 So the words of Hope Johnson We are one a diverse group of proudly kindred spirits Here not by coincidence, but because we choose to journey together We are active and proactive We care deeply we live our love as best we can We are one Working eating laughing playing singing storytelling sharing and rejoicing Getting to know each other taking risks opening up Questioning seeking searching trying to understand struggling making mistakes paying attention asking questions listening living our answers learning to love our neighbors learning to love ourselves Apologizing and forgiving with humility being forgiven through grace Creating the beloved community together We are one thank you Kelly and Please let me know in the room if you're having any trouble hearing virtually and same with folks online You can also chat into the zoom if you're having trouble hearing you can chat the host Alright, so we just heard opening words from Kelly. We're gonna briefly go through the agenda here Thank you everybody for being here today It's great to have quorum on a day as nice as it is today So really appreciate folks taking the time out of their afternoons to be with us for the parish meeting So we will Our our agenda is pretty packed today Lots of things to go over so we will try to keep it moving along after a brief review of Logistics and how to vote will vote on our minutes from last last parish meetings We have a number of board candidates to vote on along with foundation board candidates to vote on We'll have an update from the foundation from Connie beam We will talk about the 23 24 budget and vote for approval And Monica will be reviewing that with us and then we also will be reviewing the the draft vision and mission statements that the committee has Has come up with and we will vote on approving those and Emily Smith will be walking us through that Well and with the closing from Reverend Kelly AJ All right, so Folks in the room Should have seen packets coming into the parish meeting. So you have all of the handouts listed here for people online These are all available to you online and If someone wouldn't mind chatting the link to the documents into The zoom that would be great So maybe one of the board members that's online. I believe Monica's sharing slides So she's not able to so if someone could grab that and put it in the chat that it'd be great. Otherwise they Were also in the email that came as an announcement for the parish meeting as well Okay So I think we mostly know the drill here. I like that it says That it will be just like it when we only had in-person meetings, which I don't even know if anyone can remember anymore This is becoming very routine for us. So it's great to be able to be together in person and virtually So we'll be doing the same voting procedure as we have before for those who haven't been with us before We are going to so we establish quorum. We have quorum And we will be doing voice votes for all of the items on the agenda Please only vote if you're eligible and you can unmute on zoom To express a voice vote if we do have a vote where there needs to be more of a count and it's not unanimous We'll make sure to go through to count each of the Nay votes presumably on zoom and then in the room they'll be able to count those by a hand raised So not so different from just everyone being in the room, but we'll start with a voice vote to see if we need to do any counts You can absolutely Message like I said the host for any logistical issues or any questions that are coming up on zoom as well And then people in the room Can raise their hands for questions Thanks. Yep. We can move forward Any I guess before we approve the the last meetings minutes Any other logistical items that I didn't mention but any Of the board members or Monica or Kelly and Kelly have to jump in with All right. Good. Well, then let's start out with approval of our minutes from the last pick last parish meeting October 30th last fall and We'll look for a motion to approve and if it's in the room someone needs to tell me it happened I Motion to approve the meetings from the October 30th parish meeting. All right Becky Burns. Thank you and a second I Second to so we've got a first and a second Gotcha. Okay I'll let and decide which one she wants to get her here. So Hannah Hannah Lee online for a second Good then All who are in favor, please come off mute and say I or say I in the room. I I And any opposed, please come off mute and say nay All right Nothing online and in the room You're good in the room. All right. Thank you That's our warm-up everybody Okay, all right, so nominees for FUS Board of Trustees and the Foundations Board of Trustees. So We have a we have a list this year. There are three of us rolling off the board in the coming year. So Myself Lorna Aronson and John McAvna are all rolling off of the board And I guess before we jump into new board candidates Huge thank you to John and Lorna who have brought a ton of a ton of wisdom and and hard work to the board and really really appreciate Everything that they've done. I think Lorna. This is her like fourth time serving on the board or something like that John served a six-year term and so really appreciate all of their work All right, let's move into new members that we would like to welcome on so first we have Chuck evenson as a board candidate very excited to To ask Chuck to be on the board and you can I will read through his bio here, but you can take a look at it on the screen Emily Smith is also a board candidate and I'll mention that Both Emily and Chuck served on the search committee that For when we called Kelly AJ and our third board board candidate is Ed Zappala and Ed has been involved with the interim ministry period a number of other things that FUS so Three candidates that were very very excited to To hopefully have on the board this year alright Then I will look for a motion to approve these three board members for three-year terms Motion in the room All right and a second You have a second in the room as well Okay wonderful When all in favor Please come off mute and say aye or say aye Enthusiastic eyes any opposed please say nay. Thank you and a report back from the room You're good. All right Lovely. Thank you and congratulations to our three new board members. We're very excited to have you be with us I see clapping in the room Wonderful Emily Cusack Putnam has been on the board for the last couple years and We would like to approve her to a one-year term as the board of trustees secretary That will bring her to the end of her first term So I will look for a motion to approve Emily into the secretary role Motion in the room. All right motion in the room and a second Second it is well All right. Thank you All those in favor, please say aye. Hi Hi And any opposed please say nay Report back from the room. Are we good to move on? All right. Thank you all. All right so another exciting portion of our meeting today is that we have a number of Youth that are interested in being involved with the board So many in fact that it's more than Then we generally have on the board. We don't absolutely want to encourage that enthusiasm. It's so wonderful to see So many of our coming-of-age folks wanting to be involved. So We have two youth board members and then a youth board liaison that will be Inviting to the board today. So ZZ Brandt Will be the youth board liaison That's not an official role in our bylaws. We don't need to vote on it, but we're excited to have her involved and ZZ is very excited about trying to bring teens together In in a youth group, and I think all of us are very excited about That enthusiasm and passion as well Then Miro Raffers is one of our official youth advisor candidates for the board of trustees So excited to to welcome her onto the board and also Mason Shadall Will be a youth advisor to the board of trustees as well. So really great to Have these voices in the room with us in the board of trustees meetings and really make sure that that we are Incorporating all generations into the decision-making and the discussions that take place at the board level So I will look for a motion again to vote on our youth board advisors Thank you Becky and a second second second All right, all those in favor, please say aye Hi And any opposed please say hey, all right and report back from the room. I heard some clapping so I'll assume good news Right Okay, we got to move on to it. Congratulations to our youth Board members and Advisors and liaisons very excited and we appreciate your participation All right, our last slate of candidates here is to approve The FUS foundations board of trustees members We have Kendall Harrison, Carol Sting and Kurt Steggy that we would like to vote on two three-year terms So I will entertain a motion again I so moves Well, all right in a second second Hannah second all those in favor, please say aye And any opposed please say nay Right nothing online and in the room. How are we doing? Do we have the aye votes in the room? We can't hear anything, okay. Thank you. All right wonderful Then I will welcome Connie beam To speak about the FUS foundation and give us the update I believe Connie's in the room Can you hear me online? We can thanks Connie. Okay But you you can hear me here. Okay. All