Values and Bylaws - Bylaws Review Team

The Board of Trustees, through a Bylaws Review Team, has conducted a year-long process to prepare a comprehensive set of amendments to All Souls’ bylaws to bring them into alignment with current church practices and best practices recommended by the UUA and other experts. The Board is now recommending a revamped set of bylaws for a vote by the congregation at the annual meeting.

During the fall of 2022, the Review Team held congregational feedback sessions and used that feedback to prepare a draft update to our bylaws. In February of this year, we shared with the congregation an interim report and a draft update and held additional feedback sessions, both in person and online, to hear comments from members on the interim draft. After the Bylaws Review Team made its final recommendation to the Board of Trustees in March, the Board made a few additional tweaks and approved a recommendation to the congregation in April. In May, there will be two Q&A sessions for members of the congregation to ask questions about the recommended bylaws. Finally, at the annual meeting on June 4, the congregation will vote on whether to adopt the new bylaws for the church.

All are welcome at two Q&A sessions on the recommended bylaws:

  • Wednesday, May 10, at 7pm on Zoom
  • Sunday, May 14, after service (room TBD)

You can review the recommendation and supporting materials here:

And, as background, you can read the three handouts we previously sent out in the fall, which go into detail about several of the big questions the new bylaws address:

The members of the team are Brenda Barbour, Chuck Dulaney, Gretta Goodwin, Maya Hermann, and Neil Manzullo. The Board created the team in June 2022, and the team’s work plan is available here. We’re so very thankful for the congregants and staff who have participated in this process.