WARNING – Annual Meeting on May 22, 2022

•

For the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier (click here to read the full 2021-2022 Annual Report – edited on 5/19 to include page numbers)

To be held on Sunday May 22, 2022 at 11am in the Sanctuary and via live video or phone through Zoom (For zoom, join using the “Join Worship” button at ucmvt.org)

All official church members can vote at the Annual Meeting.

AGENDA

  1. Welcome
    1. Review protocols for hybrid in-person/virtual meeting
    2. Confirm Quorum
    3. Election of meeting moderator
    4. Approve the Agenda
  2. Chalice Lighting, In Memoriam
  3. Update from the UCM Governing Board
    1. Air Quality Project Update
  4. Update from the ET
  5. Approval of Minutes from Annual Meeting, 5/16/2021
  6. Approval of Minutes from Special Meeting 6/6/2021
  7. Approval of Minutes from Special Meeting 2/13/2022
  8. Approval of the General Fund Budget for the FY 2023 church year
  9. Approval of the Capital Fund Budget for the FY 2023 church year
  10. Proposed Bylaw Changes
  11. Election of three members to serve on the UCM Board (each for a two-year term)
    1. Mary Alice Bisbee
    2. Joel Dennison 
    3. Fran Dodd
    4. Hugo Liepmann
  12. Election of Officers to the UCM Board
    1. President – Meredith Warner
    2. Vice-President – Vic Guadagno
    3. Secretary – Ansel Ploog
    4. Financial Officer – Fran Dodd (if elected)
  13. Recognition of Staff and Volunteers
  14. Conduct any other new business
  15. Adjourn

______________________________________________________

 

Additional Links & Information

______________________________________________________

Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws (Proposed by Joel Dennison) (also submitted in the Annual Report)

Proposed amendment to Article 8 (Executive Team): 

“The church building should be generally open for worship services, small group meetings, and official UCM events. In the event of a natural disaster, health crisis, war, or other circumstance that could make in person meetings unsafe, the Executive Team may suspend in person use of the church building for up to 30 days. Closures extending more than 30 days must be voted on by a special meeting of the Congregation. If a quorum is not present at the special meeting, then the use of the building will revert to the decision of the Executive Team, until another special meeting is called.”

Proposed amendment to Article 6 (Board), section 1 (Duties of the Board)

“Minutes of the Board are made available to the Congregation”

To be replaced by

“Minutes or recordings of meetings of the Board, ET, and any groups commissioned by either which impact or advise church operations, are made available to the Congregation.”

______________________________________________________

What to expect from our first HYBRID MEETING

What is a hybrid meeting? A hybrid meeting is when there are people present both in the sanctuary and on-line.

What should I expect if I attend by zoom or in-person?

For those of you who have attended in-person Annual Meetings at UCM, you can expect some things will be the same: we’ll begin the meeting right after worship, you can raise your hand, you’ll have some documents printed, and we will provide some light snacks. We recommend you bring a bottle of water. Some things will be different in the sanctuary this year: less people will be present, you’ll need to wear a mask (during worship and the meeting,) you’ll need to go to the front of the sanctuary to use a microphone, you’ll hear zoom participants through the speakers and view them projected on the wall.

If you attend on zoom, it will be much like last year’s Annual Meeting, except there will be a view of the sanctuary that will provide audio and video of all in-person participants. You may watch, participate and vote with more than one member on a single device. We recommend you print the Budget documents in advance of worship (regular and large print are provided) if you find that having printed copies is better for you than viewing them on screen. A small number of printed copies of the Annual Report will be available for pick up at church by this Wednesday. 

For technical reasons related to audio, we will do our best to honor ALL comments, motions and questions from both the zoom and in-person groups equitably. We can not guarantee that we can honor the exact order of raised hands. The moderator, when possible, will call on and exhaust raised hands in first one location, then the other. For instance, they might ask all raised hands on zoom to make comments and pose questions, then move to the in-person comments. This method helps ease the labor of our tech team, and create a smooth audio experience. We will do our best to strike a balance between conversation flow and tech needs. Please be patient as we learn this new process as a community.