Vestry Meeting

April 15, 2008

Call to Order at 7:00

Present: Bill Gibb, Ian McGreevy, Fr. Tommy Rogers, Dan Lajewski, Donna Seniff, Dunbar Ashbury, Denise Parker, Eleanor Peckham, Waymon Wright, John Aulls, Fr. Tom Momberg, Darren Andrews, Hunt Hendrickson and Gary Crump.

Absent: Jennifer Mariano, Tom Litras, and Jim Cox

Guest: Peg McGreevy

Waymon Wright offered the evening’s devotional.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes were reviewed electronically prior to the meeting. A motion was made to accept and the minutes were approved with one minor correction.

Report from the Audit Committee

Peg McGreevy presented an overview of the Audit Committee report that was submitted at the March vestry meeting. She thanked Denise and Dunbar for helping the auditors, and noted that some progress has been made in correcting deficiencies noted in previous reports. The Committee made numerous recommendations and noted observations of changes that have been made, including:

For the audit for 2002, an itemized inventory of purchased property needs to be done.

Investment Committee minutes were not available to the Audit Committee.

Check signing authority has been corrected.

A payroll service has now been hired to avoid discrepancies in payroll practices.

For the years 2003-2005:

A revised policy on the classification of endowments is now in place.

Practice of classification of funds coming into and going out of the church is now being done.

All financial mail should go to the Assistant Treasurer’s inbox.

Discretionary funds-after Fr. Jim retired, he had funds left in his account that he donated to Trinity School. This could be a conflict of interest because of interested parties.

The Investment Committee needs to meet quarterly and provide reports to the vestry.

Asset inventory for insurance coverage still needs to be done.

Depreciation of church expenses has not been done in the past but should be going forward to accurately reflect financial position.

The audit may need to be done by a professional service in the future.

The results of the Audit Report were accepted by Resolution.

Treasurers Report

Waymon and Eleanor will make deposits in May. Through March 31, we have a decrease in operating assets of $14900, which is $11600 better than budgeted for the three months. However, Dunbar notes that we are still deferring payments through the first six months of the year and that we will likely have a deficit of $30,000 by the end of June. The Budget & Finance Committee has asked the Parish Administrator to provide a detailed report on the facilities rental fee schedule and structure. Hunt suggested that if a parishioner presents a financial instrument such as a stock certificate to the parish, the Rector or Treasurer should be authorized to sign the document. There currently is no mechanism in place to allow that, although it occurs infrequently. A motion was made to approve that authorization, and the motion passed. The Treasurer’s Report was also accepted and approved.

Rector’s Report

Fr. Tom presented a written report that included a draft of his model for ministry that was presented to the Parish Council. He spoke to each area of the model, noting that Outreach and Pastoral Care are both going well. The model is grounded in Stewardship and Administration, with Leadership Development being central to that. The model developed by the Strategic Planning Committee is similar to this model, and the Committee will be energized and brought into the discussion. Fr. Tommy and Rick Hirschman are reviewing their relative position descriptions with Fr. Tom.

There is discussion about moving the Saturday evening service to the Chapel this summer to reduce cooling costs in the Nave. Also, the 8:00 service might be moved to 7:45 for the summer, with a 9:00 start for the Great Hall service. Fr. Tom made note of domestic violence issues in the parish and he and Fr. Tommy are totally engaged and offering pastoral support.

There was a lengthy discussion about the Welcoming and Affirming Church resolution and our parish’s openness to not only persons of different sexual orientation, but also people of color, teens, children, the elderly, homeless, and the physically challenged. Fr. Tom cited as an example having a standing station for communion every Sunday-a practice we will begin offering in the Nave this spring. A motion was made and seconded to open the conversation about how we want to approach the Resolution. Among the questions that were asked, “Why do we need to affirm it when we are practicing it now?” Is it only referring to sexual orientation, and not everyone else? Because of the diverse opinion, a decision on how to approach the resolution was deferred. Fr. Tom distributed an article regarding changes in seminary degrees and how seminarians’ educations are financed, including our own Robin Taylor who is discerning which seminary to attend. We as a vestry need to determine what level of support we can offer to her.

Assistant Rector’s Report

Fr. Tommy asked if there was interest in chartering a bus to Bishop Sutton’s consecration. The first Caring Connections-gathering attracted more than 50 people. The next meeting is this Sunday after services. Similar overview meetings on Christian Formation will be held in June.

Senior Warden’s Report

John Aulls noted that the furniture in the rectory has been appraised and is valued at about $13500. The April Saints Alive featured an update on vestry activity. An alms basin formerly owned by All Saints was found in an antique shop in San Francisco. A parishioner who deals in silver goods noticed the basin online some time ago, and that the price was $3200. It’s now listed at $1400, and we will purchase the basin through proceeds from the Memorial Fund.

The vestry Executive Committee is now meeting monthly prior to each meeting. All Standing Committees and ad hoc committees have now been identified and listed in a central document.

Junior Warden’s Report

Dan pointed out that the All Parish Cleanup would be on Saturday, April 26th. There is a lot of energy and excitement for this ongoing stewardship of the physical plant. Buildings and Grounds Committee meetings will be announced soon, and will be open to anyone

Parish Administrator Report

Rick provided a written report noting that the planning for the Parish cleanup day is going well. The parish library is being straightened up and will be used as a meeting/project room after the St. Mary’s book sale.

Standing Committee Reports

Budget and Finance –Middendorf Fund balloon payment is due in 2009 with $207,000 payoff. A motion was made for the Committee to discuss a restructuring of the loan with the hope of getting a better interest rate. The motion was seconded and approved. The PNC mortgage loan is structured favorably now and for the remaining 17 years of the loan. The balance is about $1.38M, and we may not get any better deal, but it might be a good idea to shop the loan anyway just to be certain. Any decision regarding the budget has to be based on the sale of the rectory. We also need to discuss another capital campaign, so Fr. Tom, Hunt, Tom Litras, and Dunbar will plan on discussing this with Glenn Holliman who helped with our previous capital campaigns.

Rectory Disposition-The rectory plat drawings were presented to the city, but now have to be presented to both the Planning and Zoning Commissions for approval, and that may not happen until late summer. We also need to do an appraisal of the now-vacated St. Barnabas building in order to determine how to dispose of it, provided we get diocesan approval.

Following closing prayers from each member, the meeting adjourned at 9:45.

Respectfully submitted,
Gary E. Crump, Registrar