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The Governance Committee is charged with making recommendations as to how the governing entities of Eliot Chapel (ministerial and administrative staff, Board of Trustees, and committees) should be organized and relate to one another. This is expected to involve study of how Eliot Chapel is currently organized and functions, as well as research into existing governance structures for churches similar to Eliot. The committee's recommendations may entail changes to Eliot policies and/or bylaws. (Click here to review current Eliot Bylaws.) The committee is expected to report to the Board at their monthly meeting, communicating recommendations in a timely manner.
The Governance Committee was formed in 2003 to draft a more streamlined and responsive lay governance model. We are writingpolicies for congregational Councils and defining relationships between staff, Board and congregation. After these are adopted, the Governance Committee will disband.
Members of this committee are Donna Coble, Corrine Esnault, Marianne Pinney, Jim Dacy, Mary Taylor, Steve Mead and Steve Bain.
For more information, contact Steve Bain.
Latest Update
Click here to review Meeting Minutes.
Highlights of early activities:
- Elected Steve Mead as Chair.
- Met with Angela Merkert of the Central Midwest Assn of the UUA on June 6th. Angela specializes in church governance, and had loads of information on the governance efforts of numerous Unitarian churches of Eliot's general size, including some that have recently engaged in a similar study of their governance structure. She also made the committee aware of a wealth of reading material on the subject. (A couple of these books can be found in Eliot's Library.)
- Conducted a series of interviews with persons in leadership roles in the chapel to determine the "state of governance" at Eliot. These interviews are ongoing, but should conclude in July.
- Briefed the Board of Trustees on the committee's work at the June 18th Board meeting. Though the Committee is not yet ready to make major recommendations, they and the Board are in substantial agreement that the incoming lead minister should be appointed Director of (paid) staff. The Committee also sought the Board's views on the timeline for its work, but no actual timeline was put forward - the Board asked for a Committee recommendation on this for their September meeting. There is growing consensus that the process will take more than the year originally contemplated.
For those interested in attending a Governance Committee meeting, they are open to all. If you want to study more on the topic, you can go to www.uua.org, and search under "governance," or go to www.carvergovernance.com if you would like to look at one of the governance models in wide usage in UUA churches. The "Carver Model" has occupied much of this committee's attention, though no decision has been made to adopt it. We invite congregants to give us their input, either by calling, or sending e-mail to Steve Mead ( ) or one of the committee members listed above.