SUNDAY SERVICES COMMITTEE Report
2010-2011

Sunday program's chairmen changed this year from Linda Krenicky to Bert Olson. Both did excellent work. We were able to keep six weeks ahead with speakers and worship associates all year. We had a small core of worship associates - 4 people did most of the services. Bert's work load lessened when Suzanne and Chris started doing the services each month. Very soon we hope to have more worship associates.

Building AND GROUNDS MAJOR PROJECT MATRIX

1. Major Building Project during Past Year (not including normal maintenance/work party items)

Item Description	Current Status	Costs	Comments	Updated for Annual Meeting
1) Sanctuary carpet replacement	Project was completed in November 2010.	Royal Carpet was the selected vendor; and their cost (including installation) was $8,453.	Bequest from Cal Clauer allowed the financing of this project.
2) Deck refurbishment	There were 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.	Haven Design was selected as the contractor. The final costs have not be completely totaled—but will be provided to the Board for the June report. Several additional items were added to the original contract: AC outlet rewiring Rebuilding corner tables	The original plan to re-use a large proportion of the deck ‘floor’ boards had to be changed when we found that the old wood was not in good enough shape. A source of new 2x6 redwood was found in San Jose (Deck Superstore) that had a excellent price at $1/foot.	Staining and sealing of the deck will begin next Monday. Rainy weather has caused delays.
New kitchen faucet installed.		Approx. $150	Alan Martin needs to be given credit for this project.
TV with DVD (mounting)		Donated	Donated system from Alan Martin was installed. Included work on the mounting in the West Room	Operating directions are in process.
Fence repair – Bull property		$90	This was a minor project handled by Haven Design.
New vacuum cleaner procured.		$103

1. Future Projects

Item Description	Current Status	Projected Future Costs	Comments	Updated for Annual Meeting
New sign on Blossom Hill Road	Proposal was presented to Board in the Fall- but put on hold so that the deck project could be given #1 priority	Jim Beebe has taken on this project as a ‘study task’.
1) 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.	We have a program to replace the filters periodically.
2) 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 still scheduled future project- however, we have power access from the deck re-wiring.
3) Solar powered lighting for Blossom Hill Rd. sign	We need to replace the previously installed system.	Updated budget for this-- material at: $400

Item Description		Current Status	Projected Future Costs	Comments	Updated for Annual Meeting
4) 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.	Legacy costing:. 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.
5) Repair or replacement of roof		Current roof is in apparently decent shape; Also wood coppola needs maintenance. .		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.
6) Repaving of driveway		Estimate of remaining life is in process.		Bob Bixler to be consulted	No major update here.
7) Grounds		The Sustainable Grounds project has been taking this on, and it is covered in a separate report by them.
8) 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.
13) Misc. items-	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				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 2010– June 2011

Social Action Team Report 2010 - 2011

Board Trustee: Walt Main

Team Chair: Jessica Spaulding

Mission Statement

We strive to put our UU principles into action through service, education, and advocacy. We promote and support activities which empower us to shape safe, sustainable communities within our Fellowship, our cities, our country and worldwide.

Focus

Local and public services that are overburdened due to the current economic crisis.

Activity Level

We lowered our target levels of activity from our burnout-threatening pace of last year.

	2009 - 10	2010 - 11
Volunteer Activities	6	target 5, did 5
Drives (food, clothing, etc)	3	target 2, did 5
Political Speaker	1	Target 1, did none

           

“Volunteer Activities” are those to which the congregation at large is encouraged to participate.

Communication

We communicate through monthly newsletter articles, monthly emailed meeting minutes, the bulletin board in the entry hall, the occasional UU Minute, and the UUFLG web site. The Social Action page is at uuflg.org/socialaction.html, and the Sustainable Grounds Project has its own: uuflg.org/sustainable_grounds_project.html.

Sustainable Grounds

We are continuing work on this long-term project started in 2009. Its goals are

• Build awareness within UUFLG of the environmental impact of landscaping choices and generate commitment to sustainable practices in our Fellowship grounds and in our individual homes.
• Provide education to UUFLG members and the community at large on sustainable landscaping: what it means, what are the benefits, how to prepare soil, how to select and install plants, how to maintain.
• Build a connection between spiritual practice and environmental action. What we do with the grounds entrusted to us is an active statement of our connection to the web of all being.
• Improve the appearance of UUFLG grounds while practicing sustainable gardening and reducing our environmental footprint. Our church grounds are the most visible statement to visitors and passersby of our commitment to healing the earth's natural systems.
• Provide an example to UUFLG members and the community as a whole. Eventually become a stop on the local annual Native Gardens tour thereby continuing the educational aspects of the project and at the same time increasing the visibility of the Fellowship and of Unitarian Universalism.

