Each Unitarian Universalist congregation is a self-governing group, charting our own course, choosing our own ministers, and setting our own policies.

The Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees sets policy for the congregation and is elected by the members, in accordance with the congregational bylaws. The Board works with the congregation to create a Mission statement, along with policies and procedures to make our purpose and mission a reality.

The Board aims to meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 6 pm in the Blue Room and on Zoom. Minutes are posted on the Fellowship Hall bulletin board and here, including the CVUUS Board May 20, 2025 Minutes Summary. Its Governance Team including Margy Young and Alan Moore are in the process of gathering feedback on how it is doing and what the congregation would like going forward. Here is its June 2025 Interim Report.

Hear a recent message from Outgoing 2024-25 President Hannah Sessions and Incoming 2025-26 President Brett Millier.

Interim Ministers Continuing

The Board approved Rev. Tricia Hart (tricia.hart@cvuus.org) and Rev. Christina Sillari (christina.sillari@cvuus.org) as interim ministers starting August 2024 and continuing through 2025-26 while the congregation searches for a new settled minister to replace Rev. Barnaby Feder who retired in June 2024.

Settled Minister Search Underway

The Congregation approved a Search Committee Team at its June 2025 Annual Meeting. It includes Priscilla Bremser, Elio Farley, Ben Long, Dorothy Mammen, Andrea Sambrook, Hannah Sessions, Becky Strum. The team has begun their work in earnest and would like you to consider “saving the date” for these upcoming events that will involve all congregants in our search process: Sun, Sept 21 to attend our Search Team led service, Sat, Nov 8 for an in-person workshop led by Erik Kaminetzky, a trained UUA leader, followed by a service on Sun, Nov 9 led by Rev Erik. Keep an eye on our timeline in the Fellowship Hall for updates.

Board Reviews Its Goals

This Fall 2025 the Board reviewed a list of five proposed Board goals, including creating a draft of a new Governance Manual, revising and extending CVUUS’s five-year plan, and establishing a Stewardship Committee. However, a few questions might require additional goals, like: How do we build a workable five-year plan with a new minister due to come aboard in a year? How will we plan to adapt to a growing congregation? What goals do we need to set to support the ministerial search?

We reviewed a draft charter for an as-yet-unformed Stewardship Committee. This month’s report from the ministers indicated that their third year with us will be dedicated to supporting the congregation through the process of change to the next minister.  Finally, we are looking forward to a report from the newly-formed Strategic Initiatives Team, which is charged with managing the Strategic Initiatives Fund that was part of our recent capital campaign. 

Council of Ministries

Ministries (also known as committees or teams or councils) run specific areas of congregation life, including Facilities, Finance, Worship, Music, RE and Membership. The Council of Ministries, including representatives of all the ministry committees, meets once a month to coordinate the work of CVUUS. To contact any CVUUS staff, board member, committee, or team leader, please phone the office, 802-388-8080 during office hours or email office@cvuus.org. See here.

Congregational Meetings

2025 CVUUS ANNUAL MEETING took place on Sunday June 8, 2025 after the worship service 11:30 am on site in our sanctuary and on Zoom.  The Annual Meeting is where our democratic principles come to life. Non-members are welcome to attend and ask questions but can not vote. See supporting documents below where we discussed our Roots and Wings Campaign, FY 25-26 budget, facilities accomplishments and settled minister search efforts. Our proposed budget was passed. We also offered special recognitions.

• CVUUS 2025 Annual Meeting Warning & Agenda
• CVUUS President’s Report 2025
• Board Goals & Updates 2024-25
• 2024 Annual Meeting Minutes Draft
• 2025 Annual Treasurer’s Report
• Proposed Consolidated Annual Budget 2025-26
• FY26 Budget Adjustment List
• FY26 Proposed Budget Pie Chart
• End of Year Actuals (FY21- Projected FY25)

At the meeting, we follow our version of Robert’s Rules of Order. Ideally, the rules maintain a good balance between robust discussion and reaching decisions in a timely fashion. Here’s a flow chart that illustrates how a proposal (“motion”) makes its way to a vote. If you have never used Zoom, watch the “Join a Meeting” tutorial here.

CVUUS Annual Reports

In June 2019 we documented the mission and goals of our ministries: CVUUS Annual Report 2023-24 shows how far we’ve come since then. Thanks to all for their contributions and to Brett Millier for compiling it. We aim to compile another report for Fall 2025.

Raising the Roof Campaign

In April 2024 we convened a special congregational meeting to vote on support for funding a sanctuary roof repair and addition of cold climate heat pumps to offset our propane system toward becoming more carbon neutral. See background here: Special Congregational Meeting Warning 4.21.24 We offset some of our electric with a gifted solar credit. We began a Raise the Roof campaign in May 2024 to solicit help from congregants and guests to our site for supporting our ongoing work in providing a safe and comfortable sanctuary for so many.

Roots And Wings Campaign

The Roots & Wings Capital Campaign supports projects that will serve the current and future needs of people, programs, and infrastructure by maintaining what we’ve already built. The Campaign was a forward-looking investment. And, in a courageous move, we conducted two campaigns simultaneously:

1. Our Annual Stewardship Campaign to pay for our programming, services and operating costs for the church year that begins July 1, 2025. Thank you for making your pledge to our Annual Pledge Drive.
2. A Capital Campaign to fully maintain and improve our Sanctuary and Fenn House, pay down our mortgage, replenish the Building Reserve Fund and establish a Strategic Initiatives Fund. Thank you for making your commitment to our Capital Campaign.

The campaign kicked off on February 9 and concluded on March 9, 2025. More here.

Our Elected Leaders (2025-26)