Revising UUCA's Constitution

Welcome to a discussion about amendments to the UUCA Constitution that were proposed by the Constitution Task Force, then modified and approved by the Board of Trustees for consideration by the congregation at a special meeting March 21. 

The Board created the task force in August, and appointed Juliet Purll (Chair), Henry Ernstthal, John Gunning, Barbara Hynak, Peter Overby and Tom O'Reilly (ex officio) as members.  We since have been researching and drafting those proposed changes. Our work goes hand-in-hand with another proposal:  to incorporate UUCA under Virginia law. The board is asking the congregation to consider the proposals at a special congregational meeting March 21.

Please read the brief description of the proposal below, then click on the links for a more thorough discussion.

- Current and Proposed Constitutions Compared  - a side-by-side comparison of the current and proposed constitutions, with the changes annotated

- Why Should UUCA Incorporate?

- Revising UUCA's Constitution: The Quick Read-  a summary of the proposed changes and the process.

We hope this material will help you understand what’s proposed and why.

We need your feedback.  Please make a comment on this page, visit us (the Constitution Task Force and Trustees) at our Table in the Fellowship Hall after Sunday services, and/or join a discussion in the Board Room after services on March 14.

-----------------

Here, in brief, is what’s going on:

Two Broad Goals

First, the congregation is asked, Should UUCA incorporate? Virginia only recently allowed churches to do this. So, for example, legal liability falls on UUCA trustees individually, not on the church itself. The board believes incorporation would help the business side of the church, with no effect on the faith side.

Second, the congregation is asked to adopt the proposed constitutional revisions, updating some provisions that are outmoded or ineffective, and eliminating others that are obsolete or no longer mesh with our governance system. We believe the revisions will streamline governing procedures, make the process more transparent and increase accountability.

(If the congregation adopts the revisions March 21, a handful of technical constitutional revisions would come before the annual meeting June 13. We believe they are non-controversial.)

Two Big Changes

1. The congregation would not amend the annual budget, but would still vote it up or down. The staff would be required to hold open hearings as it prepared the budget. Finally, if spending during the year went 5 percent over budget, the board would be required to notify the congregation, but the congregation would no longer vote on approving the additional spending.

2. Trustee terms would be two years, not three, a change intended to make the board more accountable for budgetary and other decisions. Trustees could seek re-election and serve up to six consecutive years, a change that we believe will improve effectiveness and reduce burnout among trustees.

Other Noteworthy Changes

            - Minimum membership age of 14, not 16

            - New transparency language

            - Two-year terms, not one year, for Nominating Committee members

            - More e-mail, less snail mail, for communications with UUCA members

            - Deletion of a redundant article describing UUCA’s organization, and an outmoded article on hiring Religious Education directors.

Finally, we edited the constitution for clarity and consistency.  We hope you find that the proposed revisions make it easier to read and understand.

Please let us know what you think about our proposal.