The vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Elizabeth City Parish, was called to order on August 17, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. Present were: Senior Warden Charlie Edmonson, Junior Warden Bettyrene Pope, Anne Abraham, Greg Brauer, Dan Clark, Jay Hogg, Doug Perry, Elizabeth Zimmerman, Registrar Emily Klotz, Treasurer Linda Curtis, The Reverend Samantha Vincent-Alexander, and The Reverend Mark Riley. This meeting was held in St. John’s parish house.
The meeting opened at 6:30 p.m with a reading from the book of Ephesians.
Treasurer’s Report, Linda Curtis Linda distributed the audit, which needs to be approved and sent to the diocese by September 1. The vestry will conduct a vote via email. Motion by Charlie Edmonson, seconded by Doug Perry: Vestry approves the audit. Approved unanimously by email vote.
Linda also stated that she needs vestry approval for housing allowances made to Samantha and Mark. Motion by Charlie Edmonson, seconded by Jay Hogg: Vestry approves the housing allowances for Samantha and Mark. Approved unanimously.
Vestry minutes of 6/15/21 were accepted.
Rector’s Report, The Reverend Samantha Vincent-Alexander Delegates for Annual Council: The annual council meeting, to take place at the end of February 2022, is planned to be part online and part in-person. Delegates will be Dan Clark, Charlie Edmonson, Susan Edmonson, and Bettyrene Pope. We will ask for an alternate through a message in the bulletin.
Service Schedule: For now, the services will remain at 9:15 and 10:45. Hopefully, September will cool off enough to hold the 10:45 service outdoors. We will conduct a survey to see how the congregation feels about changing future service times.
May Mini-Retreat: Samantha distributed notes from the retreat. We would like to create a subcommittee to look into some of the ideas and recommendations that came from the retreat, most especially in regards to online worship and creating a sense of community with online worshippers.
Compline: Since viewership numbers have significantly decreased over the past several months, we will suspend facebook Compline.
Assistant Rector’s Report, The Reverend Mark Riley Lil’ Pantry: Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck commented on St. John’s pantry. A few “weird occurrences” including a break-in to the donation box happened recently.
Sound Equipment: Mark received a quote ($14,000-$30,000) for a new sound system in the church. Questions arose regarding maintenance and the need for a person to operate the sound board. Good quality sound is essential for online worship. Greg Brauer agreed to investigate.
Junior Warden’s Report, Bettyrene Pope Church A/C Repair: The needed part to repair the unit should be shipped around August 24. The cost for the part (about $8,000) was covered by the Mary Williams Trust. Motion by Bettyrene Pope, seconded by Jay Hogg: Ask Mary Williams Trust to pay for the labor, materials, and crane needed to install the new replacement coil for the church air conditioning unit. Approved unanimously.
New Church A/C: Vestry is concerned that the A/C unit will break again. Dan Clark is helping to acquire proposals for a new A/C system, which will also be paid for by the Mary Williams Trust. He recommended that we ask a third party mechanical engineer to review the proposals. Motion by Bettyrene Pope, seconded by Jay Hogg: Ask Mary Williams Trust to consider paying for a consulting mechanical engineer to evaluate quotes for a new air conditioning unit. Approved unanimously.
Other Projects: Bettyrene is overseeing several other projects in the church, parish house, and parking lot (see report). Motion by Jay Hogg, seconded by Dan Clark: Ask Mary Williams Trust to pay for the projects listed on Bettyrene’s report (not including the Hoffman House projects). Approved unanimously.
Senior Warden’s Report, Charlie Edmonson Audit: The audit recommends documentation of St. John’s assets. Motion by Bettyrene Pope, seconded by Samantha Vincent-Alexander: Authorize Charlie Edmonson to manage and compile an inventory of assets as recommended by the audit. Approved unanimously.
The second recommendation in the audit is the creation of a user manual for financial procedures. Motion by Jay Hogg, seconded by Greg Brauer: Authorize Charlie Edmonson to meet with the treasurer to address financial procedures and compile a user manual as recommended by the audit. Approved unanimously.
Charitable Trust Documents: In 2009, the Charitable Trust documents were updated, but they were never sent to the state corporation commission. Motion by Charlie Edmonson, seconded by Dan Clark: Execute amended Charitable Trust documents. Approved unanimously.
Committee Reports Christian Formation: Emily reported that the Christian Formation Committee met with Gizelle Moran, who has experience starting up/reinvigorating youth ministry and young adult groups at local churches. She discussed strategies that led to their success: providing family meals and childcare, finding new ways to make families more visible (acolyte teams, usher teams), giving families what they want (conducting a survey and thinking of new places to meet), and thinking of how to meet the needs of families (high chairs, kid utensils).
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.