Executive Team Members Present: Ryan Russell, Laura Witkowski, Lonnie Chafin, Gail Burgess, Jim Searls Paul White, Curtis Brown, Bishop Julius Trimble
Lonnie shared concerns about the budget and how we will put it together for 2021-2024. Per diems will be paid — $40 per day for each half a room. Two hundred people might mean 5 free rooms per night. There will be direct billing. This can all be finalized January 21.
We know we likely will lose a conference; we need to wait until we know what is happening before we can plan on that change.
Not all conferences have paid 2019 NCJ apportionments. Lonnie believes a couple will arrive soon; the others may not.
Mission Council sets the total amount conferences need to pay. The amount each conference pays to NCJ is determined by the percent each conference pays to GC. There is no other formula. We will need to meet between GC and NCJ to look at whether we need to set a specific policy.
Lonnie presented a tentative budget that could increase to $1,226,500 that will be reviewed by the full council.
Do we need to keep enough reserves to hold a special NCJ session (two days?).
Full Mission Council
Members Present: Ryan Russell, Laura Witkowski, Lonnie Chafin, Gail Burgess, Jim Searls Paul White, Curtis Brown, Bishop Julius Trimble; Dom Mejia, Beata Ferris, Alex Plum, Chris Winkler, Benton Heisler, Gifty Smith, Nitza Dovenspike,
Not Attending: Brad Bartelmay, Allison Curts, Douglas Damron, John Lawson, Kristen Krogman, Lisa Schubert Nowling, Matt Sipe, Tyler Sit, Young Mee Park,
Ryan Russell called the meeting to order. Bishop Trimble shared some information about Bishop Coyner who died this week. Bishop Trimble then led us in prayer.
Lonnie then asked us to discuss our reserve policy. He suggested that we keep enough money in reserves for a two-day special session conference if necessary. Chris questioned what the history of using the reserves. Lonnie noted that some is used to host General Conference within the jurisdiction. We have also used the funds to reduce apportionments. The question is where we would hold the session and how it would impact the cost. Lonnie is using information from the 2020 and 2016 sessions. It is possible that in this next quadrennium we would need a special session following legislation that could pass at General Conference. Benton noted that funds need to be available for Court of Appeals. The current reserves stand at $523, 883, but once we spend funds allocated for 2020 (as well as reserves set aside for special session) would leave us with less that $7,000.
The next budget would be zero based. Costs would include NCJ Conference in Dakotas – $300,000, NCJ Secretary -$12,500; Administrative – $33,200 (Would include audit, insurance, bank fees–); Mission Council $65,000, Episcopacy Committee – $65,000; Ministries – $500,000; Episcopal Area Contraction – $50,000; Archives – $800; Court of Appeals – $200,000. Total $1,226,500. Without Court of Appeals drops budget to $976, 500. Budget was $1,124,300. The increase in total apportioned amount would increase from $874,000. Many agreed this was a reasonable approach. Benton noted that finding resolution in GC is a possibility and perhaps we would not need to set aside as much for Court of Appeals. Ryan noted we would need to meet between GC and NCJ and could make changes then.
The Connectional Table presented a budget that was reduced. We know will we have one less Bishop, so will need funds to assist with that change. However, having a budget that increases will be frustrating to folks. It may be difficult to get conferences to buy in to any increase. We do need to budget according to the needs we foresee. We could take money out of Ministries or Appeals. If we take away all our ministries, would we be the Mission Council? Are we optimistic or pessimistic about the results of the General Conference in May?
Perhaps changes to the Fund Granting process could be to include some ministries as line items; other new ministries/agencies would need to apply. Our process is somewhat cumbersome for those who have ongoing programs. (VIM, Native American Ministries and Korean Ministries would be those that could receive funds as line item and would need to turn in annual progress reports.)
Various other means of cutting costs in the budget were also discussed. A line item for Mission Council Program would include the delegate gatherings sponsored by Mission Council. Might we set the percentage of the budget versus actual amounts in the budget? Answer: some items are set by Discipline.
After GC. Perhaps Court of Appeals could be set at $150,000, but reduced to $5,000 after GC? Episcopal Area Contraction might be able to be eliminated. Appeals could be reduced to $5,000.
We need to emphasize that we have used reserves and thus even with a lower budget the apportionments will go up.
There are many uncertainties and we need to 1) see what happens at GC and 2) give ourselves flexibility to deal with the changes to offer across the jurisdiction gatherings. If we change over to a US Regional, would will still have jurisdictions – or would jurisdictions become even more important?
Ryan noted that the Executive Committee will meet January 21-22 and have a meeting with the Bishops on the 22nd.He also noted that a Task Force is meeting; check with him for more information.
Next meeting tentatively set for Tuesday, May 26 at noon CDT.
Alex closed the meeting with prayer. We adjourned at 1:17 pm.
Gail Burgess
