St. Andrew’s Vestry Meeting

January 10, 2007

Peabody Room

 

Present:  Al Colburn, John Ferrillo, Marilyn Guest, Russ Harris, Sue Hildreth, Linda Kaferle, Fr. Alan MacKillop, Mary Medeiros, Lili Ott, Carolyn Smith

Absent:  Jeanne Cassin, Manny Lindo, Yvette Nasworthy

 

I.                   Opening Devotions and Prayer

 

II.                Motion Approved to Accept 12/13/06 Meeting Minutes

 

III.             Priest-in-Residence Report (Fr. Alan)

A.     Read thank-you letter from Bishop Shaw regarding his recent visit

B.     Christmas services very well attended (110 at 5 PM; 84 at 10 PM which was double the amount of last year)

1.      Mary Medeiros put the service schedule in six newspapers and on cable TV in several towns

a.      Russ suggested doing the same for the Easter service schedule

C.     Fr. Alan will be taking vacation from 1/25-2/8

1.      Fr. Bill Gannon will take his place at the Sunday services

D.    Lenten program has been planned – details to follow later

E.     Confirmation to take place on June 2nd at St. Anne’s in Lincoln

1.      Classes to begin after Fr. Alan returns from vacation

F.      Special diocesan convention to take place on March 10th in Westboro

1.      Kim Lindo and Jeanne Cassin will attend as delegates

2.      Parishioner attendance is encouraged

 

IV.              Senior Warden’s Report (Russ Harris)

A.     Discussion regarding the Vestry’s role as financial stewards of the church

1.      John Ferrillo suggested that the Vestry keep an informal accounting of expenditures made using unrestricted bequest money of $30,000 or above

a.      John Riley’s bequest currently being tracked informally

i.                    $3000 put towards the sound system

ii.                  $5000 to be put towards the ramp

b.      Carolyn Smith suggested making the expenditures known to all parishioners via the church’s monthly newsletter

i.                    Would provide a means of recognizing the person(s) in whose memory the bequest is made

ii.                  Would instill confidence in those who might consider making a future bequest

c.       Russ Harris suggested that the proposed informal accounting process be verbally reported at Annual Meeting

i.                    Sue Hildreth and Fr. Alan felt that a spreadsheet included in the Annual Meeting report would suffice without the need to speak about it at the meeting

ii.                  Sue felt the more transparent accounting system she has initiated will take care of any need to track the bequest expenditures

d.      After much discussion, two motions were passed:

i.                    To keep an informal accounting of the expenditures from all bequests over $30,000: such expenditures to be made public in The X-Press (8 “yes” votes; 1 “no” vote)

ii.                   To talk about the Vestry’s goal of keeping track of expenditures out of legacy gifts over $30,000 at the Annual Meeting (7 “yes” votes; 2 “no” votes)

1.      Russ to prepare the talk; Fr. Alan to review

 

V.                 Jr. Wardens’ Report (Mary Medeiros & Carolyn Smith)

A.     Mary reported that Moore’s Lumber will help us with materials for the ramp

 

VI.              Treasurer’s Report (Sue Hildreth)

A.     Provided a copy of the Statement of Financial Activities (including the 2007 Budget) and the St. Andrew’s Balance Sheet that will be included in the Annual Meeting Report

B.     Asked for the Vestry’s approval to move $6,000 out of the checking account into the Fidelity Investment account

1.      Motion unanimously passed

C.     Reported that 2006 ended with a positive Net Operating Income of $5,660.53  

D.    Received $1,000 restricted donation to pay down the diocesan assessment

E.     Assigned rental expenses to Rental Income in order to decrease our exposure to the possibility of paying possible real estate taxes at some future time

F.      Received 73 total pledges amounting to $127,300

G.    Pleased that the 2006 Total Income was so close to the 2006 budgeted amount ($142,600 vs. $143,800)

H.    Motion approved to accept the December Financial Report as presented

 

VII.           Old Business

A.     Directory

1.      John and Carolyn hope to have it ready for distribution at Annual Meeting

B.     Investment Policy

1.      Sue requested that the procedure of obtaining double signatures be eliminated since it is not effective in insuring that things are done properly

a.      Effective procedures include having several people involved in “keeping the books” and having annual audits

i.                    Sue would like to explore using “cross church audits” at a deanery level

ii.                  ACTION ITEM:  Fr. Alan will contact possible members of the Audit Committee since current members have resigned (potential members include Phil Welton, Yvette Nasworthy, and Mark Louttit)

2.      Motion made to accept the Business and Investment Policy as written (our thanks to Jeanne Cassin) with the elimination of the references made to check signing in Items 2 and 3 under Part A (7 “yes” votes; 1 “no” vote; 1 abstention (John Ferrillo)

a.      Marilyn did not feel that this should be voted on until next month when the new vestry members will be present

 

VIII.        New Business

A.     Preparation for Annual Meeting

1.      ACTION ITEM:  Carolyn to send out a reminder card to the Parish noting one 9 AM Service followed by a luncheon and Annual Meeting on 1/21/07

2.       ACTION ITEM:  Russ to write a report on the ramp to be included in the Annual Meeting Report (to be e-mailed to Lynn Ferrillo by this weekend)

a.      Include Manny’s willingness to continue as Project Manager

B.     Investment Report (Al Colburn)

1.      Report distributed to Vestry

a.      Marilyn requested that the Riley Estate money be separated out from the Fidelity Growth & Income total amount so people can see the actual growth in that account

2.      $300,000 bond is in process

3.      Al agreed to continue managing the investments until a new manager is found

a.      John said he would consider taking the job next year when he is no longer on the Vestry

C.     Nominating Committee Vestry choices

1.      Mark Louttit

2.      Linda Kaferle

3.      Mary Ann Welton

4.      Dick Dabrowski

5.      Possibly Dwight Harshbarger (have not been able to get in touch as of yet)

D.    Gratitude and round of applause for outgoing Vestry members

1.      Al Colburn

2.      Manny Lindo

3.      Mary Medeiros

4.      Lili Ott

5.      Carolyn Smith

 

IX.              Closing Prayer

 

X.                 Next Meeting February 14, 2007 7:30 PM in Peabody Room

 

XI.              Adjournment 9:20 PM

 

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Kaferle