Meeting of 20th November, 2006
Present
Fr Bill, Diane Barrette, Basil Brigandi, Marq Davis, Sal Giorlandino, Leanne Harkness, Gale McKenzie, Sharyn Philcox, Kim Schultz, Don Shapleigh, Peggy Yankee, MJ Ebens
The meeting opened with a reading at 7:00pm.
Previous Minutes
The minutes of the previous vestry meeting were presented and accepted.
Treasurer's Report
The Treasurer's Report was presented by Peggy Yankee, treasurer, and accepted. The highlights were:
- Pledges are up slightly
- The monthly gas bill was low because the furnace was not functioning
- The total deficit is $17,102
- Line item 5242 will be corrected by moving the "Expense Account" to line item 5400 under Rector's Discretionary Fund
The report was accepted.
Miscellaneous
The following were discussed.
Sharyn reported that the Nominating Committee is making good progress.
In the absence of anyone from the Every Member Canvass, Fr Bill reported that the canvass is going well. Some parishioners have significantly raised their pledges. There were only a few minor cuts in pledging and the losses from departing members have been more than made up.
Fr Bill noted that the Diocesan Assessment has increased slightly to $25,366. This is a yearly assessment and paid by the month.
The list of Lay Reader, LEM, and LEV renewals was presented. A motion to above the list was made by Sharyn and seconded by Leeann. Passed unanimously.
Visioning requests covered the following:
- Restore the labyrinth
- Move the services to 8:00am and 10:00am
- Provide more lighting under the balcony
- Have volunteer families bake the Eucharistic bread once a month (Fr Bill has a recipe if needed)
- Have a congregational renewal of marriage vows several times a year.
- Develop a Teen Clown Ministry that could involve visitations to the elderly and something for children
- Dedicate the plate (loose) offering to various out-reach groups.
Sharyn and Fr Bill will work on a way to present this to the parish.
The Vestry/Warden Day is on 10 March at AIC.
The changes made to Canon 16 at the Convention were briefly reviewed. The vestry has the opportunity to send comments back to the Diocese by 1st February.
Website upgrades
David Trussler had sent email on changes being made to the website. A motion was made by Marq and seconded by Kim to reimburse David up to $100 to cover moving the website. Passed unanimously. The vestry again reiterated that showing faces of adults on the website is fine, but we need to be careful about how children are shown.
Parsonage Allowance
Be it resolved that whereas the Rev William Martin is employed as a minister of the Gospel by St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Westborough, Massachusetts, which although providing a residence for him, does not provide the full cost of maintaining and furnishing such a residence, on a motion made by Sharyn Philcox, seconded by Sal Giorlandino, and voted in the affirmative by the Vestry of St. Stephen's, said Vestry resolves that of the total compensation to be paid to Fr Martin during the 2007 year, that $3,000 be designated a parsonage allowance within the meaning of that term as used in section 107 of the IRS Code of 1986. The designation of this parsonage allowance shall apply to calendar year 2007 and all future years unless otherwise provided for by the parish's Vestry. Passed on Monday, November 20, 2006.
MJ Ebens, Vestry Clerk
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