By Linda Fippin, President of the Board of Trustees
The end of January is drawing near and we are starting to get used to it being 2023. At least I’ve stopped writing 2022 on checks. The end of January and the beginning of February seem to be a slack time of year, but signs of incipient change are starting to crop up. Daffodils and hyacinths are poking their green leaves out of the cold ground, the mourning doves in my back yard are courting, and I even saw one of my neighbors mowing his lawn this weekend. (That is really jumping the gun in my opinion. Not having to mow my lawn is my favorite part of winter!)
Things are beginning to pick up for the Board of Trustees, too. The spring months are always busy. The budget for the next church year needs to be prepared, there will be congregational meetings in March and May, and the annual canvass for funds will begin shortly thereafter. These are things that need to be done every year, but the Board has other things on its plate, too. Here are some of the things we’ve been working on.
• Reviewing and revising the Policies and Procedures manuals. Anne Harvey is leading the effort to update the manuals, which are quite out of date, with committees that have no function or members and procedures that are obsolete.
• Surveying the congregation for input on reproductive justice actions with the support of the Reproductive Justice Committee.
• Continuing to evaluate Covid-19 safety protocols with the support of the Reopening Committee.
• Discussing the UUA’s “Widening the Circle of Concern” and identifying areas of concern particular to the Westside community.
• Looking at ways we might change the Share the Plate program by building relationships with organizations that need and want our support rather than just sending them a check.
So, the Board is busy, but we’re never too busy to hear from members of the congregation. If you have questions for the Board or complaints or ideas for things we should be doing, please contact us. Email contact information for Board members is available on our website, but if you would like to go old school, snail mail is an option and a suggestion box in the church foyer is in the works.