Church Council met on February 23, 2020. To help keep you in the loop, here is a summary of what was discussed during the meeting:
Jeff Norwood, Treasurer
, provided the Treasurer’s report. He reported that the general account has been reconciled for January and that we are on track to reconcile this account within 5 days of the statement being available at the end of each month. All credit card accounts have also been reconciled both for 2019 and for January of 2020. All brokerage accounts have been closed with the exception of Fidelity for stock transfers. If you are interested in making a stock donation to the church, please visit here (insert link to giving page that explains stock transfer info) for more information or contact Allison Maynard at giving@signalcrestumc.org. The Finance team is reviewing 2019 financials to ensure they are correct as we move forward and to prepare for an audit later this year. In addition, every budget manager has been provided of a report of spending to budget in their area and will be sent a report monthly going forward.
On behalf of the
Finance Committee, Marti Wayland,
thanked the Financial team for their hard work in setting up our financials for 2020 and closing out 2019. The Finance committee has approved and adopted a new process going forward that will ensure two signatures on every check paid by Signal Crest. This is another step to ensure we are operating with best practices to ensure protection of our financial assets.
Paul Jensen, on behalf of Trusted Leadership
, in conjunction with Finance, reported he is continuing to develop policies for our designated funds of the Building Fund and Outreach fund to ensure we have a process in place on how we request and spend money out of these funds.
Allan Ledford, Director of Music
, requested money from the music fund for non-budgeted items of:
1. Adult Handbell clinic
2. Cover a gap in the Children’s Choir teachers’ salaries that were cut in the budgeting process. Their positions are on a school year basis versus a calendar year like our budget and he did not want to cut their salary mid-year of their commitment to teach.
Both of these requests were previously approved by the Trustees and the Finance Committee and were approved by Church Council at this meeting.
Carole Long, on behalf of Staff Parish,
informed the council that they have three initiatives they are working on currently:
1. Reviewing Staff Position Descriptions
2. Updating the Employee Handbook
3. Reviewing insurance
Finance and SPR are still reviewing the Accountant responsibilities and if a part time Accountant is needed. A decision will be made later this year.
Josh Kilbourne, on behalf of Stewardship
, reported that we have received $687,239.97 in pledges. If ratio of 64% of pledges to income received holds for 2020, we can expect roughly $1,073,800 by year end.
Carole Long, on behalf of the United Methodist Women
, shared that a new circle has formed, Hands in Faith. This circle will meet a few times a year and participate in a service project with their children. The next UMW General Meeting is March 8th at 12 pm in the Crest Center with a light lunch.
Josh Kilbourne, on behalf of Nominations
, shared that we had three positions that have become vacant since Charge Conference and asked Church Council to vote on these nominations. They are:
Krista Torrance, Staff Parish
Carole Long-Lay Delegate to Annual Conference
BW Ruffner-Finance
Church Council approved all three nominations.
Greg Cullum, on behalf of the Trustees
, reported the following:
1. Fence on the playground is to be repaired this week
2. 40 new chairs were purchased and have been delivered for the Crest Center thanks to a donation from a church family.
3. Jeff Kelle is working on the Endowment policy for Signal Crest
4. March 7th will be a work day for the Parsonage landscaping. If interested in helping, please let Greg know at GLCULLUM@firsthorizon.com
5. March 28th will be a church wide work day. More information on how the congregation can get involved will be shared in early March.
Greg also requested approval for up to $3853 to be spent out of the building fund to install smoke detectors in the Children’s area. This request was previously approved by Finance and Trustees and approved by Church Council at this meeting.
Finally, Pastors Bill and Josh shared their appreciation of the Congregations support in their continuing education. Bill has completed 60% of his seminary requirement and was recently approved by the District Commissioning group to continue in his pursuit to be a fully ordained Pastor. Josh shared he has one more class to complete for his Doctorate. Bill thanked the WHO/WHY group on their support and help of a recent funeral. The family was very appreciative of the support they received during this difficult time.
The next Church Council meeting will be March 22, at 6:30 pm in the Interpreter’s Room. All are welcome to join us.
In Partnership,
Mark A. Smith
Chair, Church Council
The approved minutes from the January 12 meeting may be found by clicking
here
.
