Holy Trinity Parish Council Meeting

Transcription

1 Present: Father Bill Bartz; Steve Kollias, President; Nick Dervenis; Dennis Dickos; Greg Dickos; Bob Dine; Chris Greisl; Dean Antonopoulos, Tracy Pappas; Julie Rowlas; Irene Sarris; Gail Zeheralis. Absent: Constantine Linos; George Pappaioanou. 1) Opening Prayer: The meeting was opened with a prayer led by Father Bill at 6:35. 2) Approval of May 8, 2014 Minutes: Irene Sarris noticed an error on page 2 of the minutes. Third line should read as corrected, Only Steve Kollias, Tracy Pappas, and Julie Rowlas stayed to clean up. Nick Dervenis moved to approve the May minutes as distributed and corrected. Tracy Pappas seconded the motion. ACTION ITEM: The motion to approve the minutes as distributed and corrected passed unanimously. 3) Treasurer s Report: Steve Young presented: a. Assets: PNC Operating: 106, PNC Fundraising: 26, PNC Designated: 182, Schwab Cash: 110, PNC Building Fund: 143, PNC Bldg Fund CD: 125, b. Total Liabilities: 878, Tracy Pappas moved to approve the treasurer s report. Julie Rowlas seconded the motion. ACTION ITEM: The motion to approve the treasurer s report passed unanimously. As part of discussion, Dean Antonopoulos asked under which account had the Pancol Estate funds ($50k) been deposited. Not knowing for sure, the Council asked Father Bill to get an answer. NOTE: On Friday after the PC meeting, Father sent an to the members to tell them that as we had surmised, Cindy Watson deposited those funds in the Designated PNC account for now. Dean Antonopoulos also shared with the PC that he has been looking into refinancing opportunities for us with regard to our long-term building loan. If we did something now, we would be subject to a $12,544 prepayment penalty. We have 1 year left on our loan. However, if interest rates go up by a percentage point, then we would have recouped that penalty. We are at 4.9% now. With a 5-year swap, in today s terms, it would be 4.46%, a 10-year swap would be 5.25% and Dean is looking into what a conventional rate would be. A swap values our loan somewhat like an asset that is, it is sellable back to the bank for value. That said, Dean and the PC determined that we need to keep an eye on things so that when we need to refinance, we are ready. Page 1 of 7

2 Stewardship Report Dennis Dickos presented: 374 Stewards to date for Total amount pledged to date: 532, Amounted Paid to Date on pledges: 249, Total Unpaid to Date: 282, Dennis Dickos indicated that there is not a lot of movement in stewardship right now although there is some positive indicators from last year at this time. He said that the work of the Stewardship Committee for the 2015 campaign is nearing completion. The next meeting of the Committee is June 24, Father Bill indicated that the Stewardship Committee is doing very positive work. 4) Father s Report: a. There have been 3 funerals, memorials were offered at the 4 cemeteries in honor of Memorial Day, and 1 baptism was held since the PC last met. b. For the first time, Holy Trinity will be offering summer-time Church school, beginning June 15 through July 27, 2014, except Independence Day weekend. The classes will be based upon the Scripture readings of the day. c. Awards Sunday was conducted May 18, d. The Calendar-setting day for the ecclesiastical year for HT organizations is June 21. Tracy Pappas will represent the Parish Council (and Philoptochos). e. The following questions were asked by Father to the Council: i. Will there be a Leadership Appreciation Day in December as has been past practice? The PC decided that this event should be commingled with the Parish Christmas Party that we can take time during the party to recognize the various church ministries. ii. Should HT hold a Parish Christmas Party hosted by the Parish Council, the Philoptochos, and GOYA, jointly? The PC decided that this would be a good idea and chose the following dates to jointly consider with input from Philoptochos and GOYA December 12, 13, 14, iii. Should Holy Trinity conduct a Feast Day (Pentecost) celebration annually? Pentecost is scheduled for May 31, 2015 and the PC decided that HT should have an event immediately after Liturgy (a luncheon/dance). iv. Do we agree on the Festival 2015 dates of August 28-30, 2015? The PC agreed on these dates. f. Father Bill if the potential HT-approved caterers had been contacted and were on board? Dean Antonopoulos indicated that Jimmy Bagios and George Stergiopoulos have been notified and agreed. Dean said he will be speaking to Tina Konduris soon. g. Father Bill shared with the PC an from Nick Kasemeotes, Gift Officer from the International Orthodox Christian Charities, Inc. (IOCC). Page 2 of 7

