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Thursday, May 12 2011 18:58 |
Please attend the Semi-Annual Parish Meeting on the 15th after our church service. This is our annual budget meeting, and you can find the Warrant for the Meeting in the previous issue of Focalpoint and available for inspection in the church office. (Also available for inspection in the church office are the minutes of last October's Semi-Annual Meeting, the report of the Nominating Committee, and the Board's proposed budget.) This meeting is a significant partof the governance of First Parish, and I hope you will all come.
Besides the budget
• The Nominating Committee will propose a slate of nominees for Clerk, Treasurer, Auditor of the Treasurer, Trustee, Auditor of the Trustees, and members-at-large of the Parish Board. Note that, although they are uncommon, nominations from the floor are also in order at the meeting.
•Article 5 of the Warrant contains the wording for a proposed amendment of the church by-laws to require a parish meeting and a vote of the parish with a 2/3rds majority to buy or sell expensive or historic property.
The Proposed FY2011-12 Budget
This year, the Finance Committee and the Treasurer oversaw a budgeting process that I found remarkable and effective. The Parish Council and the Personnel Committee put together a budget that spoke to the many things we ought to do. The budget drivers were better programming and fair compensation for our staff. From there, the Finance Committee took us to what we ought to do that we can afford to do. They gave the Board a budget with some "headroom," places where it could actually budget to expand programs to come closer to the Council/Personnel Committee suggestions. These efforts saw light in congregational presentations, which generated additional information for the Board. The Board exploited each of these sources as it made its final budget adjustments and is very grateful for the significant contributions.
Mayfair
A special thank you to the people who made Mayfair materialize overnight, as it were. The event generated, at last count, $3,884 for First Parish. Just as important, it was a great place to go to see friends. |
