The Massachusetts emergency order allowing meetings of religious organizations and others with non-profit status to be conducted via videoconference expired in December 2021. The North Parish Annual Meeting on May 15, 2022 at 11:15am will be in-person only, as required by our bylaws. We will need a quorum- 15% of the membership, or about 43 people- in order to elect officers, approve the budget and take up the other business in the warrant. There is also no provision in our bylaws for “spectators” that are not present at the in-person meeting itself and publicly identified by the moderator. We will not be streaming the meeting, but will, instead report on it after the fact, as was our custom in pre-covid days.
Because the Annual Meeting will be adjourned before the presentation about the proposed pulpit renovation, we will be recording that presentation and making it available to the congregation.
There is some significant work to be done to bring our governing documents and processes up to date to account for the ways in which our congregation has adapted to virtual attendance at worship and other events over the past 2.5 years. Some of that work is logistical (how might we conduct a hybrid meeting?) and some of it is philosophical (who are we now in light of our new capacity to include people remotely?) The Board will be recruiting a task force to take a deep dive into the by-laws next year and propose needed revisions to the congregation. If you are interested in being part of that effort, please email boardoftrustees@gmail.com.