St. James Episcopal Church

St. James’ Episcopal Church

Glastonbury, CT

Vestry Minutes

June 10, 2013

The Vestry held a regular monthly meeting on June 10, 2013 at St. James’ with the following present: The Rev. Amanda Akes, Ralph Urban, Steve Ciccalone, Nick Daukas, Gail Lebert, Gayle Kataja, Lauren Furtak, Dan Shannon, Judy Knowlton, Marie and Clint Dixon and Natalie Toppi.

Opening Worship Amanda+ began the meeting with an opening prayer.

Discussion Items What needs to be addressed before Amanda+ leaves? What issues need to be maintained during the Interim search time?

Supply Priest/Interim We will be looking for a supply priest for August, September and October. Amanda is looking for a supply priest while she’s on vacation. She has one Sunday covered already. When we have a supply priest we will need a person to greet them and give them some direction. The Minister of Communion should lead or help the supply priest.

We have a list of supply priest that we use to find coverage. August is difficult to fill due to the high number of vacations by priest at that time. Tim Hoddap+ will be here August 11th and we won’t need to obtain a supply priest.

Clint and Marie Dixon were concerned about the length of time that we will be without a priest. It is hard on the parish as well as any newcomers. Is it necessary to have such a long transition time?

One of the jobs of the Interim priest is to address the needs of the parish. Until we have an interim in place it is difficult to move forward to find a permanent priest.

It was determined that more information/communication needed to go out to the parish. Gail is going to put together a FAQ addressing the concerns of the parish. In addition, there will be a special coffee hour on June 30th after the 9:00 service to address any questions or concerns from the parish.

Youth Ministry The Nursery to 5th grade is very secure right now. Danielle Phelan has teachers in place. The Middle School grades have a secure team consisting of Jill Monsarrat, Molly Donovan and Dan Aramani. The High School is a very important piece who will need a part time youth minister.

Pastoral Care Commission Lauren Furtak feels that Pastoral Care is in good shape and they could benefit from a monthly meeting with Walter. Lauren has regular contact with the office staff who is aware of the pastoral needs of the parish. We will need to assign an emergency number in Amanda’s absence.

Newcomers Commission Dan Shannon felt the Newcomers commission was also in good shape. He would like to put FAQ on Facebook. He was also asking about information on how to formally be received in to the Episcopal Church.

Outreach Commission Judy Knowlton said that Outreach does not have too much involvement with the priest so she felt they would be fine during the absence of a priest.

Worship Commission Steve Ciccalone, Worship Commission, could still use more people to help the Altar Guild. The Sunday School will continue with the children in church one Sunday per month. We will be unable to have a 5 p.m. Sunday service during the summer. Registration in the fall will be on September 8th and church school will start on September 15th.

Communications Commission Nick Daukas wanted to make sure that there would be someone to go to for questions or concerns we normally would go to our priest. The Junior and Senior Wardens, Gail Lebert and Gayle Kataja will be the first resource and they can go to Bishop Douglas if necessary.

Facilities Commission Gayle explained that we have the opportunity to register the church as a historical building. Jim Bennett and Ray Davis will be able to help with this process.

Youth Minister Search Process This process can start right away. Amanda+ will write a job description. This will be a 20 hour position focusing on the high school and middle school grades. The position can be filled by either a lay person or an ordained minister. The person hired will have to go through safe church training. They should have an education background as well as a religious background. We are precluded from hiring from the parish. There is a national church website that we can post this position. Facilities Report The work to the parking lot will begin after the 4th of July. The cost is approximately $53,000. We were able to buy a new vacuum cleaner for $839 and includes a 5 year warranty.

Assistant Rector Update Amanda+ will be in L.A. for one week and then in Tennessee for one week. The trip to Borderlands, July 19-26 will still take place. Amanda+ will not be attending but another priest from east of the river will take her place.

Amanda+ wants to say a “good” good-bye to the youth.

Website Update Nick reported that all is well and at the moment there is nothing new to report.

Treasurer’s Report Brad was unable to make this meeting. There was no finance meeting prior to the vestry meeting.

Approval of Minutes The April, May and Special Vestry Meeting minutes were all approved.

Feedback It was mentioned that it would have been nice to have child care available during the church school feedback meeting.

Concluding Prayer Prayer partner cards were completed and shared. Gail Lebert closed the meeting with a prayer.

Respectfully submitted,

Natalie Toppi