Minutes of St. James’s Church Vestry Meeting

17 May 2005

Present: Jennifer Schley, Rev. Michael Povey, Edward Wu, George Van Hazinga, Tom Tufts, Peter Merrell, Carol Hilliard, Glenn Wong, Ken Pope, Trish Morck Amanda Clay Powers. Regina Laba Walton (guest)

Absent: Mardi Moran, Sylvia Weston, Susan Harris

Place: St. James Church

Time: 7:30pm – 10:00pm

Agenda:

Worship, led by Amanda Clay Powers

Minutes

Glenn moved to accept minutes with changes, George seconded. Motion carried.

Agenda:

Old business

· Long’s Funeral Home – Action will shift to appeal by the Porter Square petitioners, in which St. James’ will no longer be apart of the lawsuit.

· Mass Historical Commission Grant Application – Need to identify people who can help with aspects of it (elected officials, letters of support, etc.). Due June 24^th. We will vote on this at the next Vestry Mtg.

· Capital Fund Drive –

o Motion for St. James to endorse a capital fund drive starting in 2005 with a goal of $600,000. George motioned, Peter seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

o Motion to have the St. James engage with Ruotolo associates given the terms of their proposal to facilitate the capital fund drive at a cost of $33,500 plus expenses and authorize the senior warden to sign a contract to this effect with Ruotolo. George motioned, Carol seconded. Discussion regarding start date of campaign. Should the motion be amended to authorize the senior warden to authorize changes? Neither were considered a problem. Unanimously carried.

Rectors report

· The bishop enjoyed her visit. Rector thought it went well.

· May 21 – Concert and Dinner on Saturday starting at 4:30pm

· 20-35 year old meeting with Rector continuing

· Reception for Newcomers went well. Roughly seven Newcomers. Answered questions. This will be done quarterly. Next will be in August.

· July 17 – Harvard Square Ecumenical Churches annual celebration in Harvard Epworth Methodist Church

· July 24 – St. James Day (July 25) Celebration will be held. Glenn will talk to Susan to see if she and Tom can head up cooking team this year.

· George, Sylvia and the Rector met and proposed to have an overnight retreat in the fall. Focus on spiritual lives. Sept. 30 – October 2^nd. is a possible time. Friday (for those who can) through lunch on Sunday.

Finance Committee Report – Recommend that the Vestry adopt the plan for the Capital Funds Drive. Finance Committee believes it will be a lot of work, and it will be difficult to get volunteers to make it happen. Est. $35-40k (6% of total) for Ruotolo. Ruotolo wants to start in the summer and end in December. The Finance Committee votes to engage Ruotolo to do the work. Regarding payment, the money should come from the improvement fund to pay Ruotolo. The large donation is going to be transferred from the Diocese to St. James shortly and then placed into a money market fund. (an amendment to the Finance Committee Minutes of May 3, 2005).

Additionally, the Finance Committee agreed that if we have a capital fund drive with major maintenance expenses coming out of that, and realizing that we don’t want to make many changes in the church at once. They moved the major maintenance expenses and other misc. (line items 151-154). This leaves a deficit of $3k. The Finance Committee believes the church can afford to have a full-time Minister of Christian Formation under these conditions.

Will we have the energy for the Stewardship campaign in addition to the Capital Funds drive? Ruotolo needs to be contacted. Tom did the stewardship campaign by himself. If the minister for Christian Formation will be full-time in 2006, that has to be part of the stewardship education this fall.

Sue Fisher reports checkbook balance is $25k.

Line 23 $20k removed

Line 49, why haven’t the thrift shop numbers change (these will be revised)

Line 76 changed

Line 103 corrects an error for the FICT tax for the food pantry salary

Lines 151-155 changes regard to major maintenance changes

Line 193 in the Nurture budget jumped almost double between 2004 to 2005.

Administration and Communication focus: Met with Tim and Aletha and gave them the information from Ruotolo Associates. There will be a summer issue in July, and Carol and George will prepare a one page spread about the campaign. Starting in September there will be one article in each issue of the Bell. Aletha would like to hear from more members of the Vestry. Tim will work on separate pages on building issues, volunteering, current events related to campaign, timelines, etc. Tim will have a draft of pages by June 21

The Vital Congregations self-assessment created for the Bishop will be put on the Vestry website by Tim.

Commission Reports:

• Worship – no report
• Fellowship – Glenn spoke with Elaine about helping out with the coffee hour. The Vestry will help with the coffee hour on the 22^nd. Food needs to be brought in—may need to leave service early.
• Stewardship – Tom reports they are up to $198,800 in pledges from over 100 people. Will reach $200k shortly. Would like to organize an effort to increase the participation level starting in the summer time. We may be able to reach $250k.at some point. Glenn requested that Tom do another flipchart presentation.
• Planning – Vestry retreat will be happening. More specific planning is not needed at this point
• Nurture – Kathie and Mary Caulfield have been in discussions regarding Mary’s program. Kathie will be away for six months. They are searching for someone to take her place and receive training. Michael reports that there are 40 people signed up so far.
• Property – Want to have a more unified calendar so that programming and leases will be clear—i.e. which rooms are taken and when. Putting it on the website may be helpful. They are looking for volunteers to help with the grant from Mass Historical. It is important to schedule work along with the funds as they come in from the capital campaign. If there is any work that requires a building permit, then the Mass Historical society will become involved. Need to plan for project management. Need to have a tenants meeting to discuss issues around leases, etc. Next pew-fixing day may be at the end of June. This will become regular.
• Outreach – Jennifer thanked Barbara Butler for her work with the Thrift Shop. Thanks to come for the volunteers. Feinstein challenge concluded May 1^st. The post office donated food of 1000 pounds. Attended meeting regarding June Jubilee walk for young adults. Now that Walk for Hunger is over, it will be possible to focus on the walk. Walk for Hunger, parishioners raised $3k.. Attended meeting for the interfaith Refugee Hunger administration. St. James invited to attend the Cambridge Cluster. Jennifer will get more information for St. James and talked to Nancy McArdle and the Missions Committee. Summer shelter will be at St. James from 26 June to 17 August.

New Business

• Glenn commented on Our Lady of Pity on Ringe Ave. which was renovated as a part of the Vineyard Church.

Next Meeting:

vestry meeting 7:00pm-9:30pm in the Parish Hall.

Postponed for the June Vestry meeting:

• Re-considering the budget motion for funding the Christian Formation position from the Finance Committee.
• Vote on revised budget based on the new report from the Finance Committee.

Motion to adjourn from George