Commission on Finance - January 8, 2013

Diocese of Rhode Island

Commission on Finance

Meeting, January 8, 2013

Higgins Room

Present: Robert Batchelor; Robert Bergstrand; The Rev. Dcn. Edwin Hallenbeck; The Rt. Rev. Nicholas Knisely; Michael Lofaro; The Rev. John Pallard; Stephan Sloan.

Also present: Joan Decelles; Canon Elizabeth Fornal; The Rev. Canon Linda Grenz; Ronald Turnbull.

The meeting was called to order at 10:05 am by Bishop Knisely. The Bishop offered an opening prayer.

The minutes of the meeting of December 11, 2012 were approved as distributed with two corrections, Fr. Pallard should be noted as present, there was an error in the second sentence of MDGs item, the budget allocation should be listed as 0.7%.

Treasurer’s Report. Mr. Batchelor noted that it is effectively the first draft of a 12/31/2012 statement with a number of late entries as yet incomplete and several apportionment payments not yet received. It is expected another four to five weeks may be needed for complete data to be available. It was Moved, seconded and voted to receive the Report.

Apportionment Report. There are only two churches more than one month in arrears in apportionment Payments. This the lowest number in several years.

#	Months in Arr		Parish / Location	Comments
	2011	2012
19	4	4	St. David’s, Cranston	Considering merger
43	2	2	St. Columba’s, Middletown	Rector recently called

It is expected that all apportionment payments will be completed in the near term.

Old Business: • Election of Commission Chair. Bishop Knisely stated he had not yet spoken with a person as possible chair. The matter was postponed to the February meeting.

• Representative to Diocesan Council. It was moved, seconded and Voted that Robert Bergstrand serve as COF representative until Convention 2013.

• It was agreed to suggest to Council that Deacon Edwin Hallenbeck serve as the COF Council member on Council Executive Committee.

• Christ Church, Lincoln. Mr. Batchelor reported that the church remains in fairly stable condition. He noted that concern has been expressed about apportionment due for 2013. Following discussion it was agreed to ask the wardens to meet with COF in February and to make a draft or adopted budget available for review. The COF has a couple of proposals aimed at supporting Christ Church that we would like to discuss with parish leadership. Meanwhile we will continue at the 2012 apportionment level.

New Business.

• St. Paul’s Church, Pawtucket. Canon Grenz reported on meeting with the Vestry of St. Paul’s. The Vestry has found it necessary to work on a significant budget restructuring for 2013, still in the development stage. It has become clear that the parish will become a much smaller operation. The Vestry recognizes they need help.

• There followed a discussion of the need for the Diocese and the COF to create the ability to assist churches in difficult situations, preferably before the situation becomes critical. It was suggested that former Wardens and Treasurers could be very helpful.

• There followed a discussion of how to support and assist declining parishes. It was suggested it may be better to reset Diocesan Apportionment that involves both the Diocese and the church in addressing the issue. Solutions would need to be individualized in each situation. We need to look for creative ways toward a win/win situation. The Diocese needs to look for ways to assist churches.

Other items:

• The Bishop reported on seeking ways for video conferencing for meetings at modest cost.

• Parish Audits. Requirements of The Episcopal Church are not clearly known. This was added to the February agenda.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:25 am.

Respectfully submitted

Edwin F Hallenbeck, Secretary.