SUNDAY SERVICES COMMITTEE Report
2009-2010

Jo Cooley is serving as the Board Laison for this committee. Linda Krenicky leads the committee with Bert Olson taking on more responsibilities. Linda has been the worship coordinator for speakers and guests for Sundays when the minister is not preaching. The worship associates are JJ Martin, Karen Boulanger, Linda Krenicky, Katie Raul, Bert Olson, Veronica Davis and Paul Yeadon.

In the beginning of my job this committee was meeting every 3 months. Now that Victoria is leaving we will be meeting once a month to meet the new challenges. Meetings include scheduling worship associates, scheduling guest speakers, creating services and giving feedback and updates on the worship services.

Worship associates have provided many lay-led services that have evoked interest in new ways of seeing our lives and the world. It is nice to come away feeling better. There has been more focus on the spiritual aspects of worship.

Some of the challenges we face in the year ahead is finding more people to be in the pulpit, training new worship associates and exploring more ways to include the children.

Building AND GROUNDS MAJOR PROJECT MATRIX

Item Description			Current Status	Projected Future Costs	Comments	Updated for Annual Meeting
1) Sanctuary carpet replacement (Tim’s opinion: only ‘reasonable’ approach would be to replace entire carpet)			- Has reached the end of its ‘nominal’ life; “loop-type” material contributes to unraveling problems. - Cleaning doesn’t work for very long.	Quotation from Carpet One of SV: Mid-range quality and without handling the removal/resetting of seating: $11,400 Higher quality but still without handling the removal/resetting of seating: $12,558 Removal/resetting of seating (option): $1,200	Only have this one ‘budgetary’ quotation— In a competitive bidding situation, I would expect to get the price down by at least 10%. Clarification on several quotation items is in process.	A bequest has been received that will provide the funding for this project. Therefore, competitive bids can be now be solicited.
2) Replacement of the two AC/Heating Units			Both units have exceeded their nominal life (they are estimated to be over 30 years old). Our HVAC expert advisor, Jerry Linton, says the expected failure mode would be that they would stop working.	Budgetary range: $15,000 to $20,000 (per Jerry Linton) This would be for both units. Total capacity is 7.5 tons. See comments to the right about duct work.	Jerry Linton says that we would also need to improve the current duct work. It is critical to have at least four distinct “zones” that could be independently controlled. New units would reduce energy usage.	Inspection was completed by Jerry Linton; and units were determined to be in “decent” operating condition. Filters were in bad shape, and were replaced. We will need a program to routines check filters periodically.

Item Description			Current Status	Projected Future Costs	Comments	Updated for Annual Meeting
3) Deck improvements			There are two main issues: The 4 ft. deck boards need to be either stiffened or have support in the center. Redwood preservative should be used to extend the life.	For issue #1: (costs incl. tax) Main material would be approx. 220 linear feet of 4x6 redwood @ $5.72/LF = $1,258 Cement pilings: qty. of 30 @ $4.10 ea. = $123 Misc. material: $100-$150 Total Mat’l. $1,481-$1,531 For issue #2 (use 1200 SF): Water base clear coat (lower cost option); 120 SF/gallon @ $26.28/gal. = $263 Misc. brushes etc. $50 Total Mat’l. $313	Regarding issue #1: ‘design’ is not yet finalized. Some people such as R. Bixler believe that we may be able to stiffen or ‘change out’ the boards that are too springy. Volunteer work party labor is assumed for labor. Re: Issue #2—volunteer work party labor is assumed.	In December, about 10-12 of the 4 four foot boards were replaced. Clear coating (preservative) still needs to be done. More elaborate work on deck needs to be evaluated.
4) Driveway Exit sign lights			The 110 VAC power to the four exit lights has been broken for several years	Excavation and examination of the power lines and the existing lighting fixtures has been done. The approach to repair this is to bring in new AC power from the main building, with its own circuit breaker. A new trench is needed from corner of deck to the lighting fixture nearest the Entrance driveway location. Material cost will be under $300 (copper wiring is expensive). Alan Martin will be helping. We have the design for this work.		This is a scheduled future project.
5) Solar powered lighting for Blossom Hill Rd. sign			Alan Martin has procured the hardware that is now installed	Cost of material: $250

Item Description

Current Status

Projected Future Costs

Comments

Updated for Annual Meeting

6) Replacing old folding chairs

Have about 70 old metal chairs that came with building. They are not considered of adequate quality, and can adversely affect the “rentability” of the building.

