Vestry

The Vestry* is the church board. The basic responsibilities of the vestry are to help define and articulate the mission of the congregation; to support the church’s mission by word and deed, to select and support the rector, to ensure effective organization and planning, and to manage resources and finances. Generally, 1/3 of the nine Vestry members are elected each year at the annual parish meeting and serve a three-year term. The presiding officer of the vestry is the rector. The officers include two wardens, a treasurer and a clerk.

*The origin of the term vestry is from the early church in England. Parishioners met about church business in the vestry, the room off the chancel where the clergy vested. The assembled parishioners came to be known as the vestry.

Vestry Members

  • Roni Portillo

    Roni Portillo

    Senior Warden

    Email

  • Keely Clifford

    Keely Clifford

    Junior Warden

  • Ellen Jahn

    Ellen Jahn

  • Mary Hood

    Mary Hood

  • Robert Daunt

    Robert Daunt

  • Ray Ramirez

    Ray Ramirez

  • Coburn Palmer

    Coburn Palmer

  • Photo of Brita Bruemmer

    Brita Bruemmer

  • Photo of Roger Miller

    Roger Miller

Vestry Meeting Highlights

    • A project to make the larger Edwards Hall restroom more accessible will start on July 7th.

    • The Labyrinth Garden project breaks ground July 7th; we will celebrate this groundbreaking at our Cookout on July 6th!

    • The Vestry discussed the timing and format of two celebrations to have this Fall, one for CSC 60th anniversary and one to dedicate the new labyrinth.

    • Nicholas Mourlam attended the meeting to provide a ministry spotlight on the Music Ministry. We discussed ideas for improving the acoustics in the sanctuary.

     

  • Vestry Meeting Highlights

    Below are a few highlights from the May 28th Vestry meeting:

    • In a discussion of the book, Let Your Life Speak, by Parker Palmer, we discussed the question "Does the church have a vocation?" 

    • For this month's Ministry Spotlight, Ann Roberts shared updates about the Hospitality ministry. She has a few dedicated volunteers who serve as Coffee Hour Hosts,  and would love a few more volunteers to set up Coffee Hour, especially during the summer.  Ann has recruited some volunteers to help with Memorial Receptions and Weddings. We have 3 weddings scheduled so far for this year.   

    • Andrea Noble is evaluating bids of masonry contractors for the labyrinth project. We expect to have more updates soon.

  • The Vestry met on April 23. Meeting highlights include:

    • Easter Sunday was very well attended with 170 people present! Thank you to everyone who helped make it a wonderful day!

    • Donna Daunt stepped down as the chair of Buildings and Grounds at the end of April after a very productive tenure. (Thank you to Donna!) Keely Clifford, Junior Warden, agreed to serve as the new chair of Buildings & Grounds.

    • The Columbarium Fee Schedule has been updated and the new prices will become effective 6/1/25. Contact Ann Pettit for more information.

    • Pastor Kristine introduced our new bookkeeper, Alicia Sanoian.  

    • Kathy Stoner gave a brief update on parish finances. We recently transitioned from an accounting and contributions system called Aplos to a combination of two more widely used and reliable web-based systems, QuickBooks and Realm. 

    • Pastor Kristine shared that she was recently appointed as the Vice President of the diocesan Standing Committee. 

    • We reviewed our group norms and made a couple minor revisions.  

  • Highlights:

    • The Vestry welcomed its two new members, Brita Bruemmer and Roger Miller.

    • Pastor Kristine announced re-appointment of Roni Portillo as Senior Warden.

    • Vestry re-elected Keely Clifford as Junior Warden.

    • Vestry re-elected Kathy Stoner as Treasurer.

    • Vestry elected Penny Portillo as Clerk.

    • Approved 2025 Operating Budget

    • Approved 2025 Capital Budget

    • Approved minor revisions to Articles of incorporation

    • Approved revisions to church bylaws to bring into compliance with current law and church canons. Bylaw revision will be voted on at upcoming Annual Meeting.