Diocese of Rhode Island
Commission on Finance
Meeting, June 12, 2012
Higgins Room
Present: Robert Batchelor; Robert Bergstand; The Rev. Dcn. Edwin Hallenbeck; Michael Lofaro; Scott Nicholson; The Rev. John Pallard; The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf.
Also present: Canon Ty Creason; Canon Elizabeth Fornal; Ronald Turnbull; Joan DeCelles.
Guests: Steve Bucci, Treasurer, St. Peter’s by-the-Sea, Narragansett.
The Rev. Marsue Harris, Interim; Stephan Sloan, Sr Warden, Bill Batterly, Jr. Warden, Trinity Church, Cranston.
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 am by Chair Nicholson, with an opening prayer by Bishop Wolf.
The Minutes of the meeting of May 8, 2012 were approved as distributed.
The Treasurer’s report of 5/31/12 shows a loss with some items out of budget. This is due mostly to timing and presents no concerns at this time. Receipt of Church pledged funds is comparable to recent years. Mr. Batchelor called attention to the audited 12/31/11 report, which shows across all accounts a net gain of $72,824. The Audit is posted on the Diocesan web site. No issues were stated. Thanks was expressed to Mr. Batchelor and the Finance Office team.
Apportionment Payments. One church has made no payments, and one has made only one payment, The Cathedral, now closed, has paid thru April. See chart below:
| # | Months in Arr | Parish / Location | Comments | |
| 2011 | 2012 | |||
| 19 | 2 | 2 | St. David’s, Cranston | Considering merger |
| 36 | 1 | 2 | St. Matthew’s, Jamestown | |
| 43 | 3 | 4 | St. Columba’s, Middletown | Interim |
| 47 | 5 | 5 | St. John’s, Newport | Interim – supply - problems |
| 66 | 0 | 2 | All Saints, Providence | Interim |
| 89 | 0 | 3 | St. Mark’s, Warwick | |
| 93 | 3 | 3 | Christ Church, Westerly | Interim |
New Business—St. Peter’s by-the-Sea request for Revolving Loan. Mr. Bucci joined the meeting. An Application for $40,000 from the Revolving Loan Fund has been received. Mr. Bucci answered a number of questions, stating this will be to replace old roofing therefore may have surprises. A contractors bid of $38,225 has been received subject to unknown conditions likely in an old building. It was noted the church is converting its heating system from oil to gas at an estimated savings of $9,000 a year. The purpose of the loan is to avoid using reserve funds. There being no further questions Mr. Bucci was excused. Following discussion it was MOVED, Seconded and Voted to approve a $40,000 Loan from the Revolving Loan Fund to St. Peter’s by-the-Sea, subject to concurrence by the Standing Committee.
Apportionment Payments, cont. Trinity Church, Cranston. Mr. Batchelor reviewed recent history, stating that Trinity is current for 2010, 2011 and 2012. The problem goes back to 2009 when apportionment payments were made for seven (7) months and stopped with $11,721.25 remaining unpaid. It was also noted there are no audits for 2007 thru 2010 and no Reports for 2011. The church presently has a half time Interim priest. There are three potential areas of default: Reporting; Audits; Apportionment payments.
Rev. Harris, Mr, Sloan and Mr. Batterly joined the meeting. The Chair stated the reason behind the meeting was primarily the issue of the 2009 unpaid apportionment. Mr. Sloan asked if he might set the context for the problem. He distributed Trinity Church—Report to the Commission on Finance. He described the situation in 2009 when he became Senior Warden, what led up to that crisis and steps taken beginning in 2009 to stabilize church finances. There followed a lengthy and thorough discussion. Mr. Sloan submitted the 2011 Parochial Reports. He further stated the Vestry agreed to prepare Audit Reports for 2009, 2010 and 2011 no later than October. Mr. Turnbull explained that the 2009 apportionment due has been booked by the Diocese as income for that year, and it is not a simple matter to write it off in 2012. It was noted that Reporting and Audit issues appear to be resolved.
There was further discussion about two DIT funds related to Trinity Church. a) The Grace Salisbury Fund is owned by Trinity Church, the Church may request funds from the corpus at any time. b) The Charles Gorton Scholarship Fund is owned by the Diocese for the benefit of Trinity Church students and would serve broader scholarship needs if not used by Trinity. The corpus may not be removed.
At the conclusion of the conversation there was general, but not specific understanding that Trinity Church will have another look at how the 2009 apportionment due matter can be resolved. They were encouraged to come up with a plan that will work for the Church. At this point the Trinity Church guests lefty the meeting.
Old Business.
Christ Church Lincoln. Mr. Batchelor called attention to the May 4 Treasurer’s Report, noting it still has some accounting glitches, but does fairly represent what is going on in 2012. The treasurer has recently undergone back surgery.
Calvary Church, Pascoag, Roof. Mr. Creason stated that the contract, as discussed and amended following the May 8, COF meeting was approved following an electronic vote.
Holy Spirit, Charlestown, adjacent land. A Purchase and Sale Agreement has been completed subject to a final price from the appraisal in progress.
St. Mark’s, Warren, Parish House. A Purchase and Sale Agreement has been completed and signed subject to final agreement on appraisal price. In addition, a Statement of Residence has been completed regarding the property ownership ready for Standing Committee approval.
Consulting Resource. Mr. Creason stated that he and Canon Fornal are completing an Agreement for him to continue work on an hourly basis to complete transactions that are still in progress after his position terminates 6/30.
New Business.
St. Matthias Church, Coventry Roof. A bid has been received from M. Barboza & Son’s for $34,400 to complete the church roof. This is the same company that previously did the flat roof area. It was MOVED, Seconded and Voted to approve a Contract with M. Barboza & Son’s for the roof at St. Matthias Church, Coventry.
Star Street Land Parcel. A proposal was submitted by Mr. Creason, Scott Nicholson and Bob Batchelor to consider sale of a small parcel of landlocked land appx 7’ by 40’ adjacent and uphill from the Hallworth House north parking lot to the owners of 52 Benefit Street (Plat 3,Lot 463). It was agreed the Diocese appears to have no effective long term use for this small up hill parcel. There are zoning and appraisal issues that need to be resolved. It was MOVED, Seconded and Voted to agree in principal to the sale of this parcel, subject to resolving zoning and appraisal questions. The matter will be referred by Ty for follow up with the Real Estate Attorney.
Hallworth House, Benefit Street, East uphill Parking Lot. Mr. Creason noted the land covenant pertaining to this land has a number of restrictions, some of which are not clear, requiring the leasing of parking slots to various persons. Following discussion it was MOVED, Seconded and VOTED to refer the matter to our Real Estate Attorney for detail research, and propose a resolution of how to deal with the Parking Lot in future. It was noted that Edwards Homes residents also use this lot for parking.
Investment of Diocesan Cash. Mr. Batchelor stated that earlier years investing cash in short term CDs and similar instruments was both safe and produced income. Current rates are such this no longer is viable. He suggested that at any one time there is a floating surplus of approximately $1million that could be usefully put in short term investment. Following discussion it was MOVED, Seconded and Voted to move $1million into short term Federal Credit or similar instruments. The objective is to receive a reasonable return on relatively safe investment.
The Commission unanimously voted with applause our gratitude to Ty Creason for his time as a Diocesan Staff person working with us on what has seemed to be an endless parade of items requiring detail attention.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:10 pm.
Respectfully submitted
Edwin F Hallenbeck
Secretary
Next Meeting: September 11, 2012
Dates if needed on call: July 10, 2012 or August 14, 2012
Electronic communication and voting as needed.
