Permanent Board minutes | May 8, 2010

10-30 Opening Worship: We opened in waiting worship.

10-31 Roll Call: The Recording Clerk called the roll.

Present: Edward Baker, Holly Baldwin, Jeremiah Dickinson, Sarah Gant, Andrew Grannell, Dorothy Grannell, Carolyn Hilles-Pilant, Jan Hoffman, John Humphries, Sandy Isaacs, Mary Knowlton, Rebecca Leuchak, Dwight Lopes, Christopher McCandless, Susan Reilly, Philip Stone, Ruah Swennerfelt, William Upholt, Donn Weinholtz

Regrets: Travis Belcher (Finance Committee Clerk), Debbie Block, Judy Goldberger, Beth Gorton, Allan Kohrman, Donald Mick, Karen Sanchez-Eppler, Suzanna Schell, Patricia Shotwell, Jane Van Landingham, Jonathan Vogel-Borne (YM Secretary), Carl Williams

Ex-Officio: Linda Jenkins (Presiding Clerk, YM), Ed Mair (Treasurer), Judith Shea (Personnel Committee Clerk)

Staff: Nat Shed

Guests: Elizabeth Muench

10-32 Minutes of March 20, 2010 were considered. Jan Hoffman offered substantive revisions to the draft minute on the report from the Faith and Practice Revision Committee, separating out the report regarding the decision-making practices of other Yearly Meetings and the discussion of a Procedures Manual into a new minute. Friends approved the minutes with these revisions and other corrections.

10-33 Yearly Meeting Secretary Report: Jonathan Vogel-Borne is in Kenya, so the Clerk discussed some highlights from Jonathan’s written report that was distributed in advance.

• Staff changes – Two staff members have resigned: Kimberly Allen, Young Friends/Young Adult Friends Coordinator, effective June 1, 2010 and Katharine Clark, Communications Director, effective July 1, 2010. Jonathan has hired Aimee Belanger for the Interim Young Friends Sessions Coordinator and Delia Windwalker as the Interim Office Manager, both of whom will serve through August Sessions. Jonathan hopes to hire a new Young Friends/Young Adult Friends Coordinator before Sessions, but finding the right person for the Communications Director position may take some time.
• Personnel Committee is considering restructuring the Communications Director position to become two part-time positions, but there is a preference for one full- time position.
• Sessions Committee continues to prepare for August, finding the implementation of the Jubilee theme to be a challenge; the Presiding Clerk will provide more details about the Committee’s work later in the agenda.

10-34 Friends Camp Report: The Clerk reported that the Friends Camp Committee has completed their performance review of the Camp Director and recommends continuing employment of Nat Shed as the Camp Director. Friends expressed unity with that recommendation and approved bringing that recommendation to Sessions for approval.

The Clerk noted that this is a new process, with the Committee reporting directly to PB, rather than going through the Personnel Committee.

Nat Shed reported that registrations have picked up in recent weeks and may even exceed the goal of 350 by the end of the registration period.

Nat distributed materials describing the property next to the Camp’s waterfront that is available for purchase, discussing reasons why this purchase would be important to Friends Camp. The offered price of $165,000 is more than the Committee would like to raise, but the offer is under consideration. Nat presented a draft budget for funding the purchase and asked PB for initial feedback on some aspects of the plan.

The Clerk summarized the lengthy discussion that followed by noting that Friends seem ready to encourage the Camp to continue pursuing this possibility. PB is prepared to authorize a tax donation letter recognizing the difference between market value and purchase price. We encourage the Committee to bring a more detailed plan to a subsequent meeting.

10-35 Treasurer’s Report: Ed Mair, who began his term as Treasurer last month, presented the report, noting that both income and expenses for the year-to-date are less than budgeted.

The Treasurer also provided an update on the Priorities Budget process. The Finance Committee is recommending funding Level 1 priorities plus a $4,000 salary increase for YM Secretary and $12,000 partial restoration of benevolences to FGC, FWCC and FUM (bringing these contributions closer to 2008 levels), which results in a budget with a $30,000 deficit. He reviewed plans for meetings with Monthly Meetings to encourage increased donations, and he noted the likelihood of some cost savings from the staffing transition.

