Minutes of Finance Committee- June 17, 2015
Present were: Chair KC Bretzke, members Jan Werness and Carole Megarry, church administrator Jennifer Gahnstrom, new bookkeeper Carrie Feldman, and pastor Walter Lockhart.
The minutes of the May 20, 2015 were accepted.
RBC Account– signature authority has been changed. Currently, approved signers on this account are KC, Walter, Jan Werness and Carole Megarry.
The parsonage funds are still in savings and need to be moved to this account. MSP Walter is authorized to move $138,192 from savings to the RBC account.
Currently, Walter is the only one with on-line access to this account which requires an ID and password. The committee needs to decide if a second person should have on-line access. Walter stated that he believes having on line access also creates the authority to buy and sell assets from the account, but having on line access is the easiest way to obtain statements for the account which need to be provided to the bookkeeper so that she can do reconciliations. He noted that since there should be no transactions to this account, other than the accumulation of interest, it only needs to be accessed once per quarter. MSP – retain the current arrangement with Walter being the only one with on line access. Walter should check to see if we can set the account to generate an email or text in the event of a withdrawal from the account, and whether RBC can send statements to the office via email or U.S. Mail.
Our new bookkeeper, Carrie Feldman, was introduced.
Sunrise Account-at present, those with on line access are Jennifer and Jan. In accord with her changed job description, JG will have her access “disabled”. Carrie should be put on the account with “view only” status.
Special Offerings KC reported that at the last church council meeting the issue of Special Offerings had come up, with questions raised as to when we do them and for whom. It was noted the beneficiaries should be 501(c)(3)organizations or groups for whom we are fiscal agent. Walter proposed the following Special Offerings: UMCOR in September, Christmas, Easter, and one more in May or June. He proposed having them on two consecutive Sundays. Church council will decide who the beneficiaries will be (other than UMCOR).
Financial Reports were reviewed.
Walter stated his schedule for the summer and will be able to attend Fin.Comm. meetings again after September 1.
Carrie noted she will be gone for two weeks in July but will make arrangements to do the payroll before she goes and the financial reports after she returns. She needs to check with payroll tax withholding transfers need to be done.
Next meeting is set for July 15 at 5 p.m, subject to cancellation by KC in the event there are no pressing issues for the committee to deal with; likewise, she may decide not to hold a meeting in August.
Adjourned 5:55 p.m.
Minutes by Carole Megarry
