Dear beloved Emerson Community,

As many of you have heard by now, our president, Bradley Smith, has had to resign as president and board member due to some health concerns. I fully support his decision to prioritize his health, and I hope we will all be equally wise when we need to be. I thank Bradley for his capable and steady leadership, and we hope he will be able to return in a leadership role of some sort at Emerson as soon as his health permits.

With Bradley’s departure, we find ourselves in need of a new board member; please email me at president@emersonhouston.org if you’re interested.

As I step up from vice president to president to finish out Bradley’s term, I find myself curious about what you all feel our church most needs over these next few months. As president, I work with Reverend Ed to set the agendas for board meetings, and of course it’s through those board meetings that major decisions are made about Emerson’s future. I’d like to know what points you all feel should be on our agendas in the coming months. Please write to me at president@emersonhouston.org. You will find me both receptive and responsive to your ideas and concerns.

One major point that I would like to go ahead and address is what will be done with the very large gift made to Emerson a few months ago. I would like to assure our members that the board will not make any unilateral decisions about the use of the money.

Instead, in line with guidance from Bradley and our highly capable finance committee, the board will simply solicit an annual budget from the finance committee, as we always do, for us to review and then submit to you, our membership, for approval.

So what this means is that no money from the gift will be used until you have approved it in the annual budget at the annual meeting.

For their part, the finance committee will, as always, solicit budgets from the other church committees before creating their proposed annual budget. This is our normal process.

So if you have an idea for how some of the gift should be spent, the best way to approach it is to submit your idea to the appropriate committee for them to consider. If the committee likes the idea, they will include it in their proposed budget to the finance committee.

The finance committee therefore expects to see some unusual budget requests from the committees this fall. And the finance committee will consider these unusual requests alongside the need to ensure Emerson’s long-term stability and prosperity by investing money for the future.

Once the board receives the proposed annual budget from the finance committee, we will discuss it and suggest any changes we feel are essential. Once resolved, we will present the budget to you for adoption at the annual meeting. We will likely present two budget options for you to choose between, as we have often done.

To recap, then: If you have a suggestion on how the large donation should be spent (or, indeed, for any church spending, at any time), please identify the appropriate committee to submit your idea to, and send the idea to the committee chair. The committees are listed in this Google document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wzvBc_m7jZvMIoXHz2hhogwmUM7IfS2So0ONh8uGPHc/edit?usp=sharing

If you have a broader, more strategic suggestion that doesn’t fit a committee, please send it to me at president@emersonhouston.org and I will ensure that it is included in the board meeting where the annual budget is discussed.

As a reminder, board meetings are always open to Emerson members. Just email me for the next date, time, and Zoom link.

My email inbox is always open for your questions, concerns, and suggestions.

Kind regards,

Hilary Ritz

President

Emerson UU Church

president@emersonhouston.org