Special Called Congregational Meeting
April 19, 2020
12 noon (immediately after church)
To be held via Zoom

The purpose of this meeting will be for the congregation to vote on delaying the annual meeting, including elections and approval of a budget for 2020-2021. This announcement fulfills the requirement that the Board announce such a meeting a minimum of 15 days before it is to be held.

The Executive Committee made this recommendation to the Board, who voted to take the issue to the congregation. Our bylaws call for an Annual Meeting to be held in May, at a date decided by the Board. If a meeting cannot be held at that time, it is to be held 3 weeks later.

The Board is recommending a delay of the Annual Meeting for the following reasons:
  1. Because of the impact of COVID-19 on our ACT campaign, the Finance Committee does not expect to have enough information about pledges for next year to develop a 2020-2021 budget by May.
  2. Because leadership has been focused on dealing with COVID-19, the Board has not provided information to the Committee on Leadership Development about the skills and expertise they need to identify in people to be nominated for Board positions that are set to expire on June 30, 2020.
  3. With the deaths from COVID-19 estimated to peak at the end of April, the Board and Rev. Sadie believe that the next few months is a not good time for a change of church leadership. The current Board is aware of issues we are dealing with and will need to deal with, and they are best situated to provide leadership during this continuing time of uncertainty.

If the congregation approves this recommendation, an annual meeting would be scheduled for the fall, probably in August or September, with elections being held in time for new Board members to take office effective October 1. The three current Board members who are due to rotate off in June (Harold Gunn, Betsy Lindsey, and Marty Ward) have agreed to serve through September 30 if the congregation approves the recommendation. The Finance Committee hopes that, by fall, they will have enough information to propose a new budget. In the meantime, we would extend our current budget through September. The finance committee will continue to meet monthly, monitor our cash flow, and advise Rev. Sadie and the Board of any needed changes.

Please note that a quorum of members (34 members) must be present to vote, so please plan to attend this meeting. Only members can vote.

I expect there will be many questions, and that many of you will have similar questions. In order to streamline our process and answer your questions thoroughly, please email them to me no later than April 13, the sooner the better. We will create an FAQ sheet for the meeting. A link to the meeting will be sent out closer to April 19.

Contact me at: betsylindsey1@gmail.com