Reference spreadsheet: CHAIR_BUDGET.XSL dated 9/10/09. Vendor: FoldingChairsAndTables.com Option A: Qty. of 52; price including shipping: $1,960 ($37.69/chair) Option B: Qty. of 68; price including shipping; $2,086 ($30.69chair)

The reason for the much lower price per chair for Option B is that shipping is free at this qty.

Project is on hold.

7) Painting main sanctuary

Rear wall needs to be re-painted. (Also, touch-up around “Exit” signs)

Budgetary: paint cost would be less than $50

This is not really a major capital budget item since it is just maintenance.

This is a potential ‘work party’ project.

8) Repair or replacement of roof

Current roof is in apparently decent shape.

Roof inspection is needed.

Trees have been trimmed to prevent damage to the roof. But, gutter cleaning is something that needs to be done soon.

9) Repaving of driveway

Estimate of remaining life is in process.

Bob Bixler to be consulted

No major update here.

10) Grounds

The Sustainable Grounds project has been taking this on, and it is covered in a separate report by them.

11) Sprinkler System overhaul

We are not ready to spend much money to replace the current sprinkler system

A new system will be needed within 1-2 years.

12) Solar PV Panel for roof

It was determined that our electricity bill is not high enough to justify putting in solar panels

Item Description

Current Status

Projected Future Costs

Comments

Updated for Annual Meeting

13) Misc. items-

Rewiring of Heater/AC control unit; AC receptacles in lounge; lamp & replacement; piano tuning at ‘concert level’ to support renting of the building for concerts.

Complete replacement of the old non-standard fluorescent lamp fixtures in the main hallway and lounge will be a major undertaking. Currently, the fixtures are different sizes which complicates the maintenance. Ceiling repair and repainting would also have to be done. Budgetary cost for material: $250/fixture x 8 fixtures = $2,000

Minor items “squawed” by County Fire Inspector were fixed, and passed on re-inspection.

Currently the light fixture project is low priority; but some repair work in the Women’s restroom is needed.

Social Action Committee Report

Social Action Annual Report

July 2009– June 2010

July 2009

Los Gatos Cares – 13 volunteers helped assemble more that 160 Survival Sacks for Sacred Heart to hand out to the homeless. 283 items for sacks were donated by UUFLG.

Village Harvest – 5 volunteers picked apricots for food panties.
Share-the-Plate – collected $286.20 for St. Luke's Pantry

August 2009

Village Harvest – 16 volunteers harvested pears for Mountain View Community Services food bank.

Share-the-Plate – collected $196 for Friends Outside

September 2009
Coastal Clean-up Day – 12 volunteers helped clean the creek in Vasona Park.

Share-the-Plate – collected $223. for Minister's Discretionary Fund

October 2009
First Sustainable Grounds event – 10 volunteers spread 5 cubic yards of mulch.

Share-the-Plate – collected $375.25 for Low Income Self-Help Center

November 2009
Holiday Food Drive – collected over 100 pounds of food and $35 cash for Second Harvest

Share-the-Plate – collected $273.86 for ACT for Mental Health

December 2009
Guest at Your Table – collected $389.49 for UUSC

January 2010
Haiti Earthquake relief – collected $900 for Haiti Earthquake Relief

February 2010
Clothing Drive – collected 16 boxes, two garment bags and one grocery sack of clothing and blankets for Sacred Heart Community Service.

March 2010
Share-the-Plate – collected $270 for Minister's Discretionary Fund

April 2010
Spring Planting – 19 volunteers planted 20 plants of which 16 were CA natives and all were drought tolerant.

Earth Day Service – lead two of the four break-out groups: discussion of Ethical Eating and showing of the video “Forever Home: Going Green.”

Share-the-Plate – collected $244.75 for Friends Outside

May 2010
Fair Elections Talk – brought in speaker on CA Prop 15, Fair Elections initiative on Sunday, showed video on Prop 15 another Sunday.

Sustainable Grounds Project – acquired and planted 3 new ceramic planters: one at corner of driveway entrance and two at building entrance.

