Board Committees

Posted on by Steve Scott

Under the “policy governance” structure put in place starting in 2010-11, governance responsibilities are assigned as follows:

  • The Board of Trustees is responsible for formulating policies, articulating the church’s vision and mission, providing resources, and evaluating programs.
  • The minister is responsible not only for traditional pastoral duties but also for supervising staff members and volunteers in the work of all the church’s ministries.

See the Governance Overview page for a further explanation of the realms of responsibility of the board and minister. Under this structure, a limited number of committees report directly to the board, while a larger number of teams and ministries are under the supervision of the minister. There are also three “hybrid committees” that serve and report to both the board and the minister. This page covers only the committees reporting directly to the Board of Trustees and the hybrid committees. For information on the ministry teams supervised by the Minister, see the Ministries page.

Committees Reporting to the Board Only

Executive Committee

The board has designated the President, President-Elect, Secretary and Treasurer as members of the Executive Committee, which is authorized by church bylaws to exercise the board’s authority to the extent provided by board resolution and ordinarily does so only when there is a need for prompt action before a board meeting can be held. The current President chairs the Executive Committee. The minister is an ex officio participant at Executive Committee meetings.

Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee is responsible for nominating church members to serve on the Board of Trustees and recruiting committee members and delegates to the MidAmerica Region Assembly and UUA General Assembly. Board members are elected at the Annual Congregational Meeting in April, May or June and take office July 1. The Nominating Committee traditionally has been chaired by the immediate past President.

2017-18 Nominating Committee members are Jeremy Milarsky, immediate past President, Peter Holmes and Kevin Fritsche.

Investments and Endowments Committee

The Investments and Endowments Committee has the following responsibilities:

  • Manages the financial investments of the church and makes recommendations as deemed necessary
  • Educates the congregation on financial investing and other related matters

Current members: Pam Springsteel, Chair, and Winifred Scott, David Leuthold, Carl Kardinal and Sandy Kardinal.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee has the following responsibilities:

  • Receives from the Administrator and reviews monthly budget and categories reports
  • Conducts regular audits of the church’s financial records
  • Cooperates with the board in arranging a professional (outside) financial review every five years

Current members: Elaine Martin, Chair, and Pam Springsteel and Barbara Montgomery.

Hybrid Committee

The following committee serves and reports to both the board and the minister:

Safer Congregation Committee

The committee’s primary responsibility is to develop, update and monitor the implementation of the safer congregation policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees and related administrative policies and procedures adopted by the minister. The committee shall review existing safer congregation policies and procedures at least annually and make recommendations to the Board of Trustees and minister for changes and additions. The committee also serves as a review and response team in cases in which a person participating or seeking to participate in the church has a history of one or more sexual offenses or has been accused of a sexual offense.

Note: The following finance-related groups formerly reporting to the Board of Trustees are now under the supervision of the Minister (see Ministries page):

  • Budget Team
  • Stewardship Team
  • Fundraising Team
  • Planned Giving Team