Vestry Minutes

RE Lee Memorial Episcopal Church

January 16, 2006

 

Present:           Melissa Cox, Jonathan Webster, Cindy Mullen, John Burleson, Gerry Locher, Buddy Atkins, Brian Shaw, Paula Cushman, Gretchen Walden, Roger Crockett, Libby Cumming, Bob de Maria

 

Opening:         Melissa Cox called the meeting to order and led the worship.

 

Guest:             The Rev Gene Anderson, Deployment Officer of the Diocese of SW Virginia, was introduced by Brian Shaw.

 

Minutes:         Melissa Cox asked for approval of the minutes from the November and December meetings, and the special meeting in January, noting corrections.  The motion to accept was made by Jonathan Webster, seconded by Buddy Atkins, and approved without dissent.

 

Junior Warden Remarks:  Brian Shaw distributed an information sheet brought by The Rev. Mr. Anderson describing duties of the interim priest. At the Jan 4th special meeting, Brian reported that one candidate would come and meet with the Administration and Personnel  Committee, various members of the Parish, committee chairs and the members of the Vestry.  Following rather extensive research and discussion, the Rev Barry Miller had been selected for interview. 

 

Brian discussed the salary for The Rev. Mr. Miller.  He noted that the Diocesan pay scale for a priest with The Rev. Mr. Miller’s qualifications, including 40 years of experience and his agreement to the same level of compensation, would be more than R.E. Lee could afford. Negotiations between the church and The Rev. Mr. Miller resulted in The Rev. Mr. Miller’s agreement to come to R.E. Lee, contingent upon approval by the Bishop. The Rev. Mr. Miller agreed to come for the same level of compensation paid to The Rev. Tom O’Dell. 

 

Travel compensation, however, would be different. The Rev. Mr. O’Dell had a $4000 travel budget.  The Administration and Personnel committee and the Diocese were more comfortable offering both The Rev. Mr. Miller and the new Rector the standard IRS mileage reimbursement per mile. 

 

The committee hoped to have The Rev. Mr. Miller here by the end of February, but since he has a previously scheduled vacation, it was decided he would arrive no later than April 1.

 

Nick Gorham asked if, since The Rev. Mr. Miller’s wife was also clergy with youth and campus ministry experience, could she be offered a position at R.E. Lee?  Both Brian and The Rev. Mr. Anderson said that the Diocese would probably have use for her skills.  David Partlett thanked Brian and the committee for doing such a thoroughly good job. Nick added that he and the entire staff (Daniel, Rhonda, and Kay) were very positive about The Rev. Mr. Miller.  Brian made the motion to call The Rev. Mr. Miller; Jonathan Webster seconded, and the Vestry unanimously approved. Brian stated that he will call The Rev. Mr. Miller and formally offer him the position.

Senior Warden’s Remarks:

Feasibility Study                    Melissa Cox noted that Dale Bateman from Kirby-Smith had individual appointments with parishioners here last week. Dale also met with Farris Hotchkiss, Melissa Cox and Anna Crockett. He said he would have the results of the Feasibility Study by the end of January. 

 

Worship Schedule                  Melissa distributed a sign-up sheet for snacks and worship leaders. She said the worship that she offered at this meeting was something that she would like to try this upcoming year.  She allowed that it would be very easy for each person to lead worship each time if it’s in the same format.

 

Youth Ministry                       There were two handouts given out at the beginning of the meeting. One sheet was an information sheet concerning Youth Ministry prepared by Nick Gorham. Nick gave a brief worship update on the upcoming Jonathan Daniels’ celebration, to be at 5:00 pm on March 26. The homilist will be Ruby Sales and Bishop Powell will be the celebrant.  Expenses will include Ruby Sales’ travel and lodging, invitations and posters. The cost will be shared with VMI, but the first $500 will be covered from the Canterbury budget unless the Vestry is opposed to this.  The Worship Committee is overseeing logistics of the service. No opposition was voiced.

 

Property Committee  The second handout, prepared by Jerry Locher, was a sheet of motions from the Property Committee to the Vestry for review and it would be discussed over the course of the next couple of weeks.  No action at this meeting. 

 

Search Committee                 The Rev Gene Anderson, after reading the report to the Vestry, the last Parish Profile, and the Mutual Ministry Reviews from ’03 and ’04, commended the parish on the extensive work already done.

 

Cindy Mullen requested that Brian Shaw relate what sort of timeframe we faced, and what are our options. Brian related that the he and Melissa had met with The Rev. Mr. Anderson earlier. The Rev Mr. Anderson stated that the Diocese has three different ways of conducting a search.  A parish could accept the Priest-in-Charge, as we had done with the Rev Mr. O’Dell. The Rev Mr. Anderson stressed that that R.E. Lee, having done that, might not want to do this again. That said, there were two remaining options.