right Wow, it's so great to be here. We haven't given a report to the congregation in about three years and So we're glad to actually have one in your hands today For those of you who don't know what the foundation is We are a 501c3 nonprofit corporation established by this congregation in 1973 and our purpose is to accumulate funds and Every invest them and then every year make a payment to the FUS Congregation to use for its programs and services some of our funds are restricted Some of our funds are not restricted So it just depends and if you look at the report in front of you You can see that we have at this stage in the game We have about three point three million dollars in assets and so every year we pay out about five percent of That market value to FUS to use for their intended purposes You can further see down on the bottom how those distributions Are are put into the budget of FUS? So you can see that facilities gets about thirty five percent programs twenty three percent social justice seven percent General operations twenty seven and use in campus eight percent Our current distribution to this year's budget the fiscal year twenty three is as you can see they're a hundred and seventy seven thousand five hundred and forty seven Next year's contribution is going to be about the same because Of the very poor returns that we had Last year the year before was spectacular The following year was lousy and this year we're on track to do somewhere in between those two not not lousy But not as good as the year before So some of our funds are restricted as you as I said Some some are not and so we leave it up to the board of trustees and the staff to plug the money in Where it's intended to go and to serve the best purpose it can so if you have any questions, I'm happy to Answer them if anybody has any questions a question the general rate of return is Peter help me I Actually have that number I Just a second Every year we make a report to the FUS Board of Trustees and in that report we Tell you what the rate of return is and let's see Last year our total assets were down 16 percent and So our rate of return is the year before was a record breaking 30 percent and Then last year it was Lot less It was negative absolutely and you can see that on the on the audited numbers. It was negative But I didn't actually calculate the actual percentage of return because it was so terrible, but you can see The numbers that it was a loss and we don't anticipate a loss this year Yeah, we anticipate it will be back up again this year I Guess also it's good to tell you that we do not fundraise the foundation does not fundraise We are not in competition with the FUS society to raise money for its annual budget We merely are here to accept contributions to people who want to make a gift Primarily after they've gone through their estate so that if you make a gift to the foundation That money gets invested and you will continue to make an annual gift to the foundation. I Don't want to say forever because nothing is forever, but for as long as we can Make it work. So if you have any questions You can see our names are on the report my phone number is there. We have a page on the website you can look at I'll be posting the audited financial statement there very shortly and Please feel free to get in touch with us if you're interested. I think there was there a question Online I see Lori not but also bouncing a baby. I Was wondering about the The audio went poor during the presentation and I wasn't certain about the I heard that the 15 percent decrease in the last year's Budget and then there was something mentioned about the year before was that a 30 percent increase and What are we basing an increase or decrease on the year before the year after Okay, so our return on our return on investment two years ago was a loss of 30 percent because the market was horrendous in that year and that's a consistent across the board We are not the only ones who lost that kind of money and then I'm sorry that one Now I'm getting all mixed up. So this that was last year that we lost 30 percent the year before that We actually made 30 percent. It was really it was just an incredible year You don't you don't hear about returns of 30 percent. That's Crazy And then to have the next year be such a lousy year was The correction to the market and so this year this that we're currently in we anticipate a Normal year if we'd be nice if we could make somewhere between six to eight percent return that would be lovely We'll see how it goes Thank you. Thank you Okay, Paul No, we did not it was two years ago. We lost the 30 percent. I was not prepared to talk about this was I We had a 30 percent return on investment in fiscal year 21 Okay, the following year fiscal year 22. We had a dramatic bounce back and we made back most of that loss No, you're right I shouldn't be talking about things right now because my life has been kind of a roller coaster lately And so I'm messing things up terribly. I'm gonna go at this one more time to clarify and I'll read you from the report after spectacular 30 percent return on investment in fiscal year 21 the foundation saw a spectacular loss in fiscal year 22 consistent with dramatic returns across the market That's accurate. I am so sorry. I don't mean to make this confusing Elizabeth I'm just looking at the Janet stone cipher ministry fund and wondering if anybody knows When is the next time we'll have a ministerial in turn? It's a great question The larger issue is that there is a very small pool of folks interested in you you parish ministry Two years ago. The number of people interested in parish ministry was five Across the denomination this past year. It was eight So we have a dramatic decrease people are going into seminary. They want community ministry They want chaplaincy. They want justice ministries. They have no interest in being in a parish and So we have let both Meadville Lombard. No, that is where Karen Karen came from We've let Meadville Lombard. No and the UUA. No that we are interested in having interns again the pool of people interested is Incredibly tiny and the majority of them are geographically bound to their current location So we're not sure when we'll have an intern again Okay, Susie. I just want to know about the micro So several years ago There was a fundraising initiative here at F us to raise money to invest specifically in micro finance and It was a very successful campaign. I think they raised about $13,000 and the foundation agreed to match that up to $10,000 so we started out with $23,000 some change and we selected a couple micro finance organizations to invest in and It's changed a little bit over the years and right now we are we have all of those funds invested with WCCN which stands for working capital for community needs they invest in micro finance projects primarily in Latin America and It's the only fund that we hold that is restricted only by how it's invested Everything else goes into our investment Program, but these funds which are now up to 28 or 29,000 Are invested specifically in micro finance? We do it'll be coming up due to be renewed again I think next March and we will review that investment and see if we want to stick with WCCN or if we want to choose another micro finance Institution to invest with Connie we have a question online here. Laurie if you want to come off mute Sure, I was wondering if we could have an update on socially conscious investing because of the concerns that Continue to come up in all investment companies that they seem to invest offshore and that that's counter to our UU principles The way some a fair amount of mainstream investment companies are functioning Sure Laurie, thank you for that question We have investigated socially responsible investing You can call it SRI you can call it ESG investing you can call it a whole lot of different things And in fact 20% of our portfolio is currently invested in a socially responsible fund It's an ongoing question that we discuss very regularly and We are really in We are really in a spot where we're searching for ESG or SRI funds that we can trust We did have the president of the UUA common endowment fund speak to us last July and The fact of the matter is is that and they are totally invested in SRI and ESG funds But they their return is lower than ours by a full two percentage points on average and so as we Continue to explore investing in socially responsible funds It's going to be really important for us to analyze the funds that we feel are going to give the kind of return That we need because we don't want to see our annual contribution to the to the church decline so That's a tough one and one that we have in front of us front and center So Connie the question also had to do with offshore investing and that's a completely different question really than socially responsible because much of the foundation is indexed and virtually any large capitalization company is worldwide so you're going to have some You know of the investments overseas you know If you want to have a further discussion on that I would suggest that you attend one of our board meetings We we meet four times a year We talk regularly about obviously that's our job is to make sure our funds are invested profitably