Parish Council Meeting Minutes
March 14, 2007

Gary DeMichele called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm. The meeting took place in Milligan Hall. Members in attendance were Dick Wowack, Paul Travers, Carmen Brickner, Tom Policelli, John Alissi, Madeline Milligan and David Moran and ex-officio members Fr. Cody, Pat Piano, Pat Pruitt and Cici Baker. Member not in attendance was Marilyn McGoldrick. Pat Piano opened with a prayer. The February minutes were reviewed and approved.

SCHOOL BOARD / EDUCATION – Madeline Milligan

The budget for 2007-2008 school year was submitted to the Archdiocese.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH – Dick Wowak / Marilyn McGoldrick

Here is the long promised e-mail to update everyone on the plans for the Community Outreach Committee. I have attached a list of the upcoming events that were discussed at the meeting. We had volunteers for all the events except the Catholic Worker House Summer Camp drive - Carroll Conway and Marilyn McGoldrick were mentioned as possible "volunteers" - let us know if either or both of you are willing to be the lead persons on this event or possibly anyone else who would be willing.

We also planned a brief meeting in June to discuss the events planned in late summer/fall. I will let everyone know by e-mail when we have a date.

A new area for us to become involved is being developed right now, and we would like to hear some feedback and gage the interest from the rest of the committee before we make an announcement to the Parish. Midge has found an opportunity for our parish to link up with and provide assistance to a parish in New Orleans. The parish is called St. Peter Claver and it is located on the edge of the 9th Ward. The Pastor is Father Michael Jacques, estimates that 98% of his parishioners lost their homes. The parish also runs a school but many of the children have not returned because there is nowhere to live. The 9th Ward is one of the poorest neighborhoods in New Orleans and still needs help to rebuild. Right now they are looking for help for their parishioners to repair and rebuild their homes. Donating gift cards to Lowe's and Home Depot seems to be the quickest and most direct way to help them. There is also the idea of gathering a group and actually going down to New Orleans to help with rebuilding, possibly linking to Habitat for Humanity or another like organization. We obviously will need help from someone who has experience with this sort of project and the many, many details it will involve!

I have also attached our contact list please check it for errors - especially e-mail address on the list that you may know other than your own! We plan to communicate mainly through e-mail about future events and meeting dates.

Lastly, Stephanie and I are excited and a bit nervous as we work to continue with all the great work the committee has done with Midge and Cici as co-chairs - so please bear with us as we come up to speed on everything and feel free to offer any "hints" that might help!

Hartford Hospital's Free Clinic offers socks and underwear as an incentive to get patients to come to the clinic. It has been very successful. When the hospital runs out of said items, the patient population is down. We hope to help by collecting socks and underwear, all sizes. Date: weekend of March 17/18.

Children's Book Drive to benefit the Bergdorf Clinic; a book is given to each child treated at the clinic. Books are also given to the McDonough and the Clark schools to supplement the classroom reading programs. Date: weekend of April 2l-22.

Diapers for *Family Life Education, Inc. which provides child care, education, job training and many other services to young families will benefit from our 2nd annual collection of diapers. Date: weekend of May 12/13.

*Catholic Worker ' Camp Ahimsa in Voluntown provides a happy and life- changing experience for children who know nothing but the streets in the North End of Hartford. We will be collecting special foods and camp necessities: Date: Mid June

Back to school supplies: Backpacks are needed particularly for middle and upper grade school children. Details later. Date: late August

Charter Oak Health Center supports nutrition by supplying those in need with kitchen utensils to enable them to prepare food in a healthy manner. Save your give-away pots, pans and small appliances (i.e. toaster ovens, microwaves, electric mixers) for the end of September drive.

Center City Churches: Walk for Hunger in May. All it requires is a captain to distribute info and sign-up info to put together a list of parishinors for the walk and donations. Received call from Kelly.

CCD/YOUTH GROUP – no report

FINANCE COUNCIL REPORT – Carmen Brickner

The development campaign has received pledges totaling $781,000 with $501,000 received.

PASTORAL ASSOCIATE UPDATE – Pat Piano

Adult Education: There are approximately 50 people attending our lenten series on Prayer as a spiritual journey each Tuesday night. The Adult Education Collaborative Committee representing St Timothy, St Peter Claver and St Thomas the Apostle met on March 6. We are working on a tri-parish project around issues of stewardship. More to come.

Environment Committee- met March 12. We're well into plans for Holy Week and Easter.

Liturgy Committee:

· We met on Tuesday, Feb. 27^th. Planning for the rest of Lent, Holy Week and Easter Season. We hope that our initiative with the communal examination of conscience for Lent has been helpful.

