Meeting Minutes Jan. 8, 2015

Minutes of the

Committee on Program and Budget

January 8, 2015

Members Present:

Bob Batchelor, Betsy Fornal, Linda Grenz, Bishop Knisely, David Lucey, Jim Rezendes (via phone), Ann Rheault, Peter Tierney,

Meeting was called to order at 10:40 am. 

In an effort to recruit new members meetings will now be scheduled for the second Thursday of the month at 5:00 pm.  We should encourage conference calling and Skyping for members, since it’s difficult to come into the city at 5:00.

Three or four Spring budget meetings should be used to determine what we want our budget to look like.  We will go around the diocese and listen to what people are doing, asking the strategic questions: What is working well? What is not happening that should be happening? What are you doing that you’re excited about? How could the diocese help you do it better? Did you know that this other church is doing the same thing? What networks exist? Encourage networking hubs, not command-and-control, top-down approach.  The 2015 Task Force is targeting leadership groups – deacons, priests, treasurers, wardens – and will be pulling their work together after June 2015.  This should piggyback on their work, and we should get the lay of the land from them, then go diocese-wide for a gut check.  We might be able to have fewer Fall budget presentations with this approach.

Spring budget hearings are set for May 7 and May 8 at locations tbd – one in the north and one in the south.

Budget Review

The ACS system is a big improvement over the spreadsheets of the past and their associated errors.  You can just push a button and get a report.  It will lead to more clarity and more transparency.

Next Meeting: Thursday, February 12, 2015 @ 5:00 p.m. in the Higgins Room.

Respectfully submitted,

Ann Kane Rheault