The Fall Charge Conferences have begun, and as we go through the process we learn a bit about what can make it easier!  Updated information has been posted at www.umoi.org/cascadiadistrictfallchargeconferences

The required reports at each congregation's  charge conference this year are:

• 2018 compensation form for your pastor
• Report of the Trustees
• Safe Sanctuary Policy Annual Review
• 2018 Lay Leadership / Nominations (unless your church elects your lay leadership at a different time of year, a vote will be taken at the charge conference.  This is reported to the district office by way of the Church Leadership Contact Information report.)

Other possible reports, if applicable:

• Membership Report, 1st and 2nd year reading (if your congregation is in the process of removing members from the roll)
• Reports by clergy who hold their charge conference with your church
• Reports by Lay Servants

It is possible to complete all of the reports (the ones that have set forms), except for the compensation form, online through the FormVites process.  Each church has their own page in which to enter their information.  If you need access to that page for your church and you don't have it, contact Linda in the District Office for that information.

There are some "tricks" to making the FormVite process work more easily. 

• One is to collect your information ahead of time.  Using one of the "traditional" forms to collect your information is an easy way to do that.  Those forms are now available on the Cascadia District Fall Charge Conference webpage for your use.  These can also be used to share the reports with your congregation at the charge conference meeting.  Or you can print the reports from the FormVites page.
• Another is to put placeholder information in required form fields (marked with an *) when you don't yet know the right information to put there. A "?" works well.  Required "yes" or "no" questions need to be answered, but can be edited later.  The form will not save if required fields are left blank, and if you leave a form without successfully saving it, all the entries you have made will be lost.  We don't want you to experience that frustration!

If you have tried the FormVites process and, for whatever reason, find that it won't work for you, contact Linda in the District Office for adjustments.

Another wrinkle this year is that many of you will be completing pastor compensation worksheets before the pastor has made their health insurance elections for 2018.  So you will not have exact figures for the compensation allocation section of the worksheet.  Your pastor can use some tools to make an estimate of what they will later elect (information is available at www.umoi.org/healthandpension ) or simply enter figures from last year.  The charge conference will vote on the total compensation package.  The compensation allocations can be updated after your pastor makes their health insurance elections (November 1-16), in plenty of time for the payroll folks to know how to prepare that January 2018 check.

As always, if you have questions or need support or clarification, contact Linda in the District office, linda@umoi.org or 503-581-3969

UMCOR Kits Transportation Relief supplies for the UMCOR West Depot will be picked up the middle of October. Our transportation person will be traveling through Oregon and Idaho to pick up cleaning buckets, hygiene kits and any other relief supplies from the collection point churches. The contents of these kits are listed on the UMCOR Website under "Relief supplies". There are 10 UM churches designated as collection points. In Oregon they are Newman UMC in Grants Pass, Coburg UMC in the Eugene area, Trinity UMC in Salem, Tabor Heights UMC and Lake Oswego UMC in the Portland area and LaGrande UMC.  In Idaho they are Caldwell UMC, Boise First UMC for the Boise area, Jerome UMC for the Magic Valley area and Pocatello UMC for eastern Idaho. We are requesting a donation of $5 per bucket to help defray the cost of transportation. The money should go to the Conference Treasurer marked "Conference Global Missions"   (1-44-320-5499).   This is separate from any other mission monies. All UM churches will receive an email with the name of the collection church in their area and its office hours. For more information contact:       Donna Waltman Transportation coordinator for UMCOR West Depot dgwaltman@frontier.com 503-622-3226