Share-the-Plate recipient will be StandUpForKids

June 2010
Planning Sustainable Grounds workday to work on the irrigations system

Share-the-Plate recipient will be Low Income Self-Help Center

Submitted a newsletter article each month. Investigated numerous SA opportunities. Adopted a decision making model brought back by the Spaudlings from UULM Leadership Training. Supported year round food basket. Acquired nametag ribbons to increase visibility of team members. Maintained Social Action bulletin board.

Connie F. Springer

5/12/10

Lifespan Education Committee REPORT

UUFLG Lifespan Education Trustee Annual Report FY 2010
July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010

Trustee and RECCY Chair - Leslie Jones
Director of Religious Education – Tamara McClellan (3rd year)

Teaching Staff:
Pre-school – Melinda Graff, Michelle Sierra (until Aug 2009), Rebecca Edelman (began Nov 2009),
Elementary – Tamara McClellan, Kari Sparks (until Oct 2009)
Dedicated volunteer – Joe Rafferty

General Information:

We continued to focus on having a good children’s program; it is an important factor in accomplishing our congregation’s goal of attracting and retaining new members with young families. The adult education was handled by our new minister, Victoria Ingram.

We offered two classes based on age: pre-school and elementary. We follow our safe congregation rules and do background checks on paid staff and always have two teachers per class. We still rely heavily on volunteers to be the teachers’ assistants to cover days off or absences. We continue to see a number of new families with young children come to our church. A new development for our program is the addition of a few special needs children. This presented some challenges for our teachers in both pre-school and elementary.

The typical attendance in elementary is about five children and pre-school is about 5-7.

Curriculum:

• Pre-school: Kari and Melinda continued with the same format in pre-school, exploring the seven principles with stories, crafts, and activities. The structure of pre-school is free play until 10:45, light the chalice (battery flame) with the opening words and hand gestures: “We light this chalice for Unitarian Universalism, this is the church of the open mind…”, we share joys and concerns, then we focus on one of our seven UU principles and work on some kind of craft.
• Elementary: Science was again the theme for summer lessons. These were very popular with the kids. We were fortunate to have some donated supplies with which to facilitate hands-on, interactive lessons about Earth science and related topics. The lesson on the solar system was a smash hit.
  Our curriculum for the regular academic year is especially UU focused, as we explore the history of Unitarianism, Universalism, and how and why they came together. We built on past lessons about the seven principles and comparative world religions as we explored historical figures in Unitarianism and Universalism, as well as some of the exciting events in our history. The lessons were also adaptable for preschool use.
• Youth: There is no youth class offered at this time.

Town Hall Meeting: (February 2010)

We held a town hall meeting for all parents and care-givers of children enrolled in our Sunday school program. The results are summarized below. We expected space to be the big issue raised by the parents, particularly in pre-school, which is often very crowded. The biggest issues raised were those related to curriculum and the need to do more differentiation of classes to accommodate the wide variation in our children’s capabilities and temperaments.

What we like about RE:

• Continuity and Ritual
• Structured curriculum with specific goals & outcome
• Well organized weekly curriculum
• Creative art/learning projects (Mentos, gum drops, etc.)
• Circle time: hold hands, talk about week, song
• Sharing good or bad experiences
• Affirmation of our values
• The workers & volunteers are dedicated, caring and energetic
• We love Tamara
• Joe is a wonderful light and strength
• People/teachers
• We like parental involvement
• Awesome stuff, principles, community
• My kids like to come. They don’t want to miss any of the fun. My kids have made new friends. It’s nice that you provide snacks.
• 1. I get a break. 2. Kids have a chance to socialize. 3. Hands-on crafts. 4. Gentle intro to God/Spirit/Source. 5. Hands-on learning.
• Outside courtyard.

What we would like to have in RE:

• We would like to see more kids about 5-6 years old.
• Additional group for ages 5-7, additional group for high school
• More age division for 6 and under (1-2yrs, 2-4, 5-6)
• Classes for children ages 4-6
• Lessons for 4+ on UU values/ideas, NA legends, Irish folktales, UU people, recycling
• More songs, stories for toddler to 5 years
• Would like a structured curriculum: 5-10 minutes to open lesson, 15 minute lesson, 5 minute follow up, tactile activity; show learning
• More space, way to encourage my 6 year old to move up to the older kids’ group, ideas or thoughts on dealing with children who don’t obey the rules (time out chair/chairs)
• Need to find activities to keep the upper elementary & middle school kids engaged (wanting to come)
• Need some activities for our high school kids
• Some idea of the kids’ lesson for the week so we can keep up with/discuss with them outside their Sunday lesson
• Use of the UU curriculum
• Kids are socially engaged. Having a quiet kid not disturbing the program is not the end goal. Having meaningful social engagement is.
• More support of activities outside of service.
• Playground needs more toys.

