Building Relationships with People in Christ

August 10, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

 

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

 

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – none

 

Items for information only – see below – NOTE #3  – 2021 budget requests are needed BEFORE 9/24/20

 

Members present -  Barry Holmes, Ed Ingram, Paul Luce, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Don Pine, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young.  Pastor Elizabeth was also present.

 

This meeting was held via Zoom.  As always, we appreciate Paul joining us no matter the circumstances (this time from his car at the side of the road on their way home from visiting family).   AND, it was great to have Barry with us!

 

Bill Melewski opened our meeting with a devotional about “being grateful” and a prayer

 

1.  Financial Secretary Report

·         Linda will be figuring out how many and what type of offering envelopes we need to order for 2021

·         Edgar Urriola memorial funds:  we have received one donation that is designated for camps.  Linda asked for confirmation/clarification of whether all of Edgar’s memorial funds are to be designated for camp.  Pastor Elizabeth will contact Misty to find out.

·          Linda will send Pastor Elizabeth a list of other memorial funds for which the designation is unknown.  As her time allows, Pastor will contact families to find out if these funds are to be non-designated or designated.

·           

2. June Minutes were approved (no meeting in July)

 

3.  Treasurer's Report (see July 2020 reports in Drop Box) –

·         Paul reviewed the July reports with the committee.  Contributions continue to be lower than anticipated but so are our expenses.

·         Since we are currently maintaining a checking account balance of at least $10,000.00, It was the consensus of the committee that we do not need to transfer anything from savings at this time.  Paul noted that the bank is charging us a $9-10 fee each month we do not maintain a balance of $20,000.00

·         Paul also reminded us that committee chairs should be asked in August to provide their preliminary budget requests BEFORE the September session meeting, September 24th

 

4.  Per Capita

·         It was the consensus of the committee that we continue to make monthly payments to ensure that we are caught up with this by the end of the year. 

·         Sandy will handle having a check issued to Heartland Presbytery.

 

5.  2021 Stewardship Campaign

·         After some discussion, it was agreed that Paul Luce’s church’s upcoming theme of Re-access, Re-calculate, Re-build doesn’t fit BRPC’s current circumstances but might very well be great for 2022 so we will welcome what Paul has to share with us as possible fodder for next year.

·         With Pastor Elizabeth’s guidance in thinking about where we are now and how to highlight what is going right, the theme that was decided on is “Socially Distanced/Spiritually Connected”

·         Pledge Sunday will be November 8, 2020

·         Pastor Elizabeth’s sermon series will focus on stewardship for the 4 weeks before that

·         This means stewardship letters with pledge form enclosed should be mailed about October 26^th

·         Barry Holmes volunteered to write this year’s letter

 

6.  BRPC Sam’s Club Card  

·         Don Pine made a motion to cancel Paul Vance’s card and not request a replacement.  Motion carried.

 

 

 

7.  Newsletter Article

·         We are grateful for those who have kept up their contributions to BRPC

·         Pastor Elizabeth suggested including a list of a few of the things that everyone’s contributions are allowing us to continue to pay – e.g. salaries, building maintenance, stamps

 

 

8. Website

·         At least half of the current services we are paying for in connection with our current web site will become part of the fee we already pay for Shelby Systems once the website is converted to that.

·         It was the consensus that in the future all the costs of maintaining the web site will be paid using the BRPC credit card and we thank Bill M for previously paying these expenses. 

·         Bill will coordinate with Karen Argo about this transition.

 

9.  Security of Karen Argo’s office

·         Karen is concerned that more than once items in her desk have been disturbed when she wasn’t present

·         The committee agreed that especially during this time of Covid 19, it is important that Karen have control of who enters her office

·         Linda Schumacher stated that as far as Finance is concerned, she does not need to have access to Karen’s office when Karen is not there.

 

Next meeting will be 1:00 PM on September 14, 2020.  Location TBD.   (probably via ZOOM)

 

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Don Young.

 

Respectfully Submitted,     Linda Schumacher

Pastor Elizabeth ended our meeting with some kind words of praise and encouragement and a prayer.

Building Relationships with People in Christ

June 8, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – none

Items for information only – see below

Members present:  Ed Ingram, Paul Luce, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Don Pine, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young. Pastor Elizabeth was also present.

Members absent:  Barry Holmes

This meeting was held via Zoom.

