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VOL. 13, NO. 23

Conference seeks BCC resolution

By Erik Alsgaard UMConnection Staff

The Baltimore-Washington Conference is seeking resolution of a dispute with the Board of Child Care over actions taken by the BCC to amend its constitution.

In a letter dated Oct. 17 from conference Chancellor John Ditto to lawyers representing the BCC, Ditto suggests discussions get back on track either with or without a mediator.

To date, no reply has been received.

The Board of Child Care, which receives about two percent of its annual funding from the conference, has sought in recent months to change its by-laws, allowing its board of directors to elect their own successors.

Last June during annual conference, a slate of three board members was put forward by the Board of Child Care. That slate was not elected by the conference. Instead, three different names were placed on the ballot and duly elected during the conference session.

Following that action, the three new board members elected by the conference were not seated or invited to the boards next board meeting. Shortly after that, word was received by the conference that the Board of Child Care had sought to amend its own by-laws, allowing its board to self-perpetuate.

If discussions should fail, the conference is prepared to take other actions.

The conferences Council on Finance and Administration voted unanimously at its Nov. 20 meeting to authorize up to $50,000, if needed, to fund a legal challenge that may arise against the Board of Child Care.

Acting on another letter sent from Ditto, the council decided to authorize the money in advance. The council will communicate to the Commission on Planning, Research and Evaluation its actions, since it is that group that would need to file the suit, said the Rev. Byron P. Brought, chair of CFA and pastor of Calvary UMC in Annapolis.

At stake is a long-standing relationship between the Baltimore-Washington Conference and its predecessors, and the Board of Child Care. The board, located in Reisterstown, has been a ministry related to the conference for decades. Much of the Board of Child Cares multi-million dollar endowment has come from United Methodists over many generations.

In an Oct. 8 letter from the Rev. David Argo, chair of Planning, Research and Evaluation, to Ditto, Argo spelled out a three-step process the conference will take.

The first step was to communicate regret over actions taken by the BCC. The second step was to request a meeting between BCC and the conference. The third step authorizes legal action against the BCC, if needed.

In other action, the Council on Finance and Administration passed a motion that recommended, in principle, that the annual conference pursue a series of district capital funds campaigns, allowing districts to choose their own projects, primarily in the areas of camping and church development.

After months of study, the Rev. Mark Smiley, pastor of Mays Chapel UMC and a member of the Feasibility Study Task Force, brought the recommendation. He told the council that the studies showed a large, conferencewide campaign could raise $3 million, most of that targeted to individual projects.

However, doing district by district campaigns could raise $10 to $15 million in total, or about $1.5 million per district, said the Rev. Jim Knowles-Tuell, conference treasurer.

If we want people to touch on their passion, then you cant put strictures on top of donors, said Smiley. People dont want to give to institutions, they want to give to programs.

The Council on Finance and Administration agreed in principle but had questions on how these campaigns would be run who would lead them. Smiley will come back to the January 2003 meeting of CFA with details of cost, staffing and timelines.

Also at the meeting, the Rev. Richard Stetler, a member of the conference board of trustees, reported that the landlords who own the conference center building are no longer interested in selling the property. Stetler told council that the rent on the building, currently around $500,000 per year, will be renegotiated in 2006, and its not going to go down.

Stetler suggested the need exists to look at other options. The Council on Finance and Administration agreed, and appointed him to convene a task force to explore options for a conference center.

Why not now make some strategic plans that would go to finding a piece of land, getting an architect in, and at least getting a footprint, Stetler said after the meeting. We also need some stats about what it is that we really want. Right now is the time.

As trustees, we really need to take issue with the amount of money were putting into this building. This is a wonderful site, centrally located, right off 32, very convenient. To not do homework and just come right in on 2006 and roll over and play dead is not the way to go.

The Rev. Charles Harrell of Faith UMC in Rockville also encouraged the task force to look at the facility on a larger scale, such as hosting retreats, meetings or conferences. Im not talking about a Lake Junaluska of the north, he said, but there is nothing in the Northeastern Jurisdiction like that.