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The regular monthly meeting of the
Vestry of R. E. Lee Memorial Church was held Monday, September 15, 2008,
at 5:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall of the church.
Present:
Buddy Atkins, George Brooke, Molly Brown, John Burleson, Jay Crawford,
Roger Crockett, Susan Cross, Bob Glidden, Elizabeth Harralson, Julia
Littlefield, Dick Rathmell, Woody Sadler, The Rev. Thomas Crittenden,
and Gail Dick, clerk
Absent:
Bridget Kelley-Dearing, John Milford and Gretchen Walden
Recognition of the Sexton:
At 5:00 George Brooke recognized Connie Bryant for her outstanding work
at R. E. Lee Church. The recommendation came specifically from the
Property Committee because of the initiative that Connie took and the
many hours and extra effort spent in cleaning up the undercroft after
the boilers had been removed and the tile had been taken up off the
floor. She was presented a check for her faithfulness and extra hours
spent.
Lesson and Eucharist:
Susan Cross and John Burleson read the scripture according to Matthew
18:21-35. Time was given for reflection and discussion. Tom asked for
any prayer requests and celebrated the Eucharist.
Sharon Massie was originally on the
agenda for this evening but will present her program “Safeguarding God’s
Children” at the end of the October Vestry meeting.
Approval of Minutes:
The August minutes were approved as distributed. No discussion. |
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Committee Reports: |
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Finance
Committee: Presentation of 2009 Budget by Buddy Atkins.
Buddy presented a proposed 2009 budget. Copies were circulated among
the Vestry members. Buddy emphasized that this is a preliminary
budget only and will be reworked after the results of the Every
Member Canvass are in. A 10%-12% increase in income is going to be
needed for this budget to balance. Parishioners will be asked to
consider this amount of increase in their pledges for 2009. One of
the biggest issues is a cost of living increase in salaries of
2%-3%. This may need to go higher. Another unexpected large expense
for this year will be the repointing of church. The expense of the
scaffolding alone will be about $26,000. The draw on endowments next
year will increase from 4% to 5%. The Finance Committee is
struggling with this. Elizabeth wondered why no increase was shown
for utilities. It was noted that improvements have been made in the
thermostats and Yellow Brick Road has moved to a new location. (A
copy of the preliminary budget is attached to these minutes.) No
action needs to be taken at this point.
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Rev. Tom has figured that
when considering expenditures from the church’s operating
budget, Gadsden and ECW, 27% is committed to outreach. This
is commendable but a large percentage for a church of our
size.
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Bob said he intends to ask
Gadsden for the allowable amount of 25% of their present
year revenue ($15,000) for church facilities improvement,
specifically the repointing of the masonry; the biggest
expense being putting up the scaffolding. Woody has
submitted five or six applications for grants to different
organizations for the repointing.
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Action: Buddy moved, John Burleson
seconded, that Bob ask Gadsden for the allowable $15,000.
Discussion:
Roger spoke on behalf of Gadsden
cautioning the Vestry to be careful not to rely too much on Gadsden.
Elizabeth said that the Trustees gave approval for three years for the
Vestry to ask for Gadsden funds.
Motion revised to ask the Trustees for
permission to go to Gadsden for approval of funds for facility
improvements. Motion passed with ten in favor and two abstentions. |
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Property Committee:
John Burleson has contacted a
roofer. He has looked at the joints, leaks, small drain gutters. The
front outside wall at the parish hall front entrance is pulling away
from the building. Repairing this will be an additional expense to
the budget. There has been a proposal to hire a consultant to
evaluate the lighting for safety and security. The cost for this
consultant was going to be $5700. The Property Committee felt this
fee was too high and wants to study it more. The Property
Committee’s recommendation is to wait another month on the lighting.
The lighting in the nave is also being looked at. There is a need to
replace the globes on the lights in the nave. The Committee also
wants to wait another month on this. The Sunday School windows have
not yet been installed but are in the process of being evaluated. As
previously mentioned, the cost for the scaffolding to repoint the
steeple is $13,000 to do the front and $13,000 to do the back,
representing a total cost of $26,000 which is an unexpected expense.
A very rough estimate has been received from Tom Hart to finish out
the undercroft – the floor, section off space, ground insulation and
ceiling -- considering the possibility of the choral
rehearsal and music director’s office being moved there. Much
discussion followed regarding the undercroft and the state that it
is in right now and that it needs to be finished at some point.