Sandy Moore opened our meeting with scripture and prayer

1.  Financial Secretary Report - Nothing to report

2. May Minutes were approved

3.  Treasurer's Report (see May 2020 reports in Drop Box) - Paul reviewed the May reports with the committee.  Contributions continue to be lower than anticipated but the overall financial picture is still all right.  Outgoing payments included $500 to Presbytery toward what we owe for per capita.

4.  Status of Pledges, Per Capita, and Endowment contributions following articles in May Newsletter – Through May, we have received 32% of anticipated Pledge amounts.  Ideally, we would have received 45% of our anticipated pledges by now.  We have received Per Capita for 33 folks (math doesn’t come out exactly right because several rounded the amount up).  No contributions have been received for the Endowment Fund this year.

5.  Joy Scholarship – Applications have been received from Owen Lockwood, Celeste Cummins, and Brennan Lee.   Don Pine moved that each applicant be awarded $500.00.  Motion carried.

6.  Cement repair to steps to Grace’s office and Pastor Elizabeth’s stoop – the final cost is not known, yet, but it appears it will be less than originally thought thanks to Gary Oberlander’s efforts.

7.  Website expenses – Many, if not all, of the current services we are paying for in order to have our current web site are part of our current Shelby Next package.  Bill Melewski states that he will be investigating which services are duplicated in Shelby and since there is no reason to be paying for two services and our current web site is outdated, the current web site service  will at some point be discontinued and a new web site built via Shelby Next.  Once he knows which services we will still need in addition to Shelby, he will let the Finance Committee know and we will authorize that those expenses be paid via the BRPC credit card. (rather than Bill paying for them which we are grateful to him for doing in the past).  Bill will be coordinating with Pastor Elizabeth on what content will be on the new web site and will be asking for help from others in this daunting task.

8. 2021 Stewardship Campaign –Paul Luce’s church has given him permission to share their ideas for implementing the theme they are going to use of “Reassess, Recalculate, and Rebuild”.  He will share those ideas with us when he is in Raytown for our August meeting.  We will then be free to assess and decide whether we want to use their ideas.  It was the consensus of those present that in the meantime, we will get Pastor Elizabeth’s thoughts on our stewardship campaign plan to see if she has specific ideas/desires as to how that is done.  And, Linda S. has a file that she wanted to look at to see if there are any viable ideas in it.  So, this will be a main topic at our August meeting.

9.  ZOOM expense – Pastor Elizabeth has been charging her personal credit card for the cost for this service we are using for online Coffee Fellowship, Session, and other Committee Meetings   Don Young moved that we reimburse Pastor Elizabeth for the amount Pastor Elizabeth has already spent for this and that future cost of $15.99 a month be charged to the BRPC VISA card.  Motion carried.  Paul instructed that this expense be paid from Account #54013.

10.  Sam’s credit card – Paul Vance is no longer physically able to purchase supplies for BRPC at Sam’s so his card needs to be cancelled.  When he is feeling up to it, Gary will take Paul to Sam’s to cancel his card.  No action will be taken at this time to issue a Sam’s card to another BRPC member.

Next meeting will be 1:00 PM on August 10, 2020.  Location TBD.   (No meeting in July)

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Bill Melewski.

Respectfully Submitted,     Linda Schumacher

Don Pine ended our meeting with a prayer.

Building Relationships with People in Christ

May 11, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – Fund raising request from Shelley Melewski ( see 6 below)

Items for information only – see below

Members present:  Ed Ingram, Paul Luce, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Don Pine, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young. Pastor Elizabeth was also present.

Members absent:  Barry Holmes

This meeting was held via Zoom.

Ed Ingram opened our meeting with scripture, devotional and prayer

1.  Financial Secretary Report

o     Nothing to report

2.  April Minutes were approved

3.  Treasurer's Report (see April 2020 reports in Drop Box)

o    Paul reviewed the April reports with the committee.  Contributions are down but so are expenses.  Considering that we are currently not physically together for worship and that we haven’t taken anything from savings, we feel our financial picture is still ok.

4.  Per Capita – $500 will be sent this month to keep our plan for paying BRPC per capita.

5.  Joy Scholarship – The deadline for fall semester scholarships is June 1^st.  Sandy will continue to put out reminders of the availability of these funds.

6.  Fund raising request – Shelley Melewski has requested permission to sell greeting cards to benefit the Raytown Summer Lunch Program.  Don Pine made a motion to recommend approval of this request to the Session.  Motion carried.

7.  Cement repair needed on to steps to Grace’s office - Per the Property Committee, this will cost approximately $2,500.00.  Our recommendation is that this expense be taken from Account #28612 (new roof fund).

