August 21, 2007
Vestry Meeting
As Amended and Approved
Present: Tom Litras, Rick Hirschman, Dan Lajewski, Judy Haines, John Aulls, Fr. Philip, Waymon Wright, Jennifer Mariano, Jim Cox, Dunbar Ashbury, Michelle Leveque, Hunt Hendrickson, John Frye, Fr. Tommy.
Absent: Bill Gibb, Gary Crump, Chelsea Cox, Jonathan Weber
Guests: Ashley Miller, Nancy Hennessey, Jack Anderson
After a potluck dinner at the Rectory, the meeting was called to order at 6:40 PM.
Hunt led the devotional period.
Judy Haines was appointed Acting Registrar in Gary's absence.
Approval of minutes: The minutes were circulated electronically. A motion was made to accept the minutes as circulated. The motion was seconded and approved.
Fr. Philip introduced our new Youth Minister, Ashley Miller. Ashley spoke a little about her studies at Hood College. She started working at All Saints' July 1 and worked on the Day Camp at Claggett in August. She reported that over 20 youth came to the first Youth Council meeting last week with more attending the party afterward. The room in the undercroft which was recently cleaned out will be used for the Youth Group.
Search Committee report:
Nancy and Jack reported that they conducted 17 telephone interviews and then selected 9 candidates to visit. One candidate withdrew, so teams of 4 Search Committee members visited the 2 women and 6 men. Visits were made to Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Tennessee (2) and Florida. When all the visits have been completed in mid-September, the committee will invite 3-5 candidates to come to Frederick. They will visit mid-week to meet with the full Search committee, Senior Warden and 2 members of the Personnel committee. Each candidate will also meet with the Bishop during his or her visit. Philip presented a calendar for the hand-off of the search process to the Vestry. The Search committee will meet with the Vestry on Saturday, November 10 to present the name or names of their candidate(s). The Vestry will then decide to invite one or more candidates to come to Frederick to meet with them. Hopefully, a call can be made before the holidays. It is not known how soon after the first of the year the new rector can start.
Interim Rector's report:
Philip reported on some additions to the staff. Melanie Eyler will work 5 hours per week as the Pastoral Care Coordinator. Rixey Hoult is responsible for Children's Christian Formation, Ashley Miller, Youth Formation, Fr. Tommy, Adult Formation with committee chairperson Connie Devilbiss in charge of the Adult Forum. On Wednesday nights following the Community Night dinners in September, October & November, Philip will lead discussions called Hot Topix. The topic for September will be departures of staff members. The congregation can select future topics which may include the sale of the rectory, the search process, sexuality or war in Iraq. For the worship services we will be returning to familiar territory in September. Philip sees his role in the next few weeks to introduce the topic of Planned Giving and Legacy Society and conducting training on how to conduct meetings. In late September he and Linda will take a week of vacation in London and a week of continuing education at Taize, France.
Starting in October he will rely more on the staff to handle their departments and resolve problems.
Senior Warden's report:
John Aulls presented a certificate required by the Canons that certifies that Roberta (Robin) Taylor should be admitted as a Postulant for Holy Orders. The document was signed by each Vestry member present.
Junior Warden's report:
Five of the stained glass windows have been removed by Shenandoah Art Glass so that they can be repaired and cleaned at their studio. They will be re-installed by September 13. Saturday, Aug. 25 the Men's Breakfast will be held in the Parish Hall at 8:30 AM. Josh Williams will conduct a Bible Study on Leadership. A motion was made and seconded for approval of an additional $2,400 from the Capital Improvement Fund to complete the installation of the fire alarm system in the organ loft, furnace room and the Faithful Families classroom. The motion carried.
Parish Administrator's Report
Rick reported that over the summer one computer and one server crashed and died. We do have a back-up server but the primary server needed to be replaced. Our current IT provider took several weeks to resolve the problem and the staff was greatly inconvenienced. Rick praised Denise Parker for all the additional work she had to do for accounting and payroll when the computer was down. Rick has interviewed two companies that can provide more timely IT service. We currently have 10 work stations and will need to upgrade software. Dan Lajewski, Jim Cox and Rick will work together to prepare a report on our short, medium and long-term IT needs. Dunbar and the staff are currently looking at new software to replace the current Church Windows for membership accounting and financial data. ACS Online looks good and will provide offsite backups of data. Our liability and property insurance has been with Brother Mutual. Tom Claggett will be reviewing policies offered by Church Insurance Co.
Treasurer's report:
Bill Gibb and Jen Mariano will be taking the money to the bank in September. The audit team is progressing and should have a report for the next Vestry meeting. Financial report: Pledge Income was $12,528 under budget. Income from use of church facilities was increased in the 2007 budget but is not meeting expectations. Expenses are under budget but this is a matter of timing. Most ministry areas will spend their budgets by the end of the year. Utilities are under budget due to the new timers installed and the new contract for electricity that began in mid-July. Overall our deficit at the end of July was $7,723 greater than budgeted.
Stewardship report:
Tom Litras reported that Homecoming Sunday on Sept. 9 will focus on time and talent. Stewardship campaign will focus on treasure. Pledge information will be mailed Sept. 17. Vestry members are expected to return their pledge cards at the next meeting. There will be Stewardship testimonials at the Sunday services on 2 Sundays in October. This will include young people. On Saturday, Oct. 20 we will have a Give It Your Best Fest. The agenda includes Evening Prayer, food (Brunswick stew) and a speaker, Bill Wrenn from North Carolina. Tickets will be $12 for adults and $6 for children. The Stewardship goal is to encourage people to pledge a minimum of 4% of income or to raise their pledge by 1 % of income.
Options committee report:
Tom Litras reported that they asked 3 firms to bid on doing the survey required for sale of the rectory. Two firms declined to bid. The one bid was for $6100 but Tom plans to review the scope of work with them to see if the price can be lowered. A motion was made to authorize the Options Committee to spend up to $7,000 for the survey. The motion passed.
Strategic Plan
A motion was made and seconded that the vestry of All Saints' church Frederick expresses its appreciation to the Strategic Planning Committee for its work to commence the 2007-2009 strategic planning process. The June 22, 2007 draft report is a testament to the ten months of prayer, research and discernment. The Vestry concurs with the Strategic Planning Committee that the draft report represents the beginning of the strategic planning process. After careful review of the draft document the Vestry charges the Committee to continue its work guided by prayer. The Vestry challenges the Committee to transition the draft vision state from a core purpose proclamation to a vision statement that focuses on the future e.g. "What is the big goal for the future and what would All Saints' look like after achieving that challenging goal?" Again, the vision statement should be that challenging long-term state that the Church is striving to achieve. The Vestry encourages the Strategic Planning Committee to reach beyond All Saints' to other churches and institutions to learn how they developed their approach to strategic planning." The motion carried.
Parish Council:
A new chair person is needed.
After a brief period of evaluation, the meeting was adjourned at 9:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Haines, Acting Registrar |
