The regular monthly meeting of the Vestry of R. E. Lee Memorial Church was held Monday, February 15, 2010, at 5:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall of the church.

Present: The Rev. Tom Crittenden (chair), John Milford (Senior Warden), Judy Glick (Junior Warden), Suzanne Carmichael, Jay Crawford, Doug Cumming, Punky Dod, Mary Doyle, Tim Gaylard, Elizabeth Harralson, Sarah Lanford, Julia Littlefield, Steve Riethmiller, Gloria Smitka, Don Whittington, and Gail Dick, clerk. Absent: Dick Rathmell

Opening and Prayers: Tom asked for any prayer concerns and opened the meeting with prayer.

Approval of January Minutes: Stand as published after corrections.

Committee Reports:

• Green Committee – Elizabeth reported that the Green Committee met last month. The committee firmed up an event scheduled for Sunday April 25. It will be a “recycle, re-use, and reduce fair” which will be held in the parish hall during the Sunday school hour. It will be an interdenominational event. John Burleson will be present to discuss water conservation. Elizabeth will be on hand to show some environmentally friendly cleaning supplies. Molly Brown will demonstrate how to fix children’s lunches which leave no trash. The service and pot luck lunch tentatively planned to be held at Boxerwood has been put on hold until next spring.
• Finance Committee – Don Whittington said that the Finance Committee did not meet last month because of the snow. He stated that nothing extraordinary was reportable this month. The financial report sent out by e-mail needs to reworked and will be corrected at their next meeting. It was clarified that Mission and Outreach funds are dispersed by the Outreach Committee. Funds for Mission and Outreach are also received from special offerings and from individuals.
• Property Committee – Steve Riethmiller reported that John Friedrichs had attended the last Property Committee meeting. He discussed the repointing of the front and back of the church and the scaffolding needed to perform that job. He also made a proposal for redoing the front patio. John Milford has discussed steeple maintenance with Shawn Rowsey and Jamie Smith. They will get together to tighten bolts, perhaps next week. John has checked the exterior of the church and everything appears to be in good order. Annual maintenance of the steeple involves exterior examination and bolt tightening. Every ten years a more extensive maintenance is required by a professional organization.  Steve and Gordon Woodcock plan to meet to address the remodeling of the undercroft. There is an active leak in the undercroft and that will have to be addressed first. They feel it may be coming from improper drainage on the outside of the building. Jamie Smith will be contacting a roofer to check and clean the gutters. Shawn has already done some checking and cleaning of gutters. The gutters need to remain clean so the water can drain away from the building. Suzanne asked if the pile up of snow on the roof of the parish hall has presented any problems. Tom assured everyone that the roof is strong and there is no problem currently.

New Business:

·         Parochial Report – Tom explained that the Parochial Report is a report which is filed annually with the diocese. It shows statistics on membership of the parish, the number of services, and a summarized financial report. Tom shared the information on the report and passed around the report. He said no action is need by the Vestry. Tom noted that membership has increased by 27 and decreased by 17, resulting in a net membership increase of ten. Average Sunday attendance, taking into account all three services, is 225 which indicates an increase of seven over the previous year. In 2009 R. E. Lee had an active membership of 408. There are about 388 communicants (those who take communion). Pledging units totaled 188. According to the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, R. E. Lee is the fourth largest in terms of Sunday attendance.

Old Business:

·         Bylaws – Tom asked for reflections, comments, and discussion of yesterday’s parish meeting. There was some discussion of bylaws vs. policy. The possibility of a discussion on policy may be in the future. Punky asked if the bylaws were passed at this meeting would the diocesan chancellor need to approve them. The answer was yes. Jay asked if there were any lingering concerns regarding the bylaws. The Bylaws Committee moved that the Vestry accept the bylaws as on the table. No second is needed. It was passed unanimously to accept the proposed bylaws. Many thanks were expressed to Judy Glick and Don Whittington for their hard work on these bylaws.

·         Delegates to Council – Since there will be no March Vestry meeting, the question was raised about electing delegates to council which is usually done at the March Vestry meeting. There are 4 delegates and 3 alternates to the diocesan council. Tom suggested that the office staff and Vestry do some soliciting and communicate with each other by e-mail and elect them some time in March.

Comments by the Wardens:

• John – John thanked Elizabeth for her work on “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You” sign. Our church needs constantly to be aware of  the welcoming aspect of this parish. He encouraged everyone to welcome the new people in church and after church.
• Judy – Judy attended the Blue and Gold banquet for the scouts held in the parish hall. It was a very solemn ceremony and there were many in attendance.  The scout leaders would very much like the people of R. E. Lee to be more involved with the scouts, by having one or two members of the church serve on the Cub and Scout Committees. Tom said he would like to follow up on this.

Comments by the Rector:

            Tom encouraged everyone to get involved with some of the many Lenten offerings. There is written material available, Morning Prayer, and Wednesday evening services at 5:30 followed by dinner and program. Tomorrow is the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and talent show. Tom said the small group meetings with Vestry members are going well. They are meeting every other Sunday morning and every other Tuesday. Tom noted that there will be no Vestry meeting next month.

Tom closed with prayer.

Next Vestry meeting will be April 19, 2010 at 5:00 pm in the Parish Hall.

Meeting adjourned at 6:30.

Respectfully submitted, 

Gail Dick, Clerk