8.  Endowment Fund – This has not been publicized in quite some time.   - Don Young will compose something for the June newsletter from the Endowment Fund Committee to remind the congregation about this fund  -  especially to suggest that everyone donate the amount of their age on their birthday.

9.  Stewardship Campaign – It’s not too early begin planning.  Paul’s church’s 2021 theme will be “Reassess, Recalculate and Rebuild

Next meeting will be via Zoom 1:00 PM on June 8, 2020.  (at this point we will not plan to have a meeting in July)

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Sandy Moore.

Respectfully Submitted,     Linda Schumacher

Don Pine ended our meeting with a prayer.

Building Relationships with People in Christ

April 13, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – none

Items for information only – see below

Members present:  Ed Ingram, Paul Luce, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Don Pine, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young,

Members absent:  Barry Holmes

This meeting was held via Zoom.

Pastor Elizabeth opened our meeting with prayer

1.  Financial Secretary Report

o     Linda is more thankful than ever that we converted to Shelby Next when we did since it enables her to post BRPC contributions from home.  Karen A is putting any contributions received during the week in a basket outside her office door for Linda to pick up every Monday morning.  Linda picks up, posts, and deposits.

o     Contributions were a little slim this week.  Pastor Elizabeth will be making a reminder about the continued need for offerings during our online worship services in the future now that Holy Week has passed.

2.  Treasurer's Report (see March 2020 reports in Drop Box)

o    Paul reviewed the March reports with the committee.  We were extremely glad Paul could join us considering he is recovering from surgery for broken hip and pelvis.

3.  Herb Sinden Memorial Fund – It was the consensus of the Finance Committee via email on April 3rd that these funds be given to Peggy Sinden to assist with her financial needs.  The Session expects to make their final approval of this sometime this week.

4.  Per Capita – with everything that was going on, no funds were sent to Presbytery in March.  So, a total of $1,000.00 will be sent to Presbytery this week to pay a portion of the per capita amount owed by BRPC for 2020.

5.  Joy Scholarship – The deadline for fall semester scholarships is June 1^st.  This deadline has been/will be publicized in weekly email and monthly newsletter.  Sandy believes we have the potential of receiving 5 applications.  The amount of individual scholarships will be decided after we know how many applicants we actually have been received.

6.  BRPC Checking Account - Sandy verified that she is the primary signer for BRPC’s bank account at Blue Ridge Bank.  Other members who are authorized to sign checks are: Jana Henderson, Sally Ingram, Linda Lockwood, Gary Oberlander, and Shelley Melewski. 

7.  BRPC Credit Cards – The following member’s have BRPC credit cards:  Connie Oliver – Hy-Vee & Sam’s Club; Gary Oberlander – Sam’s Club & Visa; Christi Neal – Visa.  There is also a BRPC credit card in the petty cash box to which only Karen Argo and/or Sandy Moore have access.

Next meeting will be via Zoom 1:00 PM on May 11th.

Respectfully Submitted,     Linda Schumacher

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Ed Ingram

Pastor Elizabeth ended our meeting with a prayer.

Building Relationships with People in Christ

March 9, 2020- Finance Committee Meeting     (H)

Items to be included in Session's consent agenda – none

Items to be voted upon or needing discussion by Session – none

Items for information only – see below

Members present:  Ed Ingram, Bill Melewski, Sandy Moore, Don Pine, Linda Schumacher, and Don Young,

Members absent:  Barry Holmes

Bill Melewski opened our meeting with a devotion and prayer

1.  February minutes were approved

2.  Financial Secretary Report

o     Nothing to report

3.  Treasurer's Report (see February 2020 reports in Drop Box)

o    Paul reviewed the February reports with the committee.

o    Paul will correct Petty Cash amount in Shelby to match amount now actually in the petty cash box* (see 4.)

4.  Pulpit Supply – this account will, understandably, go over the budgeted amount since Pastor Ron’s surgery/rehab has necessitated the need for more pulpit supply than anyone had any way to anticipate.

5.  *Petty Cash – Sandy and Don Young have audited the petty cash box.  A total of $56.30 has been left in the box.  The balance of what was in the box of $49.00 will be put in to the “Special Events” (food and supplies) account.

6.  Per Capita – a $500 payment has been sent to Presbytery to begin to pay what is owed for 2020

7.  Tax Exempt Form:  up to date copy has been obtained

Next meeting will be 1:00 PM on April 13th.

Opening devotional/prayer will be given by Ed Ingram

Don Pine ended our meeting with a prayer.

Respectfully Submitted,

    Linda Schumacher