Unless otherwise noted, questions/comments summarized below made by congregants and responses were made by the presenting Board member.  Although not recorded in notes on the day of the forum, additional comments below in italics have been added by the Communications Committee.

• Governance (Presented by Cindy Cumfer)

1. 1. 1. What is an example of the Board struggling with issues before policy-based government was implemented?  We were using “shared management” to develop a plan for the $7.5 million Buchan project.  There were many challenges with this approach. One specific problem developed when the president of the board got in the way of a major Buchan Bldg donor.  Under policy-based governance, the Board would set focus on policy or ends objectives (e.g., “the development staff is in charge of soliciting and achieving development targets”) and let staff do their work.   The Board is also responsible to monitor outcomes for accountability.
      2. Is collaborative government collaboration with the congregation or with the ET?  How does the board reflect the concerns of the congregation?  What has been done to increase communication?  The role of the Board is to govern.  Management of the affairs of the church is the responsibility of  the ET.  The Board and ET work in a collaborative approach with each other.  The Board looks at the larger picture of vision and goals and not managing – that is left up to the ET.  The Board of Trustees is voted by the congregation to represent them. We as a board deal with the mission of the church  as stated in our bylaws. We do not to promote individual issues of congregants, that is something an individual congregant needs to do with the ET.  The Board of Trustees is the voice for the mission;  it is the job of  the ET to follow through on. A series of meetings with congregants has been implemented to increase communication with the congregation.  These include quarterly Q&A sessions with the Senior Minister and a series of Board-sponsored forums (including this forum).  Board meetings are also open and congregants are encouraged to attend.  

• Enhanced giving and the Buchan Bldg. Mortgage (Presented by Leila Wrathall)

1. 1. 1. What has the Foundation done to encourage decreasing the Buchan debt?  Response by Dev Dion (Foundation President):  The Foundation dedicated the proceeds from the sale of a residence (given to the church as a bequest) to reduce the Buchan Building mortgage.  Plans beyond that are still in development.
      2. How has the congregation been doing on donating a percent of their income to the church?  What has the church been doing to increase giving, given the demographics of the congregation?   Response by Bill Sinkford:  There is plenty of opportunity to increase giving.  Although there are many substantial pledges; it is notable that the  “most common” annual pledge is $100/year.
      3. What is the difference in the numbers on the slide that shows information about our loan?  $1,612,00 and $1,402,000? Response: the $1.6 million was our initial loan principal and the $1.4 million is what we owe on the loan right now.
      4. Annual Fund Drive How are we doing on the fund drive? Response on early stage results was provided by Bill Sinkford:    
      5. How does our church composition affect our fund drive? There are not good figures to determine this information.
      6. Comment: there is a need for Church leadership to communicate better our losses in our staff that our church is having

• Mission-Driven Church (Presented Ameena Amdahl-Mason)

