Vestry Meeting Minutes

September 9, 2009

Devotional: Wednesday night Eucharist

Roll Call: Chuck Harrill, Sr. Warden, called the meeting to order and took roll. Vestry attendees were: Beverly Hill, Carl Beckett, Michael Cobb, Ted Guilford, Bob Underwood, C.A. Wallin, Jr. Warden, Virginia Helms, Carolina Villa, Bob Moore, and Chuck Harrill, Sr. Warden

Staff present: Priest, Dick Warner; Treasurer, Bonnie Yeakey; Vestry Clerk, Becky Underwood

Approval of July & August Minutes: Chuck Harrill presented the meeting minutes and asked for changes or comments. No changes were presented. Carolina Villa made a motion to approve the minutes as recorded. Virginia Helms seconded the motion and they passed unanimously.

Building Committee Report: Ted Guilford reported that he is waiting on revised plans from the architect. We cannot move forward until those plans are received.

C.A. Wallin met with the County Inspectors as well as the Architect last week and they said we cannot continue to meet in the Chapel building. It does not meet the County codes for commercial property and is in danger of being closed by the fire marshal. It is coded as a residential dwelling only and could be used to house our Priest, but cannot be used for church services, meetings, offices, etc…C.A. proposed we do not spend any more money on the building. He said we can use it for storage. The consensus from the Vestry is that we continue to hold small meetings in it as well as letting Dick and Jamey use it as office space, but not spend more money on remodeling with the hope we can use it until the new building is constructed.

Treasurer’s Report – Bonnie Yeakey: Bonnie e-mailed reports prior to meeting. She presented the reports to the vestry for discussion. General pledge receipts increased over July by $1,248. Plate offering increased from July by $655. We had positive revenue over expenses of $3,010. Capital pledge receipts increased over July by $3,176. We had positive net revenue for the month of $7,702.43. Balance sheet items were – Cash of $129,429 and fixed assets stayed the same at $592,712.

Finance Committee Report – Ted Guilford: Ted said that $99,000 capital pledge from January has actually been reduced to $91,000 from modifications made by the congregation throughout the year. He made a motion we change the projected number on the balance sheet. C.A. Wallin seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Dick’s comments: Dick reported that Deacon Andy Atkinson requested $295 from Holy Cross for the purpose of continuing education for 2009. He would like to take an online course to become certified in a change management, strategic planning process called APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY.  Total cost for the program is $895. He has received a $300 Grant from the Diocese for the course and plans to use $300 of personal money, asking Holy Cross to match the Diocesan Grant. Dick reminded the Vestry that all Clergy are required by the Diocese to further their education each year and urged the vestry to pay Andy’s portion of the grant as well as the amount requested. Carl Beckett made a motion that Holy Cross pay $595 for Andy’s continuing education in 2009. Bob Underwood seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Dick also reminded the Vestry that he will be checking into the hospital Sept. 21 and will be there for 3 days for the purpose of regulating his new medication. He should leave the hospital on Friday and should be able to preach the following Sunday. He will let us know if anything changes.

Cannon Matt Stockard’s planned visit to Holy Cross on September 13 had to be rescheduled due to personal reasons. He is now planning to visit Holy Cross on October 25. C.A. Wallin asked if the vestry should meet with him following the service and Dick said we could, but do not need to necessarily. Dick will not have Wednesday service on Sept. 23, and Oct. 14 and 21.

Dick also reported that Jay Cassler mentioned he thought it would be a good idea to vest during Lent. He thought vesting for the crucifer and gospel would be good. Several vestry members said they have vestments that could be used. Dick thinks this is a good idea and the vestry agreed.

Andy’s comments: Andy was absent.

Sr. Warden’s report – Chuck Harrill: Chuck said the vestry needs to start preparing for stewardship this fall. He passed out a schedule for review. Bob Moore is the vestry liaison and Milton Stevenson is the lay minister in charge of stewardship. Following some discussion about the approach to stewardship, Michael Cobb said his previous church asked a few parishioners to lead several Sunday services during the campaign, to talk about stewardship. He felt this was effective and appropriate. Dick said it may also be time for the vestry members to meet with people in small groups to discuss stewardship and other issues. This gives everyone a good opportunity to get answers to any questions concerning the Parish. Dick said we need to have the proposed budget at the meetings. Virginia Helms felt we may not have enough time to plan the small groups this year and suggested that maybe this year we do this with phone calls. We could divide the congregation into alphabetical order and each vestry member would be in charge of contacting their group. Michael said we also need to talk about time and talent as well as financial. Bob Moore mentioned we have about 45 pledging units. Most of these people are very involved with the church. Do we key on these people or do we key on those who aren’t so involved, giving all people a chance for involvement. Michael said he feels we should continue to pay attention to all parishioners and keep everyone involved. The vestry consensus was to continue to include all Parishioners in the stewardship campaign.

Ted Guilford said we need to start thinking about electing new vestry members and delegates for the convention. We will need 4 new vestry members next year, 3 replacements for retiring members and one new position. This will get us up to 12 members. Dick said this needs to be presented to the membership now to let people start thinking about volunteering and/or nominating potential candidates. The vestry agreed that Fred Hammond should include this information in the e-mail announcement sent on Thursday as well as have Erika Graves include it in the bulletin. Bob Underwood will take care of this.

Dick Warner said we need to make sure we maintain access to the Chapel building during our building process. Carolina Villa also mentioned we will need space for the upcoming October fest and is concerned the land prep and grading will cause a problem. C.A. Wallin said it should not be a problem as we have several acres available that will not be involved with the building plot. Bob Underwood commented that the current bush hogging of the property looks great. C.A. said we are using a new person for that who is doing it for a lower cost.

Jr. Warden’s report – C.A. Wallin: Nothing at this time.

Ministry Reports from Vestry Liaisons:

Carolina Villa praised Linda Lashley and Betty Spitzer for the great job they are doing with the Parish Life committee.

Virginia Helms said Dee McGuire is also doing a great job with the Education committee. She has greatly organized the process and seems to really enjoy the work.

Also mentioned was Scott Yeakey. He is doing a great job as well with the Newcomers committee.

Old Business: none

New Business: none

Closing Prayer: Dick Warner led a closing prayer.

Adjourn: Chuck Harrill