Greetings Fellow Congregants,

The Annual Vote has concluded: you’ve approved the budget, elected members to the Board, the Nominating Committee and the Church’s independent Foundation.  All nominees on the ballot ran unopposed. Thank you to all who voted! 

First Unitarian Church of Portland–2018 Annual Vote

Total Ballots Received – 436

Board Of Trustees	Votes	Nominating Committee	Votes
Mindy Clark	422	Jessica Eller-Issacs	420
Cindy Cumfer	422	Julie Grice	425
Ryan Deibert	422	Pat Malone	425
Theo Harper	427	Betsy Riddell	428
Barbara Morrison	423	Mark Turpel	421
Foundation Board of Stewards		Operating Fund Budget
Pierre Provost	417	Yes	426
		No	7
		Blank	3

With the improvement in our financial results, we have been able to increase some staff salaries.  Our Executive Team* is among those who received increases. A special salary committee reviewed their salaries and made recommendations to the Board on increases.  The salaries and some of the data used to make the recommendations will be posted later in May.  For a link, please check back on this page or the Church’s Finance Committee page.

We held our final Board forum this month and reported on the outcomes of our four major goals for the year.  They were focused on debt reduction, fund raising, holding regular board forums in support of transparency, completing policy revisions, and working on issues of power and privilege as they manifest in our Board work.  We made excellent progress on most of these.

However,  the work we undertook on power, privilege, and white supremacy culture revealed that we have a great deal of room for improvement.  Even with a focus on these issues which included education and training, it was apparent that we fell short. We are blessed to have board members willing to speak frankly about the dynamics of power and privilege, and its impact on our work and on their participation.  It is, however, a heavy burden to carry as individuals. We as a board are committed to continuing our focus on exploring these issues, identifying problematic behaviors and taking responsibility for changing them. We will be talking more about what we are doing in the coming year.

The 2018 Creating Connections Auction was a success!  Thanks to all who participated with special thanks to Evie Zaic and Sharon Dawson who chaired it again.  With the auction’s success, chancel accessibility improvements will begin soon. This will mean that our summer services will be held in the Eliot Chapel. Due to the size of the chapel, we will continue with two services during the summer this year. Look for more information in the eNews.

This is my last letter as your Board Moderator. The past two years have been both a challenge and a blessing for me.  Working through the challenges has deepened my appreciation of the skill and leadership my fellow board members and our ministers bring to the table.  I feel blessed to be a part of such a dynamic team and to be a part of this church.

 

Cheers,

Randy Russell

Moderator First Unitarian Board of Trustees

*The Executive Team (or ET) includes our Senior Minister, Bill Sinkford; Associate Minister, Tom Disrud; and our Church Administrator, Kathryn Estey.