Annual Meeting: June 13, 2021

Jun 2, 2021 | Members News

East Shore’s Annual Meeting will be held Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 11:45 a.m. via Zoom right after the end of worship service. Please plan on attending. We will use the same zoom room as for the service. At the end of the service please leave your device connected.

You can also join the meeting by using the link in your email. If you did not get a notification (sent Saturday, May 29), please contact Nicole Duff.

We have an unusually full ballot this year. In addition to voting on the budget, officers, and nominating committee, we have Bylaw amendments, a slate for the ministerial search team, and the proposed adoption of the 8th Principle by East Shore.

All Voting and Life Members are eligible to vote in the Annual Meeting. Your participation is vital. The Congregational Meeting is the ultimate authority within the church. In our liberal, religious community, we, the members own the church and have the responsibility and privilege of living our values. We gather voluntarily to elect leaders and adopt a budget. We get to discuss and influence the policies and future direction of East Shore. The Annual Meeting gives practical meaning to the 5th principle in Unitarian Universalism: the right of conscience and the use of democratic process.

In this email you will find attachments with information regarding matters we will vote on.

For this meeting, we must have a quorum of at least 25% of our membership (89 members) to conduct business. The Bylaws require this quorum whenever we make financial decisions in excess of $100,000. This year’s proposed budget includes a transfer of funds from our Endowment in excess of that amount.

Your Board did not take the decision to use Endowment earning lightly. We know it is not sustainable to continue the practice indefinitely. The coming year will have us look closely at longer range planning to address the outreach and growth needed to put East Shore’s finances on firmer ground. And, at the same time, we must acknowledge the unusual nature of the last year. Despite the upheaval of the Coronavirus pandemic, we were able to continue services uninterrupted and undertake many necessary maintenance and cleaning projects as well as numerous social justice projects in the community.

We have good reason to believe we will receive earnest money from the Holly House sale this summer, and also to receive employee retention credits through the Federal Government. Those resources are not included in the proposed budget. We will be happy if these funds materialize as they will substantially reduce the amount of Endowment funds needed.

We naturally hope this will be the last Congregational Meeting we hold over Zoom. The following details will help you familiarize yourself with the logistics.

To make member check in and voting go smoothly,

  • do not leave and re-enter the Zoom room.
  • It is best for each member to be on their own device for voting. We will do additional rounds of voting to collect the votes for any second or third person on a device, if necessary.
  • If there is more than one device in a room, please mute all but one device to avoid an echo.

There will be a ten minutes break between the worship service and calling the meeting to order. During this time we will check members in to establish a quorum. You will be muted but can use the chat feature if you wish to converse. When we are ready to establish a quorum, we will read names aloud to verify attendance (in batches, by last names: A-G, H -R, S-Z). If you don’t hear your name, use the chat or unmute and identify yourself. We will also verify households with more than one person voting from any one device.

Again, thank you for reviewing these materials. We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Congregational Meeting on June 13, at 11:45.

In faith for the East Shore Board of Trustees,
Mike Radow