1. 1. 1. 1. The arrows on the mission driven graphic could show arrows connecting the various programs as well as connecting only with “mission” in the center.  Acknowledged  
         2. Comment: Perhaps we should change our terminology of how we support the church from “donors” to “investors”.  We become investors in the church’s mission, social justice programs, etc. when we contribute to the church.  We need to advertise what we are doing so that “investors” will know what their funds are accomplishing.  
         3. People will give more if they know what is needed and why.  Commenter,  providing a case in point, stated they didn’t know about the Buchan loan status until today.  
         4. Question made by Director of Music:  How do we communicate goals to the congregation?  All the information is on the church website.  See also the the regular ET and Board meetings noted above.  The monthly Moderator letter is another important vehicle.  
         5. Comment: a congregant took exception to term investment or investors.  “Invest” is a financial term.  This church has meaning to me far beyond dollars.  It’s that meaning we need to talk about.  
         6. In addition to directing recent bequest proceeds to reduce Buchan Building Debt, what else is the Foundation doing? (Commenter wanted more information so she could help with the campaign to retire the loan.)  Dev Dion responded.  The Foundation, Bill Sinkford and ET are discussing other possibilities to reduce the outstanding load.  The current leadership of the Church Foundation is relatively new and more information is planned to be forthcoming soon .
      2. Church Campus Development/Long Term Planning (Presented by Kathy Ludlow)
         1. What do we mean by “West End”?  West End is the term used to describe the portion of downtown between Burnside to PSU and between I-405  and the Park Blocks.
         2. Where are we in the process of the concerns with parking, and remodeling our church? The auction was brought up and how it has helped with major repair of the facility. The roof and the exterior improvements were discussed. We have to keep the lights on here in addition to maintaining our spiritual home.  Therefore, we have to talk about money. We are exploring other options for Sunday parking if the SW 12th Ave lot is developed.
         3. What is our scheduled for maintenance of the building? The Church Sexton is doing a great job and we now have a plan for scheduled maintenance and funds to do the work over time.
         4. Director of music talked about an orchestra with participants from all the UU communities.  Don’t we serve the whole community, rather than just the West End?  Response by Randy Russell, Board Moderator:  We do provide resources to other UU churches, e.g. Seminary for a Day.   Stan Jewett, congregant, also pointed out that the Church works with other UU churches through our Outreach Committee.  
         5. Handicapped parking has become more difficult; we have lost some spaces.  Where can we get more information about future plans?   Response:  We need to talk to the city about creating more handicapped parking around the church.   It’s clear that we aren’t going to build a big, new sanctuary.  We are making what we have work to its best advantage.  Renovation of the dias in the sanctuary to make it accessible is something we are looking at now.
         6. Comment by Theo Harper, Board Member:  Where will the congregation of the future occur?

• Comment by Bill Sinkford:  We are still playing catch-up raising and spending money for the years when we didn’t.

• Congregant comment: The Buchan Building is a blessing for all that goes on there.  It is not all about the debt.

Notes from Break-out Sessions

Breakout Presentations were held after the main presentations.  (These break out sessions were held simultaneously.)

Governance—Cindy Cumfer

• Define which/when/ topics non-collaborative decisions that the board will make.
• Clarify when a majority vote/endorsement is required for the board to act.
• List transparency objectives and which topics should not be public to protect decisions-
• Process and personnel
• How can congregants know when they can/can’t give input on items that impact the budget (line item on the budget so they know what they are voting for?) Or congregational life?

Enhanced Giving and Buchan Bldg mortgage—Leila Wrathall

• Foundation Role
• Why is Church important to people’s lives ?
• What happens if AFD doesn’t meet goal?
• Why not direct outreach during AFD?
• (Dev will volunteer for this)
• Heat chart:  Showing where congregants live
• How do we encourage younger membership?
• Encouraged by capital campaign

Mission-Driven Church—Ameena Amdahl-Mason

• Communication – needs to happen in multiple ways, including:
  • More information on Facebook
  • More print materials on Sunday to let people know what is happening who don’t have internet capability
  • Suggestion that we need a media coordinator
• Need a criteria against which competing priorities can be weighed to allow mission focus and impact
• Need a clear way to know when specific conversation or changes are occurring

Church Campus Development/Long Term Planning– Kathy Ludlow

• Discussion of parking situation, potential loss of parking lot on 12th Ave.  

• • Buy a van and have a driver pick up congregants for church.
  • Expand the zip code neighborhood concept to encourage car-pooling to church and classes. It is being used now for rides for congregants without transportation.
  • Is there a group/people discussing the options for the Schnitzer property (12th Ave)?
  • Is the Oregon Clinic parking lot a possibility for our use on Sundays? Or Portland State or the hospital?
  • Lincoln High School parking lot would work for some, not those with mobility issues.
  • Check why parking time has changed on 12th Ave.
• Continue work on decreasing our carbon footprint.  Goal of SJ group and future coordination with Staff/Board.  This includes driving options as well as the physical facilities.
• Retiring the Buchan Building mortgage allows thinking to the future for our facilities and our role in the neighborhood.
  • Look at options to improve accessibility in the sanctuary and remodel of the office building.
  • Create a comprehensive planning committee (including congregants) to look at our future needs in conjunction with staff and our mission and spiritual direction. Use the committee work as support for future funding.

• When are we going to add ‘Universalist’ to our name? (Response to permanent new sign on 12 & Main)