January 2023 – KCC Board Highlights

January 17, 2023

Dear Sangha:  Here are the highlights from the January 2023 KCC Board Meeting.

Closed session:

  • Prior to the public meeting, Board members voted to elect Brad Upton to the KCC Board of Directors, and he was welcomed to his first official meeting in that capacity. Efforts are underway to add two additional members to bring the number up to seven. Please contact any Board member if you are interested in joining the Board.
  • Board members also conducted an end-of-the-year “Performance Review” of Resident Lama Eric Triebelhorn as prescribed by KCC policy. This involved a review of previously established goals for 2022 and current activities, as well as a wide-ranging conversation about topics which included ideas for welcoming newcomers, continuing current programming and adding new programming, the need for more teachers and ideas about how to accomplish this, and the status of conversations about the Karmapa.

Public meeting:

  • Finance Report: Cancelation of SCOL property insurance and income from Blooming Lotus and New Year’s retreat have added to reserves, which would currently fund all KCC operating expenses for 4.4 months, up from 4.1 months in December.
  • Onboarding Plan for new Executive Director Liza Baer: This plan includes opportunities for our new ED to get oriented to KCC and to the requirements of her job on a part-time basis, before starting her job on a full-time on February 20. Among other things, she will meet with current ED Linda Grove on a regular basis, and talk with Service Group Coordinators and various other committee and sangha members.
  • The minutes from the 12/18 Board meeting were approved.
  • Cancelation of SCOL property insurance was confirmed and briefly discussed (see pertinent article in January KCC Newsletter). Fire mitigation strategies have already been implemented, and further efforts in this regard are ongoing.
  • Strategic Planning Update: As an initial part of the strategic planning process, a community input session has been scheduled for Sunday, February 19 from 10:00-11:30 am. Best methods for announcing this meeting were discussed.
  • Board Highlights: The Board previously committed to posting brief summaries of Board meetings on the KCC website within seven to ten days following each meeting. It was noted that these Board Highlights had not been posted since September 2022, and a plan was established to ensure that these summaries would be posted on the website regularly and promptly going forward.
  • Board Goals for 2023: Goals for the new year were considered and discussed. Before being finalized at the February Board meeting, further input will be gathered about priorities from Service Group Coordinators and others.

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). Board meetings are open to all sangha members. We currently meet in hybrid fashion (in-person and Zoom) on the third Sunday of each month from 1:30-4:30pm. Please join us.

Doug Dunlap, KCC Board member