Listening Session

5/23/2023

OK and so should I just read that if you’d like to go ahead this this is how we envisioned ourselves being with the the dream team our church home but easily accessible to all people it is physically and athletically designed to be comfortable beautiful and welcoming to all our green physical facilities provide right sized flexible multi use spaces for our programs and for community use as our conversation grows and changes

OK so that so that is what came up in the strategic plan OK then as we have so often run into we have PC pre COVID or BC before COVID and then now because COVID kid and knocked us three years off of our timeline OK but this board was committed to at least at least get an idea of what the feelings of the congregation were feelings OK not a whole lot of logistics today not what’s this cost versus this cost OK but it really is about looking at who we are what we say we want to be doing and thank you Mickey and does this particular facility allow us to do that that really is the question OK and yeah I guess if we cut to the chase it involves A stair go but that’s not the bottom line right now OK it’s about can we do what we want to be doing here do we want to invest in our time and our energy our resources in this place or in order to do what we say we are going to be doing do we need to look at something else OK please keep in mind the survey question that you’re being asked to answer it’s known as the pending there’s gonna be no action well I should say no action that’s not a definitive action it’s to guide the board in understanding how the congregation is feeling OK because hang on just a second because the bottom line OK because we’ve had several listening sessions and it’s always well what’s this gonna cost versus what’s this gonna cost OK I’m here to tell you simply because of different things that have been looked into we stay here it’s gonna cost a whole bunch of money OK we decide we’re going someplace else it’s gonna cost a whole bunch of money yeah two or three times a yeah OK I mean and and so and there are different ways we can go about doing either of those OK there are different ways of looking at staying here there are different ways of looking at with something else serve us better So what the board is trying to get and listening to different people’s thoughts feelings is So what do you think what do you feel what’s your heart say you see you see should be looking toward because then the board can ask****** to help coordinate with us a group of people that will then go investigate what those options and costs are because right now yes there are certain things we could tell you the cost but that’s not the bottom line question right now OK

I had no opinion and the first question is kind of the first response kind of misleading because it’s not clear does that mean it doesn’t fit our needs so let’s do something about it or it doesn’t fit our needs at all so let’s run away

Yeah so that’s part of the question right well it is and so then it’s building on trying to find out what do those agree and strongly agree really mean did it just mean as it stands right now does it fit our needs hmm no or does it mean that we can’t do anything together right and see I don’t think we know yet until we investigate our options but let’s not put a group of people through a process of coming up with all the possible options for staying here if the sentiment of the congregation is it’s time to be looking at something that can get us

or this site could possibly meet our church home; minor changes and incremental change is another possibility and he brings up something that’s going to have to happen no matter which option. is an incremental changes are going to be needed requirements

some cases it’s not large enough although we haven’t heard back from that detail yet that’s a that’s a pending item so the things that we’re looking at now without spending two or 300,000 I don’t know what an actual elevator you know the real elevator quotes we got were half a million we need to look at and upgraded all of that that actually is intended for commercial use in the

 I read the history I wasn’t here at the time I was here not here in the middle 80s the people that were in power at the time decided that home use all of that this was intended for home use is what they were going to put in I’m assuming that that was a cost savings approach for them at the time and it has served the church reasonably well to get people from one floor to another but now we know that it is way beyond it’s used capacity it’s costing us lots of money every year because it seems like every time there’s an inspection there’s some little gate switch

40 year old elevator even a 40 year commercial elevator would probably cost us the same amount at this point to rehab and repair so we know that the elevator needs to go that we are looking at platform lifts that are hydraulic lifts as opposed to cable driven and lots of places use these and the well actually it was your dentist office and there’s one across the street of this apartment another one across the street that could be but it could be interior those are examples of exterior but this would fit in the same footprint

The other thing that had been brought up about accessibility is air conditioning and that kind of goes to you know ventilation and heating and cooling systems Bob brought that up earlier so we do know that there are changes that for however long we would be here because the process that Jenny talked about in terms of you know deciding which way the congregation would like us to go first the investigation will take a new team of people the building and grounds advisory team can’t

OK because we need different skill sets and focus points if we’re looking that how do we rehab as opposed to how do we look at what’s out there that that’s a very different kind of focus point for whatever this group is gonna become

