Holy Redeemer Parish Council Minutes

March 18, 2009

 

7:30 p.m.

 

1.                  Attendees:  Rita Thompson, Rosemary Allender, Ellen Davis, Dave Fortuna, Mollie Huitema, Agnes Newman, Mark Russo

 

2.                  Council members prayed the Hail Mary together.

 

3.                  The chair reserved her comments for appropriate times during the meeting.

 

4.                  Minutes of the November meeting were approved.

 

5.                  Committee Reports

 

Social Justice - Dave Fortuna

a.       Safe haven is going well.  All the volunteer slots are filled.

b.      He will send information on upcoming workshops.

c.       Brenda Cooley has volunteered to be the Social Justice representative on the Council.  The Council accepted this offer, and Dave will notify Brenda of this decision.

 

Liturgy - No report

 

School Advisory Board - Rita Thompson

See Attachment 1.

 

Youth – No report

 

Christian Formation – No report

 

Finance - Ellen Davis

a.       The six month report will be out shortly.

b.      Even though there is a shortfall in collections, people are making specific donations, so the parish is taking in the same amount of money.

 

6.                  New Business

a.                   Terms of three community representatives expire in May.  Dave Fortuna will organize the elections.

b.                  The Bereavement Committee's third lecture is scheduled for this coming Tuesday.

 

7.                  Old Business

a.                   Mark Russo presented a report on the Ad Hoc Parish Security committee.  See Attachment 2.

b.                  2012 is the parish's 100th anniversary. Rita will run a notice again in September asking for people to help plan activities to celebrate the occasion.  Two ideas being suggested are a dinner for long time parishioners and a homecoming weekend to which former clergy will be invited.  A scanner for old photos will be set up.

c.                   There have been many comments and questions about the role of the Facilities Committee.  How are the needs of the parish determined? All members of the Council should look at the constitution to consider necessary changes.  It was agreed that the Council should write the amendments.

 

8.                  The next meeting is scheduled for May 20, 2009.

 

9.                  The meeting closed with the Our Father.

 

     

Respectfully submitted,

 

Mollie Huitema

 

 

Attachment 1          School Report

The Kelly Scholarship fund provides $3,000 a year for 4 years, but due to market conditions the fund has been put on hold for 2 years.

HSA provided each grade $500.00 for enrichment.

The Development Committee is working on the continued development of the School web site.

Open House – visitors mentioned that web site and list server was the provider of information, more than the signs and advertisement. Additional, feedback includes that HR provides a welcoming community feeling, especially with the church and school connected and liked the informational boards in the Four Seasons Room.

There are currently 229 registered students for the 2009/2010 school year and the budget is based on 235 students.

The school received 4 DVD players through a grant.

The school has submitted a solar energy grant for solar panels that will provide significant savings to the school.

At the teachers meeting, Marie Winterson presented the teachers an overview of the mission of the ministry she serves and was very informative to the teachers.

The 8th graders received 100% acceptance of their 1st choice for High School. Eight of the students were accepted into the Eleanor Roosevelt High School tech program.

School received $400-$500 grant from City of College Park to pay for bullying program. The program focuses on how to get help and not on the bully.

HR took every place in the American Legion Essay Contest. The Essay Contest was on “Americanism” for 5th/6th and 7th/8th graders. The school received comments on how all the papers were well presented.

There will be a VIRTIS training held at Holy Redeemer in September – date to be determined.

 

 

Attachment 2   Ad Hoc Parish Security Committee Report

·        Formation of committee approved by Parish Council at January meeting.

·        Council also approved formation of a parking lot security detail nighttime events.

·        Announcement seeking committee members and volunteers for parking lot security detail was included in church bulletin on February 15 and 22nd.

·        Received one e-mail indicating interest in serving on the committee.

·        In addition, two parishioners contacted Father George to volunteer for parking lot security detail.

·        Mark Russo has provided security lot detail for approximately 80% of night Masses since January 3rd.

·        Mark also spoke with Wayne Williams about his experience and suggestions for increased security.

·        He will begin some “directed recruiting” in order to finalize formation of the committee and add members to parking lot detail.

·        If any Parish Council members know someone who would be a good fit for this committee, please contact Mark and he will add them to the list of people to contact.

·        With the advent of Daylight Savings Time, we will not have to cover Saturday evening Mass, but will be looking to cover the Masses for Peace, Wednesday evening prayer services during lent, and Holy Week evening events.

·        Parking lot lighting update to be provided by Facilities Committee.

 

 

Attachment 3     Facilities Report

 

Here are a few items we are working on:

 

The electrical consultant and I met with Father George on Wednesday March 11 to review the four options for lighting the parish parking lot.  It would be useful for Father to bring these to the meeting so that the advantages and disadvantages of each can be discussed. We have kind of promised the engineer a decision by Friday the 20th.  Father may decide otherwise, but it is pretty much impossible to light the entire lot using perimeter poles. We’re going to have to erect stanchions in the lot itself. The question is how many; six or eight. My guess is probably eight. We also went to the boiler room to investigate availability of power. The electrical engineer has a little more investigating to do, but this could significantly add to the cost of the project. Trenching to that location will also be problematic. Estimated costs for the stanchions alone: about $50,000.

 

With Mrs. Cabrales’ help, we submitted a grant request on February 26 in the amount of $15,342 to retrofit the lamps and ballasts throughout the church and school. This was based largely on an analysis I did a couple of years ago and presented to the finance committee who didn’t seem particularly receptive. We could save about 37 percent on our electric bill, but apparently no one has thought about that. With energy prices rising steadily, this would be an easy savings.

 

We also met on Wednesday with an architect who works with me to begin design (sketches really) of the new parish office in the teacher’s lounge. First submittal is due at the end of the month. Generally, scope includes carpet tile, painting, some less than full-height partitions, reversing the location of the sink and counter, and some shelves.

 

We also have been in contact with two vendors who will price rubberized pellets for the playground area. Hope to have something back to them this week. Probably some self-help work.

 

Mrs. Bovitch does want to try to do some self-help over the Easter holidays. I need to prepare some notes for the bulletin. Probably painting only.

 

We also should receive a bid for top painting the stairwells leading to the FSR and the church.