The Treasurer reported that the YM has moved its accounting system online with Quickbooks, providing instant access for the Treasurer, Accounts Manager and YM Secretary.

We accepted the report (attached).

10-36 Finance Committee Report: The Treasurer reported for Travis Belcher, Clerk of Finance Committee. He reviewed the successful meeting with treasurers and finance committee members from monthly meetings, with a clear conclusion that more contact between the YM and MMs is needed. The Committee plans to hold such a gathering again next year.

Ed explained the need to adjust the signers on bank accounts, using the bank resolution circulated in advance. The YM Secretary has recommended adding Phil Stone, a member of PB who is available in the Worcester area as a second signer on large checks.

10-37 Bank Resolutions Minute: The Finance Committee presented the following amended minute, updating the alternate signers listed in item #6:

Bank Resolutions Minute

The following resolutions are brought by the Finance Committee:

1. That Edward Gerrish Mair be appointed New England Yearly Meeting treasurer for the ensuing year.
2. That Sandra Moyer be appointed New England Yearly Meeting assistant treasurer for the ensuing year or until a successor is appointed and qualified.
3. That Elizabeth H Muench be appointed Friends Camp treasurer for the ensuing year or until a successor is appointed and qualified. The Friends Camp treasurer will work under the oversight of the NEYM treasurer and the Friends Camp director.
4. That the NEYM treasurer be authorized to open and close bank accounts in the name of New England Yearly Meeting as needed.
5. That the Camp treasurer be authorized to open and close bank accounts in the name of Friends Camp as needed.
6. That the assistant treasurer, the yearly meeting secretary, and Phil Stone (a member of the Permanent Board) be designated as alternate signers, individually, of all bank accounts of NEYM of the Religious Society of Friends, except those separately defined in #7, for the ensuing year or until a successor is appointed and qualified.
7. That the Friends Camp director, the Friends Camp treasurer, and a designated member of the Friends Camp Committee be authorized, individually, as signers of the Friends Camp bank accounts.

Friends approved.

10-38 Presiding Clerk’s Report: Linda Jenkins, Presiding Clerk, reported on preparations for this year’s Annual Sessions. As noted in the YM Secretary’s report, resting is a lot of work for us; it has been a challenge to incorporate Jubilee into our Sessions schedule. As individuals and as a community, we need to challenge ourselves to let go of things. She is grateful that the schedule that has emerged includes opportunities to explore the meaning of Jubilee for Quakers today. The Presiding Clerk’s responsibility is care of the business that is before us. With a sense of clarity about a persistent longing to lay aside our business, all business items will initially be on the Unity Agenda, providing the opportunity to approve them all at once and facilitating our desire to experience Jubilee.

Today’s seasoning of the budget should facilitate its passage as part of the Unity Agenda. Linda asked that PB also spend time in discernment about the process for determining NEYM’s contribution to Friends United Meeting (FUM). The current process approved at last year’s Sessions (Minute 09-54, appended below) will expire at the end of September 2010 unless extended by the YM at this year’s Sessions. To date, the YM Treasurer has received notifications from MMs that will reduce the YM’s contribution to FUM by a total of $107.

During the lengthy discussion that followed, the Clerk read letters from Northampton MM and from Brunswick MM. Friends noted that these letters raise deeper questions beyond the FUM personnel policy and attest to the continued work of the Spirit among us. We heard that a continuation would be helpful for at least one meeting that is still struggling and in deep disagreement over this issue.

Friends approved the following minute:

Minute for Finance to FUM

NEYM Minute 2009-54

10-39 Report of Personnel Committee: Judith Shea, Clerk, reported for the Committee.

She presented the document (sent in advance) drafted by the Committee in response to a request from Finance Committee “to minute the reasons for abandoning the collegiate pay structure.” This document was accepted by PB as adequately documenting the changes to staffing and policy approved by PB and Sessions over a period of years.