OK so like you know like Jerry was saying we don’t want to spend a whole lot of time on you know what would this cost what would that cost as much as again what are your thoughts and feelings about whether or not this place can be what we want needed to be so it’s about the thoughts and the feelings more than it is about specific dollar signs we are so far away from the long term dollar signs that it would just be far off guesses right for example of far off guesses 3 to $6 million for a new facility so you know that’s that’s a big range so there’s no way to pin down a narrower range than that so

Do we have a market value? my second question someplace I have read that this building and five city lots are these contiguous lots? are we already using those lots they are contiguous yes okay so it’s not like we could sell a lot right OK well actually I do have some thoughts I like churches that have pews I like churches that have stained glass, I like the Oregon although I don’t know that I’ve ever played but I like the idea of the organ I like churches that look like churches not storefronts and I like churches where the sanctuary is a match to the rest of the church so all of the education rooms and meeting rooms the fellowship hall I like it to have a unified theme so that’s my feeling

well and staff can pipe in too as far as I’m concerned because our staff even though you know it’s the congregation and the board but the the the staff have to work here and the staff know what kind of facilities different programs need to truly do what we need to do so if there is staff that wants to pipe in about feelings

I’m really glad to hear that we’re moving forward with that all of that issue while we’re what we’ve been asking not to but I’d like to move forward on it I wanna see that from because I think we can’t keep waiting you know I hate to wait it’s gonna take a long time to you know whatever decision we make to make it accessible and I think so anyway that’s I’m mentioned you that ramp is being investigated as well great

My question is are we supposed to think of this as money is not an object like we dream on what how much we could actually build here or as we think of what we want or do?

Beth will not be the one spearheading this Beth will be the one to help wrap the congregation in as we make negotiations because you know there are lots of feelings you know and that’s one of the reasons the board wanted to feelings there are lots of feelings their feelings about people getting married here I get it we did I get it there are feelings about the history and one of the top reasons for creating this schism in congregations this is in the living is building decisions OK so it’s a scary time that’s why we need to know people’s feelings not just the cost because if we went just by the call us there could be a whole bunch of people that are kind of going well but I really wanted to stay well that’s what we need to know oh OK so that’s that’s this is also a way to take that goal that the dream team came up with and get it off of the page and get us talking and it’s doing that and that’s actually part of the boarding school too and like Jenny said she’s a dreamer I’m a dreamer too I’m always saying what if I what if a fella quit that was my dad watched picked it up and just thinking about kush are there ways that we could reuse this space that we have or like Jenny said there’s been lots of opportunities or options thrown out there but we need more people this is our church not just bagots or and we went to a lot of other boards or the board of people like to say oh the boards making known doesn’t want to the board is there as the congregations representatives OK so the board is selected by the congregation not to dictate what the church is going to do but to carry it out in a responsible wait and so that’s what we want the relationships with the congregants we wanna know we want the interaction we’re also hoping we suss out the people that are going to be really the drivers of doing the investigation and looking at all the options and moving this forward because it it can’t be done by one team that is basically to look after this building and property

some kind of rumblings that I’ve is concerned about that whether put in the survey out in advance of the conversation that is definitely gonna be multifaceted, lengthy, ongoing for some time in order to kind of get to some cohesive decision and process of how to move forward that putting the survey out that kind of says which camper you in right up in front is very undermining because it feels as though everybody’s being put in a position of having to make a decision before we have the information that we need to make a decision or know other people’s feelings are or know what the options are even which could  you know of course evolve as we talk and have a lot more ideas and hear people’s feelings and hear what are the pros and cons of you know what is it that we envision wanting our building space to look like and then what are the options to do that that kind of putting people in these camps of stay or go from a very early from the kind of the first hand is divisive and so I just wanted to kind of raise that concern because I felt a little bit that way of like well I’m not ready to answer this survey I’ve listened to the three things you know but I I’m not really answered the survey and I I’ve heard others saying I’m not answering that survey I don’t have the information I need to do it why do we have to decide now we’re not ready so I just want to put that out there that I think there’s concern about trying to force people to make a decision too early

