163rd Meeting of the CMC Board of Directors (**Public Copy)
December 4, 2016 /12:45
Members Present (7): Rev. Tedosio Samora, Rev. Dusa Althea Rammessirsingh, Rev. Vincent Fuqua, Rev. Tony Ponticello, Rev. Peter Graham, Rev. Rudy Colombini, Rev. Roxie Benson.
Members Absent (1): Rev. Paul Marinkovich.
Minutes for 162nd Meeting Read and Accepted as Amended
Official acknowledgement of Rev. Daniel's service to the CMC Board of Directors. Thank you Rev. Daniel.
Financial Reports:
Profit and Loss: Jul. 1 2016 to Sep. 30 2016 (3rd qtr. 2016)
Income $65,666.68 Expenses $72,535.33 Income Overspent ($6,868.65)
Equity Report: Sep. 30, 2016
Current $48,078.41 Jul. 1, 2016 $54,947.06 Loss of Equity ($6,868.65)
Supporting Member Report:
Currently 104 Supporting Members — $5,694.99, $54.76 donation per members (net loss of 1 Supporting Member and gain of $145/month)
Gained 3: Luus van Leeuwen, Richard Buckley, Rev. Lisa Trevino
Lost 4: Rev. Barb McKinstry, Rev. Myron Jones, Rev. Kris Siler, Lisa Hogan
Associate Ministers:
Lost (1): Rev. Franz Enciso
Gained (3): Rev. Heather Holmes, Rev. Kimmy Scarpine, Rev. Jesse Horan-Brunne
Old Business:
Rev. Roxie will teach a potential ACIM-1 Phone Class, Monday at 8 am Pacific. Day is subject to change.
Rev. Kelly's $30,000 for 30 Years Fundraising drive needs to be re-visioned since we will be moving. Ideas were discussed and we will discuss more at the next meeting.
New Business:
Financial Situation:
Rev. Tony gave update on the financial situation. The plans below should help us break even every month, but we need to make up some money lost. We are also saving about $433/ month not having a pianist. We still need to keep Supporting Membership strong, and class enrollment high. We need to continue to get support even though we won’t have the large facility at 2269 Market. We haven’t spent money needed for the Conference yet, but if we have a large payout to get out of the lease we will be.
Rev. Tony's Salary:
Rev. Tony can start drawing Social Security since he is 64.5 years old. He should get a S.S. benefit of $1,116 per month. He still is allowed to make ~$17,000 per year with no reduction to his benefit. It doesn't make sense for him NOT to start drawing this now. He suggests that his CMC Salary be cut to $1,000 as soon as possible (currently $2,000) and he will apply for Social Security. It takes about 2 month for benefits to start. Apparently when Rev. Tony reaches full retirement age (66) he can earn as much as he wants with no reduction in benefit. (Need to verify.)
A motion is made that we reduce Rev. Tony’s salary to $1,000.00 per month once his Social Security benefit begins. Unanimous.
Current Lease Situation:
Rev. Rudy has been in communication with building owner Mel Dogovitz. Rev. Rudy & Rev. Tony strongly suggest moving by the end of December and not paying any more rent on 2269 Market. December has already been paid. This will give us more bargaining leverage.
Moving will be a challenge. We plan to move office to a building owned by Rev. Rudy, 1996 Union (at Buchanan in Cow Hollow). Rev. Rudy will charge us a very reasonable rent for the office space (probably $700.00 a month). Additionally, Rev. Rudy is donating the Sunday meeting room and another, smaller, classroom space at 875 Post Street (San Francisco Student Housing). A locked closet there will enable us to store equipment. Thank you for your generosity Rev. Rudy. Noted and appreciated.
There are additional tax benefits for Rev. Rudy’s, as the fair market value cost of rental of meeting, class, and office space - minus what we pay - can be a charitable donation.
Rev. Rudy explained the nature of leases and that the 2269 Market landlord at this time is still expecting us to honor the lease until it expires. The landlord is open to us subleasing if we manage and pay the rent to him. This is still not financially feasible for the CMC because we cannot afford to pay leasing fee, and months for which 2269 Market might be empty. The landlord has owned the building for about 1 year.
Rev. Tony reports we can offer him the possibility to pay him some future rent, save him legal fees, and he would have a tax write off for any rents not collected. He wants us to pay the Broker’s commission which is approximately $8,000.00. At this time the Commercial Market is not optimal.