We are adding professional-appearing signage for the plantings. Almost a requirement for a garden tour, it also makes sense of instructions like, “Go down the walk to the dusty miller, turn left and water the white blossoms.

We have a substantial bequest from Cal Clauer for this work, and we have laid out a two year budget.   Bottom line: $1,100 this year, $1,400 next -- all exclusive of irrigation repair.

Three of our volunteer activities were Saturdays in the garden this year:

9/11/10 ten volunteers spread another 5 yards of mulch.

10/23/10 eight volunteers put in 21 plants  

4/23/11 eight volunteers put in 34 plants

The most recent planting included eight plants that Hugh Warner’s family had selected, after consulting with us, for Hugh’s memorial service and donation to the garden.   It also included a major addition to the kitchen herb garden outside the West Room door nearest the kitchen.

The grounds show sign of maturing: some of the native plants are old enough to be taken off hydration support.  

Share-the-Plate

For the available ten months of this year (May and June aren’t in yet) you donated $2,620 for these organizations:

 Integrative Touch for Kids           Saint Luke's Pantry           ACT for Mental Health

 Pakistan Flood Relief Fund           Friends Outside           Low-Income Self-Help Center

 St Luke’s Pantry                   Sacred Heart                   Japan Relief

Collection Drives

We sponsored five collections for stuff other than money -- though we always accept money -- this year, and you kept filling up the boxes in the hall. With that experience, we’ve written up a one-page list of things not to forget next time.   If you’d like to sponsor a drive for your own cause -- Easter Socks come to mind -- this document is available to you.

Sacred Heart -- school supplies

Target was to complete ten backpacks for 7th to 12th grade students. Delighted to say we delivered 19 filled packs to Sacred Heart, with a little money left over.  

StandUp for Kids -- Food

You gave 14 large grocery bags, about 130 pounds, of food.

Second Harvest -- Food

Target: 100 pounds of food.   You brought 248 pounds of food, up from 87 pounds last year. Further, there were cash donations of $145, which Second Harvest will turn into another 188 pounds.

Sacred Heart -- Clothing

Brought in ninety cubic feet of clothing.   Took three vehicles to deliver.

  

StandUp for Kids -- Food

SUFK came to UUFLG with their cupboard utterly bare. You responded with two boxes of food and $316.50 cash. The SUFK rep picked up the food right after service when the drive closed, and some of that food was in kids’ hands before evening. Yes, you made a difference to someone. Thanks.

Easter Sock Drive

We supported the Tuesday Chalice Circle in their sock drive.

Sustainability Education

We are submitting the following resolution to be voted on at the spring membership meeting.

Resolution on Sustainable Purchasing and Operations

 

Whereas:

We affirm and promote the interdependent web of life

We want to be a model of environmental responsibility and sustainability

We want to educate, support and inspire others in the practice of environmental responsibility

 

Therefore:

We, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Los Gatos, commit to practice and promote environmentally responsible purchasing and operations.

A Green Holidays Workshop on Sunday after service had thin attendance but was well received by those there. We need to be more effective in getting people's attention.  

Later, a display of low-impact wrappings (an inside-out mailing bag? Wow!) was put up in the West Room, in the hope that folk would notice during coffee.

  

Other Activities

 

Trail Cleanup

River cleanup September 25, nine to noon.   Los Gatos Creek! Had Good attendance for Creek Cleanup, our t-shirts attracted a visitor to Sunday service.

Creek Cleanup on May 21, 2011.

Fruit picking

We were not able to arrange a suitable picking opportunity in summer 2010, then were too busy to arrange for possible citrus pickings in January or February.

No on 23 talk                           

Attendance low but enthusiasm for the info was high.

 

Sunday Breakout Service

Two sessions were run by SA - a tour of the sustainable grounds project and showing a short film on food issues. On the grounds tour we talked about organic and waterwise gardening, and commented on some of our signature plants.   The tourists demonstrated interest by asking good questions. Viewers of the film also showed interest, and engaged in a 10 minute discussion sharing their reactions and their own experiences with organic food and eating issues.

Social Action is very much a team effort. Our dedicated team members and the other members of our congregation make this work possible.

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Lifespan Education Committee REPORT

UUFLG Lifespan Education Trustee Annual Report FY 2011
July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011

Report being prepared.

 

The Visibility Committee Report

Visibility Report – 2010-2011

The first year of Visibility has been one of learning and contacting publications.

Press releases submitted to Los Gatos Observer and Los Gatos Weekly Times

• Upcoming events – i.e. Auction, Holiday Boutique, sustainable garden work, Drum Circle, Jim Scott, etc.

Participation in the Festival of Trees at Kings Court, Los Gatos – December 2010

Facebook page initiated.

Literature rack installed outside front door and maintained by Sharon Potts, Administrator

Plans for 2011-2012 include continuing with all of the above.

