Meeting Minutes – 8/13/2020
Present; Louisa Berger, Rev. Joseph Boyd, Andy Crabb, Judy DeGenova, Marguerite Felice, Gene Pusateri, Tim Raridon, Diana Shaheen, Lisbet Searle White
Absent: Diana
Meeting called to order by facilitator, Gene Pusateri, at 6:04 PM
Check in completed
Consent agenda –
Minister’s report/Minutes/Treasurer’s Report – reviewed and approved
Hiring RE Director/Renewing Interim Contract –
Discussed option of teaming with Akron/Kent/other nearby church to see if we could team with them to participate in RE with their programs. Rev. Joseph will reach out to them and see if there is interest. Akron website for RE seems more current than Kent, plus we could reach out to congregations much further away, anywhere in the world.
Minister in Akron is departing, Kent program seems not current according to their web site. How do we engage kids in RE online? Who has a good program? Mystery has found that PowerPoint presentations (!) seem to engage the kids more than videos. We could also offer to share our program with others.
Decision – Rev. Joseph will reach out to other congregations, Akron/Kent/Others to see if we can combine online RE efforts to make a bigger program together.
2020 Initiatives – Website Content
Form a group to identify what content we want on our website, how we want the website to flow, who we are targeting with our website.
Lola might be interested in helping us identify our approach and target markets so we get a content plan, then we can coordinate with Nate to implement the plan. The goal is to define what we want and then work out how to implement it with Nate.
Andy sent an email invitation to Lola.
Carole McWilson, Patty Rudowski, Meredith and Tim Williams, Julia Williams.
Technology Update – Video Production
Andy reported that the existing computer can work well with the production software when used as a camera in Zoom instead of shared content. Jennifer and Jeff are looking into options for making recordings beginning with one from YouTube this Sunday using the production software. There appears to be no need for another computer to be purchased.
Stewardship Update
Lisbet reported that an online pledge card is in development using Google Forms, and showed an example in the Zoom meeting.
The form has options that make the pledging process clearer to members.
Would take the place of paper pledgecards.
Lisbet shared that she has a group of interested people to help this year, Sarah , Trudee, Lenore
Some phone calls, testimonials, virtual brochure, video clips are being considered.
Schedule is not determined yet, will be discussed in the next stewardship meeting, typically is set in the fall.
Rev. Joseph suggested that finishing the stewardship program before the election in November might be optimal. Suggested an end date of Halloween to make reporting for the Board easier.
Lisbet pointed out that there isn’t a need to organize meetings, decorations, etc., is less formal and easier to do quickly.
Lisbet requested help with content ideas for a brochure plan for our accomplishments and plans, Rev. Joseph and Andy can help with editing/reviewing plans.
Driveway Paving and Small Capital Projects
No update yet, waiting to hear from contractor.
Rev. Joseph talked to Matt, offered to contact a contractor, Louisa will talk to him.
Thank UUs
Amber Munger – thank for chalice lighting from Dominican Republic, also showed up for work days.
Lindsey Sinkovich – Facilitating White Fragility book discussion group
John and Cheryl Shartle – for regular participation in leading worship and other programs
Korey Gall – heading off to Basic Training in the Army – thank you for being part of UUYO family, we wish you safety and health, we will always be connected.
Kelsey Myers – moving in September to start at university, thank her for being a worship leader and offering her talents to our congregation.
New Business
Buildings and Grounds participation –
what can we do to encourage broader participation? What can we do to minimize potential for where we have building left open.
Can we connect to hospitality teams and ask each one to send one person to work days?
For last work party, some folks showed up later than others.
Gene – not able to access services online, Dan Betts and the one after that – are they not posted? Dan’s service was not recorded and is not available. August 2 has been posted.
Andy mentioned the need to repair the sanctuary ceiling, need to coordinate with Martin and Tim and then hire someone to do the necessary work.
