Vote at the Annual Meeting Sunday, May 20
At the Annual Meeting on Sunday, May 20, the congregation will be asked to vote for members of the Board of Trustees, the Endowment Committee, and the Nominating and Recruiting Committee. Each elected Trustee and Committee Member serves a 3-year term, which are staggered so that a third of each group finishes the term and rolls off each year.
All UCE members who have belonged to UCE for at least 90 days are eligible to vote. This process puts into action our 5thprinciple of UUism: “The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large”) These are elected positions because they shape the future and policy of our church.
In the interest of transparency, we on the Nominating and Recruiting Committee want the congregation to know how we choose members to nominate for these positions. We are always open to suggestions and input! Current members of the Nominating and Recruiting Committee are: Alice Swan (co-chair), Shirley Adams (co-chair), Chris Allender, Ally Hunter, Sarah Iles, John La Plante, Ruth Orme-Johnson, and Steve Serikaku.
Nominating and Recruiting Procedures
- Each year, we look at the list of open or soon-to-be-open elected positions (usually 3 Board candidates, 3 Nominating & Recruiting candidates, and 1 Endowment trustee per year, as terms end and members roll off)
- We talk to current Board, Endowment, and Church leadership to determine desired qualities in new members for each group.
- We solicit suggestions from current church leadership, from the congregation at large, and from the members of our committee.
- We conduct one-on-one conversations with UCE members to learn about their experiences, skills, interest in various UCE activities, and suitability for available leadership positions.
- We share the feedback from our conversations with UCE members, and attempt to match one or more members with each open position.
- We seek to identify ways that systemic bias influences our decision-making process so that we can interrupt its effect on how power is used and delegated within our organization. Examples of how we do this include:
- Continual re-evaluation of any bias informing what characteristics constitute a good “fit” for a particular leadership role.
- Seeking to engage new leaders rather than reallocating established leaders among elected roles.
- A focus on increasing the diversity of voices within the elected church leadership, by considering characteristics such as lived experience, gender, race, identities, background, and interests.
- A final slate of candidates, with biographies, is distributed to the congregation no less than 10 days in advance of the Annual Meeting date, which this year is May 20.