The Property Committee is changing its regularly scheduled meeting from
Monday night to the first Wednesday night of the month. |
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Action: Dick moved to accept the
“Policies Governing the Columbarium and Memorial Garden of R.E. Lee
Memorial Episcopal Church” after corrections. Motion passed with ten
in favor and two abstentions. |
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Green Committee:
Elizabeth reported that Prof. James Kahn, professor at W&L’s
Williams School of Commerce, will be speaking in the Parish Hall on
Wed., Nov. 12, at 7:30 pm. His expertise is in the economics of the
environment. The talk will be open to the public
The Committee hopes to have a speaker
quarterly. We are interested in inviting Michael Bentley from
St. James, Roanoke, and/or Paul Bugas from Trinity, Staunton. They
presented an excellent PowerPoint presentation at Council in
January on water conservation. Suggestions in addition have
been someone from Rockbridge Grown, a local produce action group; and
perhaps a program on what Washington and Lee is doing to become greener.
James Kahn is chairing that committee and may be of some help to
us.
The Green Committee is beginning
the process of exploring using real mugs for adults and reusable
unbreakable cups for kids for coffee and lemonade at the church. Issues
to be resolved are: a rack, perhaps on wheels, for these items; who
would be responsible for washing and putting them back on the
rack; how to pay for them. The Committee will be in touch with Bob
Crewdson, Mayumi Smitka, the Noells of lemonade brigade, &
Jerry Nay - for different reasons.
The Committee would like to explore how other churches are engaged in
environmental efforts. They would also like to know what other Episcopal
churches in our diocese are doing.
They would like to ask James Kahn if there are ways that Canterbury can
assist the W&L green efforts as a group project.
Molly also mentioned the hazardous waste pick-up day which is September
27th. The Green Committee asked that this be in the church
bulletin for two successive Sundays prior to this date. |
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Old Business: |
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Discussion on Vestry structure:
The size of the Vestry was discussed at length. Now is the time to
see if we want to gradually downsize from 15 members to 12 or fewer
over the course of several years. If the Vestry does decide to
downsize, Tom is open to having a called meeting to discuss this
matter with two definite goals in mind: 1) efficiency of the Vestry
and 2) recruitment of qualified persons. This would have to be
decided soon as Vestry elections are coming up for the next year.
The possibility of having Vestry leadership as chairpersons of the
committees of the church was discussed as an option. Also, the
decision needs to be made on how large the Vestry should be in order
to be both representative and efficient. This subject will be put on
the agenda for the October meeting.
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Signage:
Bob talked with Pam about placement of the new church sign. A couple
of options were shared. He also mentioned that he has a parishioner
wishing to donate the sign. Bob passed around pictures of two sign
possibilities and discussed a third. Placement possibilities were
also discussed. Discussion on this to be continued.
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New Business: |
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Vestry recruiting:
It is customary, and Tom so moved,
that we have the outgoing class of Vestry members (Buddy
Atkins, John Burleson, Roger Crockett, Gretchen Walden and Bob
Glidden) serve as the nominating committee for Vestry elections for
2009, including the nomination of officers for the new Vestry. John
Burleson has been asked to serve as chair of the nominating
committee.
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Committees for 2009:
Bob noted that we need an
ad hoc Committee to review the membership of the standing committees
of the church—a Committee on Committees. Bob asked George to chair
that committee and Molly Brown, Susan Cross, Jay Crawford and Julia
Littlefield to serve as members.
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Request to Join “Club 157” in
Sudan: Buddy said that a
couple had made a pledge to the Capital Campaign for a spend-down
fund for a mission trip to the Sudan. Since there were not enough
pledges to that particular item in the Campaign, they would like to
dedicate those funds ($1000) to a fund to assist the Anglican Church
in Sudan called “Club 157.”
Action: Buddy moved and George
seconded that this $1000 be sent to Club 157 in Sudan. The motion passed
unanimously.
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Audit Firm for 2009:
The accounting firm used by R. E.
Lee Church in the past, because of lack of personnel within the
firm, is dropping some clients, R. E. Lee Church among them. Buddy
is awaiting a proposal from another local accounting firm to take on
an annual financial review for the parish. When that proposal is
received Buddy will present it to the Vestry for action, perhaps in
October but certainly by November. In the interim, the 2007 review
recently completed will be presented to the Finance Committee for
the members to review and submit to the Vestry.
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Comments by the Wardens:
None
Comments by the Rector:
Tom shared some highlights of his recent
trip to Florida with his son Joseph. The purpose of the trip was for Tom
to serve as the clergy counsel for a high school Cursillo weekend called
“Happening”.
Adjournment:
Meeting adjourned at 7:15.
Closing Prayer:
Buddy closed with prayer.
Next meeting:
5 p.m., October 20, 2008.
Respectfully submitted,
Gail G. Dick, Clerk |
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