UCE Staff and the Accessibility and Inclusion Team have been working with an architect on plans for a lower level lift. This project has a time priority because the existing stair lift has deteriorated and cannot be repaired. Also, we want to replace it with a lift that does not obstruct the stairway. The main trade-offs appear to be:

1) Location: The lift shaft will be located at the back of the storage room. Two access routes have been determined. The shortest walking distance and least congestion can be had by going thru the Annex wall at the base of the interior ramp. Access from the Sanctuary level entails walking twice the distance and traversing an often congested ramp and sanctuary lobby. Blue and green tape will be temporarily placed on the lobby floor to show these walking paths.

2) Ease of use: A Limited Use/Limited Access lift (LULA) has all the conveniences of an enclosed hydraulic elevator, complies with Universal Access design, but cannot handle heavy loads. It needs a substantial foundation, a tall shaft, and a separate machine room. A Vertical Platform Lift(VPL) has served UCE’s “loft” offices since 2002 with no maintenance cost. A VPL is slow, only half enclosed, and limited to mobility impaired persons. It requires continual pressure on a safety switch for activation. Both of these options feature a 42” x 60” platform. Further information on these lifts is available at the Lower Level Access display in the UCE lobby.

3) Cost: After many attempts, i.e. Studies A thru E, we have agreed on three main options. These vary in cost from $124,000 to $157,000. Currently $127,000 has been pledged. Drawings of the Study F and Study G options are shown in the UCE display. Study B (a fallback) and Study H are variants of F and G. They do not need a machine room and substitute a VPL for the LULA at the same location.

Study F: LULA with access thru the glass-block wall near the Sanctuary entrance. $138,869.
Study B: VPL variant of Study F. $92,139
Study G: LULA with access thru the Annex wall at the base of the interior ramp. $156,924.
Study H: VPL variant of Study G. $124,050.

The A&I Team is seeking your pledge, by June 20th, to pay for one of these options. Pledge online by clicking here. Pledge cards are also available at the UCE display or you can mail this form to UCE, attention Carli Magel. If we cannot achieve any of the three more expensive goals by June 20th, none of the pledges will be collected and construction will begin using the Study B design. Ribbon cutting is projected to take place in September and all pledges must be paid by then.

The search committee charged with hiring a Director of Religious Education (DRE) consists of seven members: Bret Lortie and Ann Gadzikowski (co-chairs), Rachelle Brooks, Sandy McNabb, George Monical, Winnie Stevenson, and Jessica Tomell-Presto. This DRE role a new position at UCE, in some ways similar to the position of Congregational Life Minister held by Connie Grant, but different in other ways. For example, the DRE is a staff position, reporting directly to the Senior Minister, not the Board of Trustees. The DRE will not deliver pastoral care and other duties typically performed by a called minister. The primary responsibility and focus of the DRE is to develop and manage the religious education programming for children, youth, and adults.

The search committee has employed several strategies to gather information and feedback from the congregation to inform our search, such as surveys and listening sessions. Both strategies yielded significant input from participants in adult education at UCE. One challenge of this process is engaging parents of children and youth – most are too busy to participate in activities such as listening sessions. To counter that challenge, we made sure that the individuals recruited to serve on the search committee all had direct experience as parents and volunteers in the programs serving children and youth.

Several priorities have emerged from our listening process. Two of the primary messages we are hearing from the congregation are (1) that we should make every effort to use this opening as an opportunity to add diversity to UCE leadership and (2) that the DRE should be someone with high energy and enthusiasm, ready to develop new, engaging religious education programs for all ages, from young children to adults.

The initial timeline for our search was ambitious – we hoped to have a new DRE in place by August 1, someone who would come in as an Acting DRE and, if successful in the role, would move into a permanent role after a year. However, since the initial job posting in April, we have not yet received a broad pool of applicants with the level of experience and credentials we require. The DRE search committee is now moving into a new timeline that includes hiring an interim DRE who will fill the role temporarily for 6 to 12 months until we can find the right person for the permanent job. We are now preparing to interview several candidates for this interim role and we plan to have an interim DRE in place by the end of the summer. We will continue to keep the congregation informed of our progress.

Ann Gadzikowski

DRE Search Committee