Doug Miller, Senior Warden, called the vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth City Parish, to order on October 20, 2015 at 6:35pm. Present were members Doug Miller, David Edmonson, Ann Templeman, The Reverend Samantha Vincent-Alexander, Val Bowen, Mary Pat Croft, Jess Miller, Bettyrene Pope, George Cornwell, The Reverend Mark Riley, and Linda Curtis. Absent from the meeting was Dan Clark, Kevin Eley and Youth representative Thomas Miller.
Val began the meeting with a psalm reading.
Minutes from the October meeting were reviewed. The minutes were approved. Motion to approve by Samantha Vincent-Alexander and seconded by Val Bowen.
Treasurer’s Report
Linda reported that the 3rd quarter payment from the Endowment Board was made.
The Diocesan pledge was made for 2015. The diocese reported that St. John’s still owes $5012.00 from 2012 but nothing from 2013. Samantha doesn’t think this correct; she thinks the church still owes $18,000. She will get with Nancy at the Diocesan office. We are budgeted to pay back $2000.00 by the end of the year.
Part of Calvin’s pay is to pay his rent. He will have a small bonus at the end of this month since there are 5 weeks in December instead of 4.
Pledges are coming in; we have received 80 out of the 113 we received last year. There have been 9 new ones received (some from regular parishioners and some from new parishioners). Quite a few members have increased their pledge. Linda hopes to have a budget we can vote on in January. She also reminded the vestry that we agreed to call parishioners if pledges don’t come in. A letter will go out the next week to remind them about pledges; it will be tied to Thanksgiving. Income to expenses is good because expenses are down. Pledges are still down and Linda will follow-up with Betsy Bouchard on them.
Rector’s Report
Samantha composed a letter to thank Brian McMahon for his service as webmaster. It was passed around and signed by the vestry.
The December vestry meeting will be held at Samantha’s home.
Executive Session
We moved to Executive Session to discuss a staffing issue.
George Cornwell brought up the church directory. It was discussed to do a possible on-line directory.
Service of Repentance, Reconciliation and Healing
Samantha reviewed the service that was held at St. Johns. It was a light turnout of St John’s members. She would like to revisit and perhaps redo the service and perhaps not do it annually. David Edmonson suggested that it is held another evening besides Sunday. It is supposed to be held within 8 days of All Saints Day. Samantha will check with the other churches who participated to get their feedback.
Covenant Conversation
Samantha checked with the Bishop on clarification. There can only be marriage services, cannot do blessings. Samantha however can perform a service outside the church without approval by the vestry. Once the decision has been made and voted on it cannot be undone by another vestry. The vote by the vestry will be presented in two ways: yes or no and if no do we take another vote to dismiss it or agree to revisit it. It is important for the congregation understands it’s a marriage not a blessing. Transparency is so important. David Edmonson suggested that a letter go out to the congregation to clarify that the vestry is meeting in January to vote on this to give members one last opportunity to speak to a vestry member if they haven’t previously expressed their opinions.
Junior Warden Report
Bettyrene reviewed the jobs completed in the past month. Bettyrene made a motion to have CertaPro repair the sheet rock and paint where necessary in the church from water damage on the stairs in the tower not to exceed $1000 and ask the Mary Williams Trust to pay for it. Ann seconded it and it was passed.
There are slates missing on the church roof and other roofing repairs (flashing and cornice repair) that need to be made. Bettyrene made a motion to ask the Mary Williams Trust to pay for the roof repairs not to exceed $2000.00, Ann seconded it and it was approved.
If you see anything that needs to be addressed, please let Bettyrene know.
Senior Warden Report
Now that the end of the year is approaching, Doug reviewed what Charlie had given him. One of those items was to develop by-laws for the vestry. Doug solicited a member of the vestry to review other church by-laws and come up with a draft for St. John’s vestry by-laws, of which Val agreed.
Doug reminded us that Linda, Dan, Kevin and George will rotate off vestry and a new vestry (3 members) will be elected. He asked everyone to think of potential new members and encourage them to run.
The meeting was closed with prayer and we adjourned at 8:17 pm.
Submitted by
Ann Templeman, registrar
**Addendum, Samantha sent out an email on an emergency request from the Nickerson Trust on November 30, 2015.
- Request that $1000 be set aside to purchase Target gift cards for needy families at Hunter B. Andrews School. This $1000 would come from the Nickerson Trust.
- Request that $1000 be set aside as a line item for Hunter B. Andrews School. This money would be used to respond to requests from St. Andrews. This $1000 would come from the Nickerson Trust.
It was voted on and the first request was approved. It was agreed to wait on the second request to get more clarity on outreach funds and meet with the new Outreach Chair, Doug Perry.