The vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth City Parish, was called to order on March 21, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Present were: Senior Warden Bill Beach, Junior Warden Jay Hogg, Treasurer Linda Curtis, Registrar Lynn Kirkland, Anne Abraham, Darden Barrett, Ron Kindley, Jim Klotz, Elizabeth Zimmerman, The Reverend Mark Riley and The Reverend Samantha Vincent-Alexander. Absent: Brad Norris
The meeting opened at 6:30 p.m. with a prayer and reading from Romans 8:6-11.
Treasurer’s Report, Linda Curtis
Linda presented the Treasurer’s Report and stated that February looked good and March will look better.
Dan Clark has volunteered to be on the Finance Committee. A motion was made by Anne Abraham to nominate Dan Clark for a position on the Finance Committee and was seconded by Jay Hogg. The motion was approved unanimously.
Finance Committee member, Rick Bagley, recommended to Linda that while the Operating Fund currently has $261,993.25 available, $100,000.00 should be put into a 10 month CD at Old Point National Bank to earn interest. A motion was made by Jim Klotz to take $100,00.00 from the Operating Fund and purchase CDs from Old Point National Bank at the best interest rate available and was seconded by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The motion was approved unanimously.
The parish contributions for the Earthquake Relief Fund totaled $3415.00. This with the Charitable Trust proposal of up to $5000.00 comes to $6830.00. The board has agreed to add $1585.00, the remainder of our proposed match, to total a check in the amount of $8415.00 to the Episcopal Relief and Development’s Earthquake fund.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the February meeting were approved.
Rector’s Report, The Reverend Samantha Vincent-Alexander
Parochial Report – The report was discussed. A motion was made by Ron Kindley to approve the Parochial Report and was seconded by Jay Hogg. The motion was approved unanimously.
Lent Program – The Lenten Soup and Conversations have gone well. Soups and stories have been amazing. Two more left with Bob Harper and Betsy Clark to share their faith journeys.
Need New Nursery Person – The nursery remains closed at this time. The position is advertised on Sitter City.
Follow up for Invite, Welcome & Connect – The vestry split up into their groups for about 15 minutes to focus on what we can do now. Each group shared some ideas: Moo cards or virtual cards, ushers training for greeting visitors and follow up with visitors to invite to special events.
Assistant Rector’s Report, The Reverend Mark Riley
Outreach – A Night’s Welcome wrapped up last week with 30-50 being fed and housed each week. The HELP Board has discussed having participants of A Night’s Welcome be on the board to share their ideas.
Kroger Community Rewards – 15 families participate in the rewards program and each quarter a check is sent to St. John’s. This quarter’s earnings were $56.32.
Movie Night – Mark has reached out to Virginia Wesleyan University to arrange a viewing of the documentary “Hollywood, Teach Us to Pray.”
Out Of The Office – Mark and Laura will be traveling to Israel in June.
Warden Reports
Senior Warden, Bill Beach
Perpetual Honor and Memorial Fund – Bill will meet with various committees to discuss reintroducing this fund as an unrestricted fund. This fund was created by Bill Boyer’s father.
Junior Warden, Jay Hogg
Approval from the city is complete on the switch from oil burners to gas. The last burner is expected to arrive April 24, 2023. Warwick Mechanical will start work as soon as it arrives.
The chimney work is on schedule. New chimney cap has been ordered and is due in mid-April
Discussion was held on refurbishing the current church kneelers or having new ones made. We have received estimates for both. Vestry members are in favor of refurbishing the current kneelers to keep the historical feel of the church. A motion was made by Elizabeth Zimmerman to ask the Mary Williams Fund to cover the expense of refurbishing the current kneelers and was seconded by Jay Hogg. The motion was approved unanimously.
A motion was made by Anne Abraham to extend the Vestry Meeting past the 8:30 PM scheduled ending time and was seconded by Jay Hogg. The motion was approved unanimously.
Jay provided pictures and an estimate for new signage. A motion was made by Darden Barrett to ask the Mary Williams Fund to cover the cost of the new signage and was seconded by Anne Abraham. The motion was approved unanimously.
Various small projects in the Parish Hall have been completed: A new ground fault was installed in the kitchen and leaves were cleared off of the drains on the roof. The heating element in the coffee pot is going bad so we are looking for a donation replacement of the coffee pot.
Committee Reports
Christian Formation – Jim shared that the Christian Formation team was a resilient team. They are down two team members but have been able to continue with classes on Sunday and the making of the Lenten Giving bags for the Lil Pantry.
Flower Ministry – Anne shared the suggestion of putting the actual dates of availability and prices for flowers in the church bulletin was a great idea because she is full through May.
The meeting concluded with a prayer and adjourned at 8:43 p.m.