Board Buzz: Upcoming Congregational Meeting

by Nicole Duff | 57 Jun 3, 2026 | Beacon, Exclusively For Members

As your Interim President, I’m delighted to be chairing my first Congregational Meeting on Sunday June 7 after the Worship Service.  We’ll be approving some bylaw changes, voting on the slate of candidates for the next year’s Board of Trustees and the Nominating Committee. I hope you all can come vote on these important issues. A Zoom option is always available for those who can’t attend in person.

Minister Led Model

The Board has been working on some important policy changes that have needed to happen.  One big change has been to switch from a model of a Staff Leadership Team – leadership by a team of several staff, together reporting directly to the Board – to a Minister Led Model, when the director level staff all report to the Minister.  I am pleased to report that our Director of Religious Exploration, Amanda Alice Uluhan, our Director of Finance and Operations, Marcy Langrock, and our Director of Membership Development, Nicole Duff, all now report to Rev. María Cristina, in addition to Eric Lane Barnes, our Music Director.

This has helped with clearer reporting lines and more collaboration between staff.  These director level staff still submit board reports each month, so the Board can stay up-to-date with what each department is working on, and all staff are welcome to attend board meetings if they wish. Our goal with this Minister Led Model is for it to represent shared ministry, where Board members and staff all work collaboratively together, each knowing their own role and respecting the roles and expertise of each other.

While the new policies for this have already been approved by the Board, there are some minor wording changes to the Bylaws, which need your approval at the Congregational Meeting.

Youth Trustees

A year ago, we added a youth trustee position to the Board of Trustees, and acknowledged that the ideal way to incorporate youth onto the board is to have two positions, so that they could support each other. However, state law only allows for one new board position to be added each year, so we can now add a second youth trustee position.

Just to clarify, youth trustee positions are only available to youth aged 16-18 who are current members of East Shore’s youth group and have joined East Shore as members.  In the event of insufficient youth being interested in the role, either role of Youth Trustee can remain vacant.  It cannot be filled by an adult member of the congregation.

We also have an ex-officio, board-approved role of Youth Representative, which allows for other youth, who may not be able to take on a full Youth Trustee role, to participate in Board meetings as non-voting members.

Adding the second youth trustee to the board positions also results in some minor wording changes we need to make to our bylaws. So in addition to the Slate of Candidates, we will be asking you to vote on bylaw changes for both the Minister Led Model and the second Youth Trustee.

Facilities Updates

I want to update you on two important much needed fixes that have been completed.  We now have a fully functional elevator in the Education Building and a brand new phone system!

Holly House sale – We are nearing the end of a multi-year process to sell off one acre of our 5 acre property for the development of some Town houses.  This year we have received the second installment of earnest money – $200,000, and we’ve recently learned that the developer will be able to fit 2 additional units onto the property, which entitles us to an extra half million dollars, around $3 million in total, so that’s really good news.  We anticipate the sale being completed around the end of this year.  At our December Congregational meeting we will share with you how this money will be apportioned out, remembering that one third of net proceeds will be designated for Social Justice purposes.

EverJoy lease – As you know, we have signed a lease with EverJoy, a daycare company that plans to open up a new daycare in our Education Building. Marcy Langrock, our DFO, has been working closely with the owner and all the interested parties within East Shore, to develop plans for making improvements to the property to comply with Department of Children and Youth regulations.  Those plans are currently awaiting approval from the Bellevue City Council, before construction can start.

This also impacts our plans for a new playground.  We were delighted to raise around $22,000 from the Fund a Need at the auction to help pay for our portion of the playground, and are in discussion with EverJoy as to how best to meet the needs of both the preschool and our own members (of all ages!)

These are exciting times to be a member of East Shore, and I hope you will all participate to the fullest extent you can in determining our next steps.

by Amanda Strombom, Interim President of the Board of Trustees

Congregational Meeting: June 7

by Nicole Duff | 58 May 1, 2026 | Beacon, Exclusively For Members

Voting members will elect a new Board and Nominating Committee and vote on some bylaw changes. More information will be available in the coming weeks, but please mark your calendars. The meeting will be on Zoom in the same room as worship and in the Sanctuary. Please keep an eye out for details about voting which will be sent in mid-May.