So if you're really interested in pursuing that a little bit more, please please come and see us and We'll chat more When is the next meeting? July The Second Monday in July second Tuesday in July it'll be on the I'll put it in the red floors Seven o'clock here at FUS and Actually, that is our annual meeting. We have an annual meeting every July and we elect officers And we always post it to the whole congregation So you're all aware of that meeting and anybody we we encourage people to come So Thank You Connie and Thank You Connie for all the work that you do for the foundation. We really appreciate it All right, then I am going to turn it over to Monica to Share a little bit with us about the budget Before we vote on it So hopefully you have the information there in your packets and she will share a little bit more Monica. Are you there? And I'm here can everybody hear me I Sound good in the in the room. Great. All right. Well, I am Monica Nolan I have been asked to present on behalf of the board of trustees and the finance committee about the proposed 23-24 budget which they'll ask you to vote on shortly And before we begin I'd invite you to join in a moment of centering as We bring ourselves fully into this time And we join together intentionally in community and in pursuit of our shared principles and In particular, I'd ask you to notice any anxiety that may manifest in your body as we talk about FUS's finances Staying aware of your own money story and the glasses we wear when we think and feel through subjects of material resources. I Believe that awareness has the potential to be both powerful and transformational Okay, so I know you all don't have the benefit of a cat on your lap Just a couple of you lucky folks are joining us virtually I do so I am fully blissed out and ready to to move forward I hope y'all are doing good in the room so in your parish packet and Momentarily on the screen. I will we can see the proposed budget for 23-24 and In essence the operating budget supports $1.8 million worth of programs and services that aim to support you in your personal and or spiritual development and Connects you with others who are aiming to be a force for good in the world Now looking first at the income side of the equation How do we estimate how much we anticipate receiving next year? And the answer is that we rely very heavily on historical data, especially two-year averages Exceptions to that do exist when we have credible reasons to believe that actual income will be more or less next year than recent averages so for example we We generally use that two-year average of actual income to help us anticipate how many pledge payments will receive from members However, for next year's budget our two-year average is from two pandemic years which were also two years of ministerial transition and Income therefore reflects a very particular set of circumstances that we believe contributed to lower than average pledge income Other congregations of all faiths have reported similar pledge payment declines during the pandemic in particular So this piece of the puzzle is not unique to us but after discernment with the finance committee the board of trustees has decided that The two-year average Plus an additional 5% or $55,000 to reflect anticipated pledge income increases next year is prudent so as of May 11th 10 days ago, we had 347 pledge units totaling nearly $742,000 which is approximately 22 pledges and $9,000 more than last year at this time So obviously we're hopeful that the positive uptick continues especially because Next year when we're budgeting I'm sorry next year next the budget that we're looking at there aren't any one-time sources of income that are projected So let me explain a little bit more about that We've received half a million dollars in government assistance over the past three years Which paired with the nearly one million dollars that we've received in pledge annually In pledges pardon me has allowed us to avoid program and personnel cuts during the pandemic years However, FUS has already acquired all pandemic related government financial assistance We received two rounds of PPP funds and an employee retention credit And therefore next year we don't have the hundred thousand to two hundred thousand K That we've been able to rely upon these last three years Given this The primary manner in which we have balanced the budget or proposed balancing the budget is like All years and recent memory by leaning on cash reserves So at the beginning of next fiscal year We estimate we'll have two hundred and eighty five thousand dollars in unrestricted cash remaining and this year Discoming fiscal year where we were proposing using a hundred and seventy five thousand of that cash to help balance the budget And that means that we anticipate having approximately a hundred and ten thousand dollars remaining in those cash reserves by the end of June of twenty twenty four And by board policy a hundred thousand dollars is the minimum cash reserves that we'd like to maintain So unless that cash reserve is replenished We don't anticipate being able to tap into that income source in the coming year or two The use of cash reserves, we've talked about this before Unless replenished is not a sustainable long term solution Though it can be an effective bridge towards a future in which income increases And it has long been our hope that the reserve could last us until either our next capital campaign, which is anticipated to be launched in twenty twenty four And we hope to pay down the remainder of our building loan tied to that capital campaign, which will obviously then decrease operating expenses So there's that one option or we hoped those cash reserves could be a bridge to income increasing more sustainably and organically with operating expenses increasing annually and Income decreasing these reserves are dwindling as I've just explained So if income does not increase then we will need to pursue expense reductions in future budgets Before we zoom out and take a look at expenses I would like to remind us again of the larger context that we believe is impacting our finances So first we know challenges have been creeping up for many years at FUS as pledge units and total pledge dollars have dropped The departure of a long-term minister The interim ministry period and the start of a new ministry team have all had fairly standard impacts on our income It's very natural to recalibrate pledges during liminal periods So COVID struck and hurt nearly all religious institutions, especially smaller congregations But again, none of these circumstances are particularly unique to FUS But in light of the income elements, I just described program budgets or expenses are proposed to remain largely stagnant next year And if you look at the bottom line again, you can see the proposed budget in your packet You'll see that our expenses are projected to be only $500 more than this current fiscal year So there are no substantial changes to the expense side of the budget compared to last year There are four lines, however, that are lower than this current year's budget Those are the personnel line, which we're proposing decreasing by $8,000 Outreach offering projections by $5,000 Operating expenses by like software by $2,000 And worship expenses by $800 In addition, some disappointing news about the proposed budget is that there are no cost of living or staff compensation increases included And while we're very grateful that we've been able to maintain our current employment levels and intend to continue prioritizing staff retention throughout the next fiscal year Balancing a budget on the backs of staff is disheartening and it's unsustainable And we remain very proud of the actions the congregation underwent over the last half decade to ensure that all of staff's compensations, at least temporarily, were in line with FUS's policies and the UUA compensation standards However, we need to continue to increase income at a rate that allows us as an employer to keep up with the standard expense increases like annual cost of living adjustments But again, in order to do so, we will need to increase income or find other creative ways to cut expenses So what now? Almost done Though our circumstances may be typical, they are no less urgent or in need of congregational attention And the Board of Trustees, the Finance Committee and the staff leadership team wants to be clear that this is the sounding of an alarm bell This is a call to action in no uncertain terms We are very grateful to have a balanced budget proposed for next year We hope that you'll vote to approve it And we are very fortunate to have this coming fiscal year to discern how to balance the budget without the use of significant cash reserves anticipated Without anticipated one-time sources of income like the PPP and ERC funds I mentioned And we believe it will take detailed analysis, congregational discussion, soul searching And we will likely have hard decisions, challenging decisions to make together The Board of Trustees is optimistic about our congregation continuing to grow and deepen in its mission And we need your help We can't do this without you We believe we need to mobilize as a congregation to raise income by re-engaging members who have