Isles of Shoals Association (Unitarian Universalist), Inc.

ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES

Saturday, November 5, 2023

In-Person and Virtual Meeting 

The meeting was called to order at 1:30 PM.

Opening Words Sarah Gordon

An excerpt from “Among the Isles of Shoals” by Celia Thaxter.

President’s Report | Patricia Coleman

Tricia reiterated our mission to support Star Island, we have been doing this now for 130 years. She is moved by this work we do together and she sees a bright future for us. Tricia gave recognition to Patti Washburn and the Shops on Star Committee. We’re an organization we can all be proud of. Thank you for being here.

Joe Watts, SIC CEO, and Debbie Duval, SIC President, are not able to be here for this meeting but send well wishes. Tricia read a short message from Joe in their absence. Starry Night is November 11th at the SIC office and all are invited to attend.

Minutes of 2022 Annual Meeting | Molly Mansfield for Cheryl Doty

Moved to dispense with reading meeting minutes from Annual Meeting 2022, available on our website shoals.org, and this passed unanimously. Moved to approve the meeting minutes from the Annual Meeting 2023 and this passed unanimously too.

Treasurer’s Report | Cory Easter

The fiscal year is ending soon. Cory is still waiting for a report from UUA Common Endowment to finalize the finances for the year.

The total Shops revenue for this year was $179,619. Other revenue was $5,486 which was made up of UU Common Fund disbursements, memberships and a $500 gift, bringing total ISAUU revenue to $185,105. That’s an increase of about $8,000 over the prior year.

Expenses included expected Shops expenses, the ISA gift to the SIC of $40K (an increase of $10K from last year), plus the conference and clergy grants and project gifts. This was a 13% increase from the prior year. The ISA total expenses were $184,372, leaving a $733 surplus. We are in great shape financially for our open up next year. As a non-profit it’s good we can run just about flat from year to year and continue to provide funds to Star Island. Cory offered to answer questions but none were voiced.

Bylaws Revisions | Ali Walton

Thank you to Tom, Marlene, Nate, Tricia, Patti, and Cory for giving their time to review and write the proposed changes. The new proposed by-laws are available on our website, shoals.org.

The by-laws were previously amended in 2013. It has been a ten year process to review and update them, and it is important to do that from time to time to make sure our practices are consistent with by-laws and the language is current. We recently reviewed all the language to be inclusive and current, to update pronoun uses, and adjust for technology that has changed. The language was updated throughout the whole document.

In addition, we edited Article 4, which discusses term limits. We wanted to solidify our practice and make sure by-laws and practice are consistent. Term limits are best practice for non profit boards. In the proposed changes we reiterated in stronger language a process where board members serve up to three 3 year terms, and anyone who does a rotation as President can serve up to four 3 year terms. We also propose to include an option to serve as a non-voting emeritus member to maintain institutional knowledge and benefit from that wisdom and experience. During this transition into using our new bylaws, and considering continuity and sustainability, we propose that incumbents on the board and those in Shops will be allotted an additional 3 year term so we aren’t losing people without having found and trained replacements.

The committee created Article 10, a new article, to clarify and reinforce the relationship between the ISA Board and the Shops on Star Committee. The Board is responsible for the Committee and the work of the Shops comes from the Committee directly. In summary, the Shops Committee will determine their own guidelines and present them to the Board for approval. The Board determines the Chairperson but not the committee members. The ISA President is invited to all meetings but doesn’t fill a committee position for the Shops on Star Committee.

The final proposed change is to remove the statement that life membership funds will be invested and only the income from the investment will be spent in order to be consistent with what we have been actually doing in practice. This has not been our practice for some time.

Ali asked for questions about the By-law Committee’s process or outcome and none were forthcoming. There was a motion to approve the revised by-laws and they were approved unanimously. Tricia thanked Ali for all her work on these by-law changes.

Nominating Committee Report and Elections | Molly Mansfield

Thanks to this year’s Nominating Committee for their work to bring new members to our Board: Miriam Coe, Molly Mansfield, Ali Walton and Marlene Smurzynski.

We are presenting these candidates for a 3 year term from 2024-2026:

  • Ali Walton - President

  • Cheryl Doty - 1st Vice President

  • Patti Washburn - 2nd Vice President

  • Lisa Jennings - 3rd Vice President

  • Molly Mansfield - Board Secretary

  • Cory Easter - Treasurer

  • Patricia Coleman - Assistant Treasurer

  • Deb Weiner Soule - Membership Secretary

In addition we present:

  • Miriam Coe for a 1 year term

  • Marlene Smurzynski for a 2 year term

  • And to a 3rd term: Maura LaRocca, Deb Walton, Nick Bresinsky, Eric Misner, Sarah Phipps

  • Gordon, Linda Pollack Johnson

Nominations for 3-year terms for new Board members were also presented.

