Notes for meeting March 16, 2016
Suzette Reiss, Peter Young, Mark Sisson, Laurie Ullman, Irene Stewart, Sherry Smith, Dan Durett, Donya Vanburen, Bill Funke
Excused: Kimberley Debus, Aiyoung Choi
In Kimberly’s absence, Dan opened the meeting with words of appreciation about the Building Team’s commitment to the current and future congregations of the 1st Universalist Church of Southold.
The minutes from the meeting of March 2 were accepted.
It was noted that the Team has not officially recommended to the Board of Trustees we accept Stacy Bishop’s proposal.
Peter distributed an elevation drawing of his proposal for the church and parish hall.
We haven’t received responses from the congregation to the “draw your dream church” packets distributed. However, no one had checked the mail as of our meeting.
We had an update on the hiring of the surveyor, Kenneth Woychuk Land Surveying PLLC.
-Mr. Woychuk will complete a site plan
-It will take 2 to 3 months for this plan to be completed
-It will encompass grade, boundaries, current buildings, curb cuts, drainage, etc.
-Laurie will check with Town Hall for a copy of the old site plan for the property and get a firmer estimate for a date of completion and cost of this new site plan.
There was a discussion of what constitutes a “site plan” versus a “survey.” In short, a site plan is what our property looks like without the new building and the survey is what is will look like with the new building.
Peter made a motion, Sherry seconded, to not participate in a design competition. (Minutes from the meeting of March 2 contain discussion and reasons.) Motion carried.
This brought up a discussion of voting procedures. It was decided that a quorum vote (7 members) was sufficient for most matters, but that in instances of greater import, the entire Team should be present. It was suggested that the Team place on the agenda important voting matters. If a full Team cannot be present, after due diligence in assembling a complete Team, an email discussion and vote will be acceptable. It was noted, however, that email discussions should be as succinct as possible.
The Team will contact Sylvia Stocker, minister of the Brunswick, Me. UU fellowship, as a resource for the rebuilding process. That fellowship’s church also burned and we already have the congregational charges for their building team to act as our guideline.
Laurie will invite Douglas McKeever of Foley-Baker, Inc. a pipe organ company, to attend our meeting. It was discussed that we could not decide to pursue installation of a pipe organ until we have more information. Perhaps a used organ would be available. Another option would be an electronic instrument. Mark will ask his contact to determine whether the Orient Methodist Church would consider donating their pipe organ when the sale of their building occurs. The Team was asked to formulate questions for Mr. McKeever about the installation, cost and upkeep of a pipe organ.
There was a discussion of how to make the exit from the parking lot “safer.” Perhaps we could ask Southold Town to install a “right turn only” sign across the street from the exit, or on the same side as the church. We also discussed whether to move the Blue House closer to Main Road to increase the parking, requiring removal of the trees on the front yard. These are probably matters more for the Board of Trustees, but the Team felt we should have some input in that discussion.
Irene will speak for the Team at the March 20 service.
Our next meeting will be held March 30 at 7:00pm. It will be held either at Peter and Suzi’s or in the trailer on church grounds, pending installation. We closed our meeting with words of gratitude and commitment.
Special thanks to Peter and Suzi for the dinner and hosting so graciously our last few meetings.