 

Option two: a short list of clergy. This involves the Church drawing up a parish profile. The Rev Mr. Anderson stated that the Diocese does not demand that churches publish a profile like our previous one any longer. He stated that ours is too involved and too expensive to produce. The Diocese now prefers a two-page summary of the Church’s expectations for the new Rector.  This profile holds true in both options two and three. 

 

The Vestry appoints a Search Committee which is representative of the Church’s demographics.  The Bishop appoints a coach to work with the Search Committee through the whole process. The Bishop has recommended the Rev Mr. Anderson to serve as our coach.  The coach works with the Committee to create the required documents. Once the appropriate documents have been prepared, the Diocese provides a short-list (three to five individuals) of approved clergy available.  The Diocese does all the background checks on the clergy before the Vestry receives the names. It researches where the candidate has served over the past 10 years.  Background checks cost $100 per person and that fee is charged to the parish. The Vestry then interviews the recommended individuals and makes its selection from among them. 

 

Option 3: Complete Search: the Diocese does the same sort of process as outlined in Option 2, but in this case, the Bishop gives the Vestry of a list of all clergy who have indicated their interest in becoming Rector.  Currently, the Diocese does searches without any fine tuning of that list.  Usually for a parish our size and with the salary offered, there will be approximately 16-20 individuals who will express interest. 

 

In Option 3, the Vestry gets a list of all those individuals and the Search Committee screens all the individuals, paring this down to a number the Search Committee believes ample for it to interview and make a decision. (Usually six to eight people)  The Search Committee then interviews those candidates and then they give to the Vestry at least two people and the Vestry interviews those people and chooses. The Diocese does background checks on the priests the Search Committee decides to interview.

 

As the R.E. Lee coach, The Rev. Mr. Anderson charges $150 per session, plus travel, up to a maximum of 10 sessions; no matter how many more sessions are required. 

 

Jonathan Webster asked The Rev. Mr. Anderson to refine the estimated cost other parishes incurred when doing a search.  Anderson said he can’t estimate long-term difference.  In the old way of doing it, it would cost between $10,000 and $15,000.  Anderson added that a parish losing their rector may incur a 10 % drop in revenue from donations.  The Diocese imagines that this occurrence happens because donors’ pledges are sometimes based upon their preference of the rector; if the rector goes, they opt to wait until the next rector arrives.  If parishes have a good interim, they will most likely not lose income.  He added that Barry Miller is a good interim. 

 

The Rev. Mr. Anderson noted that R.E. Lee’s income had increased 25 %, but expenses had increased 33 % and the cost of living during that 10 year period had increased 44 %.  R.E. Lee’s pledging has not kept up with the cost of living, but expenses were less than the cost of living and in both cases, the church profile focused very much on stewardship.  It’s not just in terms of money, but also in time and talent.  Large donors usually spend a lot of time at the church and the church must get other parishioners to increase their donations.  When people give more money to God, they give more time and talent.  In the 2004 Mutual Ministry Evaluation Report, the pledging was recorded as being up from the beginning of The Rev. Tom O’Dell’s tenure.

 

The Rev. Mr. Anderson noted that R.E. Lee has made the choice to call a priest who will cost just as much as The Rev Tom O’Dell did.  So, we know that expenses will not go down.  The process of selecting a priest has changed. The Search Committee no longer visits a candidate.  The Search Committee brings the candidates to the church. They conduct Interviews at the church. Thus, all of the Search Committee members can be present. This method is less expensive for the church. This will affect the cost of the search considerably.  This system will probably cost $15,000 to $20,000 contingent upon the number of candidates chosen. 

 

Bob Glidden asked, in Option 2, how does the Bishop decide on the candidates and in Option 3, how do we identify approved candidates. The Rev. Mr. Anderson explained that the candidate list is the same in both options. The church, working with the coach, identifies areas that need to be worked on over the next three to six years. The Rev. Mr. Anderson comes up with a list of skills based on the areas needing attention. That information goes to the national church computer and based on that skill set, he identifies 50 names.  Glidden also asked about the accuracy of the skills set list. Anderson said that the individuals will list what they think they can do well and what they want to do in their next position. 

 

Gretchen Walden asked about the process of advertising, and how many individuals selected by the computer would be people who expressed interest in R.E. Lee versus R.E. Lee expressing interest in an individual.  The Rev. Mr. Anderson said the list consists of people who qualified from the national registry.  People who are told about the R.E. Lee position are in addition to that.  He stated that there is no clergy shortage for churches that are paying more than $65,000 base salary.  So there will be plenty of people who want this job. 

 

The Rev. Mr. Anderson stated that the 2-page profile which he estimates the committee can write in a day-long planning meeting can be produced here, assuming the church has a color printer.

 

David Partlett said that the best job candidates are those who are not really looking for a job. Anderson responded that there are about 750 churches a year looking for clergy, so there is a constant turnover.  These days clergy generally serve parishes from 7-10  years. Clergy are looking a lot more than they used to, and that means that the quality of available priests is higher.  He reiterated that there are clergy looking for the type of church R.E. Lee is because of where we are.  There are people in their mid- to late 50’s who are looking for one more “real good” church.  With R.E. Lee’s position vis-à-vis nearby colleges, climate, and salary, we will not have a shortage of candidates. 

 

Brian Shaw asked about a recommended size for a Search Committee.  Anderson said he would never have more than 10 people on the committee.  The Search Committee needs to be representative of the entire parish in terms of participation in the parish, their age, their gender, etc.  The Search Committee works on a consensus process.  Too large of a committee makes consensus very difficult; it’s much easier to do that with 10 people.

 

The Search Committee designs its interview process based on the skill sets. Each candidate brought in celebrates the Eucharist with sermon, for the Search Committee only.  The skill set identified by the committee must be the same for every candidate.  Each candidate will conduct a 50 minute discussion with the Vestry on a topic selected by the Vestry. 

 

In sum, we want to find a priest with skills to help us do the things we do better.  As an example, The Rev. Mr. Anderson continued that one of the things we are planning is a capital campaign; do we want a priest to lead the capital campaign or do we want a priest to help us find those necessary skills in an outside person?

 

Jonathan Webster asked where we were on the Option 3 flowchart.  Anderson cited that we are in the same position vis-à-vis Option 2 and Option 3, the Vestry has selected an Interim.    Also, we have a coach (The Rev. Mr. Anderson) and we are planning how to select a Search Committee. 

 

R.E. Lee is working under Option 3 and under this option, the coach and the Interim work together to help the church through the process of selecting a permanent Rector.   Brian Shaw said that The Rev. Mr. Miller has served as a coach in other parishes and thus has that level of experience. 

 

Further, Brian asked The Rev. Mr. Anderson to elaborate on the process of selecting a Search Committee.  The Rev. Mr. Anderson suggested that Vestry outline the duties charged to the Search Committee. 

 

Nick Gorham asked about where the staff falls into this process.  The Rev. Mr. Anderson said that the staff continues to do its job.  They will, of course, meet all the candidates and will have a voice in the search process by giving input to the Search Committee.   

 

Brian Shaw said it was time for the Vestry to discuss what we just heard and asked all visitors to leave.   He thanked The Rev. Mr. Anderson and all guests for attending this open meeting.

 

Closed Discussions:

Bob Glidden asked how the Bishop selects the 5 or 6 candidates he recommends.  Brian voiced some concerns regarding the method of selection by the Bishop.  Buddy Atkins pointed out that even those candidates we found would still have to be vetted by the Bishop.  Regardless which route we take, we will have the option of sending names to the Bishop.  One of Melissa’s concerns is that the Search Committee will not be going out to see the candidate in their natural habitat.  We would not be able to see this person interact with people of their own environs.  Brian Shaw said that if we decide to go with the long search, he would suggest that we encourage the Search Committee to visit.  Libby Cumming said that she liked the idea of members going out as well as candidates being brought in. 

 

Brian stated that our procedure would be a hybrid of Option 2 and Option 3.  Brian pointed out that The Rev. Mr. Miller is excited about coming to R.E. Lee and will be an advocate for us and a great help to us in our search for a permanent Rector.  Jonathan Webster noted that all the work that we have done to date will be an accelerant to the overall process.  He also questioned the 18-month period for the Interim’s service.   Glidden suggests that we begin to identify a pool of candidates now and use the summer months for checking and weeding down, so that we are ready to start interviews in October and be ready to call someone by a about a year from now. 

 

Melissa mentioned that the Bishop will be here for his official visitation on February 5th.   Bishop Heath Light will be with us for Confirmation on May 7.  Brian pointed out that the Bishop will be in the Parish Hall between the services and Brian has asked him to discuss the Interim period and what expectations we might have for this time. Brian asked if it was a consensus of the group that we undertake the long search. Bob Glidden moved the motion, Jonathan Webster seconded. The motion passed.

 

At this point, the discussion moved to selection of the Search Committee and Bob Glidden recommended that we solicit nominations from the parish membership.  If we have a 9-member Search Committee, there should be 3 Vestry members on the Committee.  Brian suggested then that we do as Bob Glidden suggested and post a notice in the parish Sunday bulletin as well as the Cross & Crown soliciting nominations to the Search Committee.  Kay Horner will collect the nominations and establish a deadline of February 6.  Bob Glidden offered that a nomination include rationale.  Then Brian asked if the Vestry wanted the Administration and Personnel Committee to gather the nominations and make the selection.  This was moved by Bob Glidden, seconded by Bob de Maria and passed. 

 

Brian asked if the Vestry wanted names by the February meeting.  Jerry Locher added that these individuals should have agreed to serve if asked.  Brian suggested that a non-Vestry member serve as chair of the Search Committee.  The deadline for nominations is February 6th. 

 

Melissa closed with a prayer.

 

Meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Robert J. de Maria, Clerk