Minutes of the Vestry Meeting - August 15, 2016

Formation

Evening Prayer and Thanksgiving & Prayer Requests
The vestry met in the church at 7:00 PM for Evening Prayer and then reconvened in the undercroft meeting room where everyone offered prayers of intercession and thanksgiving.

Attendance
Present: the rector Kristin Orr; the senior warden Anne Edwards; the junior warden Steve Hofer; vestry members Bob Burgwald, Rob Carrier, Nichole Dailor, Ted Stone, Cynthia Turnquest and Zoltan Sziky; the treasurer Debbi Huggett; and the clerk Susan Marquis Absent: vestry members Alice Creason, Randy Oyster, and Hans Zigmund

Parish Stewardship

Minutes
Anne Edwards moved to accept the vestry minutes from June, and Nichole Dailor seconded. The motion was approved.

Treasurer’s Report
Because there was no vestry meeting in July to approve the June report, the treasurer presented financial reports from both June and July.
In June and continuing into July, collections were off-pace. Pledge income, however, is difficult to divide by the month since some people prepay for the entire year, while others pay at the end of the year. Rob Carrier moved to accept the June treasurer’s report as presented, and Cynthia Turnquest seconded. The motion passed.
In July, the church made about $350 from the Ice Cream Social due to contributions from parishioners. Without the approximately $700 contributed, the event would have lost money. Savings in July were the result of lower-than-expected natural gas usage as well as some salary savings due to having no office manager. Cynthia Turnquest moved to accept the July report, and Zoltan Sziky seconded. The motion then was approved.  

Rector’s Discretionary Report
Pastor Orr distributed a report of the Rector’s Discretionary Account for the second quarter of 2016. The report showed income from the approved parish budget as well as from contributions from parishioners. After a motion to accept the report from Steve Hofer and a second from Nichole Dailor, the motion was approved.

Rector’s Report
—The church has placed help wanted notices for the office manager position on the diocesan website and on a Moms and Dads of Homewood-Flossmoor Facebook page. There have been four applicants whom the rector and senior warden are interviewing. Pastor Orr hopes to have the position filled by the beginning of September. In the meantime, former office manager Tracie Moxley has been hired for a few hours weekly to post pledge and other contributions.
—Jack Voigt again paid for a thorough annual cleaning of the kitchen.
—Pastor Orr thanked Bill Moser, Donna Blackburn, Cyndie Knoll, and Alison Deniston for their help covering the office during her vacation. She also thanked Steve Hofer, Bill Bestow, Debbi Huggett, Harold Keene, and Donna Blackburn for being on-call for emergencies during that time.
—The bracket for the church sign on Flossmoor Road and Leavitt Avenue recently arrived. A volunteer is needed to do the restoration work on the sign. Rob Carrier offered to look at it.
—Bishop Lee has had to reduce the diocesan staff due to the economy. Investment income is down, and parish pledges have gone down as well. The diocese had been depleting capital to cover deficit budgets, but without an obvious change coming in income, the bishop has decided that the responsible path is to reduce the diocesan budget.

Wardens’ Reports and Reports from Other Parish Organizations
Steve Hofer reported that his St. John’s history project is moving along nicely. He further reported, in his role as landscape godparent, that Lynn Ruschhaupt has planted hostas north of the church and that the new plantings at the south end of the church are doing well.

Upcoming Parish Events
—Pastor Orr handed out a draft of a calendar of parish events for the August 2016 - July 2017 year. Cynthia Turnquest volunteered to print a poster-size copy of the calendar for easel display, and Pastor Orr will distribute copies to parishioners via e-mail in the next “e-vangelist” and will leave paper copies on the information tables.
—August 21st at the 10:00 AM service - blessing of the backpacks
—September 11th at coffee hour - Jubilation ministry fair

Discussion and Decisions

Columbarium Project
Pastor Orr hired landscape architect Scott Mehaffey to draw up building plans for the benches. The columbarium sub-committee, consisting of the rector, Rob Carrier, Ted Stone, Cynthia Turnquest, and Anne Edwards, deferred the decision on the wood bench, but they did choose a stone for the benches and an aggregate stone for the walkway. Mark Moxley has been very helpful regarding supplies and has the stone order ready to submit. Best Brick in Homewood bid on the project. Pastor Orr is trying to get more bids on the concrete and stone mason work and asked the vestry to send her referrals.

Stewardship
The ministry marketing subcommittee (Alice Creason, Nichole Dailor, Anne Edwards, and Steve Hofer with help from Cynthia Turnquest) will work on a display for the undercroft that portrays the life of the parish. This will change monthly and will be in place by the Jubilation. The vestry godparents of the various ministries will be in charge of overseeing the displays according to the following schedule:

September - acolytes (Nichole Dailor)
October - PADS (Ted Stone)
November - choir (Hans Zigmund)
December - open for various holiday ministries
January - Sunday school (Cynthia Turnquest)
February - youth group (Alice Creason)
March - men’s group (Randy Oyster)
April - Altar Guild (Bob Burgwald)
May - food garden (Zoltan Sziky)
June - landscaping (Steve Hofer)
July - Daughters of the King (Rob Carrier)
August - catch-all (Nichole Dailor)

The church will send out e-blasts as separate electronic mailings of event announcements and posters. Event coordinators can contact Cynthia Turnquest, who will design announcements, and then the rector will send them out to parishioners as colorful event PDFs. The e-blasts also will be used to announce ministry opportunities for the month, including volunteer and donation requests.

Closing
The meeting ended at 9:10 PM. The next vestry meeting is scheduled for September 19th.

Respectfully submitted,
Susan Marquis
Clerk of the Vestry

Approved:  September 19, 2016