· Those who met with the committee to share their ideas and dreams around the church are asked to participate in a nationwide survey of young adults (ages 20-39) married and unmarried. The survey is being conducted by Dr. Dean Hoge, Professor of Sociology at Catholic U. of America and is part of the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project that will take place this month. If you want to participate, please give Pat Piano your latest e-mail address.

· The committee is looking for a baby to be baptized at the Easter Vigil.

· We will send Paul Travers, Marilyn McGoldrick and Mary Ruddat to the cathedral the Tuesday of Holy Week for the Chrism Mass. At this mass they will receive the holy oils that will be blessed by Archbishop Mansell that day to be used throughout the year.

RCIA - We celebrated the Rite of Sending on the First Sunday of Lent. That afternoon, the entire RCIA Team attended the Rite of Election at the cathedral to support our two candidates. They are now in our final stage of the process. Our two candidates are very excited to come into the church.

Pastoral Care - We have had five more people die since our last meeting.

PARISH LIFE/SOCIAL COMMITTEE – Paul Travers

Hospitality Sunday took place on March 4, 2007 hosted by The Knights of Columbus. The next Hospitality Sunday is scheduled for Palm Sunday, April 1, 2007. The members of the Parish Council with an invitation for the Finance Council are scheduled to host. The Mother’s Circle will be having an Easter Egg Hunt.

The Spaghetti Dinner Planning Committee took place on Saturday February 10, 2007. This was a great example of a parish coming together as a community to make something special happen. The evening was broken down to different shifts with different duties. The K of C assisted in getting the set up done in record time. The Conway family, the Kerchaert family, the DeAngelis family, the DeMichele family, the Bohn and the Kennedy families for their along with Carmen Brickner, Stephanie Barnes, Pat Pruitt, Nellie Augustino, Mary Ellen Freisz, and many others helped make the event a success for over 200 people. The clean up shift was especially noteworthy because just about every parishioner helped out lending a hand in returning O’Connell Hall to its normal condition. The pasta items for the needy were a great idea and a concept that hopefully could be broadened to add a nice corporal work of mercy to the event. Also, it was noted that a generous amount of pasta was left over so we will make the appropriate adjustments for next year.

FACILITIES/BUILDING AND GROUNDS – Tom Policelli

Parking lot (and related work), the following is the outcome of discussions with Denis O’Sullivan, Gary DeMichele, and Father Cody:

I. NEED-TO-HAVE ITEMS

a. Fire Access

i. Objective – confirm fire trucks will have access at all times, including Mass

ii. Resolution

1. Denis O’Sullivan and Justin to review paving plan for fire lanes

2. New driveway will have new poles with chain to replace existing one (and to put down during high-traffic times

3. Denis tried to manage my expectations that people park anywhere during Mass no matter what we do

b. Handicapped Access I

i. Objective – confirm ADA compliance, and make sure adequate ramp access

ii. Resolution

1. The ramp on the roundabout in front of the church will be widened to 4’ to accommodate wheelchairs better than the narrow ramp we have today

2. Denis and Justin will review other access points to make sure adequate ramp access is provided

c. Handicapped Parking

i. Objective – increase the number of handicapped spaces

ii. Resolution

1. Denis to review and set us up with the right number of spaces according to code. This may well include a van spot

d. Sidewalk from King Philip Drive

i. Objective – create a sidewalk from KP to church primarily for kids going to CCD on Mondays from school (see Dec Parish Council minutes for discussion)

ii. Resolution

1. Full, separate cement sidewalk will be in bid specs sent out to contractors. Rough estimate is $12,000 for this, and we will wait and see what the bids look like. We will review this (and the entire cost of the project) before proceeding

2. Secondary option not being pursued at this time was to raise a 3’- 4’ wide section on the northern side of the existing southern driveway and place a standard curb along it. Could be substantially cheaper, but we would lose some parking along the driveway. Potential to also be somewhat less durable than concrete.

3. Third option, also not being pursued, was to paint a walking lane and section it off with curbing along the northern side of the southern driveway. Likely much less costly, although vulnerable to snowplows.