The East Shore Nominating Committee has completed the slate of candidates for next year’s Board of Trustees and Nominating Committee positions. This slate will be voted on at the June 7, 2026 Congregational Meeting.

The positions in bold print are up for election. The others are informational, to provide a complete list of members who will serve during the next church year. All positions have a one year term with a max number of consecutive terms except for Trustees at Large who have a 2 or 3 year term.

2026-2027 Board of Trustees Slate

2026-2027 Nominating Committee Slate

In addition to the slate of candidates from the Nominating Committee, our church bylaws allow Nominations by Petition. Members in good standing may nominate themselves or others for any position up for election. To do so, signatures of at least 15 members of the congregation must be emailed to [email protected] at least 21 days in advance of the June 7 Congregational Business Meeting along with a signed statement from each prospective nominee of willingness to serve if elected and the position sought. The deadline this year is May 17, 2026. No additional nominations will be accepted after that date.

Questions about the election process may be directed to the current members of the 2025-2026 Nominating Committee: Mark Norelious, Mike Stunes, Caroline Haessley, Grace Colton, and Karin Pierce at [email protected].

Please join us in thanking all our candidates and current Board and Committee members for their dedication to our church!

Quantity vs. Quality

by Nicole Duff | 36 Mar 31, 2026 | Beacon, Exclusively For Members

Last month, I missed three weeks of being at East Shore. A combination of Comic Con and Covid kept me from being able to be with my community here, especially on Sunday. I missed you!!! I felt the love and support through emails, texts, and the joys & sorrows on Sunday morning. I also felt it when a member surprised me with a bouquet of flowers delivered to my home. It was the boost I needed to get through the last bit of illness and get back to all of you.

It got me thinking about community and membership. So often we track this by how many people are members, how many people show up on Sunday, how many pledge units, how many… how much… how many more can we get. That’s easy to calculate, easy to measure from year to year. In fact, the UUA requires those numbers for us to complete our annual certification. However, I argue that those numbers don’t show the beautiful picture of East Shore I see.

In an ideal world, we would spend more time looking at the QUALITY of membership. These are hard to measure; we don’t do a satisfaction survey each week or ask people to give us a thumbs up. It’s a measure that takes time and practice to learn. How are your relationships? How involved are you? How important is East Shore to you?

I see each person who walks through the door as a balloon, floating in, worried about being popped, hoping to find a safe place to rest. On Sundays, we can grab them by that string, gently hold them and hope the wind doesn’t blow them away. But each connection they make, every name they learn, every event they come to, group they join is another string that can be tied down. Eventually, so many ties, it makes the wind no longer an obstacle.

Long term members are the same, some of you have hundreds of strings tying you to this community, others less. Sometimes those ties break or come untied… a friend moves away, the project you worked on ran its course, unfortunately even conflict. Does the balloon bobble? Does it fly away? That depends! It takes time to build those ties and make sure they are secure… but it only takes a little snip for them to be cut.

How are your ties? I know some “visitors” in this community who have dozens of ties… they aren’t floating away, heck some are barely moving in the breeze. Yet, they have chosen not to become official members (yet!). They have a variety of reasons, but I’m not worried. I see the ties, I see the relationships they are building, the commitments they are making. People, like balloons, are vulnerable and require gentle care. People come to us looking for safety and connections, especially when the world outside is not safe for them.

If we can do this, be a community filled with balloons and ties, we will grow! We will attract people looking for a space that sees them, loves them, accepts them. But growth starts with each of you. Growth results from nourishing relationships so that we grow internally, deepening our relationships, our sense of belonging, and our ongoing commitment to living our values and building the Beloved Community.

This community has so much to offer. I’ve seen it and experienced it. So, I’m asking you to join me… in creating ties, catching balloons, making them feel loved and supported (though make sure not to pop them), and let’s all worry less about the Quantity and more on the Quality!

With Love,
Nicole Duff, Director of Membership Development

Treasurer Report: April 2026

by Nicole Duff | 16 Mar 26, 2026 | Beacon, Exclusively For Members

As this year will have a lot of financial impacts, I thought I’d put together a report for the Beacon.