Here are two from teachers (both staff and volunteer)

• Strength to know when parents should be involved in corrective behavior
• More members and parents as teachers and volunteers

Future Plans:

Moira Sullivan will become the new Lifespan Learning Trustee beginning July 2010. She recently joined Leslie Jones co-chairing the RECCY committee. In response to the feedback from our town hall meeting to offer a wider variety of class types, we plan to formally transform our children’s program into a co-op style Sunday school. This was the only way to differentiate our curriculum to address the many needs of our children and the desires of our parents, and still be affordable to the congregation. To facilitate this, we will offer training to parents and require a commitment of their time on a rotating basis in order for their children to participate in the children’s RE program.

Membership Committee Report

This past year the Membership Committee has been working hard to help our Fellowship grow in face of the declining economy and loss of members due to moves and unfortunately death. Attendance has appeared to be somewhat down so we did a visitor survey in January and February 2009 with the results attached. Our conclusions were that we are greeting visitors and making them feel welcome. Our biggest problem is that we need to be more visible to the community. We have recommended to the Board of Trustees that we somehow need to have better (for lack of a better word) publicity and need a Trustee for that purpose — to let like-minded people know our Fellowship is here and available to them. I believe the Board is working on that.

The Tabulation of the Visitors Survey is attached. We had 8 e-mail responses and 5 mailed responses, making a total of 13. Two more responses were mailed back very late at the end of April, long after the survey had been tabulated. Those two both said that they had enjoyed everything and felt welcome. One said they found they would be moving a long distance soon so would not be back. The other said they were seeking a different kind of spirituality than Unitarian-Universalism provided.

Family Potlucks, with Katie Stubstad coordinating, have been going well with a number of our families attending.

Dinners for-8 with Bonnie George coordinating are continuing well. Bonnie will be away in May so Jim Beebe and Sharon Graham will arrange the May parties. We may skip some of the dinners again this summer if we don’t have enough sign-ups.

Hike & Bike with Jim Beebe coordinating is still being enjoyed.

Harry Campbell volunteered to reorganize our Greeter Policy and has suggested we have a Greeter R ecognition event (luncheon, coffee and dessert reception, etc) each year. It was decided this was a good idea and will be explored. He has the Greeter Instructions ready. The new Greeter Schedule will be organized for a full year and there will be a Greeter Training Session after August 15.

Submitted by

Edna Windes, Membership Chair.

Finance Committee Report

ANNUAL REPORT AS OF MAY 16, 2010

Our 2010 fiscal year, which began July 1, 2009 and ends June 30, 2010 has been an especially difficult one due to the extensive effects of the continuing economic downturn on our members. It was our third year with a full time settled minister, a Director of Religious Education and a professional musician.

At last year’s annual spring meeting we adopted a conservative budget based on the limited pledge total received during that year’s pledge drive. Our budget goal was to maintain our support of our settled minister and other professional staff. To do this we had to skip payments of our fair share to the PCD and UUA as well as paying nothing to replenish our building maintenance reserves. In spite of these cuts, the approved budget projected a small deficit of $2,000 at the end of this fiscal year.

During the first eight months of the fiscal year, through February 2010, we eliminated that deficit, thanks to an extra $3,000 donation from one of our members. Our pledge drive for the 2010/2011 budget was completed in March. It gave us too small a pledge total to support a continuation of the current program without further cuts in expenses.

At this point, Victoria announced that she was leaving at the end of the year to take a position in Canada. The Board decided to shift to a level of part-time ministry that we could easily afford and to use the next few years to rebuild our reserves, pay off the outstanding loans, and seek to increase our membership to a level that will better support a full time minister. The Board also authorized the payment of a portion of our PCD and UUA fair share for the current year.

To respond to this change in plans, the Finance Committee put together two boundary budgets involving part-time ministerial support: a half-time minister giving services on two Sunday’s a month plus additional ministerial support during the week, and two Sunday-only ministers providing four Sunday services a month. The Board also appointed a Search Task Force. At the Annual Business Meeting in May, the membership will be asked to authorize the Board to recruit and hire appropriate part-time minister support.

