Greenfield Group Minutes
Since 1927
A Unitarian Universalist Ministers Study Group
BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES - December 3, 2008
The meeting at La Salette Center was called to order by our Moderator, Mary Harrington, at 10:45 AM.
Appreciation was expressed for all the work of presenters and the Anchor as well as other individuals involved in the program.
Treasurer reported that we have placed deposits for the next two meetings with La Salette to prevent a repeat of the last meeting when we had to move to another site because someone else had booked La Salette for the time we wanted..
The Treasurer noted that dues of $20 are to be paid in the spring.
The extra $5 for snacks and beverages seems to be working. We did not need to have a sale of left overs this time - though donations were welcome.
The Scribe asked for acceptance of the minutes which had been posted throughout the meeting. The minutes of the Spring 2008 meeting were accepted. He reminded everyone to check the list of names and contact information to make updates if needed.
Absences excused were: Tom Wintle, Tracey Sprouls Jenks and Josh Pawelek. Will Saunders, in spite of his request for time away from the group, was dropped from the roles as he has had a spate of absences over the past several years. Our moderator will contact Will and express our hope that he will return to Greenfield at some point in the future.
There is one opening in the group but no one has submitted a nomination so it goes unfilled. Scribe reminded the group that nominations for membership have to be checked out with the person being nominated and should be submitted to the Scribe at least two weeks before the meeting at which the name will be brought forward.
A nominating Committee was appointed to fill out a slate of officers for the Spring meeting. Josh Pawelek is to be Moderator, Bob Thayer is willing to continue on as Treasurer, Brian Kopke is willing to continue as Scribe and web site maven, Anita Farber Robertson is able to continue as Keeper of the Gong and Stapler, Nina Grey can continue as Historian. We need the following posts filled: Keeper of the Spirits, Purchaser of the Spirits, Cantor.
Keeper of the spirits and purchaser of the spirits both noted that they would like to step down. The purchaser comes from Buffalo, N.Y., and feels that a local person would be better suited for the job. The Keeper of the Spirits allowed that she would continue on to the spring meeting but wanted the Nominating Committee to find a replacement at that time. She noted that there was a continuing decline in the amount of alcohol of all sort being consumed at the meeting and that purchasers in the future should adjust their purchases appropriately.
The keeper of the Gong and Stapler noted that both were conspicuously present at the meeting this time.
The program committee reported about a very different sort of gathering replete with blog responses to a paper, a paper delivered by teleconference, and a rather hum drum normally delivered paper and response! Most resources for the gathering were to be found on-line and everyone is to join facebook and give it an earnest try. The details will be posted online.
The Web Site Maven reported that we now have a history of our major retreat sites on-line, including Unity House in Boston where the first meetings were held in the late 1920's. Sections about Unitarianism have been added as we are seeing enough pages viewed (over 150,000 pages viewed in the past 12 months) to assume that we are spreading the word about Unitarianism along with our own existence. A section on other UU Ministerial Study Groups has been added - though it has been hard to find the necessary information about the groups as no members of those groups have responded to emails.
The moderator closed the meeting at 12:15 and we all headed off to chapel.
Respectfully submitted,
Brian Kopke
Scribe
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