St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

Cape Elizabeth

Agenda

March 8, 2016 Vestry Meeting

2/23/16 6:30 PM

Present: Senior Warden, John Hartley, Junior Warden, Lisa Newbold, Frank Governali, Treasurer, Michelle Whitney, Scott Reed, Susan Hamilton, Doug Jones, Liz Davy, Andy LeBlanc, Beth Callaway, Doug Jones, The Rev. Tim, The Rev. Reed, Dave Abbiati, Secretary

Absent: Doug Jones and Julie Merriam

Call to order: John called the meeting to order by asking Tim to offer the opening prayer at 6:30

Opening Prayer: By Reverend Tim Boggs

Approval of February 2016 minutes

Motion to approve the minutes offered, discussed, seconded, and approved with corrections.

Update from B&G: Philip Hamilton

  1. Spring/fall cleanup. B&G has scheduled the Spring Clean Up for April 30 this year. On April 23rd, volunteers will dig up creeping Charlie (an invasive) on the campus. Volunteers are needed for both days.
  2. The Committee asked that funds from the Phillips Fund be used to maintain the stone steps behind the vestry.

Motion: To authorize the B &G to spend up to $9,500 to maintain the stone steps at the rectory. The money will be taken from the Phillips Fund. The motion was offered, seconded, and passed.

  1. We were reminded that the new part of the church building (hall) is 20 years old. Over the past winter leaks developed and were repaired on an emergency and temporary basis. The roof needs to be replaced. B&G recommends a membrane roof at a cost of approximately $24,000. B&G reports that some of the paint in the old part of the church contains lead. This condition needs remediation. No cost estimate has been developed.
  2. This year’s projects as proposed by the Committee are to improve the safety of the nave and choir area. The proposal calls for the reconfiguration of the handrail on the steps leading to the nave and to install a platform to extend the floor at the nave level. These renovations will allow foot traffic on both sides of the nave stairs.

Motion: To authorize B&G to proceed with bids and refinement and to return to Vestry with updated proposals. The motion was moved, seconded and passed.

Update from Directory of Christian Formation for Children, Emily Keniston

Things are going well with the children’s program. She reported a typical dip in attendance for ski season.

•Emily is renewing the curriculum for Godly Play to return to the program’s roots in the Montessori system of learning. She is working to certify the staff as instructors in the program. Godly Play is used worldwide within and without the Episcopal Church.

Our Place:

•Camp St Albans: Vacation bible school. A draft for this summer distributed. Emily and the volunteer leaders for Camp St Albans are developing an original curriculum to be used this summer.

Update from the Parish Nurse, Liz Davy from St. Albans Health Ministry

•The Health Ministry is developing a workshop facilitated by Fred Brancato to be presented in April: Ancient wisdom; measure of our days. It will be offered April 16th from 9:00 AM to 3 PM with a maximum enrollment of 20 individuals. There will be two hour follow-up session offered the Saturday following the workshop.

•The Ministry will offer a workshop on aging in May.

Treasurer’s report by Frank Governali

•Discussion of the formation of a new fund for major repairs

Frank proposed that $5000 be added to the major repair fund on an annual basis. Initially it will be funded by special gifts.

•A motion to fund the major repair fund at a $5000 per year rate was made, seconded and passed.

•The Phillips fund: Under the terms of the funding gift of this fund, a relevant committee and the vestry must approve expenditures from this fund. Please see the attached proposal

• Motion: To approve the draft to proposal establishing the rules for withdrawing funds from the Phillips Fund. The Motion was moved, seconded, and passed.

•Treasurer’s report: Frank reports that it is too early to predict how the year is going. He reports that the numbers are tracking last year’s and that there are no surprises. Please, see report

•Keeping former vestry members engaged: Frank is on a committee to keep old vestry members included after their service has been completed.

•Fundraiser (vestry): Past events were briefly reviewed with an eye of forming this year’s fundraiser. There was a discussion that the parish as a whole participates to make the project work. The vestry provides the planning and leadership. In recognition of the parish’s involvement and importance in this this activity, the following motion was offered.

•Motion: There will be Parish Fundraiser lead by the vestry to encourage the highest participation. The motion was offered, moved, seconded and passed

Warden’s reports: by John Hartley and Lisa Newbold:

•A draft of the Vestry Covenant was presented. To facilitate a deep and complete discussion of the document, discussion was tabled for a month. See attached draft covenant.

•John reminded us to complete signing up for closing prayer.

•Vestry greeting procedures were briefly discussed and tabled.

Clergy reports: By Reverend Tim Boggs and Reverend Reed Loy

•Tim presented a Holy Week Schedule.

•Handout “What to Expect during the Lenten season”was presented and will be distributed via email this week.

•Wednesday Winter. The”Wednesday Winter”program was enthusiastically developed and presented with high expectations. The very limited participation was a surprise and discussed. The final session has been cancelled. This program represented St Alban’s most recent attempt to support and institute intergenerational formation. Although it was advertise as a family night, the day of the week and time may have been unfortunate. The topic will be reconsidered at the vestry retreat.

Vestry Thank Yous: Deborah Schock and Peter Durgin were identified.

Closing Prayer: by Scott Reed