She summarized revisions to the NEYM Personnel Manual in response to the staffing restructure:

• The manual has been edited throughout to reflect the new positions and responsibilities of YM Secretary and Communications Director. Close scrutiny has been applied to all aspects of the manual including supervision and policy to best reveal organizational operations guided by Spirit and Quaker process.
• Changes to policies and procedures that resulted from structural changes approved at Sessions are incorporated into the document, e.g., the Communications Director is now a direct hire of the YM Secretary, who serves as his/her supervisor.
• Managerial-level or Manager refer to staff hired by Yearly Meeting Sessions. Currently, these are the positions of YM Secretary and Camp Director.

The Committee asked for guidance from PB on two proposed changes:

• Sabbatical policy – The Committee recommends that all “full-time” staff be able to request a sabbatical. With our current structure, the recommendation would extend the benefit to the YF/YAF Coordinator.
• “Equal pay” provision: The Committee recommends the removal of the “equal pay” appendix that describes the 5-step pay scale for managerial staff.

With regard to the proposed change in sabbatical policy, Friends raised questions about the budget implications and the practice of other YMs and wondered about possible guidelines for activities to be done during sabbatical. With regard to the elimination of the appendix, one Friend suggested a need for a future discussion about limiting the difference between lowest- and highest-paid staff.

Friends approved the revised Personnel Manual, including the elimination of the appendix laying out the pay scale for managerial staff, but with the exception of the recommendation on extending the sabbatical benefit to all full-time employees. We have asked the Personnel Committee to provide us with additional information, and we will revisit that recommendation at a future date.

10-40 Report on Moses Brown incorporation: The Clerk reported for the Working Group on the incorporation of Moses Brown School:

• Charles White, legal counsel for the Yearly Meeting, has prepared final drafts of the property transfer, bylaws, and incorporation documents relative to the incorporation of Moses Brown School, as approved by Sessions (Minute 09-24).
  
  These documents were made available to Permanent Board for review in advance of the meeting.
• Responding to the concerns outlined in Minute 09-24, a working group had been constituted and had met five times during the course of the negotiations with the School.
• The School has been very responsive to the concerns of Friends. Specifically, the term of the land lease has been changed from 99 years to 75 years; the periodic review of the Quaker aspects of the school has been established on an every-ten-years basis as part of the purposes and procedures of the Nurturing Friends Education at Moses Brown School Committee; the property of the Providence Monthly Meeting has been legally separated from the land being leased to the school; and the MBS Board of Overseers intends to make a separate commitment to the education of the children of Friends in a minute to be approved by the Board at the upcoming meeting.
• The Clerk reviewed the documents, highlighting those parts that emphasize the commitment to the use of Friends practice in conducting business, the additional sections of the bylaws which cannot be changed without the approval of the Yearly Meeting, and the section specifying the return of the property of the School to the Yearly Meeting should the School be dissolved.
• The Clerk reported that the Working Group had not reached unity on the length of the term of the lease for the land, with counsel and several members being very comfortable recommending the 75-year term, while others feel that a much shorter term, as short as 30 years, to be more appropriate. He suggested that these points of view were entrenched and would not be likely to change, and proposed that it was the Permanent Board's role to determine if the 75-year lease was acceptable.

Following some additional discussion, Friends approved accepting the submitted transfer documents, including the 75-year lease term, and approved authorizing the Presiding Clerk to proceed with signing the documents and finalizing the transfer and incorporation of Moses Brown School.

10-41 Report of Internal Nominating Committee: Dorothy Grannell presented the following nominations:

• Clerks Nominating Committee: Allan Kohrman (Wellesley), class of 2013
• Personnel Committee: Rebecca Leuchak (Providence), class of 2013; and Donn Weinholtz (Hartford), class of 2013
• Nominating Committee: Adam Kohrman (Wellesley), at-large member, class 2012; and Connie Kincaid-Brown (Quaker City-Unity), class of 2012
• Memorial Minutes: Sarah Gant (Beacon Hill), class of 2012

Friends approved these recommendations.

The Committee recommends laying down the Office Facilities Oversight Committee.

Friends approved.

Brian Drayton has resigned from Clerks Nominating.

​​​​​​​10-42 Report of Yearly Meeting Nominating Committee: