December 12, 2006
Vestry Meeting
As Amended and Approved

Opening Prayer and Call to Order

The vestry convened at 6:00 in the Rectory for a meal preceding the regular extended meeting.

Bill Gibb offered the devotional.

Present for the meeting were: Dunbar Ashbury, Robyn Hildebrand, Dan Lajewski, Judy Haines, Fr. Philip, Hunt Hendrickson, Fr. Tommy, Jake O’Sullivan, John Frye, Gary Crump, Tom Litras, Chuck Hedges, Dwight Wooster, Bruce Jones, Sara Gibson, Sharon O’Rear, Rick Hirschman, Bill Gibb, and Rev. Kay Rice.

The meeting was convened at 6:45. Fr. Philip presented a written Interim Rector’s report that included observations of his first six months at All Saints’. He noted some of the issues that he “adopted” and how they have been dealt with, especially organizational accountability and staffing challenges. He recognized that having Janet Watrous here for a time, bringing Rick on board as the Parish Administrator, and now having Fr. Tommy on board has relieved much of the pressure that is resulting in an improvement on the organizational and administrative fronts. Fr. Tommy provided some initial impressions based on his short time here. He noted that some parishioners had questions about his role and about how long he planned to be here. His response to them is that he is here for the long haul.

Philip briefed the vestry on the Association of Endowed Episcopal Parishes and encouraged us to join. The Association has more than 100 member Episcopal churches and is a valuable resource for all aspects of church operation.

All Saints’ will be well represented at the “Great Church Conference” in Los Angeles. Judy and Tom Haines, Eleanor Peckham, Connie Devilbiss, and Tawnya McKee will attend the conference, which means that there will be representation from Vestry, Strategic Planning, Profile, Search, and Christian Formation ministries.

Senior Warden
Chuck emphasized the open and frequent communication that he, Dwight, and Fr. Philip to stay on top of issues. Chuck also pointed out that a sense of excitement is beginning as we get further into the transition process.

Junior Warden
Dwight reiterated Chuck’s comments regarding communication and the success of that process. Fire and smoke detection is bogged down with the City. The project contractor is working on getting all the details that the city requires. Gutter repairs may be a little more complicated and will progress in stages. Mold in the basement will be removed by the Lokey brothers as an Eagle Scout project, and at little or no cost to the parish. Renovation expenses for the rectory have been paid for. A nice article in the local Gazette featured the St. Mary’s stained glass window renovation project. We’re seeking bids to replace the air conditioning unit on the west side of the Nave over the walkway. Handicapped parking spaces are in short supply so we have added 6 more handicapped meter bags for the Church St. entrance. The covers will be placed in the meters early Sunday morning. Additional handicapped spaces may be added on the Patrick St. entrance as well.

Parish Administrator
Rick expressed his satisfaction at his new position. He has focused on three areas-- office staff management, building maintenance, and facilities rental. Staffing issues have been challenging. He hired a sexton who resigned before he started, hired another one who also had to resign suddenly. We have a maintenance contract that will continue for now and the sexton position will be advertised again in January. The new parish administrative asst., Betsy Lalley, just started and is under the gun at this time of year with service bulletins and newsletters that are on deadline. The parish audit report suggested that an inventory of all physical property be done, so Rick will begin photographing all physical items in the church. We will be adding setback thermostats in rooms that are less frequently occupied. This will help offset some of approximately $54,000 annual utility bill. A kitchen committee of 12 people met recently to make some changes in the kitchen that will improve efficiency and sanitation. There is an increasing stream of rentals of the facility and inquiries about rentals, and the word on the street is that we are a well-kept secret. Rick is pursuing other leads, mainly through contact with local caterers. Most of the interest is for receptions for funerals and weddings, as well as business meetings. Rick noted that the seven volunteer staff people are doing an excellent job, but a few more volunteers would be nice to adequately cover the multiple tasks that originate out of the parish office.

Approval of minutes
Minutes of the November meeting were circulated electronically and amended by email. Motion was made to accept the minutes. It was seconded, and approved.

Treasurer’s Report
Dunbar --John and Dan will take bank deposits in December. Also, volunteers are needed for the Christmas services. Judy, Hunt, Dan, and Sara will cover those services.
Financial report—Giving statements are going out this week that cover the year through November. Pledge income remains under budget by about $11000, but expenses are also well below budget, so we are generally on track for end of the year to be on or near budget.
Action items for tonight include adopting a minor change in policy for clergy discretionary funds. The only change involves confidentiality and requirements for audit by outside parties. With the change, we are now in compliance with diocesan guidelines. There was a motion to accept the changes as presented. It was seconded, and approved.
The personal representative of the estate of Harriet Fischer requested that the money left to the church from her estate should be earmarked for pastoral care. It was suggested that the $10,000 be placed in an endowment that will earn income on the principle. During the discussion, Robyn asked if an email from a parishioner regarding Stephen ministries for lay member pastoral care training had been responded to. Fr. Philip provided some detail on the Stephen ministry training for laypersons, but also suggested that we defer a decision on that until the new rector is in place. Philip will respond to the parishioner’s email.
A motion was made to place the $10,000 Fischer estate money into an interest bearing account, subject to annual review, with the interest generated to be designated to the general fund account and earmarked for pastoral care. The motion was seconded and passed.
It was also recommended that the $16000 proceeds from the sale of the antique chairs be placed in the Capital Additions and Improvement Fund. A motion was made to that effect, seconded, and approved.

Dunbar presented a Resolution declaring the portions of Fr. Philip’s and Fr. Tommy’s total compensation that will be designated as housing allowances in 2007. For Fr. Philip, the allowance is $450 a month, and $2170 a month for Fr. Tommy. A motion made to adopt the resolution. It was seconded and approved.

Stewardship
Sharon- provided a written report on pledge updates. Calls to pledging units that haven’t responded will be completed this week. Discussion led to a question about growth management that will be addressed in strategy planning. It was noted that pledge income is trending downward and the trend needs to be reversed. As of now, we face a 2007 shortfall of $60,000 over 2006. There is still a list of 170 parishioners who have not pledged, including 70 who pledged last year who haven’t pledged for 2007. Those 70 pledging units need to be identified and contacted, and there was consensus agreement that these parishioners should be contacted soon because they represent a significant amount of pledge income, based on an average of about $2000 per pledge.

Personnel
Judy distributed an informational written report that included a draft proposal for staff compensation in 2007 budget.

Budget and Finance
Dunbar- The Budget and Finance committee has met but can’t really make any solid progress until final numbers for 2007 pledge income are in. It was suggested that draft contingency budgets be constructed based on what data we now have, and using 2006 numbers as a model. Philip commented that the budget is what it is, and that the Holy Spirit provides us with what we need. Education is the key to improving the situation, and the focus should be on three key factors: Spirituality, ministry, and money. We should review who our core constituency is: legacy members, major donors, and volunteers in leadership ranks. Stewardship, Budget and Finance, and Vestry should convene in early ’07 to integrate this thinking into parish thought. Part of the charge is to make certain that we are a welcoming and accepting parish. Dwight opined that the parish needs to be made aware of the budget situation. Updates on pledge income will be incorporated into the weekly Saints’ Alive bulletin.

Fundraising Policy Draft
Philip presented a working draft of clear guidelines for vestry approval of fundraising projects, projects that are being overseen by Outreach Committee, and projects that would probably not be approved. A motion was made to adopt the draft Fundraising Policy. It was seconded, and following dicussion, the policy was adopted.

Proposal for Outreach
The California Guitar Trio has been booked for another performance on February 23, 2007. Harry Lawrence asked Kay about an Outreach beneficiary and Kay suggested Witness Justice, a non-profit program started by a parishioner to support victims of violent crime. The program will be marketed to the community and will promote All Saints’ parish. Motion was made to support the program to benefit Witness Justice. The motion was seconded, discussed further, and approved.

Vestry nominees
Sara electronically circulated information about vestry nominations. The process for youth nominations was mentioned, and Fr. Tommy and Jake will review and come back with a proposal. The bylaws should be amended to reflect changes in determining youth vestry members to avoid having to approve an exception at the Annual Meeting. As was discussed previously, the date for the annual meeting should be moved back from January to allow more time for finalizing the budget and gathering ministry reports. Chuck made a motion to move date of annual meeting to February 11th at 9:00, and the motion was seconded. Robyn noted that the mission team would be in Mississippi the first two Sundays in February.

The bylaws require that notification to the parish be made of a change, but that date has already passed. Chuck recommended that the Bylaw Committee meet in early 2007 to review and make recommendations for permanent change to bylaws. The vestry retreat was set for Saturday, February 17th. The vestry will host coffee hour on February 4th to present the slate of vestry candidates.

Rectory Options
Tom made a motion that the vestry approves the allocation of up to $500 for a real estate appraisal of the rectory as part of the evaluation of options for disposition. The motion was seconded. Dan recommended that since there is no money in the budget for this expense, the decision be deferred until 2007 when the budget committee will fund the appraisal with a line item in the budget. Hunt emphasized that there are many details that dictate that a decision be made earlier rather than later. The motion was approved with Dan opposed.

Parish profile
The suggested changes to the Profile from last meeting were circulated. A motion was made to accept the changes; it was seconded, and approved.

Charge to the Search Team
Fr. Philip drafted a charge document for the Search Committee with guidelines for the committee to use in the search and selection process. Amendment made to change the language of item 2 to read “…up to three individuals from whom one would be selected as the new Rector. The Team should agree by consensus that all are qualified to be Rector and should be presented in rank order”. Motion was made to accept charge. It was seconded and approved.
Following, there was a discussion about Rector compensation as presented by the Personnel Committee in a written report. There were questions about how the status of the rectory will be presented in the compensation discussions. Judy recommended a compensation range of $95,000-$105,000, which is at the low end of the range for a corporate church. Tom agrees that this range is realistic for the search profile, but we should be prepared to budget more than that to attract the right candidate. A motion was made to accept Judy’s recommendation for the initial range of $95,000-$103,000. It was seconded and approved.

Following evaluation, the meeting adjourned at 10:10.

Respectfully submitted,
Gary E. Crump, Registrar