ST. LUKE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Vestry Meeting Minutes
January 21, 2016
Vestry Present: Rev. Sandi Kerner, Ben Bruno, Rich Wolkiewicz, Jon Brew, Anne Larrick, Elizabeth Forrest, Barry Johnson, Dolores Gennari, Rick Cole, Stew Wolfe.
Vestry Absent: None
Guest:None
Opening Prayer: Rev. Sandi Kerner Sandi went over the norms, and what each Vestry member can do to incorporate them into this Vestry’s life together. Then the Vestry prayed the norms.
MOTION PASSED: The Vestry voted to approve Minutes of the December 17, 2015 meeting with one change, Dolores’ name was misspelled in a few places.
Budget Discussion: The Vestry reviewed the preliminary budget, and made the following comments:
There was a discussion about pledge revenue, the budgeted amount, the history, and how much has been pledged so far.
Sending out quarterly statements serve as a great reminder, are we are working to improve this.
Consider adding a line showing endowment income contributed to the budget.
Discussion about diocesan pledge, where on the financial statements we show it, and how we calculate it. The diocese may be asking for a larger pledge in the future.
Can propane expense be reduced?
$13,000 in property expenses will be budgeted to be funded from the endowment if we are unable to attain gifts to cover these expenses.
Rector housing can also be funded by the endowments, this was approved last year as well.
Discussion about % of expenses that are being budgeted and spent in each area. Some expenses are incurred outside the budget (through generous gifts and donated receipts are not reflected in our bookkeeping) so the budget does not reflect total funds allocated to all areas.
Is it possible to show all our expenses with our budgeting process (accounting for gifts)? This will help us measure if we are spending the funds allocated and putting our “money where our mouth is”.
Discussion about reimbursable expenses.
What can we do to generate more income? Pledges are not the only source of revenue. Larger events can generate revenue.
An ideal goal would be to fund the budget without using the endowment.
Vestry should submit ideas for the budget to Elizabeth, and she and the committee will take these ideas and update the budget.
Pledging is a spiritual issue, trust, and is very important for each individual to consider and discern.
Powhatan is growing again, as the economy improves, it is important that St Luke’s doesn’tnot miss the opportunity.
Large fundraisers can help on this front as well, helping us to grow income and at the same time give us exposure which can help the church grow with the county.
Taking care of the church grounds and buildings is important, if it looks successful it will be successful.
The budget process should start earlier in the year.
The process of building the budget and managing funds can be full of anxiety, it is important to trust, as history has shown that it will all work out.
MOTION PASSED – The vestry voted to appointRich as Register.
Vestry Assignments were reviewed, discussed and reassigned (if necessary) as follows:
Dolores Fellowship
Elizabeth Finance
Stewardship ChairBen, Barry, and committee.
Outreach Jon
Youth/Adult Christion FormationAnne
Communications Stew
Welcoming Rick
MOTION PASSED – The Vestry voted to appointBen as Senior Warden.
MOTION PASSED – The Vestry voted to appointBarry Junior Warden.
List of people willing to help with property maintenance was shared verbally. The Junior Warden should not being doing all this work alone. Peter is best suited to bring Barry up to speed, Ben will help as well.
MOTION PASSED – The Vestry voted to appointGreg Dunaway as Treasurer.
MOTION PASSED – The Vestry voted to formally thank Jeanette Pugh and Greg Dunaway for their service to St. Luke’s as Intake Treasurer and Treasurer.
MOTION PASSED – The Vestry voted to transfer $4,186.66 to the J2A account.
Students and parents have raised over $6,000 for the J2A trip.
Postponing chef’s table dinner.
Sally is hosting a four course dinner for 26 with wine paring at her home. Elizabeth went over menu.
Anne Larrick had to leave the meeting at this point.
Rector’s report
Sandy reported that the last month has kept her busy with Christmas and the hiring Kathy Theido our new part time Parish Administrator.
Sandi reported the Vestry retreat will be postponed.
Lent series will be named Eat, Pray, and Love, and will be moved to Sunday evenings.
Lent Madness, a fun game modeled after March Madness will be scheduled as well.
Sandi has attended a course on missions at seminary. This stimulated thoughts about maybe look at extending the mission work of St. Luke’s out (beyond Powhatan) a little.
Senior Warden Report
Ben may not be able to attend CEEP as he was planning.
Ben enjoyed working with Sandi to bring Kathy on board.
Stewardship update provided in writing.
Ben shared a video from Hickory Neck Church. They did a nice renovation to allow for more space.
Ben explained that there are many projects scheduled for this coming year and we have a proposal from Costen floors. The Vestry discussed the timing of the floor replacement project.
The Vestry pondered who will make the decision about the floor. There is an ArchitecturalReview Committee. We could ask them to help once we narrow the choices down. Elizabeth offered to coordinate with the Architectural Review Committee.
Fellowship Report
Dolores will be meeting with the committee.
Plans are in place to distribute postcards that have all the events listed. The next event is Shove Tuesday February 9th. We should invite the AA group
Communications Report
Stew reported that the web site continues to get multiple hits, half are from people in the area. We have received good feedback from new families about the web site. We are hoping to attract people through the website.
ACS does not offer an auto-dialer. Stew has been looking for a month. Cost may be prohibitive. Maybe a VOIP option, Stew will research.
A group of our more traditional parishioners would like a phone tree.
Automatic e mail box is now on the web site.
Outreach Report
Jon reported that the candy fundraiser went well. More candy is now here. This fundraiser has raised $120 to date.
We are considering adding a health screening to senior luncheons.
The Vestry pondered the questions “how do we do what we are doing, and offer it to more people”. One solution offered is lifetime learning to our Senior Luncheon group, Jon talk to Anne Larrick about this. Maybe free flu shots next fall.
The RAM (Remote Area Clinic) is an outreach opportunity for us.
Clothing drives and giving ideas were discussed.
Welcome Report
Rick reported that we have three new families so far this year, and two new families visitedthe church this week
The Vestry discussed how glorious the ChristmasPageant was.
The next Vestry Meeting will be the third Thursday in February.
The Vestry discussed alternative dates for the Vestry retreat. Saturday February 20th seemed promising, but was not finalized.
Barry asked about snow removal and was informed that we have someone on standby.
Meeting Adjourned: 9:25 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Rich Wolkiewicz, Register