PARISH
COUNCIL OF ST. PATRICK'S IN ARMONK
MINUTES
OF MEETING ON JUNE 13th,
2002
Present at the June 13th, 2002 meeting were Bob Ballengee,
Arcangelo Bollella, Sister Mary Rose Golden, Vincent Greco, Tom Lindgren,
Dorothy Mitchell, Bob Morris, Frank O’Neill, Ann O’Sullivan, Ruth K. Pell,
Father John Quinn, Ann Silvestri, Corinne Strianese, and Edward Strianese.
Father Quinn welcomed everyone and presented the agenda for the meeting
which included Vespers, old business, committee reports, new business,
adjournment and scheduling of the next meeting.
Ann Silvestri led the Parish Council in Vespers.
Frank O’Neill, attorney for St. Patrick’s, reported that the Town
Board approved the special use permit for the Parish Center.
The project will be referred back to the Planning Board and will be on
that board’s agenda for site plan approval at its next meeting, which will
probably be held on June 24th. At
that meeting of the Planning Board, a plan will be presented indicating where
the site can accommodate the necessary number of parking spaces that will be
required to be land banked. There are no problems with the size, appearance or use of the
building.
Regarding access parking for the Parish Center, Frank O’Neill discussed
the proposal of parking in the lot behind the Yellow Barn.
To access that parking, St. Patrick’s would first connect our parking
lot with the lot of the new firehouse. That
would then allow our parishioners and guests to take the planned access road
from the firehouse to the parking lot behind the Yellow Barn. Specifically, the access road will go from the firehouse
across the north side of the parking lot onto Cox Avenue. This proposal has the added advantage of enabling the Fire
Company to access our lot for their overflow parking. Ann O’Sullivan noted the potential benefit to St.
Patrick’s crisis management program if religious education students could be
evacuated to the firehouse or the Yellow Barn in the event of an emergency.
On the recommendation of Frank O’Neill, the Parish Council agreed to
this proposal.
Frank O’Neill indicated his belief that the site plan will be approved.
Father Quinn thanked him for his invaluable assistance to the parish and Tom
Lindgren thanked him for his superb legal work in guiding the Parish Center
project through the Town approval process.
Tom also expressed his gratitude to the Town Board and to Town Supervisor
Jack Lombardi for their enthusiastic support of the project.
Reporting for the Building Committee, Tom Lindgren stated that the
Tartaglione Consultants Corp., the construction manager for the Parish Center,
is doing the pre-engineering work. Specifications
have been sent out to the various subcontractors to get prices back so as to
start the selection and pricing process of the job. The ground breaking date for the Parish Center is scheduled
for September.
Bob Ballengee reported that the Social Concerns Committee’s collections
for the Food Pantry totaled 47 bags of food from St. Patrick’s and 9 bags of
food from the Food Emporium and the library.
In addition, $263 in cash was donated at St. Patrick’s. The committee also collected 9 bags of men’s clothing,
toiletries, and blankets for the June 1st Midnight Run, organized by
Holy Innocents. A Women’s
Clothing Drive to benefit the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the Bronx and the
Samaritan House Women’s Shelter in White Plains is planned from the last week
in June through the first week in July. Appreciation
was expressed to the several parishioners who volunteer for the Helping Hands
Committee.
Ann O’Sullivan reported that fall registration is proceeding rapidly
for the Religious Education program. Enrollment
already exceeds 350 students, with total enrollment estimated at 560 students.
Ann has planned 50 classes for the program.
An additional class has been scheduled for the Catechesis of the Good
Shepherd program.
Father Quinn noted that this is the end of the seventh year of the Parish
Council at St. Patrick’s. He
expressed satisfaction with the style of our Parish Council meetings, which have
followed the tradition of town meetings. Father
paid tribute to the many people who have attended the meetings since the
inception of the Parish Council, and who have contributed greatly to the good of
the parish.
Vince Greco thanked Father Quinn for forming an outstanding team of
visiting priests. He expressed his
appreciation to the Parish Council for successfully dealing with diverse issues
and for rising to the challenge of expanding St. Patrick’s facilities to
accommodate our growing parish community.
The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on Thursday, July 25th
at 7:30 P.M.