Rev. Rudy discussed the benefits of moving our offices and having a new space for our Sunday Services and classes. It would be like us now owning our own space. Rev. Rudy also thinks that the Sunday Service and office space would eventually move to Music City at 1355 Bush Street.
Motion: The CMC will move into our new offices at 1996 Union, use 875 Post for the Sunday Service and classes, offered by Rev. Rudy starting in new year 2017. Unanimous.
Rev. Vincent asked about seeing the new spaces and it was decided that BOD will meet at 875 Post this Friday December 9th to see meeting spaces and the future Music City space at 1355 Bush.
2018 Conference Report:
We will have no time to work on publicity for 2018 conference so Rev. Tony feels we MUST postpone the price increase until well after the move. Plus the energy seems to not currently be for registering for something so far in advance, and there are numerous other, sooner, smaller conferences enrolling now. The next price jump is set for $599.00
Rev. Roxie suggests that Rev Jesse Brune-Horan be a Presenter at the 2018 Conference. Rev. Tony was enthusiastic at first, but then realized there were several other issues that need to be addressed. We have already turned away other proposed presenters. We told everyone we were full, and not adding any new presenters. Rev. Tony doesn’t want Rev. Reja-Joy to give up her spot, as she has suggested, and she does enroll attendees. If we were to accept Rev. Jesse then we would have to restructure the schedule and shorten the time of presentations to 60 minutes instead of 75 minutes.
The Pros of Rev. Jesse are that he could possibly enroll many attendees, and he is a CMC Associate Minister. He also has an outreach to the LGBTQ community, plus he is a very dynamic speaker. Rev. Rudy asked how many could he enroll. Is it possible that his enrollment could mean $10,000 to $15,000? Rev. Roxie thinks that he will enroll many people. Others were skeptical. Many presenters tell us they will enroll big and then they don't. Rev. Vincent thinks that it is too late in the process to invite another presenter as the program is set and shouldn't be changed.
2016 Las Vegas Conference Financial Report:
Income:Enrollment . . . . . . . $194,157.32
Bookstore Profit . . . . . . . . $2,094.72
Sunday Service . . . . . . . . . $3,899.48
Botal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $200,151.59 ($438.93/person - 456 people)
Expenses:
Total Catering . . . . . . . . . $125,779.71 ($275.83/person)
Sleeping Rooms Staff & Presenters $ 15,190.06
Audio Visual Charges . . . . . . $ 14,829.77
Other Expenses . . . . . . . . . $ 29,941.83
Sub Total . . . . . . . . . . . . $185,741.37 ($407.33/person)
CMC Manage. Fee (Income Remaining) 14,410.22 <---- This is what CMC made
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $200,151.59 ($438.93/person)
Paying the Nevada Sales Tax and challenging the State of Nevada about it, ending up costing us $8,333. (Sales Tax to Nevada: $7,692 plus trip to Carson City to present case: $641.) If you add the $8,333.00 cost to profits then we would have been closer to our typical management fee.
Discussion: Rev. Rudy says we pay too much money for meals and we would be more profitable if we didn’t pay for 4 meals. Rev. Tony said that if we went to a smaller city, like St. Louis, then we would not have to pay so much for meals.
Class Report:
12 ACIM-1 Students
13 ACIM-2 Students
4 ACOL Students
LGBTQ and Beyond continues (plans to move to 875 Post)
Marvelous Monday Miracles Meeting (M4) continues (plans to move to 875 Post)
Thursday Night Meditation group is on hiatus. (Not certain if moving now. Perhaps start again later.)
Vacancy of the Board:
With Rev. Daniel leaving we currently have a vacancy on the CMC Board. We are supposed to have an odd number of members, between 7 to 15. The Board discussed some possible candidates but decided to wait until after the move to make any decision.
Motion: Amending Article 5 section 1 of the CMC Bylaws.
The Officers of the Board will be President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. Unanimous
Motion: Rev. Rudy to become the Vice President of the CMC Board of Directors. Unanimous
Meeting Adjourned at 2:45 p.m.
Next meeting resumes normal schedule, 4th Sunday of odd months. That will be January 22. Please put this on your calendars now.
Respectfully Submitted,
Rev. Peter Graham, Secretary
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