From the Board: Bylaws and Policies Working Group Update
Have you ever wondered about the church's Bylaws? What are they? Why do we have them? Where can I find them if I want to read them for myself? (Look for them near the bottom of this page of our website: Our Governance)
In short, our Bylaws provide the rules and procedures for running the church. They are a living document written by the members of our church and updated periodically by the membership to accurately reflect what we do. They put in writing things like how we define membership in our church, how long board member terms are, and how we call a minister. As a living document, it has been amended many many times over the years, but some of those amendments do not match with previous bylaw revisions, are redundant, or are in the wrong place.
The Board created a special committee of the board named the Bylaws and Policies Working Group to look at how we could make our Bylaws better reflect who we are. This committee consists of Mary Craig, Steve Dillon, Steve Gilbert, and Stuart Yoak with Rev Connie Grant as advisor. This group has prepared a substantial revision to the UUCB Bylaws, aiming to arrive at language that is up-to-date, accurate, clear, and reflective of discourse commonly used in the congregation.The committee is working on final edits to the new proposed Bylaws, and then they will be sent to the congregation by Friday, August 18 for comment, revision, and discussion.
There are two open discussion sessions about the proposed Bylaws currently scheduled: Sunday, August 27 at 11:45, and Wednesday, September 6th at 7:00. These meetings are open to all and will be publicized again before the meetings.
After these meetings, the Bylaws committee and the Board will meet to make any needed changes to the proposed bylaws. A final revised proposed Bylaws will be sent to the Congregation for consideration by September 22, and then it will be voted on at a Special Congregational Meeting Sunday, October 22 at 2:00pm.
Thank you to the Bylaws and Policies working group for all their careful work putting this together.
In deep gratitude for all who help to make this church a vibrant place,
Abby Gitlitz, Board President
