Message from Paul Cohen, new UUCR Board President

It's official.  Last Friday, Tom Day, Keturah Collins, and I joined your board.  I relieved Terry Mitchell as your President and Tom replaced Mary Howard as your Vice President.  Both of us can not thank Terry and Mary and outgoing Board Members Bob Anthony, Eileen Roehr, and  Leslie Tyson enough for the great job of leadership they showed this past year.  We are fortunate Terry and Mary will remain on your Board for another year to help make a smooth transition.   
 
At our July 11 Board meeting, we will renew our Board and Staff covenant and focus on religious education, hiring the interim RE director and planning for the search for a permanent RE director.  The other big task to accomplish this summer is finding a permanent administrative person.  We are working with Reverend Gingrich to examine position descriptions for sister RE churches and collect valuable insights from Erin regarding her administrative support needs for our mission programs (worship, RE, pastoral care, and social outreach) and important enabling programs such as finance, facilities, communications, and membership.  Our goal is to define this position over the next few weeks and the amount of time it will take to do what we expect in the way of administrative support, and then have a permanent administrative person on board by the end of the summer.  Meanwhile, we are fortunate to have Jennifer Vail to ably fill in until we find the right permanent person.  
 
 In August we will hold the annual Board retreat to lay out our vision and plans for the coming church year.  Many of the congregation attended General Assembly and are collecting their notes on what they learned and how we can carry these insights to the congregation as a whole.  They will be presenting their ideas to your Board prior to our retreat.  If you have suggestions about topics your Board's retreat should cover, please send them to Tom Day and me before the end of July.
 
Sincerely,
 
Paul Cohen