Conference Guidelines On Local Church Access To Conference Chancellor
2007
The Conference Chancellor works at the pleasure of the Resident
Bishop, and serves as general legal and disciplinary counsel to the
Bishop, the Appointive Cabinet, the Conference Board of Trustees
and other Conference agencies, boards and committees.
From time to time, lay members and clergy of local churches in
the Conference have legal or disciplinary questions related to the
administrative or ministerial operations of their churches.
Local churches regularly access the services of the Conference
Chancellor for such purposes.
The guidelines for such access are as follows:
1. The local church should first discuss the matter with its District
Superintendent or the Conference Treasurer. If the Chancellor’s
assistance is still needed, the local church should inform and request
approval of the District Superintendent or Conference Treasurer before
contacting the Chancellor. Exceptions to this process include matters
requiring immediate attention.
2. The Chancellor generally opens a file and tracks time spent on
each such matter. While many questions can be resolved with a short
exchange of communications, matters occasionally arise which are
more involved and which require more time. The general guideline
is that the Chancellor may devote about two (2) hours of time on
the matter at Conference expense.
3. When the matter is likely to exceed this guideline, the local
church should anticipate the need to either retain the Chancellor
for continued services, or retain legal counsel of its own choosing.
In either case, the cost of continued services would be the responsibility
of the local church.
4. If the local church retains the Chancellor for continued services,
the Chancellor will thereafter bill the local church directly for
these services, and will generally offer such services at the hourly
rate charged to the Conference. That rate is currently at $125 per
hour.
5. If the matter in question is by discipline the responsibility
of the Conference or the Resident Bishop, the local church will generally
not be responsible for the Chancellor’s expense, regardless
of time spent on the matter. Examples include local church discontinuance
and clergy supervision.
6. These guidelines are intended to be flexible, and to encourage
open dialogue with the District Superintendent, the Conference Treasurer,
the Chancellor and other interested persons on who should fairly
bear the expense of continued representation by the Chancellor.
Contact information for the Conference Chancellor:
Richard (“Rich”) A. Marsh
Samson, Pipis & Marsh, LLC
255 Weaver Park Rd. #200
Longmont, CO 80501
T: (303) 776-8499
F: (303) 776-5444
E: ramarsh@spmlawyers.com
APPROVED BY:
Resident Bishop
Appointive Cabinet
Conference Board of Trustees
Conference Council on Finance and Administration
These Guidelines (PDF | RTF)
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