Beaver Creek Church of the Brethren
Leadership Team Meeting
March 17, 2016
Present: Bill Wood, Darlene LaPrade, Ann Healy, Brad Eckard, Theresa Eckard, Bill Eckard, Diane Miller, Charles Wright, Joe LaPrade, Ex-officio: Donna Miller-Treasurer, Glenn Bollinger-Pastor. Absent: Deanne Dastoli, Dana Suter
Bill Wood called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Diane Miller led the group in devotions and prayer. The minutes from last month’s meeting and the Treasurer’s report were approved.
Calendar Update: Men’s Fellowship Chicken BBQ – April 30, Sunrise Service – March 27 at 7:00 am, Easter Egg Hunt – March 26 at 2:00 pm, Love Feast – March 20 at 7:00 pm, April 3 – Shenandoah Story Tellers Guild for Worship with carry-in meal to follow.
Shenandoah District Pastor’s Appreciation Dinner- Churches are encouraged to help defray the cost of the meal. The cost is $32. Check to be sent in with the form. Ann made a motion for the Pathfinders’ Leadership Hospitality fund to pick up the cost if there are no funds to cover in the budget and Bill Eckard seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Facilities: Bill Eckard reported an update on the items approved by the congregation (Driveway, Acoustics, and Railing). Contract authorization for Roger Simmons to sign a contract for the acoustic baffling for the basement. There was an upgrade made to the original quote that will allow for removable clips instead of permanent placement. The additional cost is $1000. Voted on facilities to sign contract for specific amount approved by church with the extra amount being covered by another group or ministry of the church. Motion passed. Bill also reported about replaced motors for circulation pumps of the furnace, the rail has been installed, the nursery repainted, 2 pews have been returned, cabinet placed in library, and gutter guard installed.
Pastor’s Report: Easter Season is coming. The larger church is still reeling from the loss of a dynamic leader, Mary Jo Flory-Steury. Shenandoah District news Randy Cosner has had amazing recovery. Groups are helping to support family with financial needs. Our church looking to do a spaghetti supper open to the community on April 23. Checking to make sure there isn’t a conflict with Randy’s wife. Glenn expressed his thanks for the support during Debbie’s recovery and cards she received, some from outside the congregation.
Church Finances: Charles Wright reporting. The finance proposals and recommendations from last month’s meeting were revisited. A worksheet with a summary of the recommendations was distributed to the leadership team. Offering question came up about anonymous checks. Question to be posed to accountant. Do we hold checks to the following week or ask consultant what we should do? Deposit placed in tamper evident bags. If tellers would make the deposit themselves this would require a change in polity. Photocopy of checks need to be stamped as copy and destroyed once the data is transferred. Disbursement –vendors’ security better with 2 signatures on a check. Quick Books switch is complete, waiting on finance committee to tell Donna to use. Other church accounts to review every 3 years. Need to structure and schedule reviews.
General discussion following review of the worksheet. Question was posed about checking with a bank concerning the ability to facilitate online giving for individuals interested in this process. In a general discussion of offering counting procedure, questions were raised about the achieved error rate in preparing deposits for the Financial Secretary, the number of people doing the counting and the potential for reduced confidentiality. Question was asked of minutes from Feb 2015 if external audit groundwork is being made with the consultant. Charles corrected this by saying we are not laying groundwork for a full external audit because it is cost prohibitive, the books would need to be reviewed back to when the new addition was built on the church. There was additional discussion about the offering handling procedures and financial procedures in general.
A member present as a guest asked that leadership minutes be checked to see if the minutes showed that the leadership team had approved dropping the goal of laying the groundwork for an external audit. This member also proposed that a leadership team member request the suspension of the recommendation concerning the collection and counting of offering. As chair, Bill confirmed that guests are welcome to make proposals, but proposals are not properly on the floor unless introduced by a leadership team member. After a general discussion of the history of our changes in offering counting procedure, discussion of that proposal ended because it was not placed on the floor by any leadership team member present.
In further discussion, a number of additional matters were raised. Point was made that the finance team did what was asked, and that it was good to have a team looking at finance. In our old structure the Stewards were responsible both for finance and for building and maintenance issues. A previous financial secretary supported the idea of having more than one set of eyes to see what was being done. Smaller steps in reforming procedures were discussed as a possibility, including the suggestion of having 2 people count cash and not process the checks because of the lesser security problems involved with checks. Would make tellers job easier. Another small step, checking on direct deposit, was recommended. Unresolved issues included a question about having an assistant financial secretary. If so would that person be appointed by the finance team? Voted on by the congregation? How many is too many to count offering?
The leadership team returned to the original agenda item, a request from the finance team for affirmation of its direction. Although the floor was opened for a new resolution or motion, no measure was offered. At that point the discussion concluded without action and Bill commended the team for its patience in a long but necessary discussion in a difficult area of church life.
New Business: Regina Harlow aced her interview and is ready for congregational vote to approve her ordination. Darlene made a motion for a brief congregational business meeting to be held on April 3rd at the close of worship for the congregations vote to approve Regina’s ordination. Charles seconded and the motion passed. Ordination will occur on April 17th at 3pm. There will be a reception held with Regina’s hope and request for both congregations to be present to celebrate with her and her family.
Glenn closed the meeting in prayer.