From SCVD
Diocese of El Camino Real
Santa Clara Valley Deanery Budget Presentation/Meeting
September 30, 2008
St. Andrew’s, Saratoga
The Rev. Chris Creed opened with prayer. There were 37 in attendance, with 13/18 churches being represented. The order of the Agenda was changed to accommodate presenters that had already heard the budget presentation and then it was approved. The Minutes from the September 3, 2008 meeting were approved, with the addition of the missing numbers in the first paragraph: “There were 39 in attendance, with 14/18 churches being represented.”
A. Jeff Diehl of Integrity spoke concerning Integrity’s purpose and mission: sacramental inclusion in the life of the church of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. 2 Integrity-proposed resolutions to be voted on at Convention were explained: Consents to Episcopal Elections and Marriage Rites in Civil Jurisdictions that Permit Same-Sex Marriages. There will be a Reflections on Lambeth Roundtable Discussion on October 16 at St. John’s, Capitola at 7 pm with Bishop Mary, The Rev. Caro Hall, and Thomas Jackson.
B. The Rev. Roger Wharton, Campus Ministries. He informed the group that a young woman, Kelsey, at San Jose State had been appointed student chaplain. He has walked 13 classes through the labyrinth. The “Listening Post” ministry (a table in the student union where students can talk to someone about problems and issues) is very popular. Many students will be participating in the AIDS walk.
C. The Rev. David Breuer: 2009 Proposed Budget Presentation.
- The draft diocesan budget was created by the Budget Advisory Committee (a committee under the Finance Committee). The Budget process includes the draft being presented to the Finance Committee and, after their approval, it is sent to the Board of Trustees for approval. The process involves using their best guesses and prioritizing items that need to be covered in this budget. The information has been developed over time.
- The budget can be amended from the floor at Convention; however, any changes must still result in a balanced budget. E.g., increases in an item require a decrease somewhere else. There will not be a budget hearing separate from the floor discussion at convention.
- Bishop Mary has significant input as to the priorities. The major issue currently is to fund staff over program. Fr. Jesus Reyes has been chosen to be the Canon for Congregational Development.
- This budget is utilizing endowment funds for appropriate ministries. The Board of Trustees and the Finance Committee has done a lot of work determining the monies that are in the endowment funds–corpus and expendable funds.
- Some money will be transferred from reserves to fund this year’s budget; however, the goal is to increase the reserves to about $300,000. All sinking funds have been fully funded and do not need funding this year. Our cash situation is on good footing.
- The Bishop’s salary increase was determined by looking at similar salaries across the country. We are in the third quintile–right in the middle. We are also at the middle level within the province–about $148,000. We will fund the increase over a two-year period.
- The increase in the staff merit pool fund only increased a little due to the increase in the Bishop’s salary; however, it is sufficient.
- It is hoped to hire a Youth Minister in the future.
- Because we have no consistent translator for Along the King’s Highway, the amount for translation has been decreased by half.
- We have increased the legal fees fund due to needing to expend more than $10,000 two years in a row.
- There will be planned giving promotions in various churches.
D. The Rev. Chris Creed: Constitution and Canons (C&C)
- There will be a Constitution and Canons hearing at 2:45 p.m. on Friday, November 7 at Convention.
- There will be a second reading of changes already approved in the Constitution. Many of the other resolutions simply clarify or make non-substantive corrections to canons.
- Summary of Canon Changes:
- Canon 7 deals with the restructuring of the Department of Higher Education.
- Canon 9 deals with transferring St. John’s in Morgan Hill from the Monterey Deanery to the Santa Clara Valley Deanery and transferring San Ardo from the Monterey Deanery to the San Luis Obispo Deanery.
- Canon 10.3 clarifies that voting for the members of the Board of Trustees is by election by the entire convention, not by deanery.
- Canon 10.6 involves property. If a congregation ceases to be a member of The Episcopal Church, then all property also reverts to the diocese–real and personal.
- Canon 12 involves the creation of a Congregational Development committee who will report to the Board of Trustees. It will be headed by Fr. Jesus Reyes.
- Canon 19 states that the election of a rector must be approved by the bishop.
- Canon 20 deals with the “aided parish” language in regard to parishes that are behind in their assessments.
- Canon 21 states that insurance is to be provided to all eligible clergy and lay persons - as determined by the Board of Trustees
- Canon 23 states that there is no voting by proxy or absentee ballots.
- Other Resolutions to be voted on at Convention pertain to Use of Plastic Water Bottles, an assessment for Millennium Development Goals, Election of Representatives to Board of Trustees by deaneries, and the Personnel Commission’s recommendation for a COLA of 4%; any discussion about these will need to take place within individual church delegations after the packets arrive.
E. Canon Linda Taylor: Nominations
- Nominations may still be made from the floor. There are still quite a few open positions and a list of Nominations was distributed.
F. Parish Showcase
- St. Thomas, Sunnyvale, is a “transfer center.” This is a place where families with custody conflicts may bring their children, under court order, for visitation with the other parent. This is a free service at St. Thomas, which is the only free facility in the state. New volunteers are most welcome.
G. U2charist was a huge success raising $10,700. About 380 people attended and many deanery churches participated.
H. The SMUM fundraiser through Barnes & Noble is scheduled for Monday, October 6. If sales reach $10,000, SMUM will earn 20%. If you wish to order by phone, call Patti Michael at the Stevens Creek store.
I. Announcements:
- The ECR Foundation is sponsoring a Planned Giving workshop on October 11 at St. Andrews.
- St. Thomas is going to purchase a large ad in the Mercury for holiday service announcements. Other parishes are welcome to participate.
- The next Day of Discovery for those wishing to explore the four areas of ministry (bishop, priest, deacon, and lay) is scheduled for January 17, 2009.
- All of the Deanery Conveners will be meeting with Bishop Mary and Board of Trustee members on October 23rd to discuss how the change to 3 deaneries is working. Future meetings of the Deanery will be announced after that.
- Diocesan Convention is November 7 and 8, Sherwood Hall in Salinas.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. with the Lord’s Prayer.
Respectively submitted by
Jan Martin, substituting for Judi Sato