Any questions, please contact Board President, Jim Cooper (board@unitariansofhi.org).
Congregational Meeting
Vote on Amendments to Church ByLaws
The Board of Directors of First Unitarian Church of Honolulu would like to submit the following amendments for your consideration:
The proposed bylaws amendment is to change the phrase “all of whom shall be O`ahu resident Members of the Church” to “all of whom shall be Members of the Church and residents of the state of Hawaii at the time of the Annual Meeting at which their election is conducted.”
The following two sections of the bylaws would be affected:
Current:
2) The Officers shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, all of whom shall be O`ahu resident Members of the Church; the Officers shall be elected at each Annual Meeting and shall take office at the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.
If adopted, the amendment will instead read:
2) The Officers shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, all of whom shall be Members of the Church and residents of the state of Hawaii at the time of the Annual Meeting at which their election is conducted; the Officers shall be elected at each Annual Meeting and shall take office at the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.
Current:
3) There shall be three Directors, not including the four officers, all of whom shall be O’ahu resident members of the church, and elected at the Annual Meeting, one each year for a three year term. A Director may be elected for one additional year. Subsequent vacancies in the terms of any Director shall be filled by the Board for the balance of the unexpired term.
If adopted, the amendment will instead read:
3) There shall be three Directors, not including the four officers, all of whom shall be Members of the Church and residents of the state of Hawaii at the time of the Annual Meeting at which their election is conducted; the Directors shall be elected at the Annual Meeting, one each year for a three year term. A Director may be elected for one additional year. Subsequent vacancies in the terms of any Director shall be filled by the Board for the balance of the unexpired term.
Please attend to make your voice heard on this important vote, and to ensure we have a quorum.Thank you! — Your Board of Directors
Justification for calling the Congregational Meeting
Since instituting Zoom for Sunday Worship access, First Unitarian Church of Honolulu membership has expanded to include individuals who do not reside on the Island of O`ahu. Our current bylaws require that all Board Members – President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and 3 Board Directors – be O`ahu residents. Recently, this requirement has caused us to lose two members from the Board, creating temporary disruption in the Board’s operation and causing the Nominating Committee to have to scramble to find replacement candidates. In both cases, those Board members would have been willing to continue their service on the Board even after leaving O`ahu. As all Board meetings are now conducted via Zoom (and will be for the duration of at least this Fiscal Year) it is entirely feasible to have Board Members who are not physically present on O`ahu.
The current Board believes that the O`ahu residency requirement restricts the pool of candidates for Board positions and hurts Board efficiency when Board member’s life situations require them to leave O`ahu. For these reasons, the Board is proposing removing the requirement to be an O`ahu resident, and replacing that with the requirement that any Board member, in addition to being a member of FUCH, be a resident of the State of Hawaii at the time of their election to the Board.
In order to change the bylaws, the bylaws themselves state: “These Bylaws may be amended or repealed by an affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the ballots cast at any Congregational Meeting in accordance with procedures herein provided. At least 30 days written notice must be provided to the Active Members, stating the amendment(s) to be considered and the time and place of the Meeting.”
To comply with these requirements, the current Board of the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu is calling for a Congregational Meeting on Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 11:30AM. This will be immediately after the church service and will be conducted via the same Zoom session as the Sunday Worship Service.