FROM THE WARDENS

In the May issue of “The Message,” it was announced that our Treasurer’s responsibilities have been divided into three roles. One of those roles includes me as check writer. There have been rumblings that this was somehow a conflict of interest. To get proper information for myself and for the church, I did some digging and found on the Long Island Diocesan web page a document entitled, “Building an Effective Leadership Team, a Vestry Manual.” It discusses the terms “senior” and “junior” warden and the use of titles such as rector’s warden and people’s warden.

Page 17 of that document also states, “Some parishes make use of the title ‘accounting warden,’ perhaps in acknowledgment of the unusually heavy burden which may fall upon the parish treasurer specific duties, and a vestry is free to prepare job descriptions for the offices of warden and to incorporate these into the by-laws.” [sic] As you can see, although not the best use of the English language, it states that a warden assisting in treasurer responsibilities is not only NOT a conflict of interest, but it is actually expected and encouraged, especially in smaller parishes.

In light of this information, we will continue on our course as previously outlined. Just so the process is very clear, Dan McGee approves all invoices and submitted expenses, I write out the checks, and Bob Smitelli matches the approved invoices to the checks written and reconciles our budget and account balances. So, in effect, we have a system of checks and balances that follows proper business protocol. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Dan or me.

~ Janice Palladino, Co-Warden