FOUNDATION FOR SUPERANNUATION
OF THE CANADIAN REFORMED CHURCHES
MINUTES - MAY 15, 2010 TRI-ANNUAL MEETING
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Minutes of the Tri-annual membership meeting of the Foundation for Superannuation of the Canadian Reformed Churches held on May 15, 2010, in the Burlington-Ebenezer church building. OPENING The chairman, Dr. J. Visscher opens the meeting, reads Psalm 146 and then leads in prayer. Everyone present is welcomed to the meeting and the function of the Foundation is explained. The Foundation board is made up of the Councils of Cloverdale and Langley. The minister in Cloverdale is usually the vice- chairman; br C. Baarda is the secretary and br S. Vander Molen is the treasurer. The tri-annual meeting of the Foundation is held in conjunction with the meeting of Synod, and is normally held in the same church as well. CREDENTIALS A total of 22 delegates representing 19 churches are present at this meeting of the Foundation. AGENDA The agenda for the meeting is adopted after adding a letter from Toronto (which was sent to all the churches by Toronto) and a letter from Winnipeg-Redeemer. REPORTS a) Secretary The report was posted to the website sometime prior to the meeting and is accessible there. In prior years a summary of the report was included in the minutes, but since the entire report is available to all members it is not considered necessary to include a summary here. Discussion After the secretary reads the report, a discussion follows. The first questioner asks how the Board of the Foundation proposes to deal with an older minister who is called by a church. Rev. Visscher responds to the question by first explaining the reason for the amendment to the Constitution as outlined in the report. He explains that each situation, where an older minister is called, will be considered on an individual basis. The next questioner asks how the number of the responses to the mail-in ballot was determined. C. Baarda responds that a total of 44 churches responded (out of 54). Of the 44, four were not sure and nine were opposed to the amendment, while 31 were in favour. b) Treasurer Br. S. Vander Molen reads the treasurer's report and then goes on to explain some of the items in the financial statements. Again, this report and the statements are posted on the website and can be accessed by any member. Discussion What is meant by "the Foundation has sufficient resources to meet its obligations during the next 3 years and well beyond"? Br S. Vander Molen responds "well beyond" means the next 10-15 years; projecting beyond 15 years is difficult. "What is your assessment of beyond three years, say 10 to 12 years?" Response: the present structure of benefits was initiated by the members present at the meeting in Ancaster six years ago. We probably will have to change the formula in 5 to 6 years, possibly increase assessments or freeze benefits. Rev. Visscher adds that the churches themselves decided to increase benefits by 50% rather than either 35% or 20% which was also offered to them. 70% of the churches in fact favoured the 50% option. The information package given to the churches at the time of the vote indicated that the selection of a 50% increase in benefits would result in a gradual reduction of our asset base over time. Since we do not operate a pension plan, we technically do not even have to have a fund, but could operate on a pay-as-you-go basis. Besides, we do not have a large number of retirements in any one year. Question: Is it prudent to wait up to 6 years before taking action to either freeze benefits or increase assessments? Response: each year the treasurer reports to the Board, and the Board can make changes deemed necessary in any given year. Question: Can you give us some information about the supplementary fund? Response: when the benefits were increased several years ago, it was decided that the supplemental benefit was no longer needed and it is therefore being phased out with 2010 being the final year that supplemental benefits will be paid. CORRESPONDENCE Two letters have been received. The first, from Toronto, was distributed to every church in the federation by Toronto and the second, received from Winnipeg-Redeemer at the beginning of this meeting, responds to some of the points made by the letter from the church in Toronto. Br K. Veldkamp from Toronto outlines the reason for the letter which requests that a discussion be held about "Points for Discussion", an appendix to the letter. He states that it is Toronto's view that the long-term implications of how the FSA operates and is funded should be discussed first at this meeting and that a committee should be appointed to consider what works and what may need to be changed. The Toronto church believes that it is up to a church to decide whether or not to call an older minister (from outside the federation), and the FSA should have no say in the matter. Rev. Visscher responds that a church has a right to call an older minister, but the church must be sensitive to other member churches. He goes on to explain why the amendment was proposed: two churches that enquired about obtaining the services of older ministers from outside the federation asked if these ministers would be entitled to full FSA benefits upon retirement. Before the amendment was passed there would have been no way that full benefits could be denied, nor was the Board able to negotiate something less than full benefits. Maybe each church should appoint a liason for the fund, someone who could monitor the website as well as keep a local consistory informed about new developments. Br Veldkamp is thanked for his submission and Rev Visscher then reads the letter from the Redeemer church in