Board Summaries

The board opened the meeting by sharing memories of Donald Diamond, treasured community member and philanthropist, who passed away that day. The Executive Administrator reported that the current total raised by the voluntary assessment is $20,440, which is 41% our goal, from 78 families. There was discussion of the form and content of a follow-up letter to be sent to those families that have not yet responded to the appeal, emphasizing that this is an assessment to cover a deficit, not an additional fundraiser.

The governance committee chair, Harriet Kronman, reported on the congregational attorney’s review of the bylaws changes. It was decided that the bylaws amendments will be postponed until the fall to allow the board to fully resolve all issues before presenting them to the congregation.

The main topic of the meeting was the proposed 2019-2020 budget. The treasurer reported that all expenses have been reviewed and further reductions would require eliminating personnel. Our financial difficulties stem from the income side of our ledger, not the expense side. To that end, the budget includes a 15% increase in dues billing. The finance committee analyzed the likely actual increase in receivables based on current dues levels to be 9%. The board accepted the budget as presented with permission for minor modifications.

The board received an update on the response to the voluntary assessment. As of the meeting, 28 congregants had donated, for a total of $7600. The Special Events Committee announced the upcoming Celebration of Israel, which will include a concert and a raffle, on April 6.

The Nominations Committee submitted its slate of nominees, including Elaine Jones for President, Gary Kippur as First Vice President, Bev Sandock as Vice President, and Mark Ross to finish out the current term as Treasurer.

The first draft of the 2019-2020 budget was presented and discussed. The Finance Committee and staff have worked hard to carefully analyze and budget expenses. They will be continuing their work this month. After considering the feedback from the town hall, the board directed the President to appoint a team to develop a plan for a transition to a voluntary commitment model for dues, in consultation with the Finance Committee.

The board convened a special meeting to finish discussing the work of the bylaws committee. Suggested changes to Articles VII through XXI were reviewed. The most detailed discussion was about changes to make the process by which people are nominated to the board more structured.

The January meeting was convened for three hours instead of the usual two in order to allow the board to consider several important matters. Firstly, the board voted to appoint Mark Ross as Treasurer for the remainder of the year. Aaron Fisher had to resign for personal reasons, and the board thanks him for his service. Marty Zuckerman has returned to his former position as chair of the Budget & Finance Committee.

Our spending remains largely on budget. Our income is higher than expected in several areas – our High Holy Day Appeal was very successful, and the enrollment in religious school is higher than expected – but we’re facing a shortfall of about $40,000 because of lower-than-expected dues income and donations.

The board reviewed ten initiatives proposed by the Finance Committee to improve our financial situation, which will be implemented over the coming months. One immediate action item was sending out a voluntary assessment to the membership to help bridge the projected shortfall. Various options were considered, and the board approved an assessment in the amount of $250 per member unit.

Finally, the board began a discussion of the changes to the bylaws proposed by the governance committee. Suggested revisions of Articles I through VII were discussed.

In order to give the bylaws the consideration required, a special meeting of the board was called for February 4 to complete the discussion.

At the December meeting the board approved a proposal to upgrade and convert the currently unused modular building. It will be divided into a youth lounge and additional storage space. This project will take nothing from the operating budget – it is fully supported by grants from the Family Foundation and the Jewish Community Foundation, as well as donations from congregants.

The remodeled building will provide a dedicated space for youth and teen programing, and the additional storage space will replace the two storage pods currently on campus, saving approximately $1000 a year.

There was discussion of our future fundraising efforts in light of the lack of support for the Razzmatazz event. The board thanks the committee of that event for their considerable work on the project, and for making the responsible decision to cancel the event when it was not meeting its goals.

Currently many of our expenses are running under budget, but with the fundraiser canceled and a projected shortfall in dues collection, we will need to raise more money this fiscal year. The finance committee was directed to prepare a list of possibilities for the board’s review.

At the October board meeting, the treasurer reported that our current income and expenses are on track for the fiscal year, and the High Holy Appeal had brought in ~$25,000 so far. The board also heard reports from the Nominating Committee and the Worship Space Exploration task force. The Nominating Committee’s 2018-2019 membership was approved by the board, and will consist of Steve Schuldenfrei (chair), Bev Sandock, Karen Erenberg, Karen Heller, and Ron Feller. The Worship Space Exploration Task Force presented its work to date. They have investigated 4 possible paths forward:

1. Do nothing

2. Build a sanctuary space

3. Improve the THA multi-purpose room and rent space there

4. Increase the size of our existing community room.

Full details on these concepts will be presented to the congregation at a Town Hall on December 2, and we look forward to hearing your input.

The religious school enrollment is currently 60 students, two more than were projected in the budget. At least 5 more families are making enquiries! One of the new families has children with severe allergies to nuts, so the campus is now nut prohibited.

The school and community room have been thoroughly cleaned to allow these children to safely join our community. The treasurer reported we are currently on track with our beginning-of-year receivables, and the accounting manager has successfully collected $8000 in past-due receivables from last year. The board accepted a proposal from him and the facilities manager to have the school treated for termites and some damage repaired.

The board had a presentation and discussion about a voluntary commitment model of membership. A number of URJ congregations have successfully switched, with an average increase of 4% in membership and 4.4% in income. A team was appointed (led by VP & Membership Committee Chair Elaine Jones) to do more research and bring a detailed report to the board.

In executive session, the board approved a contract to retain Rina Liebeskind as Executive Administrator and Director of Youth Engagement through June 30, 2020.

At the July Board meeting the Cantor and staff proposed that we host the URJ

Annual Area Day on 10/28/18. The board agreed and looks forward to having our

colleagues as guests on our campus.

The board looked forward to offering congratulations to Dana Adler on her

installation as the president of the WRJ Pacific Region and Jeff Jacobson on his

elevation to Supreme Master of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.

Since June five members have left the congregation – 3 have not responded to

multiple attempts at contact, one has passed away, and one moved to attend the

same synagogue as their grandchildren. One family joined.

Summer maintenance projects continued, with work being done on the new wifi

system, the irrigation lines, and the office server.

The board received preliminary end-of-fiscal year reports from the treasurer. We

also received reports on the upcoming Taste of Or Chadash and our first

Committee Cabinet meeting, the late of which is being formed in response to the

recommendation of the OC25 working groups. There were also updates from the

Governance Committee and the effort to review and compile past capital

campaign records. Next month we will be hearing a report on a new potential

dues model.