Wednesday, November 14, 2001
St. Agnes' Episcopal Church, Little Falls, New Jersey
Approved Minutes of Regular Monthly Meeting

Present: The Rt. Rev. John P. Croneberger; President; Mr. John Zinn, Treasurer; Mr. Michael F. Rehill, Chancellor; Mr. Michael Francaviglia, Secretary;

Elected by Districts: Ms. Kathleen Ballard, The Rev. Michel Belt The Rev. Kim Capwell, The Rev. Randall Day, Ms. Ann Hirsch, The Rev. Briggett J. Keith, Mr. Nat Nelson, Ms. Nancy Read, Mr. Jack Reade, Mr. Don Roberts, The Rev. E. Bevan Stanley, The Rev. John F. Stanton, The Rev. Gordon H. Tremaine, The Rev. Paul Walker, Ms. Patty Watts.

Bishop's Appointments: Mr. Sidney King, Mr. Leonard Glenn

Absent: The Rev. Martin Bagay, Ms. Elizabeth Moss, Ms. Margaret Tuttle, Ms. Pat Yankus.

Others: The Rev. Maggie Gat, Mr. Dean Weber, Ms. Doris Mardirosian

Staff: The Rev. Canon Paul Hunt, Ms. Susan Robinson

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Bishop Croneberger and opened with prayer by the Rev. Kim Capwell.

AGENDA

It was moved and seconded to adopt the agenda with the addition of time to discuss a resolution proposed for convention action and the deletion of a report from Jersey City Area Ministry. The motion was adopted.

MINUTES

It was moved and seconded to accept the minutes for the meeting of October 10, 2001 with the correction to page two on the resolution to amend the budget. The minutes neglected to include that the resolution to amend the budget was seconded and adopted. The motion to accept the minutes was adopted.

EPISCOPAL COMMUNICATIONS - THE RT. REV. JOHN P. CRONEBERGER

Reported that one hundred clergy attended the recent clergy conference. The speaker was Sam Magill, a lay person from California. There had been opportunity for conversation between the clergy and bishop.

Announced that Staffing levels were being reviewed and evaluated regarding budget impacts.

Commented that he and the Canon to the Ordinary were working with several congregations that were experiencing difficulties.

Reminded members of two upcoming events: the Diocesan Evensong was scheduled for Sunday, December 9, and on Monday, December 10, a joint Episcopal-Lutheran event was scheduled at the cathedral, entitled "Called to Common Mission."

The Rev. Canon Paul Hunt reported that the Rev. Janet Kraft will serve as interim at Grace Van Vorst, Jersey City, for the next four to six months; the Rev. Steve Winsett will serve as interim at Good Shepherd, Midland Park, and the Rev. Charles Rice will serve as interim at St. Dunstan's, Succasunna. The Rev. Fletcher Harper resigned as rector-elect of St. George's, Maplewood.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Mr. John Zinn reported that the payment to the national church was slightly under our 25% giving to date primarily due to a large medical insurance payment during the month of October, but the difference will be made up in the next few weeks. The budget was expected to break even or have a slight surplus by year's end. Investment income was expected to drop in 2002 because of the stock market decline.

It was moved and seconded to accept the report, subject to audit. The motion was adopted.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS REORGANIZATION

Mr. John Zinn presented the following report and resolution:

The vast majority of the community development work done by the Episcopal Church in Newark is done through three organizations, the Apostles' House, Episcopal Community Development (ECD), and St. James CDC. Apostles' House provides shelter to homeless families and programs to help clients regain control of their lives. These services are provided to people in the greater Newark area at facilities on Grant Street and Avon Avenue in Newark. ECD's primary role in Newark is as a housing developer through its Samaritan and St. Philip's Houses initiatives. These programs provide new or renovated housing to first time, low-income homebuyers, primarily in the South Ward of Newark. ECD has also provided varying levels of technical assistance to the Apostles' House and St. James CDC on housing initiatives. St. James CDC's primary efforts have been in housing development in the lower Broadway section of the North Ward of Newark, the CDC also operates other programs in that community.

Recently a number of things have occurred that have provided an opportunity for a thorough examination of how this work can be done most effectively. These include conclusions drawn from community development experience in other areas of the diocese, a recommendation from the State Department of Community Affairs and the resignation of the St. James CDC executive director. In Jersey City the original community development strategy was to form the equivalent of a CDC around each of the churches in Jersey City. Experience showed that this was not practical both in terms of recruiting boards capable of overseeing these efforts and a lack of funding for the administrative structure needed for a number of independent CDC's. Drawing on this experience, the decision was made to consolidate all of the organizations into one city wide CDC, Jersey City Episcopal CDC. This strategy has proven to be very effective, the CDC has enjoyed significant growth and has an active board made up primarily of residents of Jersey City. The experience in other cities such as Paterson supports the view that at least in the Diocese of Newark, the most effective approach is to have one CDC per city.

A related issue is the approach taken to housing development by CDC's, to date the approach has been to provide technical expertise at the diocesan level (ECD), but to encourage local CDC's to hire their own housing directors. The experience in Paterson suggests that there is a very small pool of housing talent available making it difficult to attract qualified people to local CDC's. In addition the limited capacity of any one CDC to develop a significant number of housing units is a major concern. This conclusion received further support when the head of the State Department of Community Affairs Office of Housing Advocacy recommended that the diocese consolidate all its housing development efforts at the diocesan level (ECD). This recommendation was accompanied by a statement that DCA would transfer to ECD all of the funding currently provided to Episcopal CDC's in Newark and Paterson. When all of this was accompanied by the resignation of the executive director of the St. James CDC, it presented an opportunity to review the best way to proceed in the future.

This review was undertaken by a working group consisting of the Chief Financial Officer of the Diocese, who is also the board president of both ECD and St. James CDC, the president of the Apostles' House board, the treasurer of the St. James CDC board and the executive directors of both the Apostles' House and ECD. Out of these discussions come the following recommendations:

1. Consolidate the Apostles' House and St. James CDC so that there is one organization, one board and one staff. Currently both CDC's are membership corporations where the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of Newark is the membership and as such elects the board of each organization. Under this proposal the by-laws of the St. James CDC would be changed so that the membership of St. James CDC would be the board of the Apostles' House. A qualification for board membership on the St. James board would be being a board member of the Apostles' House. Thereby one board would take over all of the board responsibilities of both corporations. All existing board members of St. James CDC would be invited to become members of the Apostles' House board. The goal would be to have 1/3 of the board members be residents of the St. James community and/or the city of Newark.

Under this arrangement, the St. James CDC would continue to exist and would continue to carry out the CDC's mission in that community. The CDC would continue to have offices in the community and there would be a director responsible for the day to day work of the CDC. The CDC would continue to operate the community organizing program, the employment initiative and tenant/homeowner relations. All housing development efforts as well as homebuyer programs would be transferred to ECD. St. James will thereby provide all of its existing services and programs to the community, but these would be enhanced by the addition of services and programs currently operated by the Apostles' House. In order to maintain a high level of community input, a community advisory board will be instituted that will work directly with the St. James CDC community organizing program and make recommendations to the board. The goal of this arrangement is that the St. James community will not see any difference from this change, or more accurately the only difference the community will see is enhanced services and more aggressive completion of housing initiatives.

Ms. Sandra Accomando, the CEO of the Apostles' House will serve as the CEO of both organizations. Initially all of the St. James programs will report to Ms. Accomando to allow for a period of orientation and adjustment. Within one year of the consolidation, an on site director will be put in place at St. James. Finance, human resources, fund raising and other administrative services will be provided by the Apostles' House. The exact location of the St. James offices in the community will depend on the space needs of the organization, but it will be in the community. A draft budget for the St. James under this proposal is attached as is a draft organizational chart

2. Consolidate all housing development work at Episcopal Community Development. At least initially this would include the existing Samaritan and St. Philip's programs, all St. James CDC housing projects, all St. Paul's, Paterson projects and all projects of the Jersey City Episcopal CDC. Other CDC's within the diocese (and those not associated with the diocese) would be able use ECD's services on a mutual agreeable basis. The goal will be for ECD to receive all of its funding from its own fund raising efforts and funds available from specific housing projects, in other words there will be no additional costs to the CDC's.

To make this arrangement work effectively, ECD will have to add to its existing staff, the proposed staff structure is attached. The new positions would include a housing director, a project manager (the existing St. James position) and a contract manager. In addition the current half time staff accountant would become full time and the fund raising position would become half time. (A draft budget was distributed.)

This proposal will be distributed to a number of existing funding sources and interested parties prior to a final decision by the respective boards. The boards of St. James and Apostles' House both approved the consolidation at a joint meeting on November 13th. The ECD board was also to consider the change around the middle of November. The effective date of both steps will be January 1, 2002. If it becomes apparent that the change was unworkable, it could be reversed easily.

The basic rationale for these recommendations is that the proposals will make all of the organizations more effective in carrying out their missions to serve disadvantaged people and disadvantaged communities. Each organization will be able to focus on its specific area of strength and utilize the strengths of the other organizations in their respective areas. The proposals also recognize realities of insufficient housing professionals and the weakness of having multiple CDC's in one city. The consolidation in Newark between the Apostles' House and St. James will provide for a more streamlined organization with less duplication of administrative costs. In summary the communities and people of the City of Newark will benefit from these changes.

