709. The council's purpose, membership, organization, and relationships shall be as follows:
1. Purpose--The purpose of the council shall be to develop, maintain, and administer a comprehensive and coordinated plan of fiscal and administrative policies, procedures, and management services for the annual conference.
2. Membership--a) Each annual conference shall elect, at its session next succeeding the General Conference or jurisdictional conference, a conference Council on Finance and Administration, composed of not less than five nor more than twenty-one members; in every case there shall be at least one lay person more than clergy included on the council.40 Persons shall be nominated for membership in a manner determined by the conference, in accordance with 707.4. Churches of less than two hundred members may be represented on the conference Council on Finance and Administration at least as high as the proportion of their total membership to the conference membership. The term of office shall begin with the adjournment of the annual conference session at which they are elected and shall be for a period of four years and until their successors are elected. No member or employee of any conference agency and no employee, trustee, or director of any agency or institution participating in the funds of any conference budget shall be eligible for voting membership on the council.41 Any vacancy shall be filled by action of the council until the next conference session, at which time the annual conference shall fill the vacancy.
b) The following shall be ex-officio members of the council in addition to the number set by the annual conference under 709.2a: (1) the conference treasurer/director of administrative services, without vote; (2) any members of the General Council on Finance and Administration who reside within the bounds of the conference, with vote, unless voting membership is in conflict with another provision of The Book of Discipline, in which case their membership shall be without vote; in either case, they shall not be eligible to serve on an agency receiving funding; (3) the presiding bishop, without vote; (4) a district superintendent chosen by the Cabinet, without vote; and (5) the conference council director or another representative of the conference council on ministries, without vote.
c) The executive director of the conference or area United Methodist foundation may be included in the membership, without vote.
3. Officers--The council shall elect from its voting membership a president, a vice-president, a secretary, and such other officers as it may deem necessary. Consideration shall be given to inclusiveness (103, 113). The conference treasurer/director of administrative services (716) shall be the treasurer of the council. The treasurer/director of administrative services shall not be eligible for voting membership on the council and shall not be eligible for election to any of those offices which are to be filled by voting members of the council.
4. No member of the council shall vote on or take part in deliberations on significant matters directly or indirectly affecting her or his business, income, or employment, or the business, income, or employment of his or her immediate family.
5. Organization--a) The council may establish committees and task forces and define their duties and authority as it deems necessary for fulfilling its purpose and responsibilities.
b) The annual conference may enact bylaws governing meetings, quorum, and other matters of procedure for the council, or it may authorize the council to enact such bylaws; in any event such by-laws shall not be in conflict with The Book of Discipline.
c) If deemed necessary for the fulfillment of its functions, and if so authorized by the annual conference, the council may be incorporated.
6. Amenability--The council shall be amenable and report directly to the annual conference.42
7. Relationships--a) The council and the annual conference council on ministries shall cooperate in the development of the conference benevolences budget (711.3).
b) In the interest of developing and implementing coordinated annual conference policies in the areas of fiscal management and administrative services, it shall serve in a liaison role among conference agencies with responsibilities in these areas. The council shall be authorized to convene representatives of annual conference administrative and clergy support agencies for the purpose of consulting on matters of mutual concern, such as the coordination of fiscal management, fund-raising activities, and administrative services in the annual conference.
40See Judicial Council Decision 441.
41See Judicial Council Decisions 10, 493.
42See Judicial Council Decisions 551, 560.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
1992 Book of Discipline: ¶ 709
1996 United Methodist General Conference