GOVERNANCE

Section 1.

The Rector, or Vicar, Church Wardens and Members of the Vestry (called the Vestry) shall administer all the temporal business of the Parish; shall see that all things needful for the public services are provided; shall pay with punctuality, at the intervals agreed, the stipulated salary of the Rector or Vicar and others; shall inform themselves of the orders and times of all offerings required by the Canons of the Diocese and of assessments imposed by the Council, and take measures for the obedient fulfillment and due liquidation of these obligations; and before the close of each fiscal year, if the treasury be deficient, the Vestry shall collect, as far as practicable, by subscription or otherwise, a sum sufficient to liquidate all of the current annual obligations of the Parish.

Section 2.

The Vestry shall, prior to the Annual Parish Meeting, cause to be written and delivered to the Rector or Vicar or, if there be none, to the Wardens, a full, accurate and faithful statement of the temporal condition of the Parish. This statement (to be designated the Annual Report of the Vestry) shall show, among other things, what money, lands and other property have been received during the year past and from what sources what money has been expended and for what objects, what property has been exchanged or mortgaged or sold and for what purposes and what debts are owing by the Parish and what security, if any, has then owned by the Parish. This Annual Report shall be communicated to the Annual Parish Meeting as provided in Canon 31, Section 8.(e).

The Vestry shall also furnish and read to the Annual Meeting a separate statement of the money and property held in trust by or for the Parish, which shows:

(a). the nature and purpose of each trust;

(b). when and by whom the same was created, and the kind of instrument under which it was created;

(c). the names of the beneficiaries thereof;

(d). the total value of the original trust fund and the amount of the principal thereof at the end of the preceding fiscal year;

(e). a brief description of the securities in which the same were then invested;

(f). the rate of interest on each investment and the amount of interest in default, if any; and

(g). the disposition of the income therefrom during such year; which statement shall also show whether or not fiduciary bonds required for such funds by Canon have been approved and delivered, the surety or sureties thereon, and the principal amount of each such bond. An exact copy of such separate statement shall be delivered to the Bishop by the Wardens promptly after each Annual Parish Meeting.

Section 3.

There shall be held at least six regular Vestry meetings in each year. Special meetings of the Vestry may be called by order of the Rector or Vicar, or, in case of vacancy, by the Wardens, at any time deemed expedient; and shall call such meetings when requested, in writing, by a majority of the members of the Vestry, which writing shall declare the object of such meeting.

Section 4. 

Vacancies in the Vestry shall be filled for the unexpired term by a majority of the remaining members of the Vestry at any regular meeting, of which election previous notice shall have been given, in writing, to every member of the Vestry by the Secretary or Clerk.

Section 5. 

The Rector or Vicar shall preside at all meetings of the Vestry and shall be entitled to cast the deciding vote in the case of a tie. If present, the Rector or Vicar may, if desirable, appoint any other member of the Vestry to preside at a meeting of the Vestry, such designee being entitled to cast the deciding vote in the case of a tie. The Rector or Vicar shall be ex officio member of all Committees.

Section 6.

In case there is no Rector, or Vicar, or in case of absence or inability to act, the Senior Warden, or if absent the Junior Warden, shall preside at all meetings of the Vestry. No meeting of the Vestry shall be valid in which there shall not be present either the Rector, or Vicar, or one Warden, except for the purpose of electing Wardens if there be no Rector, or Vicar, or Wardens.