Holy Trinity Vestry Meeting – APPROVED COPY

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Church Hall

Vestry Members Present: Cheryl Twiss (CT), Deb Pallasch (DP), Mike Brogan (MB), Ed Adamowski (EA), Bill Lopes (BL), Mark Gustafson (MG), Mike Zmich (MZ).

Vestry Members Absent: Larry Gadsby (LG), Alan Locke (AL), Steve Horridge (SH).

Others Present: Daryl Stahl

Opening Prayer. Daryl Stahl

Meeting was called to order at 7:00pm

*******Core Business*********

Previous Vestry Meeting Minutes. A motion was made (MB/MG) and approved to accept the minutes from the April 12, 2007 Vestry meeting.

Finances. LG was not present, but had submitted a cash flow report. There were some questions, and it was decided to not vote on approval of this report, but to ask LG to provide and discuss a more detailed financial report at the next vestry meeting, with the financials to include the impact of the costs (now known) of a new full time priest, and to reflect the probability of at least a one month ‘vacancy’ of the Rectory, probably July.

Building and Grounds. BG summarized the activities for April and provided the report attached below, the major event being resolution of a back up of the septic system (at substantial cost since the leeching fields had to also be cleaned). This area needs to be placed on the long term planning document, with possible establishment of an accrual designed to cover eventual replacement.

******* Discussion Items and New Business********

Sunday Collection and Counting Procedures. DP passed out a draft copy of the ‘Instructions For Closing And Sealing Collection Sacks’ as well as a draft ‘Counting Procedures’ document. We cannot have an outside audit until improved systems are put in place. The target is to put approved procedures in place no later than July 1^st 2007. We briefly reviewed the draft procedures, and DP asked that we all review in detail and pass comments on to her. We also discussed the ‘who’ would perform these tasks, with a suggestion that the collection bagging and sealing be carried out by one member of the usher staff and one member of the Altar Guild inasmuch as there is usually one or more of each at each service. For the Counting Procedure, which also includes depositing the funds, a list of candidates is being drawn up and they will be contacted. A schedule will be structured, much as the current usher schedule.

CT/DP/EA will schedule a meeting with Isabel Negus to make sure all bases and accounts are covered, and then arrange for an eventual meeting with those who have agreed to be on the ‘counting’ team to review the process and procedure. An update on this subject will be included in the June Vestry meeting agenda.

Rectory Redux and Re-rental. Current residents have given notice of vacancy on or before June 30, 2007. (Update: now closed to the middle of June) We will try to set up a new renter beginning as close to August 1^st as possible, with the belief that the primary preparation task will be just repainting the interior. (New windows and appliances were installed 2 years ago). To verify this Mike Brogan (lead) and Bill Lopes will schedule a walk-through with the current occupant. One a clear understanding of the Redux is known, Mike Brogan will contact Mike Hill (who aggressively marketed the unit the last time) to initiate a new occupant search, and coordinate the Redux.

Clean Up Day (May 20^th). MB passed out the list of projects that we plan to try to complete on the scheduled clean up day. Everything seems to be on schedule.

Farewell for Daryl. Daryl stated that all he wants is farewell at a coffee hour on his last scheduled day at HTC, and he suggested who might be the speakers. Also, don’t give any money, as it will be given right back to the church. The vestry will discuss this outside of the vestry meetings.

Supply Clergy. We will need supply clergy between Daryl’s last day and July 22nd, Alan Gates first scheduled service. CT indicated that dates for supply clergy will depend on availability and that it may be necessary to find someone for a longer-term commitment. However, tentatively Daryl’s last day will be June 24^th, with supply clergy July 1^st, July 8^th and July 15^th, but Daryl has agreed to stay through July 1^st if we cannot get supply for that weekend. (Update: Daryl’s last service will be June 10^th, and supply clergy has been arranged)

Endowment Designation Significance. EA wanted to address the difference between a donor designated gift and a Vestry designated gift/endowment. By State statute, if HTC is given a donor designated gift (meaning the donor designates the use for the funds), we would ONLY be able to utilize the INTEREST from the gift’s investment (a true endowment), and we would have to use the gift only in the manner designated. The Diocese would either have to sign-off, or we would be required to have the gift invested by the Diocese. The gift HTC received from the Peck’s was just that, a gift, with no donor designation. As a consequence the Vestry can determine the use of the gift (as in the current Vestry stipulation that we can only draw up to 4% annually from the Peck Gift for operations, and only up to 1% for outreach. The Vestry also controls the investment, and in the case of the Peck gift, that has been entrusted to an Endowment committee, lead by Dave Rego.

Security. SH was to lead a discussion on HTC building security, with various suggestions that we might act upon. As SH was not present, this subject will be deferred to the June meeting.

Newsletter. Given the crush of other pressing matters, and the July arrival of Alan Gates, we agreed to defer this subject to the September Vestry meeting.

Worship Service Times. We agreed that Sunday services would switch to a single service at 9:00 am beginning Sunday June 10^th, 2007 and continue through the Labor Day weekend, with worship services returning to 8:00 am and 10:00 am on Sunday September 9^th, 2007. Saturday services were discussed as well, and return to such services will be held off until the arrival of Alan Gates. Alan has indicated a preference for conducting such services, but Paul Koumrian will not be able to provide this service as he did last summer, and starting such services now would add to the complication of obtaining supply clergy for the three weeks in July.

This meeting was adjourned with a closing prayer circle at 9:10 pm.

The next HTC vestry meeting will be THURSDAY, 14 JUNE 2007

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Brogan

Building and Grounds Report attached as page #3

Building And Grounds Vestry Report For April 2007

On April 29^th the Parish Hall Septic system experienced a total failure resulting in clogged drains and overflowing toilets. Fortunately, although we do not know exactly when the failure occurred, we do not believe any parishioners were affected. Corrective action took four days to resolve, and included septic tank pumping (1250 gallons); two drain line lines roto-rooter cleaning, and a custom cleaning of our leaching field. Based on Septic System specialists we should be able to get 2 to 5 years extended life on our leaching field as a result of the extensive cleaning which included the addition of 90 gallons of hydrogen peroxide. From here on out, we will need to pump our septic tank annually, and inspect the tank level every 6 months to make sure that the leaching field is working properly. Total cost for the above corrective action was $2,612.90, which includes a one-year warranty on our cleaned drains. For the record, the following vendors were used:
Septic System pumping and cleaning-Wind River Environmental (978-562-4500)
Drain line Roto-Rooter cleaning- GEM (877-436-6684).
Ray Gallant and Bill Lopes installed a surface drain in the rear church play area, tying into the existing French Drain. This drain is intended to deal with excessive water runoff from Peckham’s hill. Early indications are that it is very effective-time will tell.
Mike Brogan has completed plans for the Spring Cleanup with a detailed work list along with the materials and equipment needed. Now all we need is the weather to co-operate.