12 June 2022 – Board Meeting Highlights

June 27, 2022

Dear Sangha,

The June meeting of KCC’s Board focused on the following major topics:

SCOL Status and Management. On behalf of the SCOL team and SCOL service group, Cynthia Irvine presented the current plan to support retreats at SCOL and conduct critical maintenance after the departure of the two resident staff: Chehale in May and Sarah Lyons soon (likely in September). The current month-long retreat is being supported by the retreatants themselves and by a group of core volunteers that are being trained by Sarah L. The Service Group is not sure whether KCC will hire for a permanent staff replacement. There are concerns about relying entirely on volunteers, but maintenance and management is too big a job for one person. Short term, things appear to be under control but work needs to be done to figure out the long-term plan for maintenance, security and retreat support.

Strategic Planning. The Strategic Planning Input Team (SPIT) has assembled a spreadsheet grouping all the feedback received from the sangha listening sessions into 7 or 8 categories of aspirations, requests, and concerns. This will be given to a professional strategic planning consultant to organize the next phase of the strategic planning process.

Monthly Sangha Meeting. Key topics at the monthly sangha meeting were (1) the logistics around the upcoming listening session on June 19th regarding reactions to the allegations against the Karmapa; (2) the new sustaining member drive by the Development Service Group; (3) ideas for how to make SCOL financially self-sustaining and manage maintenance requirements; and (4) the good work being done by the Community Needs/Care Service Group that got 45 responses to its survey regarding community capacity to help and is delivering meals to sangha members in need.

Karmapa Meeting. There was discussion of the planned format for the June 19th listening session, as well as what the next action items will be for the Karmapa Meeting Planning Committee. The Board also agreed on the best method to retract the announcement regarding the listening session that was accidentally emailed to the 1,100-plus Announcement email list by deactivating the links in the announcement and re-sending live links to the core KCC Community and KCC Livestream email lists. Chimey also asked to post the Board’s and Lama Eric’s letter on the KCC website, and the Board ultimately decided that they would not post the complete letter with links, but would post a shorter statement summarizing the positions taken in the letter.

Sexual Abuse and Ethics Policy. Doug Dunlap presented on the recent sexual misconduct prevention workshop that he, Lama Erica and other sangha members attended. After the presentation, the Board agreed to move forward with improving and updating its current sexual misconduct policy by a new task force led by Rosemarie Sweet. Once the new sexual misconduct policy is finished and adopted, the Board, possibly with the help of the Karmapa Meeting Planning committee, will turn to drafting a more comprehensive Code of Ethics for KCC.

Service Group Reports.

  • The Urban Center Facilities Service Group is monitoring any needed maintenance or jobs that need to be done at the urban center, including working on a new tent for outdoor events.
  • The Finance/Development Service Group is working on the new sustaining membership drive, and expressed some concerns about low turnouts for recent retreats.
  • The HR Service Group reported that Sally Mead is getting volunteers to run the one-month retreat at SCOL, and there is a discussion going on about possibly hiring a paid communications person.
  • The Service Groups generally agreed that submitting reports in the middle of the month works better to ensure that they are updated prior to Board meetings. The Service Groups are also going to start doing newsletter pieces, starting with one by Miriam Hammer for the Urban Center Facilities SG.

Additional Items of Note:

  • The Board unanimously re-elected Doug Dunlap to serve another three-year term on the Board.
  • Rosemarie Sweet is making progress on the re-drafted Inclusivity Action Plan, with assistance and input from Lama Eric. The new draft should be ready to share at the next Board meeting.
  • John Jennings’ Board term will end at the end of this year, so the Board needs to start thinking about a successor.

If you wish to see the full detail of our meetings, the full minutes of each KCC Board meeting are posted after they have been approved by the Board at the following Board meeting (30 days later).

All Board meetings are open to all sangha members. We meet by Zoom on the third Sunday of each month from 1:30-4:30pm. Please join us.

John Rothermich, KCC Board Secretary