I wonder if the survey is a way for people to do a gut check so sometimes when we enter into a discernment process um whether you take a job or not whether you want to pursue our relationship whether you wanna go back to school um there’s a there’s a research process that goes into that and there’s a pros and cons list that go into that and that and you’re talking with trusted advisors and you’re getting all the information that you need but at the very beginning of that you have to decide about where your gut is so I’m seeing a survey as an opportunity to maybe do a very quick gut check and it’s interesting because I wonder if there’s a fear about even articulating that gut because people fear that there’s a wrong answer to the question and I don’t know whether there is a right answer or a wrong answer or whether I think that consensus might be able to be found at some point in the future but I think until people are kind of a little bit honest about where their gut is leaving is leading them to say you know I would not be happy at all if we left this this building this spot this space and that’s my gut or I’m about sick of this space and this spot and this building and we would be much better as a congregation if we were to start over that’s that’s like gut that’s a gut question yeah and all the other stuff can be is needing to be worked on but until I think the board is looking I’m wondering if the board is looking for a gut check at this point so

to respond to that I do think that that that it’s important to kind of recognize that listening to the gut is important I think the difference there though is when you’re talking about an individual making individual decisions versus a collective body that has a lot of different guts and if you are taking a collective body a community and asking them which camp they’re in from their gut then you do sort of create a device in this or can not necessarily you will but that there is capacity for that and so I guess I just I’m worried I don’t want the conversation starting with people feeling like Oh my percentage of gut is in the lower you know I mean there’s lots of talk about percentages at the first meeting of who was in the gut check you know percentage from the from the ministerial survey and was sort of like OK are we gonna very quickly get past this fork in the road of the decision of are we staying or are we going without really talking about what we need out of the building and how we might get there

I was thinking that if you take 30% there’s gonna be 10% that’s positive and the rest just send and maybe it isn’t all 30% of posts because this is a question that can be taken some

actually, question there should have a third option which is I don’t have enough information to say yes or no and it does not

I think I hope I mean when I look at the number if you will of people who have opted to bring their thoughts and feelings to a group like this we’re at a minority I mean there’s an awful lot that we’re still not hearing to think,  I have no idea what those people are thinking and

 I’ve got two people talk to me on the phone and said that they didn’t feel like they could vote either way because they didn’t have enough information and they felt they were responsible voting either way and again it’s non binding it and I don’t know what word means but

 but you it’s not it’s not saying that if the binding you can answer yes or no and you can’t by non binding non binding means this is not going to happen this I mean you know so let’s say we get enough of a percentage of the survey to even make it reliable that doesn’t mean that’s what we’re doing it just means that’s what the gut of the congregation or at least those that responded are saying right now it does not mean that oh as soon as Beth gets here we’re gonna start looking for a new place if that’s the direction or we’re gonna start getting bids for tearing down the building no this is helping guide us in what are we looking for we have a mission our church has the four part mission we have a but it’s seven or nine part vision what find what senator spies those two things because you listen to some people and they go you know those are a lot of good words but we are I mean that’s not what we’re living that’s not who we’re being or you know and that that’s the the board is trying frying to wrap in not having it be divisive but finding what are people thinking right now

it’s too early for me to decide folks could be saying my gut hasn’t decided I mean I don’t know I’m totally open to both I mean you know I’m I’m fine if we if it turns out that moving is a really good idea I can go along with that but I can also if the you know you come up with a wonderful plan to remodel here I could go along with that so maybe they’re the ones who need we need that data anyway because they don’t have a that gut sense of I want to stay no matter what you know could that be the case that that they they’re open so they’re not people that we have to worry about because they are open but there will there will have to be a convincing campaign before there’s a capital campaign should go that way there there will have to be a convincing some of that there will be when we make when we go out to make those right decisions about how we gonna spend what are we gonna get the money how are we gonna spend money you know we’re not that money today but but those folks are are we are going to want to have the majority of this congregation aligned and what they’re saying is something I agree and they they’re saying I don’t want to just hear about moving even if in this survey most of the people even at this 30% move I still won’t be able to decide to move unless I know what the other option is and can analyze the information right and that and the analysis is gonna for me I will need to know what things and and really what the options are so I I’m hearing a hydraulic platform to get folks up and down I’m hearing a ramp St. level entrance that’s all predicated on staying put right and I’m absolutely fine with that absolutely fine with moving as long as we get those things that I want in church wherever wherever it happens but I’m not gonna be able to make a decision and I get it that we’re not anywhere near that yet and where I participated in the capital campaign it takes a full load of money just to get it coming

we should be worrying about environmental issues as well which are never discussed in in my experience we have a wonderful solar array on the roof if we have a decent heat pump and distribution system the humidity problem will go away the cost of the humidifier as well yeah and we would we would be going in a direction that respects the future respects the the earth and somehow this isn’t fair because yellow that is is in charge so oh I mean we as it was pointed out in the Sunday meeting we are such oil located we have bus service we substantially certainly university and were walked through the university which is very nice oh we are talking about possibly putting a facility way outside of the center of town which means lot of driving a lot of wasted time I just I I just think I want I I want us to deal with the all of that ASAP because I think it’s a huge distraction from doing the intelligent long term thing and that is their process yeah that’s gonna happen no matter what

OK they’re reading it as keep everything just as it is?