As of May 16, the deficit for this current fiscal year is projected to be close to $4,000 due to increased expenses, in part resulting from the change in plans for next year. This deficit will be covered by our current $8,000 Operating Reserve accumulated from past surpluses leaving $4,000 in that reserve.

In addition to managing the budget, the Finance Committee made a quarterly report on our financial status to the membership, conducted the annual pledge drive and had two highly successful fund raisers: the Christmas Boutique in December and the Annual Auction in April.

From your Finance Committee: Irving Yabroff, Treasurer and Chair, Ann Campbell, Jim Stahl, Bert Olson, Merritt Benson, Yvonne Liu, Bill Meeker

Long Range Plan Report

The Long Range Planning committee continued to monitor progress in accordance with the Long Range Plan published in August of 2008.

The Long Range plan envisioned initiatives that would coincide with increased Membership and increased income. The severe countrywide economic downturn that started in mid calendar 2008 has significantly impacted our ability to pursue several of the goals outlined in the plan. An exception to this has been the enthusiastic increased activity in Social Action areas.

Notwithstanding the impact from the distressed economy, there have been several other initiatives and accomplishments that were identified in the Long Range Plan.

• The Board has initiated efforts to increase UUFLG visibility in the outside community, including activation of a Community Visibility Committee.
• There has been increased, positive work in both Children’s and Adult Religious Education.
• Our Sunday Service music content has improved and become stronger.
• Victoria has conducted mid-week Vesper Services on an evaluation basis.

The Long Range Plan is in need of review and update to reflect current and anticipated near term realities. This should be the major committee task for FY 2010-2011.

The Long Range Planning Committee conducted the second annual Member Satisfaction survey in January of 2010. The survey reflected general wide spread satisfaction with slight improvements in a few areas from a similar survey conducted the previous year. The surveys from the two years asked the same questions with the same evaluation criteria in order to identify any potential trends. However, a two-survey sample set is insufficient for that purpose. Additional yearly surveys should provide the data to identify trends if they develop. The results of the surveys from both years were published to the Membership and made available on the UUFLG website. The satisfaction surveys are intended for use by the Board, Minister and the various committees to identify areas for improvement or areas for continued good work.

Endowment Committee Report For FY09 and FY10

Background Information

The UUFLG Endowment Fund is invested in the UUA General Investment Fund. Dividends are reinvested. 5% of the market value of our shares is sent to us annually in quarterly distributions. This income is accumulated during the fiscal year and is allocated to non-budget items during the first quarter of the next fiscal year. The Endowment Committee has the responsibility to recommend use of the annual income to the Board for their approval.

The UUFLG Endowment Fund consists of five separate funds, four of which have specific restrictions. The income from three of the restricted funds requires matching funds be provided to support our partner church in Transylvania, a child in Central America and a student going to a community college respectively. Any income from those three restricted funds not used for the designated restriction may be allocated to a non-budgeted use by the Social Action Committee. During this fiscal year, a new restricted Building Endowment fund was donated to build funds to expand our current building or purchase a new one. No income will be taken from the Building Endowment Fund in order to maximize its rate of growth. Income from the Unrestricted Fund may be allocated to any non-budgeted use.

Amount in each fund as of:	6/30/08	6/30/09	6/30/10
Partner Church Fund	$6,680	$4,692	$6,383
Central America Child Fund	$3,341	$2,347	$3,193
Community College Fund	$3,341	$2,347	$3,193
Building Fund			$7,175
Unrestricted Fund	$10,762	$7,559	$10,285
Total Endowment Fund	$24,124	$16,945	$30,229

Income distributed during the fiscal year

During the 2008/2009 fiscal year, $693 received during the previous fiscal year from the three restricted funds was put in a Social Action Holding Fund for use by the Social Action Committee. Of the $558 received from the Unrestricted Fund during the previous year, $390 was allocated to a pay increase for a child-care worker, and $168 was added to the collection made to pay part of our PCD-UUA dues.

During the 2009/2010 fiscal year, $670 received during the previous fiscal year from the three restricted funds was added to the Social Action Holding Fund. $540 received during the previous year from the Unrestricted Fund was put in a Building and Grounds Maintenance Holding Fund for use by the Building and Grounds Committee.

It was decided to forgo the 5% annual income from the endowment funds beginning in FY10 until the economy improves.

Submitted by Irving Yabroff, Treasurer