Diocese of Rhode Island
Commission on Finance
Meeting, January 12,
2016
St. Luke’s Church,
East Greenwich
Present: Robert Batchelor; Sarosh Fenn; The Rev. Eric
Larsen; Michael Lofaro; Stephan Sloan; David Terry.
Also present: Dennis Burton; The Rev. Canon Linda Grenz; The
Rev. Edwin Hallenbeck; Ben Sibielski.
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by Chair
Lofaro. An opening prayer was offered by Canon Grenz.
The Minutes of
the meeting of December 8, 2015 were approved with two minor additions.
Finance Report
for December, was reviewed in some detail by Mr. Batchelor. He noted this is a
preliminary year-end statement with a number of details that are not final at
this point. DIT adjustments are not yet available and are not entered. This
statement reflects a surplus, however when all transactions are entered he
anticipates a deficit of about $40,000.
Apportionment Aging.
There are three churches outstanding each with one month due. All are expected
to be paid in the near term. This is an excellent response for the year.
Time of Meeting.
The time of future COF meetings was reviewed, with agreement that in February
and forward meetings will be at 5:00 p.m. at St. Luke’s, East Greenwich.
Chief Financial
Officer’s Report and agenda matters:
Revolving Loan Fund
Structure. Continued discussion of the draft proposal discussed at the
December 8 meeting. A number of fine tuning items have been discussed and
agreed to with US Trust, The only way the rate will change is when LIBOR rate is
changed. Suggested items from COF discussion have been incorporated. It is now
necessary to place the plan into a formal “Agreement” for approval. It was
agreed that this should have review and approval by an attorney, other than the
Bishop’s Chancellor and the Treasurer. It was noted that in preparing
guidelines for parish loans that pledges of DIT collateral should be of
unrestricted funds.
Major Gifts Policy.
Under review, continue to next meeting.
Episcopal Conference
Center. A request was received from the Episcopal Conference Center (ECC)
to purchase a replacement camp vehicle for use at ECC and for new start City
Camp-Woonsocket in summer of 2016. Estimated cost of the vehicle is $5,000.
Following discussion it was Moved, Seconded
and Voted to authorize payment of up to $6,500 for purchase of a used vehicle
for ECC with primary use at City Camp-Woonsocket. Funds
will come from the ECC capital expense
account.
Church of the Advent,
Coventry. Both boilers in the church have failed. Woods is low bidder on
replacement units. Work is in progress for this emergency situation.
Capital Expenditures.
Following consideration of the above items and other similar matters that arise
from time many of which are urgent situations it was agreed there should a
management approval process to address the matters. Following discussion it was
Moved, Seconded and Voted to establish
an operating practice that the Chief Financial Officer may approve non-budgeted
capital expenditures up to $20,000 per case and report the same to the COF at
its next meeting.
Financial Forecast
Project. Complications in fine tuning how the PlanGuru software will work
for the Diocesan system and the holidays has slowed progress. An initial run is
expected for discussion at the February meeting.
Fire Code Concerns.
Canon Grenz reported that a limited number of churches are experiencing
difficulties in managing the new Fire Code requirements. Each situation is
different. There was discussion of how the Diocese might assist in a situation
where the cost for a church is way beyond what can be realistically budgeted.
Thrivent Marketing
Agreement. Ben Sibielski, who has been the staff person working on
development of the proposal, reviewed the framework and expectations of what the
Agreement will do. The question at this
point is, do we want to enter into this agreement to provide access to Thrivent
benefits? There was an extended discussion with several questions raised, some
relating to clauses in the agreement which COF members viewed as unacceptable. It
was agreed to table the matter to the February meeting and seek additional
input especially from the Bishop.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m,
Respectfully Submitted
Edwin F Hallenbeck
Secretary
Next Meeting: February 9, 2016. 5:00 p.m. St. Luke’s Church,
East Greenwich.
