Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Tim Bushnell at 7:07 p.m.
Attendees
Wayne Blazek
Donna Macia
Charlotte Boris
Cathy Mannuzza
Ray Boris
Domingo Mateo
Laurie Bushnell
Magdalena Mateo
Tim Bushnell
Father Thomas Moylan, LC
Lee Canzano
Mark Rauguth
Ron Dailey
Sara Sánchez
Heidi Giroux
Judy Varley
Gloria López
Clyde Varley
Invocation
Father Thomas Moylan commenced the meeting with a prayer.
Agenda Review
Tim Bushnell read the meeting agenda.
Minutes from March meeting
Tim asked for a motion to approve the March 11, 2009 minutes. Gloria motioned to accept the minutes as submitted and it passed all in favor. Reading of minutes was eliminated as the electronic copy was provided to members. An announcement was made that if anyone needed an electronic copy of the minutes, they should provide Tim with their email address. Hard copies were also available at the meeting.
Administration
Standard Operating Procedures
Ron commented that he is working on standard operating procedures for the staff.
Reconfiguration of Office Suites
Ron continues to gather ideas for reconfiguration of office suites. Project is expected to develop and be implemented in the summer months.
Roof Damage
North side of the church building has serious roof leakage. Ron has had one vendor inspect damage for a repair quote. A second company will also be inspecting damage and providing a repair quote on 5/14.
Ron stressed that it is imperative that the roof be fixed prior to the start of the monsoon season. The damage is severe enough that it cannot be postponed any further, as there is a possibility of major damage occurring during the monsoon season. He is hopeful that it can be categorized as a patch job since the wood damage seems to be concentrated in one area and has not extended. The roof is about 20 years old (built in 1988-1989). The roof damage was discovered about 3 months ago when the church was being painted. They found the leakage and walls with a lot of moisture. One of the companies quoting on the repair has commented that the waterproof paper may be compromised. A tile roof has a long lifespan but the underlining waterproof paper can have only a lifespan of 15 years.
Old Business
Driveway to the Loop Road
Ray reported that the loop road request and drawing have been submitted to the Town. [For copy of request, see attachment #1 at end of document] We are requesting permission to place a temporary parking driveway between the temporary parking area and the Ellsworth Loop road. We have to use non-dust material and in the request are asking to use the Town’s available reprocessed blacktop. Ray mentioned that there are volunteers to haul the necessary material. The costs incurred for this project would only be the diesel fuel for the trucks that will be used. Ray can provide the equipment for this project and we would need to borrow the water tank from next door.
We need the approval from the town and for the area to be staked out in order to start the project. We should receive notification about the approval within a month, if not sooner. There is no expectation that the proposal will not be accepted as the QC property that we are wanting to use is projected for a future fire department that will not be build for another 5 to 10 years.
This project will relieve pressure from the church exits onto Ocotillo.
Church construction
Father Moylan commented that he is preparing a letter to Bishop Olmsted addressing the need for direction on future plans for the church. Father commented that the Diocese is looking to invest in properties in Phoenix, including the GM proving grounds for a possible new parish. Taking this potential circumstance and the building of Mary Magdalene Church, Father will provide the bishop with additional data and information. Father will ask for all scenarios to be considered by Bishop Olmsted. The Bishop will make a determination on what future direction we should take and provide us with decisions via John Minieri.
Town restoring the right of way
Ray reported that the approval/waiver for right of way has been sent to the Diocese. The Diocese must provide signed permission to the Town so the Town can proceed to rebuild both driveways and the sidewalk, essentially restoring the front of the church.
New Business
Mission Statement Development
Tim proposed an initial start to the development of a church mission statement. He discussed that our focus should be on answering – Who are we as a church community?
Tim sent out a copy of the mission statements from all the churches in the Phoenix Diocese that had mission statements. The goal is to have a mission statement that resonates with whom we are.
Initial steps for the development of the mission statement:
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Father Moylan identified 5 mission statements out of the listing that were partially in line with what we would like to see in our own statement.
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Opportunity for members of the parish council to identify any other sample mission statements they perceive may also guide us in our statement development.
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Read and reviewed the selected mission statements. [For copy of selected mission statements, see attachment #2 at end of document] Then we proceeded to have everyone in attendance brainstorm upon the concepts: Who are we? What do we do? How do we do it?
Please see attachment #3 for our brainstorming session outcome at the end of document. The mission statement development will be discussed over the course of several parish council meetings.
Finance
Mark reported that the Finance Committee met on April 21st. He commented that Larry Schema is working with Leslie on budgeting issues, reconciling of bank statements, etc
The marquee project will soon be completed, and the marquee for the church will be up shortly.
Andy Romley presented the proposed budget for the school. At the end of month, the budget will be started for the Academy.
The envelopes project has been placed on hold until the end of the summer.
Fundraising was discussed at the committee meeting. The initial proposal was to not do one big fundraising event (i.e. Fiesta), and focus on multiple smaller events throughout the year. However, after hearing from a presenter, the focus should be to do multiple large events throughout the year. There are small parishes making up to $60,000 from such fundraising events. This has become a motivating catalyst for the Finance Committee.
