April 18, 2018 Meeting The Vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth City Parish, was called to order on April 18, 2018 at 6:30 PM. Present were members Junior Warden Whiting Chisman,Jr., Senior Warden Bob Harper, Rosemary Hobart, The Reverend Mark Riley, Steve Rous, Youth Representative Darius Rowe, Ruth Simmons,and The Reverend Samantha Vincent -Alexander. Those absent included Bill Brown, Pat Dennehey, Duncan Garnett, and Lloyd Thomas. After The Reverend Samantha Vincent-Alexander opened the meeting,The Reverend Mark Riley read scripture from Philippians and Samantha lead a discussion about it. Mark led us in prayer. The minutes were approved with the correction that the request for deposit for the church window work was $4,975. Linda Curtis, Treasurer, said that March was a tough month, but April is expected to be better. Expenses were unusually high, primarily because of three oil deliveries. The entire oil budget for the year has been exceeded. We, probably, will not need more this year. Bettyrene called ET Lawson and they gave us a $.50 per gallon credit. Whiting will talk to Bettyrene about making future oil purchases more cost effective. Some of the stained glass window work was paid out of the budget and will be reimbursed by Endowment. The Music Fund will reimburse for money for musicians. We have received a check from the Mary Williams Trust Fund to reimburse first quarter expenses. Rosemary had a question about the amount in the checking account. Linda explained that it is the combination of all accounts. The Reverend Samantha Vincent-Alexander, Rector, welcomed Darius Rowe as the new youth representative on the Vestry. She reported: The Vestry retreat will be May 4 and 5 at Williamsburg Plantation. Bob proposed that we have dinner together before beginning the retreat. We will have an executive session regarding staff at the end of tonight’s meeting. St. John’s will work the block party in downtown on June 16th for the Michael Jackson night. Shifts will be 6-8 PM and 8-10 PM. Bob, Rosemary, Ruth and Steve(possibly) agreed to work. The Reverend Mark Riley, Assistant Rector, reported: He attended a meeting with Habitat for Humanity staff. We are the lead church for our project. They should know in two weeks about all approvals. We will be joined by First Presbyterian, First Baptist, Bethel AME, and First United Methodist(listed but not represented at the meeting). St. John’s is donating enough to pay for one half of the house. A maximum of ten people will be needed to work at a given time. People can also help in a variety of ways such as bringing lunch, water, etc. Sixteen is the minimum age required to work on site. The dedication of the house and ground breaking will be May 30th. Mark is requesting that someone coordinate the volunteers for the Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday work days. It is expected to be a four to six month build. Each day will be started with a prayer. When no one is working , we will be able to bring people to celebrate on site. There were six or seven present this week for the Good Book Club Study. The current curriculum will end in May. Mark hopes to have more programs like this one. We will do RISE in July this year. Junior Warden, Whiting Chisman,Jr. reported: Jack Pope has changed the lighting in the ladies’ room. Jack has, also, been working on outside lights near the Sunday School area. The contractor fer the windows picked up one last week. The Mary Williams Trust paid the parish house contractor $112,000 for his work last week. Samantha, Mark, and Shannon are having their offices recarpeted and repainted. He asked Rose to report on her research on new phones. $5,620 is what was looked at for twelve desk sets, but that could be reduced to $4,930 for nine sets. We could ask Finance how to pay for this, have a fundraiser, or take the money from the reserve fund. Samantha does not feel that new phones are necessary although it is an opportune time to replace a phone system that is over thirty years old. Whiting moved and Bob seconded a motion to to approve an expenditure of up to $4,930. The motion was not approved. It was agreed that it would be tabled so that the Finance Committee and the Treasurer can be consulted. A security system was in the original proposal as current cameras do not work. Dan Clark, as head of the ushers, has been emailed about having defibrilator training. There is one in the church and and one in the kitchen. Senior Warden, Bob Harper reported: He thanked those who met with the Bishop. He will take care of (with the help of Rosemary and Ruth) figuring out where we will have dinner on the Friday of the Vestry retreat, what people need to bring for Saturday morning, and who we will have cater lunch. We need to get work done on the grounds such as pulling weeds, putting down mulch, etc. Whiting said the Cemetery Committee needs to look at the area around the church. He will check to see what needs to be done and whether the Cemetery Committee should be responsible for the area around the parish hall as well as the church. The church picnic will be June third. At 8;15 PM, it was moved that we go into executive session. At 8:40PM, the meeting was ended with prayer.
Vestry Minutes