Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church s1

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church Parish Council Meeting June 14, 2016

1. Call to Order: President Sydney Langford called the meeting to order at 7 PM. Father Paul led in prayer. Members Present: Father Paul Christy, Joanna Biliouris, Jim Elliason, Steve Flaherty, Connie Kledaras, Sydney Langford, Harry Nicholos, Costa Panagos, Pavlos Pavlides, Mary Wehbie, and Mary Winstead. Members Absent: Greg Delage, Maria Hicks, Anna Kouba, Bob Lyford, and Jim Reilly.

2. Minutes: Mary Wehbie Minutes sent electronically in advance of the meeting. Corrections read. Motion to accept minutes as amended by Harry Nicholos. Second Connie Kledaras. Motion carried.

3. Treasurer’s Report: Harry Nicholos Harry presented Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss Statements. Income and expenses are in line with YTD budget. Questions and discussion followed.

Current year to date expenses for the choir are $1489. The Dance Group shows a credit year to date of $3300. Coffee hour supplies show a credit of $690. Harry will follow up with Bob Lyford regarding the reason these credits appear.

4. Choir Update: Mary Winstead. Choir will take a summer recess. They will resume singing on August 14. There are 3 people in place to direct until the end of the year: Dena Byers, Risa Poniros, and Rob Shand. The committee will interview an organist who has expressed an interest in this position in July. This individual will have to learn Liturgy.

Mary broke down the finances for the remaining Sundays of the year. We have 20 Sundays left. Cost to pay substitutes director at $200/ week will be $4000. The committee recommends $120 per week to the organist at a cost of $2400. We have $6111 left in budget, leaving a $289 shortfall for the choir line item for the year. Additional cost will be needed for rehersal. Rehersal fee for the organist is $60 per session.

Rob is one of the individuals who will be rotating as the choir director and will be paid as director. Parish Council emphasized that this is in additional of his regular job responsibilities. Any preparation or attention to this is to be outside regular duties. A job description is being written by Meg Economy and will be published on the web.

Parish Council thanked the Choir Committee for their work and efforts to find a solution to fill the position.

Motion to accept recommendation of the choir committee for payment ($200 per week to the director and $120 per week to the organist, plus amount needed for rehearsals) made by Harry Nicholos. Second Costa Panagos. Motion carried.

5. Festival Booklet Ads/ Marketing Update: Joanna Biliouris With a goal to earn $100,000 from the festival this year Parish Council members are working with festival committee to increase revenue and decrease expenses. The committee saw an opportunity to increase revenue by preparing an ad book with a goal to profit $25,000 in the initial year. The marketing committee developed a sign up form with various sponsorship levels with specifics. It is imperative to move quickly given the late date. Deadline is July 20th. This leaves only 5 weeks to prepare the ads for printing. Pepsi will pay for 18 pages. Outside cover will be slick. A billboard will be placed on Hwy 70 at a cost of $6000. Sponsor is welcome. Yard signs are being prepared to post in August. Another option is to place a Greek Festival Sticker on newspaper for $1500. The committee is open to giving tickets if a potential donor makes the request, depending on the size of the ad and what is requested. Discussion followed.

6. Eritrean Duty: Eritreans will have a service on June 25th from 7 am to 5 PM. Shifts are as follows: 6: 45 AM Mary Wehbie. 10am Joanna Biliouris. Additional council member is needed at 2pm.

7. Fencing at Preschool Wall Update: Chris Pappas received estimates to build fence. Jim Klemes will plant holly trees next to the wall to prevent climbing on the wall. Chris will get 2 more bids for consideration.

8. Father’s Comments: ~Saturday June 18 is a Liturgy of the Souls. Please give names of departed loved ones. ~Father will encourage congregational singing for services during the summer when choir is not singing. Christine Kushner led in Children’s Liturgy and may be willing to assist if asked. ~Clergy Laity Choir Conference 2017. Father will be meeting with a choir representative this week. ~Father reported on joyous Baptism in Burlington for family who donated lambs for Pascha Picnic. ~His Eminence has asked each parish to make donation toward St. Nicholas National Shrine. Our community will send out a mailing with information and donation forms. Philoptochos and AHEPA will host a fund raising brunch. A video from the Archdiocese will be shown and parishioners with ties to 9/11 and the World Trade Center will be asked to speak. Father notes that he would like to have 100% participation from our parish family. He set a goal of raising $10,000.

9. Old Business: ~Gutters are overflowing and need to be cleaned. Sydney will address. ~Temperatures have been changed during services. Please monitor. ~A ministries meeting is needed to set fall calendar. Mary recommends having calendar completed by email or private meetings with ministries and then having group meeting to resolve conflicts. Previous meeting was too long. Paper calendar is needed in the office. Everyone does not use online. ~Connie thanked Sydney and Mark for the wonderful cocktail party and fellowship. ~A process needs to be in place for Acknowledgements of Memorial gifts. Right now Rob is doing some and Amalia is doing some. It is uncertain whether all gifts have been properly acknowledged. ~Meeting with Festival Committee requested at the last meeting postponed. Joanna recommended that meeting be postponed until budget is completed, billboard sponsorship worked out, and ads resolved. A logistics team will deliver items to control inventory. New advertising online, email, etc. is being worked out. Progress is being made on all items. ~An individual is needed to update website. Harry has a potential volunteer.

10. New business: ~If you are trading with someone for Sunday, remember to determine whether you are trading for the week or just the day. ~Bulletin: On line bulletin is being published at inconsistent time. Process discussed. Request made to have it ready to publish on Wednesday. Due to editing process it may be more realistic to publish Thursday. Sydney will discus with Rob.

11. Motion to adjourn at 8:25 PM by Connie Kledaras.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Wehbie