ST. JOSEPH’S PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
SUNDAY JULY 9, 2006
Attending: Maxine Guerrera, Todd Story, Pete Konenkamp, John Benca, Marty Ledenham, Terry Trotochaud, Hank Wright, Monica Kucher Mueller, Charles Dolan.
Excused Absence: John Timmons, Rosemary Risse, Evelyn Tejada.
Pete opened the meeting with the Our Father.
Minutes from June were reviewed and approved.
Planning / Steering: There was no report. There is a Steering Committee meeting 7/10.
Architect: John Benca said that there had been no meeting but that there is much work being done. The report on the exploratory soil boring has been received and found to be satisfactory. Prior to the hearing in Oconee Co. regarding the building of the bridge crossing McNutt’s Creek we need to obtain approval from Kohl’s. The committee members are in the process of obtaining this permit. Ultimately a public hearing would be involved. John said that if this bridge is not approved then we will seek Clarke County’s support for an intersection on Epps Bridge Rd.
The archdiocese Catholic Construction Services has been given approval to proceed with determining square footage costs. Pete added that Dennis Kelly, representing these services, will provide the latest information at the Steering meeting tomorrow night. The archdiocese has applied for a contract extension to Dec ’06.
Father continues to pursue negotiations for the 5-acre site.
Capital Campaign: Pete said that the campaign will proceed with multiple stages to address the increase in projected costs. They should have the new numbers that reflect these changes in costs prior to the initiation of the campaign Aug 1st. The public phase is anticipated to be after Labor Day. Maxine expressed concern that the parish will not have been informed of the budget changes nor of any change in building plans.
Communications: Pete reported that the committee continues to work on the FAQ’S but cannot proceed until the new figures are presented.
He reported on the July 2nd co-celebrated mass at Christ the King that recognized the 50th Anniversary of the Archdiocese. All of the original nineteen parishes that were formed prior to the establishment of the archdiocese were represented. A book of archdiocesan history was displayed that included many letters from our parish dating back to the 1930’s.
Maintenance: Todd said that the Capital Campaign office in the basement is ready except for the lighting.
Finance: Terry had no report. Pete said that there had been a meeting with a business manager from a parish in Kennesaw.
Liturgy: Pete said that Rosemary had advised him that there was no report.
Latinos: No report in Evelyn’s absence.
School: Max had no report.
Welcome: Max said that she has nine members on her new Welcome committee. She said that the church has had more than one hundred new families register since January. All new members will be invited to a social in the parish hall on a Monday night in August to be determined. Jennifer Schaeffer will organize host families for new registrants. Tricia Lancaster will type new registration forms to present to Father David for his approval. Maxine contacted the Archdiocesan Pulication service with whom we have a contract only to find that their services do not include providing folders for the planned information packets. Monica suggested using folders that are now on sale at Walmart. For other printing needs including printing of a Directory of Services Tom Gorman and John Carter were recommended. Max has asked Lise Kalle from Capital Campaign and Benedicte Milward from RE to provide information for the packets.
Max has received information regarding the Ministry Directory and she gave this to Pete so that the Communications Committee can develop the directory. Hank volunteered to review all the information and validate it. Pete suggested including information from the ‘Who’s who’ list. Thankyou Max!
Pete expressed concern that the parish members are not being well informed during this last phase of planning prior to the capital campaign kickoff. He addressed the idea of having an ‘informative’ Open House. Todd recommended a flyer in the bulletin to update the members of the progress but it was acknowledged that non parish school parents would also need to be equally informed. John Benca recommended waiting. The Steering committee should have more defined numbers after their meeting. The concern for a need to address the parishioners with the development of the project, including budget and building changes, prior to the capital campaign was acknowledged and will be relayed to the respective committees.
Marty said that the large pavilion has been reserved at Sandy Creek Park for Sunday October 15th for the Parish Fall Picnic. There will be a meeting in August with Mary Beth Casso, the new social chairman and other picnic committee leaders including school representatives to organize the plans. Hank said that this date presented a conflict with approximately 20 of the men’s CRHP group that plan to sponsor a CRHP in Gainesville on that weekend. He will determine if the CRHP weekend can be rescheduled for the weekend of the 21st/22cd. It is possible to move the picnic to the next weekend but weather is a concern.
Pete asked the members if they would prefer to defer the August parish council meeting until September given that summer meetings are not required in the bylaws. After discussion, Max made a motion that we have the meeting in August. The motion did not pass. Marty made a motion that we have an executive meeting in lieu of a full council meeting. This motion passed and Pete announced an executive meeting on August 6th at 5:30 PM. The next scheduled parish council meeting is Sept 10th at 7:30 pm.
The meeting was closed with the Glory Be.
Submitted by Marty Ledenham