Winnipeg. One delegate expresses agreement with one point in the letter, that the amendment could have been placed on the agenda for this meeting. Rev Visscher responds that the Board needed to act quickly, and thus could not wait for the next tri-annual meeting. Another delegate comments that he is happy with the letter from Redeemer, but that information is often received too late. Rev Visscher reponds that it is not always possible to get information out early, since the tri-annual meeting is held within a few months after the end of the year. In another comment it is suggested that all member churches be notified of the website and that the website be linked to the church Federation (website). Br S. Vander Molen responds that FSA is trying to keep a low profile, and therefore does not wish to link to other sites. A suggestion is made that discussion on the Toronto letter be postponed since churches did not have time to adequately study the material. Br Veldkamp takes responsibility for getting the information out late. The meeting then breaks for coffee. After the break Rev Mulder joins the meeting and is welcomed by the chairman. After Rev Mulder responds briefly, a comment is made that although the Toronto material was received late, and there was little opportunity to discuss, there is no need to change the status quo with the exception of sending materials out earlier if possible. Another questioner would like to have the Redeemer letter go out to all the churches, and the Redeemer Church in Winnipeg is hereby asked to send their letter to every church in the Federation. Several other comments are made such as "are benefits too rich?". It should be noted that the majority of the churches decided what the level of benefits should be. What about ethical investment guidelines? Rev Visscher responds that there are ethical investment guidelines and that the Goodman organization (see the report to members by the treasurer) which manages the FSA investments does an excellent job. Br K. Veldkamp then makes the following motion which is seconded by Rev Louwerse: "Be it moved that a committee be appointed, consisting of four members, with one alternate, with the mandate to conduct a thorough review of: with the intent to consider and recommend, if appropriate, ways and procedures by which the stated elements described above may be affirmed, amended or improved. Such committee would provide an interim report to the Board no later than April 30, 2012, and thereafter the report along with Board comments will be submitted to the churches six months prior to the May 2013 tri-annual meeting." The motion is discussed, and various comments are made, such as what churches are doing with regard to retired ministers, or in other situations where a minister owns a house, while other ministers do not own their own home, do they need to be treated differently when it comes to retirement income? Rev Visscher responds to these comments and questions by suggesting that churches may want to get together and discuss a number of retirement options for ministers. After this discussion a vote is called on the motion. The vote on the motion results in 13 in favour, 2 against and 1 abstention. After the vote, concern is again expressed that since the Toronto letter only arrived a short time prior to the meeting, that the churches have not had time to discuss the range of issues in the letter, and that not everyone may agree that a review is required. It is therefore decided that the appointment of a committee be provisional until the churches have been consulted, and that 2/3 of those responding have expressed approval by October 31, 2010. The following brothers are appointed to the committee: G Nordeman of Burlington, P Lindhout of Edmonton, A Baartman and K Veldkamp of Toronto, T VanPopta of Langley as alternate. OTHER MATTERS As mentioned earlier the Winnipeg-Redeemer church will be asked to send their letter to every church in the Federation. NEW BUSINESS There is no additional new business. QUESTION PERIOD What happens to gains within the Fund, are there taxes to be paid? Response: the Fund pays no taxes and files no returns. Does the FSA repor to synod? Response: No Have there been discussion with the URC with a view to URC ministers joining the Fund? Response: It would be very difficult to have URC ministers join, and there have been no requests. Rev Visscher comments on the Rev Snip situation. Rev Snip went back to Holland after serving two churches in Canada. He is scheduled to retire in 2010, but is only entitled to a reduced pension from the VSE (the pension plan of our Dutch sister churches) since he served in Canada for a number of years and thus does not have the years of service needed for a full pension from the VSE. The Foundation has sent a letter to the VSE with copies to the two churches in Canada as well as a copy to the church Rev Snip currently serves in Holland, suggesting they work together to find a solution to the situation Rev Snip finds himself in. A question is asked about other ministers who leave the federation before they are scheduled to retire. Response: seeing that we are not a pension fund and that payments are only made to member churches, no benefits are paid directly to ministers, and thus also not to ministers who leave. Burlington-Ebenezer has suggested that a group RRSP plan be considered by churches. Since there are no further questions, Rev Moesker expresses appreciation to the Board for the work that it is doing. CLOSING Rev Visscher thanks everyone for attending the meeting, expresses appreciation and thanks to treasurer br S Vander Molen and secretary br C Baarda. The meeting is adjourned after br C Baarda closes in prayer.
Chester Baarda, Secretary |