A Summary of the 2/20/24 Vestry Meeting

We welcome Ken Bozeman, Jan Watson, and Barb Schoenike (2027) as newly elected members to the 2024 vestry. They have been vestry members before, so we are working with a very experienced crew this year. Returning members are Cathy Twomey, Ruth Ring, and Peggy Garefino (2025) and Pete Gilbert, Julie Holly, and Paul Van Duser (2026). Vestry pins were distributed, a gift from Pamela Padley, and the new members received a copy of the national church’s training booklet on Vestry organization and service. A collection of guiding documents for parish and diocesan governance was shared via Google Drive. For this first meeting, we made time to share reflections on why we choose to serve on Vestry and what we are looking forward to working on this coming year. There is a renewed intent to make announcements on Sundays about Vestry activity and submit articles to the newsletter.

To make more time for discussion and still finish our meetings under 120 minutes, we are going to practice submitting written reports for the Treasurer, Junior Warden, Senior Warden, Rector, and Finance Committee. Points of note from the reports this month include the following.

1. Pre-paid pledges will be amortized over the course of the year, a new practice in this year’s accounting.
2. Utilities expenses are down, mostly because we have not needed to pay for snow removal.
3. The Finance Committee has requested a Stewardship Committee be established.
4. Conversation continues with Lawrence University about the potential to install a camera on our bell tower to record the construction of the Lawrence/Trout building across the street. 
5. The professional clean-up in the undercroft has been completed. Insurance claims have been filed and the next steps for clean up are being considered. 

Discussion topics included the following.

1. Pastoral Care/Congregational Care is an item added to the monthly vestry agenda for 2024. Fr. Christopher, Julie Holly, and Paul Van Duser are meeting to review the communication flow of receiving requests and addressing those needs. The list of Lay Eucharistic Ministers has been updated and now they are reviewing our compliance with diocesan regulations about driving (including volunteer forms, copies of driver’s licenses, etc.) These discussions at the vestry level are focused on process and the amount of activity, while maintaining the confidentiality of people requesting care. 
2. The annual parochial report is due to the diocese on March 1. The executive committee, with the help of Sarah Gilbert and Emily Gilbert, has assembled most of the data. The vestry will review and approve the final version by email by the end of the month.
3. The new by-laws passed in 2023 outline the vestry member’s responsibility to serve as liaison to ministries within the church for the purpose of staying connected and sharing information back and forth during the year. A list of known, inactive, and requested ministry groups was shared with vestry members for their consideration. Assignments will be made in March.

Couple of building-related things:

1.    Our friends from Midwest Restoration completed the water-incident mitigation work on Tuesday, February 20. That means the humidity in the undercroft was down from close to 80% to less than 30%, all the water-damaged carpeting, paneling, and molding was hauled away, and all their equipment was removed. Once again – we’re grateful for their prompt response and hard work in response to what could have been a much bigger mess.

The insurance adjuster came out on Thursday the 22^nd. He’s submitting his report to Church Insurance this week and we expect a response from them by the end of next week. Then we’ll know how much money we’ll have to rework the undercroft. Speaking of which: In the meantime, the Rector and the Wardens are thinking about the future of the undercroft and how we can restore it to a useful, spirit-filled place. We welcome your thoughts about that.

2.    Our friends from Lawrence University are working with our friends from the Trout Museum of Art to build a new building on the southwest corner of College and Drew. As you can imagine, our belltower has a great view of that location and folks from Lawrence would like to make that view accessible to others. So – they came to us to ask if they could install a “construction cam” on top of our belltower for the duration of the construction project (18-24 months). To make sure there wouldn’t be any damage to the roof, we brought in the fine folks from Security Luebke Roofing who took a look and gave it a thumbs-up. So the project is proceeding: the camera and associated equipment will likely be installed in early March.

As always, if you have questions or concerns about the building and building-related projects, let me know. You know where to find me…

The January financial summary can also be viewed as a PDF here.

Mark your calendars for a Parish Family Meeting on Sunday, March 17. We'll have one service at 9:30am, followed by a potluck lunch and the meeting in Kemper Hall. To bring food for the potluck, please sign up on the bulletin board or contact the office.

The parish directory for 2024 is ready! You can pick up a copy in the office, the Palmer Room, or St. Mary's Chapel.

This past Sunday, Feb. 25, Erin Wolf (who was the All Saints youth minister for more than 10 years) visited in her capacity as the Youth Networking Coordinator for the Diocese of Fond du Lac. She was the guest preacher at both services and joined us for conversation in the Palmer Room afterward. It was wonderful to see Erin again, as well as her kids Jorden, Lucy, Charlie, and Jonah!

The Passion will be read in a readers' theater format at the 10:30am service on Palm Sunday (March 24) and the 12pm service on Good Friday (March 29). If you'd like to participate, please contact the office.  Most parts are 1-2 lines, and no memorization is needed; Emily will provide scripts to the readers ahead of time. All ages are welcome to participate. Whether or not you've been one of our readers before, we'd love to have you join us!

REMINDER: If you'd like to have your birthday or anniversary recognized, please contact the office.

March Birthdays

3/2 - Meredith Gadzik

3/5 - Nancy Aronson

3/9 - Fr. Christopher Wilkerson

3/14 - Rich Moore

3/20 - Stephanie Gadzik

3/21 - Jan Watson

3/22 - Matthew Payne

3/27 - Karrie Moore

3/31 - Susan Arquette

The Stephen Ministry column will return in the next newsletter.