Grace Episcopal Church
Martinez, California
Unadopted Minutes of Vestry email vote
April 2-3, 2023
Present (by email): The Reverend Dr. Deborah White (Rector), Amy Eudy (Sr. Warden), Shannon Kleinschmit (Jr. Warden), Liz Charlton, Ann Fisher, Dru Grissom, Sally Hanson, Jennifer Sabroe, Catherine Sumner
M/S/C denotes motion made, seconded, and carried. The names following M/S/C in parentheses denote the persons who made the motion and seconded it.
Call to Order. Reverend Deb contacted the vestry by email requesting the group’s consent to spend $21,000 to repair our driveway in time for Easter.
The contents of that email are here:
“Hello all,
I am sorry to bother you on a Sunday evening, but we have had a new development with the driveway. The person that Dick engaged to pave the two new holes came and looked at it this afternoon (as it is now dry) and says that he wants to make a much bigger patch because he doesn't believe the repair will otherwise hold. Instead of the $7k we had planned to spend, this will cost $21k.
Amy, Shannon, Dick, Marj, Gary, and I have spent the afternoon exploring our options. In addition to the paving company looking at the site, Dick also got the most recently retired city engineer to come and look at it and he agreed with the paver that a larger patch was needed.
At this point our choices are to:
1) get more estimates, which we would normally do with a job this big.
Things to consider about this option:
Taking the time to get more bids will preclude getting it done before Easter.
The paving guy was vetted by the current city department of works guy and the most recently retired city engineer and we don't think he's trying to rip us off.
He thinks if we do this larger patch, it will last at least a year. We are hoping that in a year we will break ground on the upper lot project and the cost of a new driveway (and parking lot) will be included in the development and paid for by the developer.
2) Marj suggested that we see about paving the whole driveway to see whether we'd do better spending the money now, but that would be $91K and I vetoed it outright as it would wipe out our B&G fund.
3) The paver offered to cut $2k off the price if they could spread the debris on the area to the right of the driveway over the woodchips. I do not want to do this as it would be ugly.
I am not particularly happy with any of these choices, but I believe that we cannot put off repairing the driveway any longer. Doing this now will get us to a more solid place with the upper lot planning. I also have great faith that Dick has done the legwork to find the best deal for us and I know that paving prices are simply out of hand right now. The bottom line is that we need to keep the driveway operable so we can continue to have church. For these reasons, we are recommending that we spend the $21k (which we have in the B&G fund, and which will leave us with over $100k in that fund) to get it done.
I have set a policy that requires me to get Vestry consent for any purchase over $1000, so I am asking for an email motion, a second, and the vote of everyone (except Bob, who is in Italy) in order to make this happen before Easter.
Please respond to the group with all questions, concerns, and your vote.
Many thanks, Rev. Deb”
It was M/S (Eudy/Sumner) to spend the $21k to get the driveway repaired in time for Easter. Jennifer Sabroe, in her response, asked the following questions:
“What about the garbage trucks? Or any heavy truck for that matter. Should we have a weight restriction on the driveway? Did Marj connect with anyone at Republic Services about the damage they did? What is this paver’s name?”
Reverend Deb responded as follows:
“These are all excellent questions, Jennifer.
1) We have sent a letter from our attorney to Republic Services telling them not to drive up our driveway. The City Manager of Martinez has also promised to tell Republic Services the same. This means we will need to bring our cans down each week so we will need to set up a rotation for this.
2) We hadn't thought of this in general, but this is a super idea. I can look into signs and consult with the engineers as to what weight should go on it.
3) I connected with Republic and they agreed not to go up our driveway and to expect to pick up our garbage from the foot of our driveway. They know they are not allowed to turn around in the driveway. What I found when I spoke to them was that 1) it is possible that Marj's request was only forwarded to the trash truck and not the recycling and organic waste people, and 2) Nob Hill has a no turnaround request, which is likely why they use our driveway.
4) The paver is Lucas Paving, https://jvlucaspaving.net/”
Between 8 pm on Sunday, April 2 and 11:30 am on Monday, April 3, all members of the vestry consented to paying $21 thousand for the paving.
Reverend Deb contacted Dick Evans, the contact person working with the paving company, and he arranged for the paving to be done on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 4-5 so it will be dry in time for the Maundy Thursday service on April 6.
Respectfully submitted,
The Rev. Dr. Deborah White, Rector
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