Gene – went to BLM rally, managed to hand out 70 BLM signs to people in Canfield, then same evening, went to Poland Methodist, Rev. Gifford invited 7 other ministers to talk about their experience being harassed in the suburbs, handed out 15 more signs to folks, many signs are prominently displayed and UUYO has been key to this effort. Gene is dropping off signs in brownlea woods. Need to talk about printing more signs. 200 more signs are coming tomorrow afternoon will be delivered to church, along with weather proof stickers attributing signs to UUYO. Calgary Baptist church and Canfield Methodist have ministers of color who might be interested in receiving some signs their members, as well as other sources, including the City Parks Department which includes about 16 city parks – can we put signs up? Rev. Joseph mentioned that lawn mowing teams sometimes remove the signs. Equitas donation will help, are thinking about soliciting funding from UUA and community partners.
Marguerite was at Poland Methodist for presentations which had excellent speakers regarding racism experiences. There is interest in doing White Fragility programs at other churches as well.
Goal is to get the signs everywhere; in suburbs we want to get conversations going but also in mixed neighborhoods in the city as well.
Are we going to do more giveaways at the church? Pairing with voter registration? UU the vote, PFLAG Votes as potential partners. Karen Lapidus and Gary Davenport are interested in voter registration activities too.
Gene offered to help distribute signs from 10-12 on Saturdays, Sarah will add to our newsletter and maybe Facebook.
If we combine with get out the vote, need to organize an event, maybe combine with Farmer’s Market or other activities.
Lisbet mentioned that low-income folks can get a broadband internet service for $10/month for people on food stamps, Spectrum also offers some free internet for low income as well.
Generative Discussion Topic: Survey/Music in Online Service
Is our use of volunteers sustainable? Do we need to make some shifts to avoid burning people out?
Jeff could serve as a backup for Tim, still need to reach out to find volunteers for an apprentice, Lola is almost ready to run video without Andy.
Tim said he has been overwhelmed with various things in life right now, but otherwise is not burned out on doing audio. Andy and Tim both said they like what they are doing and feel energized with making things go well. Jeff is a good resource, but technical issues have been challenging with integrating soundboard with Zoom and computer. Steinberg unit converts sound from analog to digital and adds another dimension to controls.
Focusing on sustainability/multiple resources for each task. Lola as a backup is good, still need someone as a backup for Tim. We need to put out a call for someone to help with sound. Tim will work with others to get help. Planning for dealing with technical problems on the fly is part of the program. Rev. Joseph will announce we are looking for an apprentice sound person to help out.
Survey regarding communication during COVID-19 is in progress, confirming communication methods for members, making sure people know how to communicate with the office, Louisa is collating responses and will provide next month.
Want to encourage variety in music for the services, can offer to have pre-recorded performances including Smotzers and others in addition to them.
Cindy Smotzer might be helpful in identifying additional musicians to add to our mix, serving as a coordinator.
Nanette can also be a resource since recordings are acceptable with OBS production software. Gene will contact Nanette to ask if she is open to providing recordings for a service.
Roles for Next Meeting
Facilitator – Judy
Timekeeper – Diana
Secretary – Marguerite
Process Observer – Andy
Thank UUs – Louisa
Bits from the Board – Lisbet
ADDENDUM – 9/6/2020: Emailed Motion for New Computer sent by Andy to Board on 9/6/2020
I’ve concluded my evaluation of the computing needs for improving our broadcasting capability to support use of open source OBS production software to support both the existing camera and recorded music along with remote zoom participants. As part of my evaluation I brought my Apple Mac into the church to test whether PC or Mac was the better way to go. While the Mac was very capable, it was limited by some of the required software working better in windows than Mac.
While the current computer is quite capable, the video processing we need to support for using recordings as well as camera inputs require a significantly greater level of computing power than the current computer can support by itself.
My recommendation is to build a new tower PC with a custom combination of components. I’ve built 3 of my own personal work computers this way over the years and have been very satisfied with the ability to get exactly the components I want instead of buying a pre-built computer that has a combination of components selected by someone else.
I need $3,500 to buy the components for the computer, which I will get from www.newegg.com, a web site that sells computer components and related items.
We have discussed having the endowment pay for this if I decided a new computer was needed.
I make the following motion and request email approval today so that I can place the order and get the items this week so hopefully I can test the new computer next weekend at the church if everything arrives on time:
“I move that the Board approve $3,500 be used to buy a new computer for use in broadcasting Sunday services via Zoom, to be reimbursed from the endowment.”
This motion was approved unanimously by email and approved by email to be reimbursed by the Endowment by Gene Pusateri and Lowell Satre on 9/7/2020.