Marlene shared our new member nominations and small bios about each person:

  • Carrie Jones (LOAS 1, pelican in 2016-2017, Oberlin 2019 graduate, career in public health, currently lives in Denver, CO, and works for a small philanthropic organization)

  • Jocelyn Pierce (All Star 1 most of her life, Pelican in 2002-2003 and head of chamber, worked in retail, owns her business: a small batch and sustainable bakery in Massachusetts. Food, hospitality, and sustainability are her passions.)

  • Suzy Bender Binzel (All Star 2, she was a pelican in ‘79, ‘80, and ‘81, in 2013 she and Chuck were conference chairs and joined the SIC. They are Olympia Brown UU Church members and Suzy has been on the board of trustees there.)

  • Sarah Iselin Hawkins (LOAS conferences, she was a pelican in 2012-2016, she is a SIC member, and she lives outside Boston working as an analyst.)

  • John Anderson (He was a pelican in many roles, was part of the youth staff for the IA conference, his oldest child was “wishie” supervisor in 2023 and he expects his other child will apply to work on Star in a few years too.)

Members in attendance voted to accept all the membership changes and to elect the five new members to our Board of Directors. All were unanimously approved. We also recognized Tom Smurzynski in his new role as an emeritus non-voting board member.

Shops on Star Committee Report | Patti Washburn

The shops had a very successful 2023 season! The committee welcomed three new members: Phil Quatrochi, Annabelle Cook, and Sarah Gordon. This volunteer team contributed to making the summer of 2023 most successful to date! Thank you also to Tricia Coleman, Cheryl Doty, Mary-Lu’ Esposito, Janice Hanson, Maura LaRocca, Jenny Nelson, and Ali Walton for their hard work. Planning for each season starts early. By the time February arrived, managers were selected, vendors contacted, and the spending budget set. Open up in May arrived quickly after placing orders with over 90 vendors. This year there were many rainy weekends, canceled boats and despite the arrival of Hurricane Lee we had a net profit of $55,000. Patti recognized the work of the committee, the summer volunteers, and managers Julia and Matthew. She also thanked the ISA Board, under the leadership of Tricia Coleman, for their support as well as the SIC for their collaboration and contribution to the success of the shops.

Conference Grants | Cory Easter

For the 2023 season the Conference Grants committee included: Cory, Sarah Gordon, Lisa, Cheryl, Nick, Deb Walton, and (missed some). The committee met virtually in February to review and approve grant applications. They approved 25 grants for a total of just over $20K and in support of many different conferences.

Rosemary Smurzynski asked about the spread of grant amounts: Cory shared that the lowest grant amount was in the $200 range and the largest don’t usually exceed $750 (except in special cases such as supporting the newest conferences, the largest grants of which are at most around $1500). The committee takes a lot of factors into consideration including the extent of the impact of the grant, one off versus lasting impact, how well the grant plan is aligned with the conference theme, etc.. Cory confirmed that most of the grants are for programming, and another type of grant is for a service/project the conference wants to do for the Island.

Clergy Grants | Miriam Coe

Miriam gave a brief history and some context for the clergy grants: the clergy grants program started 18 years ago, providing one time funding for credentialed UU ministers and their families (who haven’t yet experienced a Star Island conference) to attend a conference. It is intended to be a chance to relax and enjoy a UU experience without being on-duty as ministers. The program was started by ISAUU members who were children of UU ministers and who grew up going to the Island and working as Pelicans. Miriam shared a story of a clergy members year old son first experiencing child care on Star and having such a positive time this summer.

The Clergy Grants Committee (Deb Weiner Soule, Linda Pollack Johnson, Marlene Smurzynski, Tricia Coleman) offered a little over $4K in grant money to four ministers this past summer. For the 2023 season they adjusted the timing for the application from March to January so there were more options to register for the conference of their choosing (family conferences have already been full in the past). The grants program was publicized in the usual ways including the UUA regional newsletter, minister listservs, and talking it up in our own UU circles. They have found word of mouth is one of the best ways to spread the word and generate applications. Miriam asked us to please encourage UU ministers we know to apply. Thank you to those who worked on the grant committee!


Questions and Comments

Tony Codding stood to make a comment: He managed Star Island from 1985 to 2000 and was part of the Corporation from 1988 to 2000. Early on he became a life member of the ISA “because of all the good work like what you heard today.” He was so grateful when the SIC got the $10K a year donation from ISA and it made a LOT of difference in that time. Thank you for all that the ISA does and to all that the volunteers do too!

On that note, the business meeting was adjourned.

Deb Weiner Soule spoke to recognize Nate Soule for his years of care and dedication serving on the ISA Board. He will be missed! Thank you Nate.

Marlene Smurzynski spoke to recognize Tom Smurzynski for his hard work and diligence in service to the ISA and to welcome him into the first new emeritus position! Thank you to Tom.

Ali Walton spoke to recognize Tricia Coleman for her leadership as the ISA President. We’re glad to not be saying “goodbye” but simply “thank you” for your dedication and efforts!

**Break and Refreshment**

Post-meeting presentation: “The end of Royal authority in New Hampshire” with Tom Hardiman.