Blips On the Board’s Radar, Volume 1, Number 10, May, 2023

 

With this offering, appearing every month, the Board tries to convey to the whole Fellowship what issues the Board is thinking about and what all that thinking and discussing adds up to so far.

      • blip   blip blip •  blip            blip! 

Unlike the radar in an airport control tower, the Board’s radar is magic! Air traffic controllers know that every blip on their screen is an actual airplane, carrying actual people, which must be brought safely to Earth without delay. So, too, the Board’s radar shows blips that demand immediate action: nearby blips. But unlike the air traffic controller’s radar, the Board’s radar also has distant blips for planes that might never land, or maybe might land next year, or the year after that. Sometimes the Board, in a paroxysm of visionary thought, thinks up a blip that it feels ought to be on the radar and just hauls off and puts it there. Then the Board must eventually decide either, alas, it’s a plane with no wings and removes it from the screen, or it’s a plane capable of a smooth landing and the Board keeps it on an approach path.

 

 

What blips stand out this time?

Distant blips

  • Electric Vehicle Charging Station at AUUF

Awhile back we were looking into the possibility of installing an EV charging station at AUUF. It was not a totally crazy idea, but our timing was bad: we had missed the deadline for a state grant program that might have helped us. Now, we read that Alabama will be receiving 79.3 million dollars from the Federal government over the next five years for “EV Infrastructure Deployment.” We are on ADECA’s mailing list to receive updates on the program.

  • Chili Cook-Off

A beloved fund-raiser. Still distant, but getting nearer.

 

Nearby blips

  • Official policies

The Board adopted the Child Safety Policy, finally! While we were ebullient over this, we hauled off and approved the Alcoholic Beverage Policy. Yay,us! Now we have to decide where Official Policies will live so that they will be accessible to AUUFers. Some congregations have a book of policies, on paper, in a 3-ring binder. Of course, an online repository would be convenient. Maybe we should do both.

  • Mission Statement

By the time this is posted, you may have already voted for a new mission statement for a new Fellowship. “AUUF is a welcoming and caring community dedicated to challenging the mind, nurturing the spirit, and transforming the world through the pursuit of truth, love, and justice.” Say it out loud; it rolls off the tongue! Hubba hubba.

  • Structure of the Committee on Ministry (CoM)

Currently, there is no policy governing how long CoM members will serve, how to stagger terms, how CoM members will be chosen, and even how many CoM members there should be.  At the May Board meeting, we continued discussions about these questions.

  • Business Meeting May 21

The Board spent much time considering the proposed budget for 2023-24. A point that generated diverse views and much sober discussion was the idea of budgeting some of the surplus funds that have built up over years to support more activities, and fairer compensation for staff.

 

Here’s blipping at you, kid.

~Over and out

~Peter