stopped pledging recently Requesting that those who are able to continue to increase their pledges annually to do so And to convert new members to donors A couple of other priorities for increasing income long-term include acquiring grant funds For example, we have a pending grant application with FEMA for $150,000 to support mostly capital and security-related expenses And also another means of long-term growth are via, as Connie mentioned, growing the foundations funds via legacy giving Obviously a portion of which are then distributed to FUS annually So in order to fulfill our mission and maintain our current level of programming, we will continue to prioritize staff retention as long as possible However, it is understood that if we do not improve income or receive a cash infusion over the next year And we have less than $100,000 in cash reserves that we will likely need to pursue expense reduction We have the remainder of this year to work on methods for fully funding FUS and its mission moving forward And we're optimistic that together we can create a sustainable budget that allows us to do the very important work that we are called to do So there you have it I will switch screens and project the budget for those of you that are looking virtually And again, thank you everyone for listening so intently and I will hand it back to Alyssa for a motion to vote Thank you Before we dive into a vote any questions on the budget for Monica or the board So just procedurally right we take a take the motion and then there's a discussion space after the motion is taken before the vote is actually Undergone right so thanks Kelly. All right. Yeah Motion to approve Got a motion in the room Thank you In a second Second Is that captured? All right I can't hear anything coming from the room right now But we have a motion in a second and so we will now open it up for discussion. All right, and we have we have a discussion point so Thanks Okay, so I only started reviewing this about four or five days ago And I was very very surprised to see no cost of living adjustment done considering we just went through a year with 8% inflation nationally Considering that the UUA is recommending 8.9% cost of living just cost of living not even like merit to all these people that have stuck with us through a pandemic And I just don't think it's sustainable. I don't think we should pass a budget that has no cost of living improvement It misses our ideals entirely. I mean look at our principles Look at where we stand on those These are the people that are enabling us to meet those principles and it's feels a little backstabby actually And perhaps even more important than that is that it's simply not sustainable If you were a new member or a potential new member walking through the door And you saw the staff being treated in a manner where they're not even being valued So that they could meet their rent payments I mean we know what the rent payments in Madison have been doing in the last few years right They're insane. The numbers are 15% or more in the rental market So it's just not reasonable to not have a cost of living adjustment Now I looked at I left my phone back there but I looked at the Midwest Consumer Price Index And it shows a month by month year over year graph So you can get some sense of what inflation is doing And if you look at the current numbers the very current numbers are 5% And so from that point of view I calculated out So a secondary issue I think about this budget is that there's a lack of transparency I don't really know how the money is truly being spent in where it's being put But so I just use the top level Our personnel numbers are 1.2 million Makes sense out of our 1.8 budget 1.2 of it is personnel That's what we live on and breathe on 5% of that would be $61,700 And 9% which is what the EUA is recommending is $111,000 We have reserves of $110,000 after all of this is said and done We should at a very minimum be putting 50% of that, the $61,000 to give people a 5% cost of living It's unreasonable to have zero for all these people and all the work that they've been doing for us Thanks So I actually want to put forth a motion I mean I want to continue discussion while we're right here But I want to put forth a motion that tells our board to go deeper into our reserves To spend the $61,000 at a minimum To go to a 5% cost of living increase And I really want it to be looked at to figure out if they can get it up to 9% Ideally through foundation I'd like the foundation to be helping us It's only through keeping our staff and keeping our staff motivated But just keeping them That we will be able to continue and to grow our membership that we need to grow in order to be able to make the pledges That are necessary to get us to back to where we are solvent So with that I just want to make that motion To dip further into our reserves And I would also like to request more transparency in the budget I'd like to understand more why we are where we are And how the money is being spent so far Yeah, the motion that I'm really making is that we have a minimum of 5% And we look at it and determine if we can get up to 8.9 What UU is looking the motion I'm looking for is that until okay well then I moved well I don't know that I want to accept the budget until we've had more discussion about is the thing so Just to for awareness the folks online can't hear anything going on in the room if they aren't on Mike So if you wouldn't mind repeating some of the comments there that'd be great You see like they can only hear what's said into the mic Oh, I see you heard everything that I said on the microphone. You didn't hear what people on the floor are saying Okay, you got it things back if someone wants to raise our hand That we probably can't do a second motion before is there a parliamentarian can someone tell me whether or not we can have a motion within a motion So Alyssa's the chair. What are you entertaining Alyssa? Yeah, so I think that This would probably be an amendment to the motion If there is a parliamentarian or an expert in Robert's rules in the room that would be great But I think that we could vote on we could certainly discuss and vote on an amendment To the budget And discuss that Any comments in the room or folks that I'm sorry. Thank you very much Thank you very much I'd like to know your name, please It's not on but yeah Yeah Can people up there hear me now? Can people on zoom hear me? Okay, I'm Rudy Moore I spend most of my time in education I've been teaching for the last 20 years or so since I joined in 2004 But I've been involved with FUS since about 1989 I was actually brought in by Ruth Gibson's daughter Rebecca Gibson Who is doing super well in North Carolina right now But she brought me in and I taught Sunday school in high school while I was in high school and in my early years of college Did the Channing Murray group where I know Sam and Elizabeth So I've got a lot of years with FUS and about 20 of actually being a member Thanks, Rudy Thanks, Rudy and thanks for your concern about this I'm coming to you Sandy Before we get to the question in the room, I'd also just ask that if there Are folks from the finance committee or board that want to comment on the use of cash reserves or Monica, of course Or the staff leadership team would Love to share more information about that Procedurally it would be appropriate for someone to second Rudy's Amendment to the motion which I'm glad to do And then we could discuss the amendment to the motion Then we would vote whether or not to accept the amendment to the motion And then we would discuss the budget in its entirety And then we would take a vote to accept or not the budget Perfect. Thank you So there's a second for the amendment To and to restate the amendment is to increase staff salaries by 5% using our cash reserves So we'll open that up for discussion Okay, so we have the we have at least one hand in the room here So my understanding is that the Motion for the amendment has been seconded so we can continue to speak To both so I'd like to propose a little bit of a counterpoint I fully support the notion of cost of living However, I'd like to know what our current membership is So that we know like literally Because those people need cost of living increases to I mean Like where can we draw from because I've already heard very clearly that we don't have cash reserves That if we spin them down in this year we will not have We can do it for this year but unless we plan for the future That feels very short-sighted to me as much as I On principle support this Idea of cost of living and so I guess I'd like to know membership numbers right now so that So that we have an idea of what proportion of people who are members are pledging Over the last couple years and how much like how much membership have we lost over the last few years So we know what we're actually dealing with in terms of people who can come up with income Who can come up with income Just because I hear a question about membership which is like a factual piece of information I can tell you the current membership figure that we reported in February was one thousand and fourteen adult members I don't have the figures over the last like three years to That does represent a decline as Monica alluded to from during the interim period Which again is normal if not desirable Monica I think there's also a question about the use of cash reserves and kind of what the cash reserves means Can you speak to that just to give people it because I know that there's a there's a use beyond rainy day Dollars that I just want to make sure everybody has the information about Yeah, I I believe so the policy was passed a year ago by the board to try to maintain a hundred and a hundred thousand dollars in cash reserves right And one of the reasons why that number was important was Because we do periodically have cash flow needs that in which we dip into that hundred thousand dollars You know that's sitting in our bank account much like many of us personally might have a five hundred dollar buffer in our checking account so that we don't overdraw it right We have a line of credit that we have maintained for the last at least seven years so there is a solution for that but it's not without its risks You know if we tapped into the line of credit temporarily due to cash flow issues With the you know anticipating we'd be able to pay it down and then we get we're hit with another pandemic that is that is a risk right So that is the reason why my understanding the hundred thousand dollar policy around maintaining cash on hand it exists if that's helpful Thank you Monica We've got another at least I see some sands in the room, so I'm just going to run to the first person I saw Kathy Luecker While I understand the interest in increasing staff salary I'm looking at the fundraising line and the fund and the Fund transfer line that's a hundred and forty thousand dollars That we are going to have this year if we can do the fundraising that we would not have last next year And that's that's really a big gap And so I guess I'm interested in understanding the thinking behind the budget That pushes all of that off for a year and doesn't deal with part of it this year And if we added the five percent increase that number would be larger I'm really concerned that in a year we're going to be in much worse shape Here's Paul Is there a question for me? So Monica, can you speak to Kathy's question? I would say the answer is yes. I mean I hope I hope what I shared and lifted up Echoes that yes, I mean that is all true We would have Again it's a bridge the cash reserves is the hope is that it's a bridge that brings us to a brighter financial future This buys us time It buys us time to Really buckle down and hopefully do all the things all the calls to action that we like we laid out for y'all So Kathy I echo your concern And I would I would say candidly that is why The board and finance committee and leadership team didn't immediately recommend cost of living is because we were prioritizing Staff retention in the short term in hopes that we can find a solution that allows us to maintain all staff and provides Increases, you know as time as time goes on next year. Hopefully Okay, I guess I understand that but I want us all to ask ourselves how realistic that is Thank you Thanks Kathy I don't know if anyone else is seeing chats here. So it's helpful if folks are chatting in to chat to all of the hosts But a couple questions here Can we clarify individual members versus pledging households so We have I forgot the exact number that you said Kelly of number of individuals 1014 is the individuals 1014 Versus having how many pledging units? I'm not sure if Monica if you have that information at your fingertips are not The number I have at my fingertips is is the one I lifted up a moment ago around how many pledge units we currently have You'd everyone real quick. Okay So as of 10 days ago we had 347 pledging units or pledging households that had pledged $742,000 And last year at this time we had 325 pledge units totaling 733 K. So in other words we have 20 We have more it more this year and I will say that We continue to acquire pledges over the course of the coming fiscal year, right? So there's we have 742 now, but we would anticipate that especially for those individuals that Not to pledge But make a pledge payment and then we interpret that intention from that pledge payment those role in the first quarter. So come July We continue to see a larger uptick Thank You Monica and either Nancy or Mark has a question they have their hand up Feel free to come off mute there Okay, so We heard that among the things that we might look forward to in the future which would improve our Income would be a successful capital campaign to reduce or eliminate the debt they the church still is carrying and I'm wondering how much You know of a resource with that free up And that you know and and what is the balance of that now and And is our Partial payments permitted so that you know that covers the normal questions around the alone of that coming So mark currently we pay we refinanced you might recall Three or four years ago now Which helped decrease the amount that with the pay down that we did from the last capital campaign So currently where you are you could see on your budget. We're paying 182 thousand dollars a year Towards the building loan or the mortgage And I I knew someone was going to ask this number and I meant to look it up But I want to say it's around three point two right now But I'd be happy to clarify via red floors until you directly via email We have a at least one question here in the room. So is it okay to come back to that Melissa. Yep Yep, go ahead All right Paul staying I'm but in the finance committee for a number of years so a couple of comments Someone made reference to the foundation. That's the payout on the foundations 5% So there's no tapping into the foundation The number that she's Connie's provided you is what will be Okay, so the foundation Payout is is 5% and so that amount as budget in here is what's set according to the foundation So there's no tapping into that amount of money Monica question for you You one of the budget items there you said as funds transfer one hundred percent items there you said as funds transfer one ninety three That's cash reserves right that's use of cash reserves Exactly discussion Q&A you made reference to one seventy five So in fact one night two seventy five cash reserves minus one ninety three leaves us with eighty two thousand So then we're a small portion of those Paul are from From the designated and restricted funds that we occasionally move over So it is the combination of the two Most of it the hundred seventy five is the cash reserves that we referenced Okay, so I want to remind folks most of you've been here while one roof repair on the landmark Center is easily a hundred thousand dollars Remember yeah the heads are nodding so they remember that so when you see less spin down the cash reserves One leaky roof over there is easily going to wipe out a hundred thousand and My understanding is it has the oldest continuously operating underground heating system In the ground in the United States, I believe anybody correct me on that and so We just don't know that could that system could go out anytime So cash reserves are very important for things unexpected like a leaky roof or the heating system the landmark center So folks all of us would love to give a nine percent raise We don't have the money period we don't have the money to do that Thanks, Paul This is Lori Kesswell You know I pledged and if I got a letter telling me that staff were getting absolutely no increases And would I be able to pledge a little more I would be open to that And I think there would be other people and it might not get us to five percent But has that been considered as an option to kind of reach out to people because it really it is disturbing And so that might help some Yeah, thank you The I'll just jump in with a comment here and I appreciate that comment I think that was what we were attempting to do with the Frequently asked questions in the budget packet, you know very clearly sounding the alarm But this is not a place that we can stay with our with our pledge income that's coming in I'll also just share for some transparency into the board conversation on this that We are also deeply troubled by not being able to give our staff Cost of living increases at least This is not where we want to be in any way The conversation that we actually were having during that board meeting was whether to Dip that far into cash reserves in a way that is absolutely not sustainable That's Action that we decided to take to ensure that we can keep all staff on staff And that is very important to us So the you know further spending of cash reserves Beyond you know kind of Putting some pretty big risks in front of us for not being able to Maintain our congregation And and deal with one-time expenses that come up In addition to that there's one year that we can do that Can't keep doing it if we spend on a cash reserve at this point There's just it would it's a way to kind of fill a gap for one year. So So I appreciate the comment about You know about increasing pledges That is absolutely the way to do this is increasing pledges And and trying to Trying to have more Members pledge increase their pledges and to give what they can Hi, my name is Sean It's I'm trying to do a quick math But if you take the amount you divide it by the number of households that was just spoken It's a hundred and seventy six dollars a household I'm not in any way being presumptive that everyone can do that in any way I grew up in a Catholic tradition They did stand up and they would say exactly that So I'm only saying that because that's the tradition I grew up in My daughter went to Chicago Liola this last year That's a hefty amount even though she got a scholarship She's not going there next year. She traded to UW Madison Go Badgers That changes what I have to pay So I for sure personally can change the amount that I pledged And so I just wanted to say that piece in that rough math that I just did So thank you Sean So I know there are more hands in the room Alyssa I'm looking to you for guidance about I mean I can keep finding people and I'm sure that I will Right And at some point presumably a vote has to be held on the amendment to the motion And so I just want to check in with you before I take the next circle of hands Yeah, I would just ask if there's any in any way So I think that would be wise to move to a vote If there's any other comments from Leadership team board or finance committee I just want to make sure that there's a chance to hear those Okay There are definitely hands in the room Okay Another sort that you address I guess here's the here's the the issue I'm trying to highlight right is that this didn't This did not get activated with a time limit on it Right Yep Which is fine I just also know that there's a limited amount of time that all the people in the room have All the people online Absolutely But without without a specific time limiting or someone calling the question I'm going to keep taking hands All right Okay Good So Kelly Yeah Thank you Let's call the question of the amendment And And move forward with the vote on the amendment That is out there Which again If I'm stating right does I don't know if and captured it but that is to spend down our complete cash reserves to give staff a 5% Cost of living increase So I think we have we have Let's clarify the amendment Well I don't want to move on to call the vote yet because I don't feel like the discussion has gone far enough as far as that goes But the amendment wasn't that the amendment was 5% which at 101.2 million is 61,000 Which leaves 50,000 in our reserves And I had a few more questions for Monica Okay so can we take the questions? Yep Great Okay so I have two questions You mentioned that we have a line of credit and I'd like to understand to the finance members question How much is in that line of credit would be available in case there's some kind of catastrophe Rudy I I'm gonna admit I don't know we've never utilized it on an annual basis some it reaches out to being says you sure you still want it I say yep I want to say 100,000 but that's probably just the number that's been in my head because I know that's what I would want Happy to look into it Was there a second part of your question or was there My point about the line of credit I mean nobody that wants to dump you know go into a line of credit in order to pay for an expense that can be planned for for certain But the kind of thing you're talking about in terms of a roof problem or such if it's not an insured event like a hail storm or something like that We know about lifespans we also know that that roof was recently replaced we also know about Frank Lloyd Wright's design acumen But I think that it I think it's eclipsed by the question of what is going to happen to our staff and this is my second part of my question for you Monica It's eclipsed by what's going to happen to our staff if we don't increase their pay by the cost of living change we are actually taking away from their pay their effective buying power is significantly less They're trying to make ends meet with the same amount that they had prior year but everything costs a lot more What have you done a complete poll of the staff to ask them what their effect is going to be of having their having no cost of living adjustment That's my question We haven't done a poll and Kelly Kelly feel free to chime in but we but we do have a sense of how this impacts different staff members in different ways Yeah, let me speak to that Rudy at least to address the spirit of the question The staff are aware of the budget that leadership team passed to the finance committee which fastest the board which is passing it to you now right so that that's the chain of development So staff are aware we've had a number of conversations I trust that we will continue to have more conversations both individually staff members to supervisor and then as the whole staff team I do not want to anyway sugarcoat it it's a very serious issue for the whole staff collectively and also for individual staff members I think you can probably I think you know probably appreciate that this is not good news for anyone to not receive a cost of living increase and it's dramatically more impactful depending on where your personal finances are Especially hard on people who make the least and then there are also other exigent financial things that can affect a person's situation even if you're not at the very lowest compensation level you can still be living in a Position where it's tenuous and the absence of a cost of living increase is significant so I want everyone to hear the seriousness of this for the staff and I know that leadership team will follow the will of the congregation because that's our job right so that's that's not in question I do want to highlight that we we passed this budget on eventually reached you not because we felt like it was a good idea to not give compensation compensation increase to the staff I mean that's we're we are very disappointed about that I am personally I have a personal deep amount of shame about it this is the first time in my career that I've been a minister of congregation that hasn't at least provided a cost of living increase to its staff I'll just say from my perspective is one of the three people who helped build this budget it from my perspective it's between this and cuts to personnel and it is verbal one year for one year to not do that if it was going to if I thought that we couldn't then increase revenue then the right thing would to do would be to make the cuts now and I I do need you to I do I need people to have the information that boxed into you have to spend this amount of money but there's known there's no special additional revenue provided to pay that expense that does potentially increase the likelihood that we have to make cuts to the staff team in order to fund the necessary increase in because it's what the parish has told us to do in staff compensation does that make sense I mean is that the logic of that work it's very very sad logic that I'm not happy about but I want to be clear that that's the predicament we feel we find ourselves in thank you Kelly yeah I think I want to highlight that point too but I think this is that we the board is not happy about the budget but our confident that that the budget reflects done an honest picture of where we are right now I think this is an income issue not a budgeting issue that that you know that it is up to the congregation to decide whether we can have that sustainability built in in the form of of pledges and of course you know past passing a budget but that we agree to but I do think that without having additional income it puts us into some some dangerous territory for our congregation and our personnel like you said Kelly all right that I have a shout out from Liza Monroe to ask to call the question which I believe procedurally means to take an immediate vote on whether or not to take a vote right yeah got it all right that's what's being called for okay we will take a vote on whether to take a vote so those in any other procedural comments there in the room okay so sorry little little bit of little bit of making sure that we're following appropriate process in the room thank you Sandy has very helpfully pointed out that you don't need to you don't need to actually vote on calling the question unless there's an objection we have at least one objection so that is necessary by my understanding of calling the question please someone correct me if I'm wrong is that it means we are voting on whether or not to move to an immediate vote on the amendment not on the body of the budget but on the amendment because that's the thing that's on the floor right now is that clear to folks I see some head nods in the room great thanks Kelly and can we have someone read the amendment word for word before before we vote on voting on the amendment please do you have language captured and is acting as our secretary today and taking minutes for us excuse me I'm very sorry okay we are taking a motion to tell the board of trustees to go deeper into the reserves up to the limb up to the 5% increase of living thanks and all right all right those in favor of moving to a vote on the amendment please say I I I those opposed please say me so we have some nays in the room but by by my ear the eyes have it okay all right then we will take a vote on the amendment which we had a motion and a second for so all sorry oh those in favor of passing the amendment do we need to read it