St. Mary of
Planning Advisory Committee
The meeting was called to order by Gary Loertscher at 7:05 p.m. Members present were: Gary Loertscher, Jim Kniffin, Barb Wachter, Teri Nolden, Jerry Jansen, Torey Schauff, Carla Wolf, Carol Eberhardy, Doug Waelti, Dan Edge, Gary Ziegler, Tim Stadelman, Jerry Remy, Robert Hoffman, Mike Warmuth, Gerard Rabas.
The Fundraising sub committee report generated the following discussion points:
· We must be aware that there is more “competition for charity/donation dollars” now than existed in the 1950’s when fundraising took place for the present church.
· Some parishioners may ask whether getting 1-2 Masses per weekend (because of the priest shortage) warrants making a substantial donation for a new church; on the other hand, we may face dissolution of the parish if a larger facility is not built.
· The weak economy and stock market woes were discussed; savings and pensions are being hurt by low interest rates and negative returns on stocks; amounts being given to charities nationwide are decreasing; this is a situation we must be aware of as we move toward a fundraising drive.
The Communications sub committee reported:
· Work is continuing on the web site. Teri Nolden, Carla and Tom Wolf, Dave Edge, and some volunteers are fine tuning its content.
· It is recommended that a comprehensive re-enrollment process be initiated for St. Mary’s/St. James. This would occur on one weekend in August and two weekends in September. The primary purposes are to recruit new members, update information for existing members, and finalize a list of individuals eligible to vote on church construction.
· The logistics of this will include forms and pencils at both ends of pews, completion of forms done during the offertory following a brief explanation from the pulpit, and ushers collecting completed forms.
· Re-enrollment forms will also be posted on the web site.
· Information will be cross-referenced with the existing rolls for St. Mary’s/St. James.
The Ad Hoc Architect sub committee reported:
· It sent 10 invitations to architectural firms and received 6 proposals. Costs of the proposals ranged from $4,500 to $35,000 for a preliminary study.
· On July 13th, Gerry Rabas, Jim Kniffen, Jerry Jansen, Ken Klink, Jim Fahey, Gary Ziegler, and Jerry Ziegler met to go over the 6 proposals. Using cost and church building experience as the primary criteria, 3 firms were chosen to be interviewed. They are Angus-Young Associates, Stubenrauch, and HSR Associates, Inc. Letters of reply have been sent to all firms that submitted proposals.
·
The sub committee is completing a study of the
rationale of hiring a liturgical consultant to assist the architect and us in
developing a preliminary plan for a new building; 3 consultants were contacted
by the sub committee and 2 have responded by asking to give presentations. The
presentations will take place at
· The goal of the sub committee is to have a recommendation for an architect and a liturgical consultant go to the next Parish Council meeting.
· It is suggested that a short explanation of the roles of the liturgical consultant and architect at this stage of the process be inserted in the church bulletin.
The next meeting of the Planning Advisory Committee will
occur at
The meeting was adjourned at
Note – Special thanks go to:
· Gerard Rabas for his time and leadership in the architect/liturgical consultant selection process.
· Carla Wolf for considerable computer time put into correspondence with architectural firms and in developing the web site.
· Teri Nolden, Dave Edge, Tom Wolf, and Ken Klink in developing the web site.
· To members of the Planning Committee and its sub committees who have given so generously of your time, ideas, and insights. We have made remarkable progress in a span of one year and have now reached a critical and exciting phase of the planning process.