Meeting of Metropolis Finance Committee

Posted February 8, 2010 by His Grace, Bishop Sergios 

The diocesan Finance Committee held its first formal session in Bakersfield, California, the weekend of January 30-31, 2010.

Michael and Philothei Gombos provided their home as the site for the meeting.

Bishop Sergios was present as Moderator and Convener of the session, and Mary Beth Lytle, daughter of the late Archpriest John Bockman, of blessed memory, chaired the sessions.

Present were Committee members Michael Gombos, of Christ the Saviour Mission in Bakersfield, John Engel, also of Christ the Saviour Mission, and, by conference call, James Tolas, of St. Ignatios the God-Bearer Mission in Tacoma, Washington, in addition to Suffragan Bishop Sergios, from Saint Gregory of Sinai Monastery in Loch Lomond, California, and Mary Beth Lytle, from SS. Peter and Paul Mission in Tucson, Arizona.

As the first face-to-face meeting of this Committee, an inevitably wide range of topics was discussed. The focus was on "getting it right" from the outset by putting into place the best practices available with respect to the financing of not-for-profit corporation tasks.

Among other motions passed, the Committee will put a standardized financial report form into the hands of the parishes and missions that compose the Portland Metropolis; existing model documents outlining accounting best practices will be reviewed by Committee Chair Mary Beth Lytle with a view to making specific recommendations adapting best practices to the needs and possibilities of the Portland Metropolis; two members will prepare an investments policy statement for the Portland Metropolis; a basic, if somewhat austere, parsonage allowance was mandated for the maintenance of our chief Hierarch, Metropolitan Moses of Portland; and various other matters were either moved or recommended, the entire result of the day-long meeting being forwarded to Metropolitan Moses for his consideration and blessing, which, if given, will formally enact the Committee's work.

The Committee will convene again the weekend of April 24-25, in Bakersfield.