again yes one more time please I'm hearing that thank you yep thanks the amendment is a motion to tell the board of trustees to go deeper into our cash reserves up to the amount of 5% thanks and 5% cost of living increase for staff yes okay all those in favor of passing the amendment please vote I say I I you need to vote take the hands of people here we're going to need to count yep so we have three eyes online only three is it Hannah Mark and Nancy can we moved sorry and Carol and John John actually can't tell if you're he's holding up his real hand thumbs up yes thumbs up count in the room Alyssa yep definitely so go ahead and count the eyes before we move into the naval raise your hand if you're an eye online just keep keep those hands up to if you are able to do the hand raise function by going into participants clicking on the three dots next to your name and raising your hand six see 22 I in the room and we have four sorry five online please if I don't call your name and your voting I let me know so we have Mary Lee Hannah Mark Nancy and John voting I on the amendment Carol Carol Carol Carol so six online can we move to enable we can in the room okay all all those opposed to the amendment please say nay and raise your hand day day day so keep your hands up please online get your hand we can get a vote okay 35 in the room 35 in the room and for folks counting Mark you still have your hand raised Nancy and Mark did you both vote to approve the amendment yes we did okay thank you let's get rid of that hand no worries folks can feel free to meet although I love that dog do we have a count online 12 what do you count 12 I count 7 I counted 12 as well let's can you read off who you have counted or should I should I read off Monica or Jenny do you have a can you read off who you have counted I don't I don't know I don't know Jenny has anything recorded I was just looking at screen and no Tim Conroy Bergen and Becky Rachel and Terry so there's two I see Bacon and Kurt two votes Kurt and Tim Chuck keep moving around one because Kurt had to leave just one for Kurt and Tim no you don't need any hands up now I have 14 okay that's what I got also you online? Michael Ryan-Joy is also voting. Judy Troyer, Lori Schwartz, Jake and Ann. I didn't hear you say my name. Oh, who was that? And Gwen Pine. 18. Okay. And Dory. Yes, 18. 18. Okay. 18 NA votes online. And then 35 in the room. Great. And anybody, anyone abstain from voting, feel free to come off mute and just say that. Okay. I do. Jackie, thank you. Can we read off the total numbers and get a chance to capture that? Yeah. Do we have the eyes online again? That was, was it seven? No, 18. The nays were 18. Six. So I think I believe it was 28 in total. Was it 22 in person and eight, sorry, six virtual equals 28. And for nays, was it 35 in person and 18 virtual, so 53. And then what abstention? I'm sorry. Do you, so the totals for eyes is? 28. 28 and the total nays. 53. Okay. So the, the motion for the amendment does not pass. Then we still need to vote on the budget. So to approve the budget. And we have a motion and a second for approving the budget. Let's move to. Move back to discussion on the original motion, right? Yep. Original motion. I've got at least one hand in the room here. Okay. We'll take a few more comments on that. Okay. So I think people are mostly upset about perhaps not being able to meet the 100,000 reserves and that they didn't want to go into those reserves. So like trying to nitpick and try and get into a smaller number and smaller number or whatever. I have an alternative that would be a different way that I'd like to put a motion forward for this. This budget has a spending, has a pledge in amount of $1 million, basically, which we haven't met yet. It's currently at a variance, like I think she said 742 is the number that I think is currently met. What I would like to propose is that if we get pledges over so we can put out some kind of campaign, at least to tell people that we have balanced our budget on the backs of our staff, we can phrase it nicer than that, but that's effectively what we're doing. My suggestion is this, whatever amount up to that 5% number that we get over $1 million should be given as a bonus pro rata to our staff at the end of the year. So effectively it's a bonus above and beyond whatever they would normally be getting that would be limited to that amount of that 5% increase. It's not as great because people need to be able to rely on their salaries, but at least it shows them that we're not just throwing them by the wayside in order to balance our budget. Presumably if they walk out, we're going to be going to the temp services to fill their spaces or maybe by doing a 10% cut, we are effectively cutting our people by a back door method of letting them walk out before we actually just remove their position. But regardless, I feel like this is a reasonable way. If we are above our budget anyway in terms of our pledges, then we can take that money and divide it among our staff to show them that we actually do care about them. I second the motion. I'll rephrase it. I'm going to rephrase it for transcription benefit because I think the other one got a little confused. Any amount received from pledges above the budgeted amount, which is $1 million, up to 5% of the salary number, so there's a cap at the top, will be given to our staff per rata per their salaries as a cost of living bonus effectively. I second the motion. Nancy better shows. How do you do on capturing that, Ann? Do you feel like you got the language? We're asking a lot of you, so I'll pause and just check in and make sure you got what you need before I move on. Thank you. Motion is captured. So we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I call the question. Nancy better shows. I would ask. We'll start on the room and then Nancy's called the question, so then we'll vote on it. The motion provider, how to compensate for the fund transfer loss in the next year? Well, if we increase the staff line, which I'm not necessarily against, we're still looking at $118,000 loss the next year with the fund transfer. So how would you compensate for that? Sounds like a question to you, Rudy. Well, there's a problem with this budget in that it's not transparent exactly what that fund transfer is. Monica, can you explain that a little better for me? So the fund transfer is just the moving of cash reserves into the operating budget. The $193,000 that we're receiving this year is for this year's budget, and my proposal is for this year's budget. And the difference that you're talking about, the fact that we're not going to have $193,000 next year is not part of my motion, nor is it part of what we've got elsewhere. We're going to have to solve that problem before the next budget comes out. But my point is about our staff and keeping our staff from walking out and keeping our staff basically taking care of them the way our religion tells us that we should be taking care of them. Got it. Oh, we've got another hand in the room. We have had someone call the question online. Okay. I guess my hand was raised before that. So I just wanted to clarify the amendment. Initially, when we talked about the amendment, it was up to 5%, and then when you just read the amendment, there was no cap. So I'm asking, are we doing that amendment up to the 9% increase? Because that would be my recommendation. I like the idea of the 9%, but what I meant to read the first time was 5%. Mostly because I want to have a cap because if we make more, then that goes to that $118,000 shortfall that we get. And hopefully we will end up with more as we get more pledges over the course of the year. And as we hopefully draw a new membership to, we've got to bring our membership up, obviously. Maybe we could clarify that because when you read it out the second time for the motion, I didn't hear that cap. So that might be me. She's got it. Okay. So it sounds like seeking clarification. The clarification is the cap on this one-time bonus to staff is a maximum of a 5% increase over their current salary. I think you can, but that's actually a different motion because the amendment came from one person, but they meant it too. I'm totally confused. I just have something I want to say while I'm cleaning up in the kitchen. So I just want to get a chance to say it. We struggle financially at home and in doing what's best for our children. And we had to make cuts to our programming of our family to make sure that mom and dad were happy and healthy so that our family could be happy and healthy. And I'm interested in knowing what else in the budget and in our programming could be cut so that our staff can be happy and healthy because they literally hold this place together. And I think that everyone that voted no to that cost of living, which includes me, I voted no. I think you should get your butts in here and volunteer for shit. Thanks, Laney. There is a question here about what what else basically is in the budget. I mean, I can speak to that. I feel like your best position to speak to it, Monica. But what's your pleasure? I mean, it's a it's a long answer. And I'm not sure we have the time for it. But our budget supports our programming and our personnel and operational costs. And we have worked