Staff transitions

Dear Friends in Christ,

As we begin our office transition, it has become clear from conversations with Mother Mary and looking at the history of office operations, that we need to restructure different positions in office and facility management. This begins with the Parish Administrator position but extends to other aspects of operations, as well.

I’ll focus today on that Parish Administrator transition and share news about facilities in the weeks ahead.

I have asked three parishioners, John Bremond, Liz Wood, and Michael Anderson to help with this review, and I’m grateful for their assistance so far. I look forward to their insight and experience to help shape how we execute the administration of parish operations in the near future. 

I am delighted to say that Kiki Cheney has agreed to step into a restructured Parish Administrator position.

The full-time Parish Administrator is a combination ambassadorial and administrative role. This person serves as a liaison between staff and the parish community, supports the parish’s administrative functions, and works closely with clergy, staff, Vestry members, and parishioners to support their work on behalf of Saint Philip’s.

The key areas of responsibility are:

*Day-to-day administrative functions
*Volunteers/Parish Life events
*Newcomers/Membership
*Columbarium
*The Little Shop

As Kiki steps out of a role focused on parish communications I am also pleased to report that our new Communications person is Mo Owen. She’ll work part-time and be responsible for:

*The Bell & Tower and assist with CYFM’s e-newsletter, Faithful Families
*Posters, flyers, and signage
*Concert programs
*Social media
*Website maintenance

Both Kiki and Mo bring experience in these areas, are familiar with life at Saint Philip’s, and are dedicated to helping us carry out this work in support of the wider community. More than experience, though, they bring a generous, warm spirit to the work that will be a gift not only to their staff colleagues but also to the wider parish. 

You’ll note that the Parish Administrator role does not focus heavily on budget and facilities.

As we restructure facilities management we expect that the bulk of the facilities work will fall under the Facilities Director working in collaboration with Buildings & Grounds and Preservation & Endowment. 

On the budget side, our experience with the parish’s outside controller and accounting firm, YPTC, has been quite good, and their expertise can be relied upon further to help with financial management. Additionally, as new members join our finance committee, we expect a larger share of budgetary oversight to rest with the lay leadership of that committee. 

We have seen the success of the re-structured commission system in recent years and hope that what we have learned from that experience will inform how we structure the work of Buildings & Grounds and the Finance Committee, especially with regard to their relationship with staff and Vestry. 

My expectation is that we will build systems that will allow for faster decision making and greater involvement of lay leaders at various points in the deliberations and decisions around operations and facilities. Of course, this won’t be an immediate nor instantaneous change but my hope is that we build systems that can respond to the needs of the coming years and not just react to the pressures of the day or week. 

I’m deeply grateful to the leaders looking at these processes, procedures, and positions and to Kiki and Mo, as well, for being willing to take on new roles and responsibilities as we try on this new arrangement. We won’t have every answer for every question as the transition unfolds, I’m sure, but we will have folks who are eager to figure out the answers with you and to do so with grace and good spirit. 

I hope you’ll congratulate and thank both Kiki and Mo. I look forward to seeing how we grow and adapt to meet the changing needs of our life together. 

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert