FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

ADMINISTRATION MINISTRY TEAM

10 June 2008

 Present:  Dina Schroeder (Moderator), Mary Kammann, Carl Connor, Winnie Quinzi,

                Mike Bartholomew

 

Absent:  Darla Topley (Excused)

 

Carl opened the meeting with prayer.

 The Minutes of the May meeting were reviewed and approved as written and submitted.

 OLD BUSINESS:  1)  Matt Holt continues reviewing the First Presbyterian Church New Mexico Incorporation documents and the 9-88 Church By-Laws, but has been unable to complete this review to date.  Hopefully, Matt will be able to complete his review and make appropriate recommendations before our next Team meeting.  We will bring our findings and recommendations to the Session as soon as they are completed.

 2)  The selection process for a new Stewardship Campaign Chairman was completed when Barbara Kewley graciously accepted the position for this year.  Mary Kammann and Darla Topley will help with the stewardship campaign as representatives of the Administration Ministry Team.   The Stewardship Committee will meet with Rev. Story before they kick off their campaign in August.

 3)  We agreed to purchase and install a time clock that will enable us to keep track of the hours worked by our various employees because we were unable to identify an acceptable inexpensive alternate tracking system.  The Power Church software we use does not have a timekeeping module, and they cannot recommend any third party software that is compatible.  We will develop a written procedure for all employees to follow and implement the new timekeeping system by the next pay period.

 4)  We updated our plans to inform the members of our congregation about several topics that affect all members of our congregation and that would also help new members understand some of the processes and procedures that are in place to protect church property.  We did not attempt to address the status of our Phase I Renovation Debt in the June issue of the Lantern because we believed that the information about the Columbarium needed to be shared with the members, so that interest in this subject could be assessed as quickly as possible.  We plan to update the membership on the status of our Phase I Debt in the July Lantern.  We will address the procedures followed in handling and tracking monies received from pledges, donations, and other sources in August; and the use of church tables, chairs, and other church property by members in September.

 5)  The mid-year employee and Pastor reviews were distributed to all Elders and Ministry Team Moderators.  The recipients of these evaluation forms were requested to make every effort to complete their evaluations and return them to the Administration Ministry Team Moderator on, or before Monday, 16 June.  Evaluation conferences will be scheduled for later in June.

 6)  We received a request to install a speed control system on the newer (2001) van but agreed that this should not be done because of potential liability issue if an accident occurred due to driver inattention to road situations while relying on the speed control system.

 7)  Winnie Quinzi completed her training on the offering collection count procedures on May 27 and will assist in the count on 16 and 23 June.

 NEW BUSINESS:  1)  Due to two (2) recent reports of monies missing from employee’s desks we agreed to implement two corrective actions to prevent recurrence of this problem.  First we agreed that each office in Jones hall should have a lockable desk drawer for the locked temporary daytime storage of personal and/or church property or monies.  These locks will be installed no later than Wednesday, 18 June 2008.  The keys to these drawer locks should be unique to each drawer, and should not have a common “master” key.  Each employee who has a lockable desk drawer should have a key checked out to them and the second key should be retained by the church in accordance with the revisions to our Key Control Procedure that addresses Employee Locked Desk Drawer Key Control.  A copy of this part of the policy is available to anyone who desires a copy.

The second corrective action we agreed to was the implementation of a formal receipting procedure for all cash and checks received by the church outside of the Sunday Offering Collection.  We are providing the church office and the Christian Education Program Director with triplicate receipt books to record , document, and track ALL monies received by the church.  The top (ORIGINAL) copy of the numbered receipt will be given to the individual or group giving the cash or check to the church as their receipt.  The next (second) copy of the receipt will be stapled to the cash or check and will be used by the financial secretary to document and record the cash or check into the church accounting system.  The bottom (third) copy of the receipt will remain in the book as a permanent record of cash or check received by the church, and as a check for the church accountant to cross-check with the church banking deposits.

 2)  We concurred with the Christian Education request for Brian McPherson to work additional hours during Vacation Bible School in support of their requirements.  This additional work had been approved by Buildings & Grounds and was approved with the provision that Brian’s additional wages would come from the Vacation Bible School budget.

 3)  We approved the use of our parking lot by the Mesilla Valley Hospice for their 4^th annual Memorial Walk on Saturday, September 13, 2008.

 Dina adjourned the meeting with prayer.

 Next meeting: The team agreed that there was no need for a formal team meeting in July and that any unforeseen business could be conducted by email and telephone.  Our next regular meeting will be 12 August at 7:00 PM

 Session Meeting:  17 June at 7:00 PM

 Respectfully submitted by Carl Connor

 Phase I Debt:  Congregational Members:  $110,000.00

 Session Action Items:  NONE

PROPOSED REVISIONS TO KEY CONTROL PROCEDURE FOR

EMPLOYEE LOCKED DESK DRAWER KEY CONTROL

 Keys for individual desk drawer locks will be handled as follows:

 1)      Locks will have two (2) keys, but will not have a master key.

2)      One key will be signed out to the individual normally using each desk or cabinet with a key.

3)      The second key from each of these desk or cabinet locks will be collected and placed on a common key ring which will be placed inside a clear heavy weight zip-lock type plastic bag.

4)      The clear heavy weight zip-lock type plastic bag will be sealed by two (2) standard address labels placed in a manner that will effectively seal the plastic bag.  The address labels will be signed and dated by the following individuals:

a)      Label 1 by the Pastor

b)      Label 2 by the Administration Team Moderator

5)               If either address label seal is broken in order to gain access to a locked desk drawer, the reason for entry must be documented in an email to the Pastor and each Elder serving on the Administration Ministry Team.  The clear heavy weight zip-lock type plastic bag will be sealed in accordance with (IAW) the procedures stated above.

6)               The clear heavy weight zip-lock type plastic bag containing the spare desk drawer keys will be kept by the office staff in the church safe along with all of the other church keys and will be handled IAW the key handling procedures, except as noted above.