3 i. Father asked the PC if there is consensus for HT to conduct an event in the coming year to raise funds for IOCC. ii. There was a question about the expectations of the event iii. Steve Young will be HT s contact with IOCC. iv. It was tentatively decided that HT would conduct a wine-tasting event open to all the Orthodox churches and the public in November ACTION ITEM: Father Bill will contact Nick Kasemeotes for more details. h. Father notified the PC that he and Presbytera Emily will be leaving immediately after Liturgy on July 6 th for the Clergy-Laity Conference in Philadelphia and then will be on vacation immediately following that. His scheduled return is July 19 th. Fr. John Pilafas will be substituting on July 13 th. 5) Liability Insurance Dean Antonopoulos presented: a. Dean brokered a deal on new liability insurance for HT: i. More coverage for $1200 less than our current rate. ii. $11.6 million coverage (replacement cost insurance levels will be studied with inquiries to Frank Duck of Shiel Sexton). 1. If we need to go up to $15 million, it will likely be $4000 more than we paid under the prior plan (and $3000 more under this new plan). iii. The company is Mennonite Insurance which specializes in church insurance. iv. The total aggregate liability insurance is $4 million. 6) CJK Lawsuit Update: a. Front Doors; Bob Dine presented: i. Confirmed that our current doors are not salvageable. ii. Bob is looking at various vendors: 1. iwantthatdoor.com 2. Local companies iii. For security, Bob mentioned that he might recommend a removable center bar. iv. Steel vs. Aluminum Doors 1. Steel heavier; but more maintenance 2. Aluminum half the cost, ½ the weight, will last 50 years; can be tinted to match. 3. No pricing yet on either option. 4. ACTION ITEM: Bob Dine will investigate a door within the door concept so that we don t have to create a massive opening every time people enter but when we need to open the entire space, it is possible to do so. b. HVAC; Bob Dine presented: i. May be an air pressure problem (could also be charcoal residue from the iconographers falling from the vents). ii. May also be a duct size issue. Page 3 of 7

4 iii. One solution in the exo-narthex may be radiant floor heating (rather than a new HVAC system). iv. The point here is that with the installation of the front doors, we need to also think ahead relative to what kind of permanent flooring we will put into the exo-narthex due to the spacing at the bottom of the doors that will need to be measured. 7) PC Committee Assignments and Reports: a. Security Camera System; Bob Dine presented: i. Steve s friend (Boris) has quoted $9988. ii. Central Security s quote for virtually the same thing: $25,151. iii. Clearly, Boris pricing was advantageous. The question then became how do we pay for it (Boris bid is below the $10k general assembly approval threshold per the HB by-laws) so PC approval is needed. iv. The options presented were: 1. to use the building fund; or 2. use a portion of the recent roof insurance settlement (which was $25k and Bob says he can get the roof fixed for about $10k). v. ACTION ITEM: Greg Dickos moved to use some of the balance from the roof settlement. Irene Sarris seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. b. Bookstore Expansion Proposal; Bob Dine presented: i. Bob Dine indicated that he had a conversation with Mike Young after noticing that the bookstore inventory was encroaching into the Founders Walk area. ii. Bob s proposal would be to push out the front wall of the Bookstore, retaining the architectural design but giving the bookstore more secured space. iii. The PC determined by consensus that it was acceptable for Bob to continue his investigation in terms of costs, etc but that there remained serious questions as to the impact this would have on the Founders Walk both functionally and aesthetically, and consequently on whether to proceed. iv. A suggestion also was articulated that perhaps the bookstore inventory could be narrowed down. Father Bill indicated he would check this out with Mike Young. c. Montessori School expansion; Gail presented: i. Vivian Cain, HT s current Montessori tenant met with Gail Zeheralis requesting additional classrooms for the school year. ii. Specifically, Cain requested the last rooms at the end of the hall on the right and left plus the teen double room. iii. Gail reported that the request basically amounts to tripling the current lease which, based upon $15/sf, totals about $13k per year. Tripling would mean somewhere in the vicinity of $39k total from Montessori each year. Gail noted she has not measured the rooms to have an exact figure. Page 4 of 7