over many years to whittle those expenses down as much as we possibly could. That doesn't mean there's not always room for creative ideas. It's just I'll talk to the back. Hold on one second. Let me help you. It's it's a challenging line of thought because many minds have have tried to tackle that problem already. And this is the suggestion that we're coming up with. In other words, golly, if there was other things to cut, we certainly would have put that first. This is, you know, not doing cost of living increases is a last resort. I would just I just want to echo that. I feel very deeply the desire to find the money somewhere else. Our our best sense is that we have successfully trimmed the areas that the congregation spends money in other than staff to the point where there would be a very, very profound change drop in program program possibilities like what we can do. If we made any significant cut any measurable cut that would like help us with this shortfall from those areas. You can you're still empowered to come back and tell us to do it anyways. But as Monica said, this is this is the budget we turned in, because this was the absolute least bad thing we could think of to do. And it's back like it's bad, like there's no disagreement in the room, I think that it's bad. So anybody can come and sit. Well, anyways, that's what I have to say. Yeah. And so I am going to jump in here I know there are still a number of folks who would like to share we're also creeping up on a fairly late time for our parish meeting. And I am worried about losing quorum to not even be able to vote on this. So I'd like to move to a vote on the second amendment or sorry on the second amendment on the on the second amendment that Rudy put forward. So we have a motion and a second and can you please read the amendment again. I'll give you a microphone and any amount above 1 million up to 5% will go as bonus to staff at the end of the year. Thank you, and all those in favor of this amendment to the budget. Please. Say I I I So if you could please keep your hands in the air. Thank you so much. We've we're voting on the amendment is my understanding. This is the amendment. Yeah. 17 17 online and is there a count in the room? Hey, yes, 42. 42 in the room. Okay. Those opposed, please say nay. Nay. If you could please raise your hands so we can count. Folks that voted aye, please make sure to put your hands down. Yeah, 13. 13, okay. What's my number? 13, yes, 13. 13 and there's four here. Okay. So that is 59. Ayes and 17 in the room. Any abstain? All right. Then this motion for the amendment carries. Abstention online. One abstention online. Thank you. And I will just comment on that, but let's make it happen then. This is up to the congregation now. So great. Thank you. All right. I'd like to move to a vote on the budget with the amendment. Obviously in place. And the budget has, we've had a motion and a second. All those in favor of approving the budget as amended, please say aye. Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye. Aye, aye, aye. And according to the room, can we do a voice vote for nays? Let's do a voice vote for nays to determine whether we need to do a full count. So those opposed to approving the budget as amended, please say nay. Come off mute and say nay. I don't see any online. I think Tim, Mark, and Nancy were not nay votes, right? You were aye votes for the budget approval as amended. Okay. Any nays in the room? No. Okay. And the budget's approved. Okay. I'd like to abstain. Oh, I'm sorry, Lori. Sorry. Yeah. Any abstentions? Yeah. I would also like to abstain. Jake Blaschke. Thanks. Two abstentions online. Any in the room? Are we ready to move on in the room? Any abstentions? Two abstentions. Okay. So four abstentions total. Thank you. Okay. I know we are running late for things. So thank you for folks who are sticking with us and appreciate the discussion on the budget and especially the care and concern for our staff. I know that that is something that we all care deeply about and really appreciate the discussion there. I would like to move into vision and mission statement probably without much presentation here. So I think Emily's in the room. Emily, if you want to move into sharing our final vision and mission statement, this is something that we need quorum to vote on. So if folks can stick around for a couple more minutes, that would be great. So Emily, I will hand it over to you. I think we lost quorum. Thank you, Alessa. Yep. Can you hear me online? Yes. Excellent. I will keep my presentation about the statements very brief. There are two points that I would like to highlight about the statements that the task force and by extension the congregation worked on over the last church year. The first is that we wrote these statements by a congregational process. There was a period of feedback and input in October and November that allowed the task force to develop the draft statements. And then in March, we shared with you draft statements and asked for your feedback. Again, you provided very thoughtful feedback. We really appreciate it. It's important to me and I think to the task force overall that these statements were developed by incorporating as many voices as possible and not by one or two people sitting on their own in a room. So thank you all for the input you provided to help us develop these statements. I hope you see it reflected in the statements we have for you. The other point I wanted to make is that the work of these statements does not stop with our vote today. If we approve these statements in order for them to do their job, we have to choose to live into them. They need to inform the work that we do as a congregation for the years to come. And so that is my ask to you all is that if we vote to approve these statements, that we all work together to make them a reality. So with that said, I will read the statements that we have. Our proposed vision statement. The vision of First Unitarian Society is to be a community of belonging. Through the practices of welcome, deep listening, and compassionate, authentic connection, we will create radical possibilities for transformation in ourselves and society. We envision a world fueled by love and justice. And our mission statement, at First Unitarian Society, we question boldly, listen humbly, grow spiritually, act courageously, and love unapologetically. I want to clarify very briefly. I think, so the mission statement stayed the same between the drafts that we presented in March and what we are proposing now. The vision statement was edited slightly. I believe this is the draft, not the final proposed vision statement. I have the, I think I can share here. Yeah, just a second. I think I can anyway. Are folks able to see that? Can you see it? It looks good to me. So you have the draft statement up top, and then the proposed final statements at the bottom. Yep. Does that look right, Emily? It does look right. Thank you for sharing that, Alyssa. Thanks. So they are, the statements are pretty close together. It's the addition of a couple words, the removal or repositioning of a couple words. I can read the vision statement one more time. The proposed final vision statement is, the vision of First Unitarian Society is to be a spiritual community of belonging. We will transform ourselves and society through the practices of radical welcome, deep listening, and compassionate, authentic connection. We envision a world fueled by love and justice. Thank you, Emily. All right. And I believe we still, I believe we still have quorum with folks in the room and folks online. So if there is a motion to approve the vision and mission statement, we'll take that. I move to accept the vision and mission statements with great applause and deep love. I think these are wonderful. Thank you, Nancy. Moved with deep enthusiasm for the vision and mission statements. And a second? I second. Judy, thank you. Any brief discussion? Then all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you. Aye. Aye. And any opposed, please say nay. No nay is here. Anything in the room? Nope. All right. Then the motion carries. Huge thank you to, huge thank you to Emily and the whole mission and vision task force for their hard work. They have poured so much passion and energy into these statements. And it's very exciting to carry us forward in our mission and vision here at First Unitarian. Thank you. All right. Then I believe we're at closing Kelly if you can close us out here. Kelly, I take. Thanks, Alyssa. Thank you all for staying so long. I'm going to just tell you that the next thing in this room is a special concert being given by local artist and scholar, Quanda Johnson. So you stay this long. If you want to hang out for a little while more, that's starting at four. And here is a reading from Jill Beth Sweeney Shullface. We are fragile. We are not broken. We are imperfect. We are not flawed. We are curious. We are not confused. We are vulnerable. We are not weak. We are of this earth and yet the divine lives in us. When I feel as if I am going to break, I am the most human. And when I embrace my fragility, I let you into my imperfect world. Thank you for your time, energy and care. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you, everyone.