Plans include:

• Adding web address to sign on Blossom Hill road
• Investigating signage for the front of our building

Suggestions are encouraged and welcomed to make our Fellowship noticed in the community.

Bonnie George

Trustee for Visibility

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Membership Committee Report

This year, the Membership Committee welcomed four new members to our congregation. We also updated the material in the Visitor Packets, wrote up job descriptions for Greeters, Coffee Set Up, Snack Provider, Clean up, and Lockup Monitors.

A format of signing up Greeters and Coffee Makers several months in advance was adopted making the job of Volunteer Coordinator easier.

Newcomer Desserts helped recent visitors learn more about us. And we continued our monthly hikes, Dinners for Eight, and All Ages Potlucks allowing our members & friends to learn more about each other.

In the fall, the 2010-2011 Fellowship Directory was published.

And our committee continues to sign up Sunday volunteers and print name tags for those who request them.

Finance Committee Report

FINANCE COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT AS OF APRIL, 2011

Our 2010/2011 fiscal year, which began July 1, 2010 and ends June 30, 2011 has been the first without a minister in the last six years. When it became clear that our pledge drive proceeds for this fiscal year, which took place in February and March of 2010, would not support a full-time minister without severe cutbacks in expenditures, Victoria, our minister, announced her plans to leave us at the end of the 2009/2010 fiscal year. At this point, 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.

At last year’s annual spring meeting in May 2010 the membership approved a conservative budget based on the limited pledge total received during that year’s pledge drive. That budget would support a half-time minister giving two Sunday services a month with speaker support for the other Sunday services, a quarter-time DRE with three Sunday teachers for the children’s program, a paid administrator, our professional musician for Sunday services, and would pay our fair share PCD-UUA dues. A surplus of $15,000 was projected to accrue by the end of the year to provide an adequate operating reserve to cover potential future deficits and to pay off some of our outstanding loans so as to decrease future expenses.

During this fiscal year, the Search Committee did not succeed in finding and hiring a half-time minister. This provided a reduction in expenses from the budgeted total, which allowed an increased net surplus to be projected. In January, the Board hired two Sunday Service only ministers who had previously provided exceptionally good, inspiring Sunday services for us. They are providing two Sunday services a month beginning mid-March. This has significantly improved the quality of our Sunday Services. They will continue until a half-time minister is hired and begins work.

It is proposed that we not pay the second half of our PCD-UUA dues, $4,000, in favor of paying off more of our outstanding loans. Since this may affect our denominational relationships, approval will be requested of the membership at the upcoming business meeting.

If the membership approves withholding half of our PCD-UUA dues, we are projecting a surplus of $28,000 at the end of this fiscal year, June 30, 2011. $8,000 will be used to maintain an adequate operating reserve of $10,000. $17,000 will pay off a little less than half of our outstanding loans totaling $38,000. The remaining $3,000 will be added to our proposed FY12 budget to make it a balanced budget. In this way, this year’s surplus will be used to build our financial capability toward returning to full time ministry in the future.

In addition to managing the budget, the Finance Committee conducted the annual pledge drive and supported a successful Christmas Boutique in December. We are also supporting the Annual Auction which will occur in June.

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

Long Range Plan Report

Planning Committee Yearly Report :

The committee met rarely but was in agreement on the following:

The long term plan should be streamlined and simplified.  The committee agreed that the LTP should be limited to 3 goals that would be articulated to the various UUFLG committees for comment and discussion of how each would meet those goals.  The inclusion of the other committees is believed to make the understanding and meeting of goals more realistic.  Likewise, by having the committees create their own matrix for measuring the achievement of the goals will make for more ease when those committees are asked to assess their achievement.

One of the committee members took on dissemination of this year's annual survey.  Due to some problems with the wording and the changing nature of the fellowship, future surveys will be reworked and reworded.

Kathryn Wood
UUFLG Board of Trustees Vice President
Chair of the Long Term Planning Committee

Endowment Committee Report For FY09 and FY10

UUFLG ENDOWMENT FUND REPORT TO THE MEMBERSHIP FOR

JULY 1, 2010 TO JUNE 30, 2011

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: 3/31/11

Partner Church Fund $7,193

Central America Child Fund $3,630

Community College Fund $3,630

Building Fund $5,890

Unrestricted Fund $11,772

Total Endowment Fund $32,115

Income distributed during the fiscal year

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

Other Distributions

Bob Bixler, the donor of the Building Fund, requested that $4,000 of his gift be used to make partial payment of his pledge for FY10, and that $1,000 of his gift be used to make partial payment of his pledge for FY11. The Board approved these distributions.

Return on investment from 4/1/10 to 3/31/11

The return for the year for the total invested was 9.5%.

Submitted by Irving Yabroff, Treasurer