II. NICE-TO-HAVE ITEMS

a. Improvements to Path to Rectory

i. Objective – make the path more walk-able and light it

ii. Resolution

1. Out of scope for the paving project. The bidders will be bringing in heavy equipment not suited for this kind of job, and this work would be a distraction

2. Parish Council and Finance Council to determine priority

b. Improve Traffic Flow On/Off North Main

i. Objective – rectify current situation with one lane of parked cars, one lane exiting, and one lane entering – all on a two-lane driveway

ii. Resolution

1. Put ‘no parking’ signs along driveway and let parishioner know not to park there

2. Do not proceed with idea to widen the driveway to three lanes. Reasons:

a. Would have to dig into hillside, which is difficult

b. Expensive way to park 11 cars

c. Zoning approval could slow down whole paving project

3. Do not proceed with option to keep the driveway at two lanes, but then cut an indent on the southern side of the western driveway to allow parallel parking. Reasons:

a. Would still have to dig into the hillside, which is still difficult

b. Expensive way to park 10 cars

c. Would likely be much easier for zoning approval, but see ‘a’ and ‘b’ above

III. SEPARATE BID

a. Lighting

i. Objectives

1. Parking lot and driveway needs lights for safety

2. Signs on North Main and King Philip need to be lit

3. Flagpole should be lit

ii. Resolution

1. Denis recommended doing a separate bid because

a. Combining it would drive up the cost of the paving

b. We should have someone who knows St. Tim’s and will be around to service the electrical work do the job

2. Denis took it one step further and advised that we simply get a quote from our regular electrician (he’s getting the name from Justin) and Denis will make sure that it is economically logical. If so, he gets the job

3. Denis is going to walk the property with Justin and let us know what we can do from a cost and zoning perspective. He’s going to provide us with examples of lighting that we could use.

4. This work needs to be approved, funded, and completed before the paving work begins. We will have some gravel strips in the interim.

IV. NOT IN SCOPE AT THIS TIME

a. Remove/modify landings–good questions, but not worth slowing Denis down to answer

b. Basketball hoops and bike racks – easy to install later

c. Adding or removing trees – pavers don’t need to care

d. Wireless revenue from lighting poles/gym roof – separate issue (maybe in lighting bid)

V. ALREADY IN SCOPE (in Denis’s bid)

a. School use of lawn – already taken into account

b. Entrance in front of the school

c. Curbing – reuse and expand

d. Painting lines in parking lot

e. Sewers / catch-basins

f. Drainage, especially in front of roundabout

SIGNS - I will bring the votes and suggestions to the meeting to review with everyone. The bottom line is that we will imply have to use the input as input and make our own decision.

EVANGELIZATION – John Alissi

The Committee continues to send out "Introductory" letters to new home owners within a 5 mile radius of the Church (introducing the homeowner to the Church and inviting them to come to a service). The Committee will meet in late March. The Committee welcomes all suggestions and ideas on possible evangelization projects.

REVIEW OF OLD BUSINESS:

1. The Creation of a New Parish Sign - Going to put off the sign until other major projects are complete. Sign needs to be approved by the Town of West Hartford. Will put a note in the bulletin about putting off the sign construction.

2. Installation of New Church Organ - Father officially sent a letter to the Archbishop to buy an electric organ and that instillation of the organ occur before everything major is completed.

3. Parking Lot - See Facility Report. March 15^th, Denis has his sub-contractors (at least 6) coming to look at the property and create bids for Father and Financial Committee Default sub-contractor for lighting

4. Maximus Gratias Award - Motion by Paul to put off the Award this year and the motion was seconded by Dick. Approved by council.

5. Parish Realignment - Open Forum for March 28^th, facilitated by Carmen. Presentation at begin to give “State of Union” of the Restructuring to give a good base / ground for people (Father and Carmen). Open up to have people say their concerns. Use the 3 questions as a guideline. She’ll email the agenda to Chris Hadit of St. Thomas asked for the parishes within WH to get together to talk about the restructuring process. Next Thursday, March 22^nd, 7pm at St. Thomas.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. School Report - Principal Balkun gave the Council a review of where things stand with the school. Enrollments for next look like it will be full and possible over enrollment. The school will need less Parish subsidy this upcoming year from last year. Budgeting for 150 students mostly like 156. Archbishop promised $20,000 for financial aid for next year. Principal Balkun feels that there is a stable environment in the school and ready for a growth period. Having a speaker from Catholic Relief that lived in Ghana and is in the process of creating a quarterly newspaper by the students called The Tidings that discuss happenings occurring in the school.

2. On-going Improvements - The parish will be getting specs on Windows, cleaning of Asbestos and other items of the Rectory. We will also be receiving a bid from Denis Donor to put in new front doors for the church. Have to wait until nice weather and parking lot is finished.

3. Easter Masses - Ask people to go to Easter Vigil or 8:30AM instead of 10:30AM to keep crowds down.

4. Parish Elections - Carmen and Madeline are finishing up there allotted terms and will need to be replaced. Nominations are now being sought. Gary and John are finishing their first term and need to decide if they will stay for a second three-year term.

At 9:35 pm Carman motioned to adjourn the meeting, this was seconded. The next meeting is April 11th, 2007.

Respectfully submitted, David Moran

Parish Council Meeting MinutesMarch 14, 2007

Parish Council Meeting Minutes
March 14, 2007