I’m like ****** I could be convinced either way

turn this into what we into that that vision from the strategic plan investigating whether this property this building or even a different building could provide this church home that’s been envisioned we don’t know that yet

you mentioned capital campaigns and so I think one thing that’s interesting in 2000 you guys did a capital campaign that renovated this space from little offices to the space that it is now and did drainage downstairs that were major issues with drainage down there and over here a lot of right a lot of foundational infrastructure and the kitchen was built and so but I think and correct me if I’m wrong in that campaign so that you had a UA advisor that came and said well I think you can raise you know whatever X amount of money and then the architects came and they took all of our wants right so they listen to our wants and they make an A, B and C plan and the a plan was 500,000 the B plan was a million the C plan was 1.5 or something like that and then and so at the time are you advisors said well we think you can hit that middle plan and I know I think there were people that got very you know got on got got in camps and they said no we really need to get to the you know the rooftops we really need that three story elevator and it was in the C plan it was in the very expensive plan so it’s interesting to kind of think about you know when you when you make a proposal you you know that’s to me that’s where it falls out it falls out in the dollars and cents you make some proposals you have been a B&C you have some vision and maybe it’s an ABC D plan I don’t know and maybe it has a couple different locations here and elsewhere but you know it’s interesting to hear what the US advisors know and and most recently five years ago we had a you advisor that came and said we were looking at doing a capital campaign sort of along these you know five years ago we were having the beginning of this conversation and the question was do we do little snippets here and there little $50,000 projects here and there which is what we’ve been doing for 15 years or do we have another big capital campaign because hey look it’s been 20 years let’s do another capital campaign and then you advisor said well you know just so you know some of the strongest UU churches are the ones that do the little projects the little stepping stones because everybody feels excited and involved you know people donate to these projects they have real skin in the game and that’s something I’ve been missing in the last three years you know we had the AC project possibly before COVID happened and we were talking about the elevette before COVID and then COVID happened and we really had to put all of our money and energy into buying AV equipment and buying you know and getting people to run that run online services and I feel like I’ve kind of lost some of that involvement you know the financial involvement in my church and I feel like I’m locked out of the the garden now and things like that I mean it’s just like things have changed since COVID and I feel like it’s like I slipped a little bit or something but it’s it’s kind of interesting to think about what’s happened before you know what historically what that campaign was and and what was attainable then and you know there were probably conversations about how to how to go forward and you know and what to what to

Oh well I’m hearing from some of you that this is non binding it won’t make a difference and then I’m hearing from the same people well that’s how we choose the committee to decide what to investigate what that is a decision were because of this question I would agree and that’s my concern is that I’m hearing that that I’m hearing that from you *****that you know we’re having a vote that is very binary it’s you know this or that and there isn’t anything that asked me what are what do I want out of a building

I mean I think that definitely there needs to be some effort put into putting out information that no matter what we are going to fix these things about our building right here right now we have to do this right here right now regardless of whether we stay here

thank you yes I agree that if there was if there is a way rollback to ask those questions about those desires that we have so very much what I stated when I first spoke this is what I want from church right and I could get more elaborate but that’s kind of minimum requirements for me and so if it were possible to reinspire of the congregation outside of this survey what would we what does the church what does that look like to us and I think so I’m all in favor of that I think we will probably have to answer the question of why are we spending money on an elevator for a platform or whatever when the likelihood is we’re gonna have to do something bigger that might then not incorporate that small change which would so I think we’re gonna have to have whoever is going to be the we here we’re gonna have to have some kind of an explanation for why are we spending this little relatively little bit of money that might just be over the shoulder and gone

I want to say something about the survey so I read it the first time I don’t think I’ve actually answered it but regardless I do remember reading it but reading it again and the two options are shall the congregation invest further resources and it explains what that is to undertake a major renovation or rebuild of our current physical location or show the congregation and best resources to move the physical location but when you get into the bullet points it seems pretty skewed because the first one the fix it is very you know adding air conditioning renovating the windows replacing the roof when you get down to the let’s move it really seems to push you in that direction it’s curious why I read this it says relocating to fully accessible building or building new with improved parking less maintenance may not be central to downtown location bus access may be limited or restricted and then we have to move the beloved aspects of the current location if possible the window saying glass pipe organ and four are planted over the years so it doesn’t really feel like a balanced question to me I guess is what I’m saying

Many things and our central organization is an important part of the sensibility our AV setup it’s a central part of the sensibility and I don’t find that we’re talking about that right so back to the end the first part is it is it possible to go back to the listening session is intended to give the board information that all of the opinions that are being expressed in terms of maybe the questions were not right that will all be taken into account and look at do we need to make some sort of a change in direction but I do I’m not on the board he said he answered this but my impression is we wanted to get the discussion started and we’ve done that certainly and I think I think no and it’s it’s so important and I think we all recognize that there will be some rough moments I think in terms of will we have camps I mean and that can be divisive and that’s something that I think we need to plan for and how to kind of minimize that or to work through that and the other aspect of this is getting more people engaged in this question so that it’s not just up to a small building and ground state which is really just focused on this building because it is going to take a team of people that research and as I as I see it I see both options probably needing to be researched I don’t know exactly how that survey is gonna come out somehow I don’t think it’s gonna be 7030 I think it’s gonna be either more like 5050 or 6040 I think if it’s either one of those both in both options need to be investigated but at least the the board will have that information in in terms of yeah we need to but then we also need to be careful that it doesn’t become a teammate a TB yeah and before you go just let me let me tag on this and then see because this was to get it started and yes we’ve gotten it started yeah and that’s OK and it’s a good thing I mean that no matter what is being said that is a good thing and bless Kate tart Kate is diligently taking notes and I know Becky was taking notes and I’m taking notes and so as the I’ll predict this as the presumptive chair after June 4th you know already even before today’s my head was beginning to go how can we build on this what can we do to further the conversation OK I’m I’m real big on relationship I want people in relationship as we talk about this you know I don’t want it to stay just with Internet surveys OK but in response to a question could we now look at it from the standpoint of the follow up on our listening sessions and what we learned you know the the perhaps we put out another one that gives the actual wording of that vision from the strategic plan so that everybody has it and then does some of the questions that people have brought up you know how would you describe it what would you want to have to meet that what would you need to have to meet that and then we begin to gather that additional information so we can look at the survey staff one OK step two then we begin to fill in the pieces of that as people describe more than just respond OK and and already looking ahead toward later in August or in September doing some facilitated not just listening sessions but let’s look at the language OK and so this is this is not a definitive we’re gonna do this and then you know the board’s gonna go and hide away and not at all this is an informational kind of thing he gets us started OK and so you know I’m making notes about OK we were gonna sort of rephrase what what would we need to be doing based on what people have said they were mistaken right thanks Sir OK so OK go ahead and turn it for you here umm I guess I I I kind of forgot what I was gonna say or maybe I was getting no that’s OK no I I guess yeah I was I guess in thinking about maybe sort of a side thing that would help try to build the momentum around talking about it in a meaningful way and hopefully a non-divisive way would be something I would think maybe like that like that would be a good idea of a way to get people talking about what is it that you is important to you in a church building what is it what do you think are some of the you know priorities what do you think are some of the things that would be particularly beautiful or want people to be here and come here and stay here what do you think would help make you want to invest in this endeavor you know are there particular areas of passion that you have that you might want to work on a committee that looks into the garden aspect or the outdoor aspect or the environmental aspect or the musical aspect or the children’s aspect or the safety aspect or you know whatever with these different pieces and that actually can help you start to potentially build a you know roots that might have an invested passion and interest and starts to get them talking potentially I don’t know I’m just trying to think of some way that we might be able to come at this that that just helps build enthusiasm and excitement and passion and fundraising rather than do you wanna do is it is it fair to ask in that same way though is it fair to ask also what are your needs Oh yeah yeah yeah So what are you what I feel like that’s the item that always gets left I mean at least at least when the when the architects came last year that’s what was left behind I mean we thought that some of us thought that it was expressed that we had some certain needs and that we were going to want to look at the low end as well and they didn’t hear that or they weren’t told that by the groups that hired them I don’t know so that’s you know I think the needs is definitely part of it and when you say that the needs and these you mean like in order to be sure that we’re prioritizing needs before we kind of go for the fluff right I mean and like like needs that that tie into our our goals and and and I just keep thinking back to the the consultant that said well the roof is not a need right I mean we might get a lot of people don’t survey that said what I that’s a really cool space it’s really great type of clubhouse but you know then when you ask them is it a need right I mean that’s the different you know there so I I guess I just wonder if there’s ways to to to get through that and and to kind of figure out and you know you could argue that in some ways we you know why why do we have a building at all I mean we could meet in a grassy lawn or we could meet in a Kmart but you know there’s there’s certainly people who would say well I wouldn’t go to that church so that’s a need that I have a beautiful church as opposed to a Kmart storefront or something and that goes back to one of the sentiments that’s been expressed I think in the previous two meetings is that the church is the people and that’s what I disagree with though well it but but you were also going one of the directions that I think we’ve talked about before and that what the UA person was telling us that it was only more like 8 or 10 years ago because Axel was still here and that how were you going to fulfill your mission your dollars to help you fulfill your mission maybe we don’t have this space to house immigrants here but maybe we could rent a block of motel rooms or there are lots of things that we could do with our mission could be realized in in really out-of-the-box ways that don’t necessarily have to do with our building or if a fellowship hall this size doesn’t meet our meeting needs for our largest groups maybe two or three times a year we have large groups we want everybody to be able to come in maybe we rented I mean right it’s focusing on the building and other aspects and and how we used to do 2 services for instance so that worked very well for a period due to services yeah and when you were talking Jennifer it’s like taking this church home description and you were using the word beautiful and accessible which are all in there but it’s accessing out what does beautiful mean what does accessible mean did we kind of take that from didn’t we do some definition of what accessible and beautiful men I don’t I don’t remember how this statement was developed but it might be worth going back and looking at we might have a lot of bullet points because remember we typically do lots of meetings before Oh yeah I mean the way we came up with this OK for those that might not know having been on the strategic the dream team when we came up with this was we did surveys we did what we’re called and I just had a little yeah we had we had cottage meetings we had discussion of dream buffet it was similar to getting a minister it was a similar amount of effort Oh yeah and it took longer than what the search team did for the new minister to try and get to what everybody thought finding all the angles of of access and so then took all of that information then and condensed it into the vision statement OK it would have been a prohibitive document had all of those bullets been identified but that information is still held by the strategic planning task force that evaluates you know the the goals and the action steps that we have for everyone of these so that’s still held that we can look at and get one of the things that’s been brought up and so looking at perhaps time to these additional questions is we’re a very different group just like we’re a very we were a very different group for the subtle search team than we were when we called Florence we are a very different group of people than when all of the the dream buffets and the surveys were going on with the strategic planning we’ve gotten lots of new people we’ve got people who have left us and so I I think having some additional focus things with the questions that you’re bringing up Jennifer and I may touch base with you to get some of those again unless you can capture all of that so they have some of those as key key prompts for people to begin deepening the conversations so that we may have the bullet points into this but then see how much it still fits and what’s different as I sit here listening I’m reminded about a couple different things when you were talking about the rude left and the decision and the things between needs and wants you’re the values that you have actually defined what your needs are and so somebody who is looking at a home in the suburbs that wants to have you know 2.5 children might have different needs going into that purchasing decision then if you’re going to move into labana and have 2.5 children or or whatever so you’re looking at different needs if you’re if you’re looking at one space versus another space or if you’re a multi general multigenerational family you might have different needs in your house than if you’re a single generation family or if you have no children so I think your values and your personality drive your needs and I think that’s consistent with the church um and I still go back to whether it still is a good question to get that gut check about that’s is the value of the congregation and the culture of the congregation and the desire of the congregation should be known as the group that’s right here in the middle of Urbana no matter what this property looks like or is the needs and desire of the congregation to not be in this middle of Urbana and to go someplace else in Urbana or someplace else entirely and what does that congregation look like and I think there’s lots of ideas and lots of decisions and lots of things but I haven’t heard I think there’s still this and nobody’s really willing to say yes or no definitively and I think I think that needs to happen at some point

Oh well I just wanted to say I was really happy to hear that plants are going ahead to examine the elephant because we need that now now whatever happens if we’re going to remodel this building and tear down the yellow vest and put in something else that’s gonna be years away so I don’t believe that we could wait to decide and I you know just wanted to say thank you

