 with the final calls. The problem is a $182,000 gap in finances between project needs and money raised.

Peter Erickson suggested that the Renovation Steering Committee report back in September with ideas to cut costs. It was a difficult decision reached by the committee.

Nancy Crochiere presented the Next Steps as suggested by the committee. They include finding means to cut costs and raise additional funds.

Peter Erickson stated that the project has gone well to date with our money well-spent. He worked closely with engineers and architects, all of whom were very professional and put in an outstanding effort.

Much discussion followed. Concerns were expressed about the cost of building prices increasing the overall cost, interest rates going up, or the momentum of the Parish and pledges diminishing. Peter felt that costs would not increase before September as summer is the busiest time for construction. Total construction time would be approximately 6 - 9 months. Questions were asked about borrowing more than $200,000 or borrowing from the endowment funds. These were considered too risky and not our standard practice. Bob Allison suggested giving pledged money "up-front" to eliminate the $100,000 debt service on the construction bridge loan. Anita Wright suggested raising money by "buying a brick" for $1,000. Peter replied that a brick terrace is planned and that was a good idea. It would be not refined in the first phase to save money; then we could run a buy-a-brick campaign to complete it. Another option expressed by several members was to fill the financial gap with increased pledges and proceed with the renovation, perhaps a second phase of canvassing. We have 310 members and 250 pledging units.

Cyd Raschke moved to amend the motion on the floor: "I move that we authorize the building project to move forward on the conditions that the $200,000 gap be filled with fundraising and other reasonable means and authorize the Renovation Steering Committee to enter contracts related to this project in accordance with the bylaws." Dorothy Dichiara seconded the motion.

A vote to oppose the motion postponing action on this warrant article passed.

A vote in favor of the motion as amended was passed with 7 opposed and no abstentions.

The renovation Steering Committee asked for and received a five-minute break.

Motion 1:
Nancy Crochiere made a motion to approve the project to renovate the Meeting House and Parish Hall as shown in the architectural drawings dated April 19, 2002, as well as any site work, consistent with the law and building codes, and as funds committed by the membership allow. Scope of the project to include:

• Fire suppression in the Meeting House
• Office, meeting, and classroom space in the basement of the Meeting House
• Handicap access to the Meeting House
• Landscaping and necessary site work
• Renovation of the Parish Hall
• Handicap access to the Parish Hall
• Access between the basement and first floor of the Meeting House

The Building Renovation Project Estimated Costs will be included in the Minutes to clarify.

Motion was seconded by Lynn Kettleson.

The motion passed with 1 opposed and no abstentions.

Motion 2 read by Nancy Crochiere:
Commit all of the funds pledged and amounts raised in the Capital Campaign to the project to renovate the Meeting House and Parish Hall, including the funds needed to finance the project over the three years of the pledge collection.

Motion seconded by Jim Dyer.

The vote was unanimous, and the motion passed.

Motion 3 read by Nancy Crochiere:
To authorize the Parish Committee to enter into a long-term agreement to fill the gap between the cost to carry out a reasonably complete project as described and authorized in #1 above and the funds pledged and amounts raised in the capital campaign. The long-term borrowing agreement, which will be made at the most reasonable terms obtainable, not to exceed $200,000 in amount and 30 years in length. Payment under this agreement will come from regularly budgeted annual funds of the Society.

Seconded by Anne Verret-Speck.

The Vote on Motion 3 passed unanimously.

Motion 4 presented by Nancy Crochiere:
To create a Renovations Steering Committee, consisting of the individuals named below and responsible for overseeing and the renovation described in Motion #1 above. To carry out its duties, this committee will:

• Manage the project to completion consistent with the approved scope.
• Enter into contractual agreements, by signature of both the Renovations Steering Committee Chair and the Parish Committee chair, for amounts consistent with the amounts committed and authorized by the membership
• Authorize, by signature of both the Renovations Steering Committee Chair and the Project Controller, the Treasurer to pay appropriate project costs
• Regularly communicate project status and progress to the parish Committee and membership

Bill Heenehan, Chair
Anne Verret-Speck, Controller
Peter Erickson, Project Manager
Lynn Kettleson, Fund Raising Chair
Nancy Crochiere, Communications Chair

Motion seconded by Tom Stites.

Susan Ricker amended Motion #4 under the second bullet by inserting, in parenthesis, after the words "Parish Committee Chair" "(and with the approval of the Parish Committee for amounts over $25,000)".

A vote in favor of the amendment to insert a $25,000 limit was passed with 6 opposed and 1 abstention.

A vote on the main Motion #4 as amended passed unanimously.

Article 5: To act upon any other business which may legally come before the Parish.

No discussion

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting.
Motion seconded by Howard Fairweather.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Peg Nicol
Parish Clerk