Vestry Summary-January 2021

January 21, 2021

This summary is provided to highlight Vestry discussions that may be of interest to the congregation.  Complete minutes follow this summary.

  • Finance 
 Budget through Dec 31Actual through Dec 31
Total Income$77,892$82,922
Total Expenses$83,577$82,124
Net$-5,685$ -798

Please keep your pledge payments current.  They are vitally important, especially during this time.

  • The Bishop is visiting, via Zoom, on February 7. 
  • The Vestry approved the 2021 budget, which will be shared with the congregation at the Annual Meeting on January 31. The new budget includes the addition of a Tech Support position in the amount of $4,500, plus $317 for FICA. 
  • The Diocese has improved the recently launched tool for on-line giving, so that you can designate funds are to be used for a specific purpose.  Look for this tool on our web site.
  • The Vestry now meets twice a month, once for regular business and once for a deeper dive into one or two topics.  The latter is called the “Vestry Discussion Meeting.”  As originally described, no formal voting takes place at these discussion meetings.  However, there have been occasions during the year when it would have been helpful to bring an urgent issue to a vote at a discussion meeting, rather than waiting another two weeks for a regular Vestry meeting.  This month the Vestry decided that urgent issues may now be voted upon at Vestry Discussion Meetings, provided a quorum is present.
  • The Vestry’s second retreat on the Mutual Study of Ministry, originally scheduled for January 24, has been postponed until March 13.  Rick and the Wardens agreed it was better to wait for all congregation input from the Small Group sessions before proceeding.
  • The Parochial Report, submitted to the Diocese annually, typically contains statistics about the number of services held, number of parishioners who attended them, births, death’s, weddings, baptisms, confirmations and other information.  The format of this report has been expanded, to include a narrative questions, to give the diocese insight into parishes response to the pandemic.  On Saturday, January 24, the Vestry met via Zoom to discuss those questions.