First for the income side. The highly successful Generosity Pledge total has reached $548,072 which is fabulous, however, our budget for 2026 is $618,000. While it is possible that not everyone has reported their pledge to Nicole and some additional promises may come from new members, we are hoping everyone might take a second look to help close the gap. The easy way to increase your pledge or to make a new pledge is to email the added or new amount to Nicole Duff: [email protected].

Unfortunately, due to both space and some issues with the property tax folks our one-time rentals will be lower this year and one of our ongoing regular renters has found another space.

All of this means that we’ll have to watch things on the expense side more closely. We have changed the contractor for the RE Building’s elevator saving about $2,000 per year, however, the elevator is getting old enough that parts are no longer readily available. We’ll hope to get it back up and running again soon. We are evaluating other maintenance contracts as well.

We are in the process of finalizing a contract to replace the gas heater in the RE Building with an all electric heat pump system which will also provide air conditioning.  A great improvement.  This replacement will be done in conjunction with other structural changes in the building to accommodate the new leasee’s upcoming preschool.  Funds will come from the Building Reserve, which, thanks to generous donations presently has a bit over $200,000.  It is anticipated that regular additions will be added in future budgets in addition to periodic special donations.  We are in the process of updating the large study to be sure we are setting aside appropriate numbers for all of the property’s replacement/major repairs needed.

The Endowment. As stated in its charter “The purpose of Endowment is to use and grow financial gifts for the long-term security of the church. Some reasonable portion of the annual income from these gifts as they are invested will be designated to supplement the annual budget. Donors may expect that their gifts will be prudently invested, and the value of the donation will increase over the long term.”

The fund continues to hover around $1,000,000. Funds are managed by the Green Wealth division of Charles Schwab and monitored by the Financial Stewardship Committee. There is some conversation about the name of the Endowment fund.  Generally endowments are designed to keep the principal amount intact while the income is used to further the cause specified by the beneficiary. However, East Shore has also used some of the principal to cover budget shortfalls or unplanned major expenses, such as the Sanctuary beam replacement a couple of years ago. While the Building Reserve will help avoid those larger dips, we do seem to have ordinary expenses over and above income to keep everything in good repair and providing wonderful services for our members and the outside world. Perhaps we should consider a renaming to something like Sustainability Fund.

Finally an update on the Holly House property sale. Things are moving along. We received the first earnest money payment of $100,000 from Blue Fern (the buyers) last year and just deposited the second payment of $200,000 in March this year.  Those funds were accounted for in the budget. Closing is still anticipated by 2027 and work is underway to sort how those funds will be allocated, including the 1/3 designated for Social Justice causes. It is anticipated that the remainder will be divided between the Building and Minister reserve funds along with addition to the Endowment (Sustainability??) fund.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me, [email protected].  Thanks for all your generosity and support for East Shore Unitarian.

Geri Kennedy
ESUC Treasurer

Updates to Board Policy Document Coming Soon!

by Nicole Duff | 12 Mar 26, 2026 | Beacon, Exclusively For Members

As was announced at the Congregational Meeting in December, ESUC is moving from a Staff Leadership Team (SLT) model of leadership to a Minister-led model of leadership.  In the new model, all Executive Staff (director level) report to the Senior Minister (Reverend Maria Cristina) and the Senior Minister becomes the sole direct report to the Board.

Policy and Governance was tasked with updating the Church Bylaws and Board Policy document to reflect this change and to clarify the lines of accountability, boundaries of authority and provide structures for decision making.  P&G is also taking this opportunity to reorganize the policy document into four key policy areas:

• How the Board will operate
• Authority given to Staff
• How the Board wants the Staff to use their authority and how not to use it; include subsections on personnel decisions, care of staff, care of members and guests, and care of resources
• How the Board and Staff will stay in communication, so the Board knows all is well.

The latest Board-approved draft of the Policy document will be provided to the congregation in the April timeframe.  P&G is planning online meetings to provide congregants an opportunity to give input and to ask questions; this will be announced in the weekly blast from Nicole Duff.  The Bylaw updates will be available in May, in advance of the June Congregational meeting.  If you would like to contact P&G on these topics outside of the review meetings, please e-mail Karin Elofson, P&G Chair, at [email protected].