I mean there there have been some times in the past where the neighborhood wasn’t always so happy to have us here and and really did kind of hamstring some things if you will and and so you know the timing may be that neighbors aren’t real happy with developers coming in yeah and they’ll give us a little bit more leeway as to in order for us to stay in this is what we would need but it’s interesting point because it takes to end upon that I mean you could also extend that and say in the other direction which could be that maybe there was a plan that our church was going to take it turn down some houses and build parking lots and the neighborhood might not like that either so it’s also interesting to think about right both ways yeah being good stewards of the land and good stewards of the neighborhood is part of that right kind of our broader community

there’s always going to be ongoing maintenance and even a new building would have and we bought an existing church we have ongoing maintenance so I II had an issue with that tone I tried to repress my feelings but that did that was my gut feeling OK well and we had that over our time frame and we want to make sure that people have a chance to say what they want to say and then also be mindful of your time so are there other comments that but I think it’s been extremely helpful to help us out no matter what the questions were getting the comments is I think not going to drive this bus in terms of how we proceed Oh yeah being especially careful about feelings and how you know that it doesn’t become a you of US versus them or one camp versus another one other one other it sounds as if the needs are always going to be less expensive than the one I mean that’s the way it sounds in the in this conversation I don’t know that that’s true unless maybe wants are always defined as things that are fluffy as you said I mean I don’t know but but there but there might be a want that is less expensive than a need it’s possible I just don’t know I don’t want us to walk into that as a scale yeah that’s entirely true and sometimes people are more inclined to think of the wants than they are of the needs like people might not say I really need to have three weeks that flushing consistently you know or whatever these things aren’t very fun to think about but they’re important part I think it’s a very it’s very useful exercise though to write down your knee your wants and then on the next page write down what of those are the needs and and I think you really do get down to the core and another way of doing doing those kinds of exercises design charrettes in urban planning or in architecture they do design charrettes and they say you know here’s your budget and here you know you’re playing a little simulation game and you have some posted notes and you know what do you what do you vote for I mean there are there certainly are consultants like you a consultants that come in and do that kind of thing that that kind of help and and help and and try to help and they have experience to try to help not be divisive I think because these are these are difficult issues I also will point out that I think that the stock market has done really well in the last 10 or 15 years I think that we if we if we presented some exciting attainable goals I think that we could surprise ourselves what we can attain the presentation I saw in the architects last year didn’t seem like attainable goals in my opinion I feel like the the read of the room everybody was kind of like you know why are you showing us these incredibly expensive things some of them were kind of awesome I mean you know there were some cool sloped walkways and things that are really really difficult you know it would take like people going to Chicago and trying out the only one of these in the country to see if it was a doable thing or not to have a stairs integrated with a ramp you know because most ramps look terrible and this one was $1,000,000 and maybe innovative and maybe terrible I don’t know but so it’s interesting to think about when we when we present every time in the past that we presented you know boring roof project plus green solar everybody got excited and donated money like crazy when we did a wish list for the boiler and the high efficiency boiler versus the standard efficiency boiler everybody was like no let’s do the high efficiency let’s donate for that you know we kind of have two options so I I feel like everybody likes to step up and likes to have ownership and and really does like to to be excited and invested and and in our in our home I would like to see the if if we were to stay here and we were to do some significant rebuilding

I would want to go to the community as part of fundraising activities the neighborhood because we would enhancing the experience in in western bank so when I moved from New Mexico in August of last year I knew I was going to come to this church and I went out of my way to rent the house that I could walk from the house to the church that’s what this meant now I bought myself yeah more divine what I needed but but that was a part of the pack that was a part of the joy of being in Urban was being able to walk and similarly I think we should think about what kind of things are gonna happen at Lincoln square yeah there’s a big needs and wants charette going on there there’s the potential that it’s gonna be something awesome like a retirement community with cool walking mall like you’d see in New Mexico who knows I mean it also might be lame but it might it’s gonna be something different than what it is now right I want to go to the people if we do this if you can help us we can do brainstorming session great people that are looking at whatever options and moving forward because it’s going to take a lot of people to help develop and move

could I ask the board though could we could we possibly look into to reaching out again to the UUA we had a consultant come a few years ago I feel like it’s difficult to ask a binary question in a group of non binary people and it can be divisive and I and I’m feeling that and it’s not divisive in my household but it’s fiery in my household I wonder if UUA consultants have tips and tricks on how to avoid pitfalls

OK well thank you everyone for your feedback