A question was raised on the sustainability of the school. Mark commented that projections show that the school should have no difficulties in sustaining itself. Currently 67 children have enrolled (early registration) for the upcoming school year, and the targeted enrollment of 101 children should be attainable once the registration drive commences. The school budget presented is for $43,000 which includes salaries, supplies, etc. The limited space will be an issue to keep in mind as the school keeps growing.
Community Partners Programs
An idea was brought up in regards to participation in community partners programs. These programs allow for organizations to receive benefits such as discounts, percentage savings, or earn money from the shoppers. We are currently enrolled in the Bashas’ program. It was stated that it would be a good idea to provide everyone with this group number so they can make sure their purchases are being allocated. It was also asked if we should enroll in other store programs, i.e. Albertsons and Target. Tim requested a volunteer to research this idea in detail. Gloria volunteered to head this project; and Laurie Bushnell and Cathy Mannuzza volunteered to assist. The goal of the research is to locate the type of programs available, who has these programs, what must be done to participate, what benefits are associated with the program, and what other organizations do these vendors support.
New Business, continued
Church chairs
Wayne presented the current status on the church chair project. We are currently in need of adequate seating in the church as existing black chairs are old, cracking and falling apart. These black chairs were purchased in two sets, one purchase in 1992 and an additional purchase in 2002; making some of the chairs about 17 years old.
When first researching this project, a determination was made to evaluate wood chairs over metal chairs as to have chairs match the existing pews in the church. Wayne proceeded to request a sample chair from all bidding suppliers in order to have the chairs evaluated (comfort, durability, construction, etc)
It was also determined at that time that neither kneelers nor book racks would be acquired on the chairs, as it would impact cost and space issues. [Kneelers add a cost of approx $20-$30 per chair. Book racks are not currently being used, so determined not to be needed.]
Sample chairs were evaluated by the Finance Committee, and the selected chair is manufactured by Sutton. This chair is the same chair that is currently used in the Diocesan chapel.
Wayne went on to report that there are currently 90 chairs in the church, and 100 chairs will need to be purchased for their replacement. The selected chair costs $117 each (pricing in line with other chairs that were evaluated). We may be tax exempt. The pricing includes shipping and a 10 year warranty against defects (solid wood applied through bent construction pressure and no particular boards are used).
The chair selected can be wider; however, due to the 2 chair width space issue a wider chair is not an option that we can select. The chairs will have gaining on each side as to lock them together. It is estimated that the chairs can last up to 15 years.
Mark mentioned that they would like to have a fund campaign to offset the costs of the chairs. An idea would be to display an old and a new chair side by side outside of the church with a donation basket.
Ron asked that prior to purchasing the chairs, that we research if we would be incompliance with fire regulations. It was determined that we need the Fire Marshall to come and inspect if we are incompliance. We need to ensure that we are doing our due diligence and ensuring the safety of all churchgoers.
It was commented that by addressing all safety concerns, and pre-existing conditions that our insurance carrier (Catholic Mutual) will honor our policy. As they had once already indicating that we would not be covered for any fire damage due to the existence of the small plastic votive candles in the church.
Ron also commented that we will soon get the architects statement about concerns of why it may not be feasible to remodel the building due to pre-existing issues.
Long Range Planning
Tim spoke with Caryn Meron, Director of Research, Planning, and Parish Services from the Diocese. Caryn is willing to come to our parish and conduct two half-day sessions for the Pastor, Parish Administrator, Finance Committee and Parish Council on long range planning for the parish. In these sessions we will build on the vision and mission of the parish. We will be able to set specific goals (3-5 years), set objectives, and create actions plans. We would be able to track and follow the action plans. The sessions have been scheduled for Saturday, August 22nd and Saturday, September 12th from 8:00am until noon on both days.
Liturgical Committee
Tim commented that we have great ministries doing a lot of good work at this parish. However, we would like to see if the implementation of a Liturgy committee would unite the ministries so they can work together. Tim would like to setup a research group to analyze the possible need of a liturgical committee. The focus of the research group would be to analyze the structure of these committees, the relationship of the committee with the parish council, and its overall role in uniting the servers. Additional research will be conducted on documenting the current process that is in place, and reviewing the role of the ministries (music, sacristans, etc). Research will be based on how liturgy norms should be implemented and enforced via direction from liturgical documents, a drive for accountability and consistency, and ensure we take into account special circumstances and needs.
An example was provided on how before altar servers were all over the place and there was no consistency in masses. A specific training with liturgical norms was implemented and altar servers are now organized and well-versed in their duties.
Tim asked Gloria to head this research group. Deacon David will be asked to also provide assistance in this research. Ron Dailey and Wayne Blazek volunteered to become part of the research team.
Other Business
No other business was proposed.
Closing Prayer
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. Father Thomas Moylan led a closing prayer.
