To: Board of Directors
From: Long Range Planning Committee
Last year, in addition to developing a revised Five Year Plan, the Long Range Planning Committee assumed a new annual objective approved by the Board of Directors: to follow a "Plan Implementation" Policy for executing or monitoring the accomplishment of recommendations in each succeeding year. This new policy was incorporated into a revised committee description, October 2004, which is included as Appendix A with the Five Year Plan for 2005 – 2010.
Following is a very brief recapitulation of our monitoring activities of "2004–2005" Specific Objectives. Tasks not noted have been accomplished or are in process.
In Building and Space Use, Ron Hutchison initiated tasks related to finishing the interior of the building, and will be designing a Preventive Maintenance Plan and Schedule in accordance with requirements of the City Fire Inspector. He has also developed a statement of pros and cons, for Board consideration, relating to establishment of a permanent handicapped street level parking space adjacent to the church. This statement is included as Appendix B with the Five Year Plan for 2005 – 2010.
With respect to Growth, Jane Peterson gathered information on the particular importance of developing small covenant groups which can be helpful in meeting various needs – for spiritual exploration, adult religious education, and specific service projects – to reinvigorate our member retention, and especially those new to our community. A description of Small Covenant Groups is included as Appendix C with the Five Year Plan for 2005 – 2010.
In Organizational Adjustments, a new Leadership Council, made up of the standing committee chairs, has been established and will be meeting on a quarterly basis for better coordination and integration of our operational activities.
With respect to professional Religious Leadership, a Task Force was appointed and will be making a separate report to the annual meeting. A copy of their report, reproduced in the April issue of UU Spirit, is included as Appendix D with the Five Year Plan for 2005 – 2010.
Our Religious Education program has had significant growth; but with the imminent turnover in leadership to a new Coordinator of Religious Education, some of this year's objectives were placed on hold. A major plan for the future, however, includes development of a program for our teens, and is described in the Religious Leadership Task Force report. (See Appendix D above).
Social Action will be reporting on its active year, but the major new initiative is our growing participation in the UUA Global Warming Project. (See Appendix E with the Five Year Plan.)
The full Five Year Plan for 2005 – 2010 has been included by our webmaster, Phil Mouch, on our website in the "About Us/News" section, and I encourage all of you to read it since it is not possible to cover its detail in this report. I would, however, like to highlight some of the new initiatives, which evolved this year. In most cases, the LRPC played a variable role – sometimes launching or developing a new program, in other instances, offering our institutional support or active participation of our members. These new initiatives, briefly cited above or now being introduced, will include the following:
More importantly, however, we will propose as a congregation to meet the UUA accreditation requirements to become a Green Sanctuary Program under the leadership of our current president, Melissa Hutchison.
Three concluding comments are relevant to these evolving projects.
Long Range Planning Committee
Mark Chekola
Ron Hutchison
Mark Morrison
Jane Peterson
Maggie Scott, Chair