SAINT JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
VESTRY MEETING MINUTES
AUGUST 15, 2006
Present:  Michele Collins, Sylvia Weston, Jacquelyn Ross, David Hall, Trish Morck, Ross Spear, Susan Harris, Mark Agard
Visitors:  Chris Morck (mission), Claire Morck (mission), Isabel Morck (mission), Mea Allen (Partakers), Laura Tuach (Partakers), Tom Tufts (GBIO, stewardship), Maureen Capillo (Partakers)
Absent:  Jennifer Schley

Worship lead by Susan Harris

Minutes passed for June and July of 2006 with small corrections

Mission: Proposal – Chris and Trish Morck
Motion passed to support them in their upcoming mission to Ecuador.  Plan will be to have a commission service for them and to also have them take their financial aid request to the mission committee.  Commission service will be coordinated with missions committee.  Chris and Trish will also present their mission information at a forum on a Sunday directly after Church service.  This also will be coordinated with the missions committee.  Chris Morck to follow up with Nancy McArdle of the mission committee concerning these issues.  He will also contact Aletha Cole and write an article for The Bell.

Old Business
Prison Ministry
Maureen and some visitors from the prison ministry committee were present to describe the program.  Commitment is a one- time three thousand dollar payment to Partakers to cover costs of educating one prison inmate, coordinate the program, and orient and support the group of people who adopt a prisoner (prison ministry committee).  The commitment is to adopt one prisoner and support them in attaining a college degree.  For most prisoners this requires approximately 4-6 years.  Usually a team of 4-8 people work on a “prison ministry committee”.  Their mission is to visit the prisoner, write to the prisoner, write newsletter articles about the program, and offer educational forums about Partakers and their prison ministry committee work.  The committee usually meets once a month to review letters sent back and forth from the prisoner, and makes suggestions concerning the involvement of the church community as a whole.  The total number of hours required per month is quite low.  The members of the committee may change over time.  Partakers staff offer the prison ministry committee guidance and support.
Maureen Capillo is here today representing the 5 people who are waiting to start a prison ministry committee are coming forward today to request that the church give the three thousand dollars needed to register with the program.  The prison ministry group suggests that a “sending/serving” grant be used to pay for this program.  Partakers will allow us to adopt a prisoner without paying up front for all of the costs of the program.
The vestry passed a motion to support the program and figure out the money as we go.
Partakers staff members distributed information sheets about the program to all vestry members.

GBIO – Greater Boston Interfaith Organization
Tom Tufts came to the vestry meeting to continue ongoing conversation with the vestry concerning Saint James joining GBIO.  Sylvia Weston has spoken with GBIO.  They are willing to negotiate a yearly membership fee with us as long as it does not go below ½% of operating costs.  The vestry decided that we are unable to make a firm decision to join right now due to our financial issues involving our interim pastor and the loss of our tenant.  The vestry supports our joining as soon as we can be clear that we can afford it.

Warden’s Report
Comprehensive discussion of salary issues in regard to the interim priest.  We have received specific salary requirements from the Bishop.  There was discussion about how to respond to this.  David Hall suggested, and Susan Harris seconded and a motion passed to allow Sylvia Weston to enter into an agreement with Shariya Molegoda as necessary regarding her employment.

Search Process / Committee
Mark Agard and David Cameron will contact suggested committee members and come to the vestry meeting in September with information on who would like to serve.  Sylvia will give them the list she currently has created and other committee members are to send suggestions on to them.

Discernment – Valerie Bailey-Fisher
Deferred.  Deadline changed.

Commission Reports
Stewardship – Tom Tufts
Tom gave a report on stewardship for this year.  New pledges are coming in.  See table below for details.
Year        #People who have pledged        Total pledge amount        Total Giving
2005            110                192,000            214,000
2006            100                186,400            Undetermined

He noted that the total number of people pledging has decreased this year. 
He suggests that we attempt to set up a system where people’s pledges can be automatically deducted from their accounts and deposited in a church account.  Ann Reed is to discuss this with David Hall and Tom Tufts.
Finance
There will be a finance committee meeting 9/06 to review our insurance policies on the property.  This could have an effect on who we can rent to.
Property
People in the congregation would like an update on construction work planned in regard to the capital campaign.  Peter will write an article for The Bell to update people on the plans.

New Business
Signage - David Hall notes sign missing in front of church.  Ross Speak will check with Peter as to the location of the sign.  It will cost money to be refurbished if we wish to do this.  Discussion of signage for church.  General agreement that our overall signage is poor.  The magnolia tree has grown over the sign in front.
Capital Campaign funds – Susan Harris to meet with David Hall to invest $214,000 in a money market account which is the functional equivalent of a checking account.
Capital Campaign Committee – David Hall notes that there no longer exists a functional capital campaign committee.  Winn Barnard is attending another church and Pat Haynes is not working on the committee any longer.  David does plan to ask Barbara Kalinowski if she would be willing to work on the committee ongoing.  David will speak with Susan Harris about this and they will come up with a plan.  Sylvia Weston suggests that we invites Michael Young to join the capital campaign committee
Bishop Shaw’s Visit – General discussion about Bishop Shaw’s upcoming visit starting September 29, 2006.  Some issues the vestry plans to bring up with the Bishop are the difficulty of meeting an 8% increase in dues to the Diocese, as the involvement of the Diocese with churches.  At our next vestry meeting we will review a list of issues to be addressed at the Bishop’s visit.

Next Meeting
Tuesday September 20, 2006
7:30p-9:30p