Vestry Minutes: January 10th, 2007
The scheduled meeting of the Vestry of the Parish of the Epiphany was held in Hadley Hall on January 10th, 2007, at 7:32 PM.
Present were: Rev. Bob Trache, Rector; Rev. Natasha Stewart, Assistant Rector; David Damassa, Warden; Pam Chester, Warden; Ken Weber, Treasurer; Peggy Roll, Associate Treasurer; Kevin Cronan, Clerk. Vestry Members: Pat Hitchcock, Bob Delaney, Nancy Solomon, Connie McGrane, Priscilla Burns, Cindy Seferian, Deb Christel, Fred Spencer and John Cuozzo. Youth Vestry: Caroline Giese, Katie Torrey and Ken Csaplar. Guests: Tom Hamilton, Finance Committee Chair; Scott Jones, Treasurer Nominee and John Jenke, Nominating Committee.
David Damassa presided.
Rev. Bob Trache led the Vestry in a brief prayer.
Report of the Clerk
The minutes for the December Vestry meeting were presented and one correction was identified; John Cuozzo asked for wording recognizing the sovereignty of God’s word and our faithful response to be added to the section on Promoting Dialogue.
Upon motion duly made and seconded, and by the affirmative vote of all members present, it was
Voted: that the minutes from the December 13th meeting be accepted as amended.
Report of the Treasurer – 2006 Review
Ken Weber did not have a formal report to present to the Vestry due to a delay in receiving the financials. However, we did receive the $93,000 in December revenue which we needed; both gifts and pledges for December were particularly strong. Preventative Maintenance is only at $2,000 instead of $17,000, however, and we need to make sure that we can support the expenses entailed in keeping up our property. Fund statements still need to be reconciled; and there are also a number of accounts that can be and will be closed. We are very close to our FY2006 budget due to year-end pledges, and more are still coming in. A better version of the year-end budget report will be mailed out to the Vestry. The Diocese is demanding an audit or review of our books; we need to decide soon whether to have it done by a professional CPA or by a review committee internally.
Upon motion duly made and seconded, and by the affirmative vote of all members present, it was
Voted: that the Treasurer’s Report be accepted.
Nominating Committee Report
John Jenke presented the report to the Vestry. John, along with fellow committee members Leslie Aitken and Alan Wrigley, gathered the following nominees with great help from the Wardens.
Warden: (for two years) Ted Kellogg
Clerk: (for one year) Kevin Cronan
Treasurer: (for one year) Scott Jones
Associate Treasurer: (for one year) John Lees
Vestry Persons: (for three years) Bob Delaney
Harold MacCaughey
Jonathan Treat
Martha Lewis
Nominating Committee: (for one year) Barbara Foote
Peggy Roll
Rich Rohan
Mystic Valley Deanery Delegates: Allen Hill
(for one year) Marie Lee
Ted Reboul
Gabrielle Stott
Carol Hollingshead
There were between fifteen to twenty telephone calls from parishioners with suggestions for potential nominees. For the sixteen openings, eighteen women and thirty-one men were considered. The nominating committee was concerned with equal age distribution and family structure and wanted to address the current imbalance between male and female members of the Vestry.
Stewardship Update
Deb Christel presented the report to the Vestry. The handout provided compared totals from the December Vestry meeting to the year prior; it does not include the total figure for FY2006. We knew when we started the year that we were going to lose a large number of pledging units. So far we have received pledges totaling $628,843 which is down from the previous year of $631,632, with the number of pledge units also decreasing from 264 to 252. The number of pledges decreasing went from 18 to 31 and the number of pledges remaining the same from 69 to 88. Despite all of this, these figures still point to a good future, especially since we always continue to receive pledges well into the new year. Economic and/or demographic factors are the most probable reasons for the decreases in pledging.
Discussion and Vote on 2007 Budget
Tom Hamilton presented the FY2007 budget to the Vestry. There are relatively minor changes from what Tom presented to the Vestry at last month’s meeting. Originally we had estimated $725,000 in pledge revenue, but as that figure has not been realized the new pledging total was reduced to $660,000. It is a balanced budget again even with some pay increases; as always, personnel is the largest line item. The budget is essentially flat against last year, so FY2007 will look a lot like FY2006. FY2006 was a good year especially after the reduced budgets during our interim period; if revenues come in better than expected in 2007, then the budget can be increased.
Upon motion duly made and seconded, and by the affirmative vote of all members present, it was
Voted: that the 2007 Budget be accepted.
Report of the Wardens
Pam Chester presented the report to the Vestry. We received a number of thank-you notes from the Epiphany staff for their Christmas gifts. Safe Church Training will be held at Epiphany on Saturday January 27th, and hopefully Cynthia Hubbard will be leading the training. The Parish will pay the fee and handle the registration with the Diocese for any vestry member who attends. The next scheduled Vestry meeting will coincide with our Annual Meeting and Covered Dish Dinner. Cindy Seferian mentioned that there has been a lack of drinks at the dinners lately and asked if Vestry members could help out; Pat Hitchcock, Deb Christel, Bob Delaney and Fred Spencer all volunteered to bring drinks to the Annual Meeting. Pam stressed that we should remind parishioners about the Annual Meeting as it is a very important meeting to attend. Peterson’s Party Center donated a number of table cloths in different colors which will make a nice addition to future events. On an Outreach note, we need parishioners to help fill the carriage in the narthex for the St Stephen’s Food Pantry and the Woburn Council of Social Concern. Lastly, a motion was submitted by Betsy Walsh for a disbursement in the amount of $750 from the Outreach Fund. Currently Outreach has a balance of about $23,000 in its fund. This money will help subsidize the cost of the trip for the three Epiphany youths that will be traveling to Biloxi with the diocesan work trip for young people.
Upon motion duly made and seconded, and by the affirmative vote of all members present, it was
Voted: that the $750 be debited from the Outreach Fund to aid in our Youths’ Biloxi Mission Trip.
Report of the Rector
Bob presented the report to the Vestry. He distributed a letter he received from Susan McAllister about taking a mini-sabbatical during the summer months; thankfully Jake Street will be back from Holy Cross and will be able to fill in as organist. The Epiphany Mini-Courses for 2007 have been decided upon; the flier will be mailed out to the congregation and classes will start on Sunday January 21st until February 18th. Alexandra Bolles, who attended an Inter-faith Camp last summer, will be leading Adult Ed, and she will also be preaching at Harvard Memorial Church. The new Open Doors, Open Minds series will start on January 22nd and will be at Temple Shir Tikvah; this year will be more focused on Bible study. The deadline for Committee Reports for our annual report will be January 16th and they can be e-mailed to the Parish Office. Confirmation for the Diocese will be held at Epiphany this May and Vestry may need to help with this celebration. Bob asked Natasha to explain the new program for Confirmation classes, and she stated that the classes will start on February 4th and will be more experience-based rather than lecture-based as they were in the past. Lastly, Bob thanked all of the outgoing Vestry members for all of their help and service to the Parish during their tenure. They are as follows: David Damassa, Connie McGrane, Peggy Roll, Deb Christel, Ken Weber and Priscilla Burns.
Rev. Bob Trache closed the evening with a prayer.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:57 PM.
Attest:
Kevin M. Cronan, Clerk.