The vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth City Parish, to order on October 18, 2016 at 6:30 pm. Present were members Doug Miller, David Edmonson, Ann Templeman, Mary Pat Croft, Bettyrene Pope, The Reverend Mark Riley, The Reverend Samantha Vincent-Alexander, Duncan Garnett, Val Bowen, Youth Rep Will Olson and Treasurer Linda Curtis. Absent from the meeting was Bill Brown and Rose Hobart.
Bettyrene began with a scripture reading.
Minutes from the September were reviewed and a few corrections were made. Duncan made a motion to approve the minutes as amended, Val seconded it and they were approved by the vestry.
Treasurer’s Report
Pledged income is still lagging. The quarterly endowment payment of $16,291 was received. Prepaid pledges of $2100.00 for 2017 have been received. Publications is over budget due to web-site maintenance. Linda will create a separate line item for communications in the 2017 budget. Mary Williams Trust denied the payment of the HVAC repair. However, they did approve the $65,000 for 2017 utilities and insurance. There was a concern that MWT had given more in 2016 and if the amount could be amended to $67,000 for 2017. Doug will check on that. The HVAC payment was taken out of the Hoffman House budget. Once the Old Point Note is retired, MWT will meet with Endowment to resolve the issue. On-line giving – The on-line giving was presented. There is a $200.00 set-up fee and maintenance of $20 per month (this is what Old Donation uses) and it integrates with our bookkeeping system. It is not set-up for automatic giving but is put on the website to make it easy for people to donate. Vestry members were concerned about the service fee coming out of the donation and wondered if there was an option to have the giver cover the service fee since other entities do that. It was decided to get a little more information before a decision was made. For Old Donation, how many use the system and what is done with the service fees.
Music Ministry – Dan McFarland presented the idea of a youth music ministry to take place in the unrented portion of the Hoffman House. Dan has been working with Bill Beach and John Holt on the idea.
Rector’s Report – St. John’s 500- Samantha presented the vestry with the Episcopal Domestic Fast Fact Trends for 2011-15 which shows a decline in the Episcopal Church. St. Johns 500 is designed for the survival of the church. The training will be November 6th and Samantha encouraged the vestry to speak positively about it and encourage people to attend. Stewardship- Very good news. The goal was an increase of $20,000 over last year’s pledges and it ended up being $32,000 over last year’s with 119 pledges.
Jr. Warden Report – Bettyrene made a motion to spend $855.50 on roof repairs in Samantha’s office and in the Parish Hall. Duncan seconded the motion and it was approved by the vestry. Bettyrene covered the hurricane damage. She and Jack Pope spent a great deal of time pumping out and drying out the basements. The vestry was reminded to close the back door firmly; new hinges are to be installed.
Sr. Warden Report MWT- Jim Shoemaker put in the vestry members boxes a document titled “Process for Requesting Funds from Ed and Mary Williams Trust” which incorporates changes made. Mutual Ministry Review – A reminded that this will be held on December 7th from 6-8. There will be a survey sent to vestry members that will need to be completed before the review. There are some funds left in the vestry budget, Doug made a motion to use those funds to purchase dinner for the review. Bettyrene seconded it and it was approved. Bettyrene will get the dinner.
Diocesan Pledge – It is that time of year again. It was decided to wait to see what Linda comes up with in the budget and to discuss at the November vestry meeting. November Vestry Meeting – Samantha and Mark cannot attend the November vestry meeting so it has been moved to Tuesday, November 29th at 6:30. There will not be a vestry meeting in December. By-laws – Doug circulated the by-laws. A few changes were made. Ann made a motion to approve the by-laws as amended. Duncan seconded the motion and the motion was approved by the vestry.
Ministry Fair – The ministry fair was recapped by Ann. It was discussed that it should not be held unless it can be set-up the Saturday beforehand. Not many ministries got volunteers to sign-up but Samantha would like to see it be less about getting sign-ups and more about educating parishioners about what each ministry does. Additionally, it was discussed about having it between services or after a joint service.
Night’s Welcome – Bettyrene attended a meeting for the upcoming Night’s Welcome. St. John’s will be hosting February 4-11, 2017.
The meeting was closed with prayer by Bettyrene and we adjourned at 8:30 pm.
Submitted by Ann Templeman, registrar