Recap of the 9/28 COM Meeting
As I have stated before, COM meetings are
open to anyone. We meet the 4th Monday of the month at 7PM. COM is the governing body of the UPL, the place where decisions are made and guidance is provided to committees
and groups.
As usual, we started with Reports and Information. This is a time for sharing and synchronizing efforts. Andy reviewed his last activities
and shared his plans, which included training session for the Lay Pastors and a visit by Rabbi Alpert on Nov 7. PPRC updated us on the Sabbatical Planning subcommittee. Several other committees provided updates (see
the forthcoming minutes for details).
The rest of the meeting focused on identified
Old and New business, which included a final report from Judy about the banner updates (the logo we use is technically inaccurate
and Judy was able to correct that). Greg reviewed the efforts of the Real Estate
Subcommittee, researching options if the Burrs decided to purchase a home (which they have decided against at this time). I went over the status of the Visioning surveys, and explained that I did not received
sufficient feedback, so will be asking the congregation one more time. (Be Prepared!)
Then we talked about the budget process,
and addressed the elephant in the room. The Gallagher House costs us about $1,000
a month, money we all would rather spend on missions and our employees. Money
we must divert until such time as we sell the building. The congregation has
already authorized the sale, the question is timing. The three committees charged
with planning our buildings future have recommended that we hold off until early next year to place the house on the market,
on the belief that the market will have stabilized. (It will take years for the
housing market to recover.) There was a lot of emotion and angst in the conversation, and clear discomfort that we cannot
fund programs as we would like because of this expense. We decided to gather
detailed information on the costs and projected sale amount at different times in order to determine when to sell the building
so that UPL maximizes the benefit over the long term.
This is the type of issue we tackle at
COM. We look at problems from the point of view of several committees and Andy
ensures we keep a faith based approach. We try to act as stewards. “It’s what you do with what you’ve got”.
This topic will come up again on Oct 26. Come join us in the Chapel and
participate in how we make decisions.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Gale – Moderator.