Mr. Zinn moved the following resolution:

RESOLVED, That the Diocesan Council approves the changes in the St. James CDC by-laws establishing that the membership of St. James is the board of the Apostles' House and that all board members of the St. James CDC board must be members of the Apostles' House.

The motion was seconded and adopted.

ACTS/VIM BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS

The Rev. Maggie Gat, Board chair, presented the recommendations. An appeal of the recommendation not to fund the St. James CDC Housing Resource Center was made by Mr. John Zinn. The appeal was based on the assumption of a lack of understanding of what was happening at St. James and that the presenter did not feel comfortable revealing the plans for the consolidation of the organizations. A concern of the board had been with overlap of services. Both St. James and ECD run homebuyer programs. ECD does it for the buyers of their homes. St. James does it for their residents and tenants. The term homebuyer training is really homebuyer preparation. Having qualified buyers is key to getting the mortgage. For St. James, the training becomes more like case management and work with the individuals might takes up to a year and sometimes more than that. There will continue to be two staff persons doing the training and long term counseling. The funding would be helpful during the transition period. He moved that the Council vote to refer the matter back to the ACTS/VIM Board. The motion was seconded and adopted. Mr. Zinn offered to make the presentation to the ACTS/VIM Board and to bring others from ECD and St. James.

The remaining recommendations were moved and seconded and referred to the December meeting for ratification. The motion was adopted.

AV-01-14 Clifton, St. Peter's Haven - Needs Survey requested $8,000
Motion to fund: 8 no, 2 abstentions.

AV-01-15 Boonton, St. John's CDC - Community After School Program 7,500
Motion to fund: 10 yes.
Motion to fund $7,500: 10 yes.

AV-01-16 Belleville, Christ Church - The Care Closet 4,500
Motion to fund: 10 yes.
Motion to fund $4,500: 10 yes.

AV-01-17 Union City, Grace Church -
Sunday School & Youth Outreach Programs 12,200
Motion to fund: 10 yes.
Motion to fund $12,200: 10 yes.

AV-01-18 Newark, St. James CDC - Housing Resource Center 10,000
Motion to fund: 4 yes, 5 no, 1 abstention.
Motion to reconsider the funding vote: 8 no, 2 abstention.

AV-01-20 Hackensack, Christ Church - Christ Church CDC/Peter's Place 10,000
Motion to fund: 10 yes.
Motion to fund $10,000: 10 yes.

AV-01-21 Paterson, St. Paul's - CityServe Youth Program 10,000
Motion to fund: 10 yes.
Motion to fund $10,000: 10 yes.

AV-01-22 East Orange, Christ Church -
Learning Information & Access Center, Inc. 7,147
Motion to fund: 9 yes, 1 abstention.
Motion to fund $7,147: 9 yes, 1 abstention.

AV-01-23 Newark, Grace Church - Youth At Home 5,000
Motion to fund: 10 yes.
Motion to fund $5,000: 10 yes.

Total Recommendation to Diocesan Council: $56,347

WARD J. HERBERT FUND BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS

The Rev. Michel Belt, Board vice chair, presented the recommendations. It was moved and seconded to adopt the recommendations and refer them to the December meeting for ratification. The motion was adopted.

WJH-01-25 Belleville, Christ - Retaining Wall Repair requested $350
Motion to fund: 13 yes, 1 abstention.
Motion to fund $350: 13 yes, 1 abstention.

WJH-01-26 Sparta, St. Mary's - Sprinkler System 2,700
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $1,280: 14 yes.

WJH-01-27 Lyndhurst, St. Thomas' - Drainage System 4,250
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $4,250: 14 yes.

WJH-01-28 Cliffside Park, Trinity (previously rejected)

WJH-01-29 Little Falls, St. Agnes' - Rectory Roof Replacement/Attic Insulation 1,350
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $1,350: 14 yes.

WJH-01-30 Hasbrouck Heights, St. John's - Vicarage Roof and Windows 4,025
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $4,025: 14 yes.

WJH-01-31 Parsippany, St. Gregory's - Church Boiler Replacement 5,350
Motion to fund: 13 yes, 1 abstention.
Motion to fund $5,350: 13 yes, 1 abstention.

WJH-01-32 Paramus, St. Matthew's - Boiler Replacement 12,000
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $13,475: 14 yes.

WJH-01-33 Union City, Grace - Rectory Repairs 3,300
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $3,300 from Fund 2: 14 yes.

WJH-01-34 Washington, St. Peter's - Rectory Asbestos Removal 2,820
Motion to fund: 14 no.

WJH-01-35 Chatham, St. Paul's (previously rejected)

WJH-01-36 Montclair, St. John's - Electric/Parish Hall Roof/Windows 13,317
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $4,567: 14 yes.

