Board of Directors

The current Board of Directors is an eleven-member board. The Board consists of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and 7 Directors, two of which are designated Youth Positions, age 14 - 18. The Board operates under the Florida District UUA By Laws, last revision April 2010.

 

The Florida District Board of Directors adopted Policy Governance in March of 2000. In December of 2010, the Board met with the district boards of the Mid South District, the Southeast District and the Southwest Conference, the four districts that make up the Southern Region. The Boards agreed that they would support the end of Co-Employment of our staff, the adoption of the UUA Ends, and broad regional collaboration in the work of our Unitarian Universalist Faith. See The Orlando Platform for a more thorough discussion.

 

Subsequently, the Florida District Board

• Adopted the UUA Ends
• Temporarily suspended the Governing Policies of the Florida District for a period of two years
• Entered into a Covenant with the UUA Director of Congregational Life and the current District Executive regarding employment of staff

 

Consequently, the District Board currently has:

• Fiduciary responsibility to our member congregations regarding the funds of the Florida District
• Responsibility for being in relationship with our member congregations regarding service to our Unitarian Universalist faith
• Responsibility for being in covenant with our District Executive and the UUA Director of Congregational Life regarding services to our district

 

In addition we are actively working to

• Develop a mechanism and opportunities to engage the creative and collaborative energy of Unitarian Universalists in the Florida District. We have a concept of a Circle of Elders who would serve as adjunct staff and visionary leaders within out District.
• Continue our growing relationship with the District Boards in our Region

 

However...the Next Step

One of the outcomes of the December 2010 meeting with our sister District Boards was recognition that we are using a lot of volunteer energy on Boards. Our UUA Moderator Gini Courter said to those gathered in Orlando, "We don't have 10-20 years to get this right. Let's not put people passionate about Unitarian Universalism on the board but put them in outreach and as a witness to the faith. What is your dream? ... What if we gave you money to do amazing things? (To) get in touch with what makes your heart sing? What ministry are you called to? And what would it take to have that kind of amazement and energy and ministry? What is better - what we do now or what we could do then? This is the conversation."

 

As a Board, we have been focused on bringing this conversation, this dream to reality. We want to

* Strengthen the bonds of community and covenant across our movement

* Promote faith development

* Empower youth and young adults

* Reach beyond our doors for the greater good

* Grow the faith

* Encourage inclusiveness; Celebrate and encourage intentional multi-racial, multi-cultural congregations

* Encourage accountability - to each other, to the future; lateral and vertical

* Develop leadership; cultivating Elders (of any and all age groups)

* Honor both professional and lay leadership

* Respond to a changing world - being flexible enough to address issues that arise

* Teach, train, instruct and provide consultation

* Cultivate excellence (not perfection) in ministry

* Remember this is religious work - no us and them

 

In order to help free up our volunteer energy for more invigorating work in Unitarian Universalism and to develop our Circle of Elders, the Florida District Board is proposing significant Amendments to the existing Bylaws, to be voted on at our District Assembly in March. As a part of those amendments, the board is recommending to the member congregations of the Florida District that we

• Reduce the size of the Board of Directors from 11 members to a Board of Trustees of 5 members, consisting of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and one Trustee.

 

If the proposed Amendments are approved at our District Assembly, the existing Board will be vacated. Some of our current Board members are eager to serve on the new smaller board. Others of our current Board are eager to be involved in development of the Circle of Elders as mentioned above, and bringing that to reality.

 

A new Board would be elected at the same meeting. All five positions, President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Trustee, will be newly elected. Rachel Christensen, Ila Klion and Al Tweedy, currently serving as Board President, Vice President and Director at Large respectively, are willing to be nominated to serve on the new board. Additional people will be nominated to complete the slate, anticipating that the proposed Bylaws Amendments are approved. Youth are eligible to serve on the Board.

 

The new Board will meet several times a year in person, and will meet monthly by conference call. The Board will be seeking input of others in our district in developing volunteer opportunities for those committed to our Unitarian Universalist faith.

 

What if the Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws are not Approved?

If the Board Recommended Amendments are not approved at District Assembly, the current Board configuration will remain in place.

 

The Board Members who would remain in office are listed below with their terms of office:

President (2013):              Rachel Christensen
Vice President (2013):      Ila Klion
Director at Large (2013): Afesa Adams

Director at Large (2014): Roger Brown
Director at Large (2014):  Joan Burnett

 

New people would be elected at our District Assembly to fill the following terms:

Secretary (2015)
Treasurer (2015)
Director at Large (2015)
Director at Large (2013)
Youth Representative (2013)
Youth Representative: (2013)

 

What Now?

The proposed Amendments will be finalized and distributed to our Congregations in the coming weeks. In addition, we will make them available on the District website. We urge you to become familiar with the proposed changes, and discuss them with your congregation. We hope you will come to District Assembly prepared to support the proposed Amendments with your vote in the Annual Meeting on Friday evening, March 23, at District Assembly at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville.

 

As your District Board, we believe that these are important, constructive changes, which will help to move us forward in our work as Unitarian Universalists, to be a vibrant, transformative faith. We think that this can help us to tap into the energy of committed Unitarian Universalists in the real work of changing the world. Thanks for being a part of it.

 

Please contact any one of us if you have any questions.

 

Rachel Christensen, President

 

President: Rachel Christensen, highgear3@gmail.com
Vice President: Ila Klion, ijklion@bellsouth.net
Secretary: Ginger Abraham, vhma621@hotmail.com
Treasurer: Reverend Brock Leach, brock.leach@comcast.net
Director at Large: Al Tweedy, sylvester0077@yahoo.com
Director at Large: Afesa Adams. afesaone@gmail.com
Director at Large: Betty Brantley, betty618@bellsouth.net
Director at Large: Roger Brown, rabnaples@earthlink.net
Director at Large: Joan Burnett, joanburnett3225@yahoo.com
Youth Representative: Abi Kirby (University UU Society)
Youth Representative: Spaulding Basham (River of Grass UU Cong.)
Director Ex-Officio: Reverend Kenneth Hurto, khurto@uua.org