Hello, my name is Russell Feldhausen and it is my honor to serve as the vice president of the All Souls Board of Trustees. I’m here today to share information about the upcoming All Souls Annual Meeting.
As required by article 4 of our constitution, we must hold an annual meeting of our society in May each year. This year’s meeting will be held on Sunday, May 22nd at 1:00 PM in the church’s Bragg Auditorium. If you are unable to attend in person, the meeting will also be available via Zoom so you can join using a computer, tablet or smartphone, or you can even call in using a regular telephone. The information for joining on Zoom can be found on the main page of our website at allsoulskc.org - look for the “Community Connection” link.
The purpose of the annual meeting will be to adopt an annual budget and to elect incoming members of the Board of Trustees and various church committees. In addition, we will be voting on several items, including a request for a grant from the endowment, amendments to the church constitution and bylaws, an amendment to the church mission statement, and a ratification of business conducted online during the pandemic. Details about each of these items can be found on the church website or in the newsletter.
To facilitate holding our annual meeting both in-person and online, we have adopted a process to make sure every voting member is informed and able to cast a ballot. On Friday, May 13th, an email will be sent to all certified voting members containing information about the meeting and how to cast your vote. If you do not receive this email, but believe you should have, please send an email to board@allsoulskc.org and we will look into it.
For members attending in-person, a paper ballot will be distributed at the annual meeting, and we will follow standard parliamentary procedure for handling voting there. Members may also submit a form to allow someone else to vote as an in-person proxy on their behalf. Details can be found on the church website or in the newsletter.
For members attending online via Zoom, or members who are unable to attend, a ballot will be sent via email shortly before the start of the meeting. That ballot must be submitted online within 10 minutes of the time that ballots are collected at the annual meeting. However, if you run into any technology issues or prefer not to use the online form, we will provide information during the meeting for how to cast your vote via phone. We will then tabulate the results and share them by the end of the meeting.
Here are some next steps you’ll want to be aware of as we get closer to the annual meeting. First, the Board of Trustees met for their regular meeting on April 20th. During that meeting, we created and approved an agenda for the annual meeting, and at a prior meeting we also passed an annual budget presented from the finance committee to be presented to the congregation for approval. Those documents will be shared via the church newsletter and on our website. Next, please watch for an email on May 13th from board@allsoulskc.org containing information about the meeting. Again, if you don’t receive that email and believe you should have, contact us at board@allsoulskc.org and we’ll look into it. Also, please take some time to review the presented agenda and budget, and let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Finally, make sure you mark your calendars for May 22nd at one o’clock pm for the All Souls Annual Meeting. We hope to see you there.
Since we are back to meeting in-person, the Cassity sisters are once again providing a delicious Sunday Plus lunch before the annual meeting - please remember to pre-order!
We hope that this process will allow everyone to attend the annual meeting and feel that their voice is heard. As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please email the board at board@allsoulskc.org or reach out to any board member. Thank you.