WJH-01-37 Dover, St. John's - Bathroom Repairs 2,500
Motion to fund: 13 yes, 1 abstention.
Motion to fund $2,500 from Fund 2: 13 yes, 1 abstention.

WJH-01-38 Hackensack, Christ - Parish Hall Re-roofing 5,650
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $5,650: 14 yes.

WJH-01-39 Chester, Messiah - Emergency Lighting 899
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $899: 14 yes.

WJH-01-40 Paterson, St. Paul's - Water Damage 6,450
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $6,450: 14 yes.

WJH-01-41 Jersey City, Grace Church - Rectory Repair 15,840
Motion to fund: 14 yes.
Motion to fund $10,840 from the matching grant fund and
$5,000 from Fund 2: 14 yes.

Total Recommendation to Diocesan Council from matching grants: $58,486

EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN

Ms. Doris Mardirosian reported that a recent board meeting was held at St. Clement's, Hawthorne. The organization's constitution and by-laws will be updated.

RESOLUTIONS PROPOSED FOR CONVENTION

[Several resolutions had been emailed to the Secretary of Convention using the Newark List as the means of communication. This meant that every subscriber received the proposed resolutions. At the time of the meeting, the two under discussion were one submitted by the Rev. Geoff Curtiss on Urban Strategy and a second submitted by the Bethsaida Team which called for accessibility in our churches.]

During the full and lively discussion, the Chancellor reminded members that the Rules of Order pertaining to resolutions called for a review when deemed necessary by the Chancellor, if there was concern about any legal implications, and by the Treasurer, if there were any financial implications, assuming adoption by convention.

Regarding the Urban Strategy resolution, the mission strategy for the diocese was determined by the bishop. The resolution could urge the bishop to address or consider issues of urban strategy, but should not mandate the bishop to take action. The resolution might need to be rewritten into correct canonical form.

Others commented that some of the resolutions represented frustrations, but were adversarial in nature. However, it was recognized that the frustrations need to be addressed in some workable fashion. Productive and life giving ministries in some of our urban areas were identified. But it was understood that more was needed, but it didn't mean that little was happening.

For some, the Bethsaida Team resolution seemed unhelpful, especially for congregations trying to raise capital funds for improving accessibility.

DISTRICT REPORTS

District 1: The Rev. Kim Capwell reported on the service that bid farewell to the Rev. William Lantz who retired as rector, St. Dunstan's, Succasunna, and welcomed the Rev. Cathy Deats, newly called rector to St. James', Hackettstown. A Lenten program conducted by Interweave was planned for 2002. The Rev. Bill Potter, St. Luke's, Hope was organizing youth activities.

District 2: Ms. Patty Watts reported that two churches had begun working together, St. John's, Boonton and Transfiguration, Towaco, on youth programming (J2A).

District 3: The Rev. Michel Belt reported on the pilgrimage to the three churches involved in the West Orange Strategy; thirty people participated.

District 4: The Rev. Bevan Stanley reported that a Eucharist service was held at Calvary Summit for St. James Jerusalem day.

District 5: No report was made.

District 6: Mr. Don Roberts reported on a recent district meeting that discussed the proposed changes to the budget process. There was a high degree of negativity toward the proposal. It was the sense that too much power was being given to Council and much was being taken away from congregations. Few would even support a trial period. There continued to be a lack of commonality within the district; and, some congregations were not participating at any level.

District 7: Ms. Nancy Read reported that meetings included a program component, often with guest speakers. The meetings rotate among the churches. The district wide chalice bearers and lay readers training was underway. Portions of the AIDS quilt will be displayed at Christ, Belleville. A service of support for families and friends of the military will be held on Sunday, December 2 at Grace, Nutley.

District 8: Ms. Ann Hirsch reported the district was floundering a bit. The Rev. Wade Renn, the Rev. Martin Oguike and Mary Beth King had enthusiastically reported on a conference they attended led by Thomas G. Bandy, the author of Kicking Habits. The Rev. Randall Day commented that many of the churches in the district were smaller missions and congregations and some were suffering from burn out. It was understood that the situation had to be addressed, which might be helped by the materials authored by Bandy.

District 9: The Rev. Jack Stanton reported that a campus ministry committee had begun its work at Bergen Community College. The Hispanic ministry committee will soon meet to consider ministry within Bergen County. Two persons will conduct the sexuality training program. A treasury was formed with each church donating $50.

District 10: The Rev. Briggett Keith reported on recent events. A rota of clergy will begin services at Ramapo College. The district requested meetings with the candidates running for General Convention, because some felt that the deputies might not be reflective of the people. There was discussion regarding the mechanisms for such information sharing: questionnaires, forum prior to the start of convention. The management team will consider the request.

The benediction was pronounced by the Rev. Paul Walker.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael Francaviglia,
Secretary




--Return to Diocese of Newark Home Page

Return to Top of Page