Dear Members and Friends:
There is much to share this month about changes taking place within the UUCS congregation. So, before I take you to the second phase of our journey through Transitioning, I will bring you up to date on these changes.
As most of you know Charlie Mannino is retiring from his position as Newsletter Editor and Technology Chair this month along with Cathy’s stepping back from her responsibility as Web Manager/Master for the UUCs Website. Charlie and Cathy have been loyal, dedicated, supportive and caring members of this congregation for many years. We are – of course – sorry to see them retire and we certainly owe them our sincere thanks; however, they have earned their rest and an opportunity to explore other interests.
We are fortunate, for the Newsletter, we have a pair of members to assume this responsibility until a permanent solution is found. Please welcome our new co-editors Gus and Juliet Gustavson. Their first issue will be the May issue. For the Website, we have turned to a paid Webmaster recommended by Cathy and one we have been working with for several years – Toni Steffen. She will be assisted by members of the Congregation who are familiar with website management. We have yet to find a new Technology Chair – so if you know of one or if you would like to volunteer to assist in this position, I can be reached easily – My number is in the Directory and I would love to chat with you.
The Planning Committee for Rev. Terry’s Retirement Celebration has begun to plan seriously. Invitations will go out in late April via email and the date for the Party is (hopefully on your calendar) Saturday, May 22nd beginning at 4:00PM. There will be food and beverages and lots of well wishing. Please plan to join us in paying tribute to our spiritual leader and our friend for 15 years.
Phase Two of our Transitioning Journey–
I promised to keep you informed as we moved through each critical step in this process. This Phase – the second step – was the selection of the Search team for the Interim minister’s position. Your Board of Trustees, after careful deliberation and discussion selected five people from the Congregation to review, select, interview, and recommend for hire our Interim Minister. Some UU Congregations use their Board for the Search Team and others choose completely from the Congregation. The Transition’s Director recommends a mix and so we chose a combination, 3 from the board and 2 from the congregation. The following were selected for your Search Team: Maggie Mahan, Liz Thomas, David King, Jeff London, and Brooke Gaunt as Chair. We know they will serve our congregation well.
Their work begins immediately gathering information to complete the Congregational Interim Record which goes to the UUA and is available for interested Interim Candidates. This information includes demographics, diversity, number of members/friends in our congregation, our annual budget, staff, by laws. policies and procedures, surrounding community, strengths, and weaknesses and so on. Team members may seek out members of the congregation who are familiar with our Church and its members for this information. If you are approached, please be as forth coming as you can – we want the candidates to know about us.
This Congregational Interim Record –(application) must be completed and sent to the UUA by April 22. April 26th through April 30th these files are open to all ministers interested in an Interim position. May 1st is the deadline for ministers to submit their interest in this process. May 3rd the names of the ministers interested in our Church will be released to our Search Team. While this is going on our team will be reviewing files and developing questions for the interviews which begin on May 3rd.
Interviewing the Candidates chosen is the Third Phase of our Transitioning Journey. If you have questions, you may ask any Board Member. For now, let us enjoy the time we have left with Rev Terry by listening on Sunday mornings to his message and by helping to plan for his Celebration.
Yours in faith, friendship, and the continuing work of Transitioning
Sherry