5 iv. The downsides are that the Montessori program requires special shelves that line the perimeter of the rooms. Vivian would pay for the shelves but HT programs would have to work around them. That would apply to the last room on the right and the teen room. The last room on the left is being requested to provide one-to-one assistance for autistic students. Shelving is not required but moveable room dividers are. v. Gail spoke with the Church School and Greek school directors. There are some concerns (particularly requesting some way to close off the shelves when HT is using the rooms) but overall, everyone understands the upside to this which is the revenue. vi. The PC, by consensus, approved Gail continuing to try to close this deal with Vivian as soon as possible. 8) GreekFEST 2014; Dean Antonopoulos presented: a. Everything is on pace. b. Steve Kollias did note that two parishioners came to him strongly urging him NOT to use the Founders Walk for the pastry sales. Since this issue had been discussed at length in a prior meeting at which the PC approved such use, the PC noted again that we will allow this once to see the effect and if things do not work out, it will not be continued. 9) Parish Priority Projects Committee Survey; Father Bill presented: a. Father Bill indicated that we need to begin laying out the various priorities and timetables for the projects now prioritized, especially if we are going to focus on Phase 3 iconography; there are 65 saints that need to be identified, plus the General Assembly must approve any expenditure greater than $10k. b. Father Bill passed out some schematics on Phase 3 iconography. Steve Kollias noted that Dr. Kordis imprint on our iconography is unique to him and that we don t want to put this off so long that Dr. Kordis cannot be the one to finish it. c. Father Bill mentioned that the PC cannot be perceived as asking our parishioners for input and then disregarding it. He also noted that even if we get to $600k in stewardship, that is still $200k short of our operating expenses. d. The #1 priority (paying off the short-term loan) is just about accomplished ($17k balance). e. The 2 nd priority, a 2 nd priest, would cost an additional and ongoing annually $100k: i. Discussion centered on using whatever additional Montessori funds might come in ($30k) + $20k that we have been paying on the short-term loan = $50k which pays for the 1 st year of a 2 nd priest (which is really just a ½ year. After that, we would need to budget another $50k to fully fund the 2 nd priest. ii. Dennis noted that there are always moving expenses as well with a new priest. f. The 3 rd priority: New seating and paying off the long-term mortgage: i. Dennis Dickos indicated that he would provide cost estimates on pews versus chairs. Page 5 of 7

6 g. The 4 th and 5 th priorities: Paying off the long-term mortgage and Phase 3 of the Iconography with Flooring: i. Steve Kollias said that the earliest we could bring Dr. Kordis back would be late 2015 or Spring of Tracy Pappas feared that people will not give more in stewardship if we push iconography. Dennis Dickos noted that stewardship reached a plateau during the capital campaign. Steve felt it is an education process and stressed the need to ensure that Kordis be the one to complete the work the longer we wait, the more risk we take on Kordis availability. ii. Father Bill indicated that since priorities 1 and 2 (short-term loan and 2 nd priest) could somewhat be defended as being paid for (Montessori expansion and redirect what we had been paying for short-term gets us to the 1 st half-year), the PC must, in time for the November General Assembly, come up with a plan for Priorities 3 and 4. 10) Pancol Estate donation ($50k) Father Bill noted that at the July meeting, the PC should make a recommendation on its allocation. 11) Holy Trinity Financial Review Tracy Pappas reported no updates. 12) Other Business: a. Disaster Plan for Fire/Storm/Bomb Threats: i. Jean Molleston submitted. ii. Steve Kollias will send this out for our review. b. Organizational Fair; i. Tracy Pappas inquired as to whether this will occur. ii. The PC discussed tentative dates of September 7 th or 14 th and will work with the Missions Committee to see what works best. c. When the raffle tickets were announced as printed, Father Bill informed the Parish Council of an issue that was just relayed to the Festival Committee two days ago. It seems that different ministries or groups of the Parish have used the Festival as a means to collect funds. The Festival Committee may create a policy that all funds that are collected around the Festival are to be for the Festival. i. The Festival Board has not had the time to look into this issue and in the process of acquiring more facts. ii. There was much discussion on this with regards to the raffle and others who may collect funds for their group. 1. The Festival Board will submit their decision. d. A question was raised as to why Greek School tuition went up? i. Father Bill noted that there will be new books that needed funding and the new tuition covers the costs for all of the extras that had been funded by making separate solicitations to parents (for parties, etc..). With the higher tuition, no extra fees will be tacked on and the Co-Directors don t have to request small amounts of money from the parents.. Page 6 of 7

7 13) Change of July meeting date: Because Father will be out of town on the 2 nd and 3 rd Thursday of July, the PC designated July 24 th as its next meeting date. 14) The meeting adjourned at 9:10 pm. Father led the closing prayer. Respectfully Submitted: Gail Zeheralis, Secretary Date Steve Kollias, President Date Father Bill Bartz, Presiding Priest Date Page 7 of 7