A few notes from St Luke’s June Vestry meeting of interest to the parish. . .
- Treasurer’s report indicates we are still doing OK because of lower than expected expenses and generous gifts (thank you for your contributions!). Gary Whicker reports that the Episcopal Church in Minnesota (EMCN) now invests the “Pooled Investment Fund” (which includes much of St. Luke’s endowment) in corporations that are aligned with our environmental, social and governance (ESG) values. Incidentally, these funds are performing better (11.7%) than the 11.2% S&P 500 index.
- Technology update from Jay Bryant, who has been volunteering many hours to upgrade our internet capacity for webcasting services and other uses, is that he hopes to set up around July 4th. This is a BIG deal! Also, the Vestry decided not to invest in expensive outdoor security cameras at this time.
- Housekeeping news includes a contract with Ability Building Center (ABC) to provide twice monthly cleaning services beginning in July. They will come either Tuesday or Thursday evening (may be both as they learn our building). One of the cleanings will not include the little used Sunday school wing, to save us money. ABC is a new provider for us.
- New Building Keys. Paul’s Lock and Key is at work on rekeying the classrooms, offices, and exterior doors. Each classroom will have its own key, making it easy to rent out individual rooms, and master keys will ensure easy access for staff and cleaners. Going forward, anyone who needs a key to the building must have their Safe Church certification up-to-date. (A crack team of volunteers recently revised St. Luke’s Safe Church policies to come into compliance with ECMN’s updated policies.)
- HVAC issues continue to be troubling. Doug Butler will be convening a Blue ribbon Committee: Andrew Altrichter, Doug Butler, Karen Gould, Kevin Graves, Bill Hammer, Chuck Larsen, Pete Parham, and appointees from Superior Mechanical (original installers of our system and who we call with problems) and MEP (firm who designed the system). This group plans to get to the bottom of the recurring need to call for service, and hopefully streamline the computerized system so Karen, Justin, and select volunteers from St Luke’s can manage it going forward.
- Rochester Duplicate Bridge Club will begin renting our Fellowship Hall in July. This is our first major experience with sharing our space in return for rental income. There will no doubt be bumps along this road, and good will and compromise will be needed by all, as we learn how to share our lovely space. Our agreement, which runs through December (then both parties will re-evaluate) allows the bridge club to use the fellowship hall Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons for games with the option of deciding before Sep 1 whether to add Monday mornings, a Saturday tournament in September, and a series of 8 community ed bridge classes (Sep-Nov) for part of Thursday mornings. At this time we plan to have the card tables stay up, and St Luke’s may use them for coffee hour etc. We have included language in our agreement for some kinds of workarounds for funerals. Anyone who wishes to see the entire agreement may call Karen. My guess is we will need to make changes as we go along this fall, since this is a learning period for both parties.
- Your Vestry is beginning the work to implement the year’s priorities: a diverse and flourishing community of members (includes planning a post-pandemic pattern of worship and community life as well as special events), working together in mission (identifying & developing a process for ongoing choice of mission), and mission-servicing finances (includes rental activities as well as enhanced Stewardship work). Please say, “yes”, or volunteer, when one of us or Justin calls on you to help with planning and implementing these exciting ideas.
Remember, St Luke’s is…Joyful community, Faithful service, Transformational worship, Growing in relationship with God in Christ
Your Wardens,
Amy Caucutt amycaucutt@gmail.com & Bert Reiman bert.reim@icloud.com
St. Luke's Episcopal Church 