Vestry Minutes 5/13/08

Attending: Rev Kubicek, Rev Kohn, Joel Ballard, John Francis, Guv Mitchell, Eric Samuel, Andrew Stone, Phil Shaw, Beth McSweeney, Tom Baxter

Absent: Katherine Schnorrenberg, John French, Don Cahoon

Minutes from April Vestry Meeting were accepted.

John Francis provided a very detailed, complete explanation of the St. Peter’s Church operating budget, which had been requested at a previous Vestry meeting.

New Business:
1 – St. Peter’s Church web site: Phil Shaw noted that the info on the website is chronically out-of-date, and wanted to discuss the reasons for that and what can be done to improve the situation; specifically, are we contractually bound to the current webmaster (Sarah Foster)? Fr. Kirk noted that the cost of the web site maintenance is $70/mo for 2 hours’ work, and that one of the principal issues is how to manage the flow of info updates to Sarah. Fr. Kirk expressed his need for independently operated modules: he updates his blog independently and wants to keep it that way. Tom Baxter, speaking for the to-be-developed Communications Committee, volunteered the Committee to manage the communications with the webmaster. Fr. Kirk committed to talking to Sarah about the coming change and getting her phone number to Tom.

2 – Visit of Acting Bishop to St. Peter’s Church on June 1. Fr. Kirk noted the upcoming visit, and requested everyone’s presence and participation.

3 – Timeliness of Report submissions: Fr. Kirk noted that if reports are note emailed out by Friday of the week before a scheduled Vestry meeting, there is very little chance that he will be able to read them before the meeting on Tuesday night.

4 – “Who owns the congregation?” This discussion began, covered a few concerns, and ended due to time concerns (late into the evening). The main concern was about “Mission” (reaching out to change lives): are we doing enough, and how much is enough? Phil noted that he thinks we’re not doing enough; Fr. Kirk and MM think it’s better to do a few things in-depth (“What small part of God’s plan can we accomplish?”) than a lot of things not-so-in-depth; and that for a church our size, it’s easier to get people involved if they’re not overwhelmed with opportunities (my words). [Sorry – I did not get down all of this conversation, but I know it did not end with any conclusive decision.]

5 – Fr. Kirk noted that Eric S had some New Business he wanted to raise. Eric offered to raise them another time given that it had gotten late.

6 – Calendar items:
June 1: Fr. Kirk reiterated planning details for the visit of Bishop Michael on June 1st (service, walk-about)
June 1 (5 PM): Choral/organ recital event scheduled for the same day at 5 PM with Katherine S, Tom Hesson, and Tom’s wife
June 6: NIGHT-OUT organized by Monica
June 20: Newcomer’s Dinner (place/time TBD)
June 22: Sunday School Recognition

7 – Support to new Bishop’s Investiture Fund. Fr. Kirk provided copies of the letter from the Diocese requesting funds from every parish church to defray the costs of the ceremony; the target amount is $200. There was discussion about the location of the ceremony, its high cost (and apparent factor of 2x cost overrun), whether we could afford to send the full requested amount given that the Diocese is already supporting us, and whether this was the best use of scarce resources in our diocese. Fr. Kirk offered to forward a statement of our concern about the cost of the Investiture Ceremony to the Standing Committee. In the end, we approved a motion to send the full $200.

The meeting concluded with the Eucharist, and ended at about 10:15 PM.

Respectfully Submitted
Tom Baxter
Vestry Member