In the absence of Dennis Irwin (Council Chairperson) and Carol Anger (Council Vice Chairperson), Tracey Borzick (Council Secretary) called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

Present:                     Father Ron Gramza, Joe Amrhein, Tracey Borzick, Joe Dulka, Gary Hamilton, Leslie Henry, Jerry Kromraj, Rich Lussier, Sean Nuyda, Dave Spitzenberger, Tom Wisniewski and Joe Zolecki

Excused:                     Father Bob Betz (vacation), Carol Anger, Charles Frey and Dennis Irwin 

Guest:                         Alice Berezinski, Larry Dreher, Dean Kick, Judy Kromraj, Linda Laguna, Steven Raflik, James R. Simmons and Jeff Wiza

Opening Prayer:  The meeting was opened with all council members and guests reciting the Our Father.

Open Forum (Guest & Visitor Comments):

Everyone was welcomed to the meeting.  Thereafter all council members as well as guests introduced themselves.   

Special Guest:  Jeff Wiza.  

A letter dated March 1, 2006 from the Divine Mercy Athletic Association and Bay View Parochial Soccer League Board directed to the Parish Council and Building and Grounds Committee was previously submitted.  Jeff said that for about 25 years a number of parochial schools have participated in the soccer league at the Cousins Center.  In the last few years there have been not only cost increases but also difficulties in the scheduling of games on weekends because of the unavailability of fields and/or dates.  The athletic associations of Divine Mercy and St. Matthew’s would like to host games on a trial basis this spring with the possibility of hosting all games on their fields in the future rather than playing at the Cousins Center.  The league will continue to provide the officials and head referee and continue the administration and scheduling of games.  If all goes well after these trial games at Divine Mercy and St. Matthew’s fields, an evaluation will be made as to whether to continue at Cousins Center or at the two parishes’ fields; however, once the league leaves the Cousins Center facilities, it will not then attempt to return there.  Fees usually paid to Cousins Center will be divided equally between the two schools for field maintenance; parking would be on the main lot; concessions would be run by the hosting school.  All schools are covered by their own insurance, and all participants sign waivers before playing in the league.  It was noted by a council member that the soccer games are for children of all parishioners and not only for those who attend the parish school.  After further discussion, the Council agreed to accept, without opposition, the written recommendation of the Building & Grounds Committee dated April 14, 2006 to permit the use of our school grounds, on a trial basis, for the two games scheduled for April 23^rd and May 7^th.

Review of Agenda:

            Item No. 1, Soccer field proposal, under  New Business will be eliminated.

Approval of Minutes of March 2006 Meeting:

There being no additions, corrections or deletions to the proposed minutes, upon motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the meeting of March 16, 2006 were approved as prepared.

Pastors’ Reports:

            Father Ron expressed his appreciation for the Council’s and parish’s show of support and sympathy following his mother’s recent death.  He also thanked all members of the parish and various ministries who participated in the Holy Week services, and specifically mentioned Chris Sepersky, Chuck Kendall and Dave Broskowski who were most instrumental in completing the installation of the organ at the Marquette site for the Easter vigil services.

            Father Ron referred to the e-mails sent to the council members regarding staffing changes and a pastoral administrator.  Previously, but since the merger, a position of  “parish manager” had been tentatively discussed.  The two pastors have since re-examined that issue and have determined that changes in the Christian Formation and family programs will be made as well as that of building manager.  The positions of building manager and Christian Formation director will be eliminated.  The youth minister has resigned and the position of youth activity coordinator will not be renewed.  The pastors believe that a more preferential position would be that of a pastoral administrator, a full-time person whose responsibilities would include buildings and grounds management, personnel resource ministry and adult formation ministry.  The part-time child ministry employee, Judi Backes, will now become a full-time employee.  Father Ron said the two pastors and two permanent deacons would take a more active role in the adult group.  He said a family Mass will be added on Sundays, and it will be scheduled between the two present sessions.  The two groups will therefore participate together at that Mass and the liturgy will be made more appealing to the people with children.  Replying to a council member’s query, Father Ron said there is no expectation that there will be increased funds to cover these changes.  Answering another question, the difference between a parish director and parish administrator is that the director has more responsibility; the parish administrator has a greater knowledge of financial aspects but the position is not as broad as that of a director.  Responding to another inquiry, he said in the event a person is not hired as administrator, the alternative would then be to hire two separate individuals to fill the position.  He also said that both Jerry Horzewski, the building manager, and Tony Stoecker, the Christian Formation director, will be employed until the end of June 2006, and both are welcome to apply for the new position of pastoral administrator if they choose.  The Search Committee will receive all applications for this position.  After full discussion, the Council agreed to accept the proposal regarding these staffing changes, and an ad will be placed in the Catholic Herald.

Contemplative Break.    Gary Hamilton prepared and distributed a packet of materials regarding and titled The Parish Council for each council member and each nominee for parish council, and briefly went over the types of prayers as listed on page 9-6 and 9-7 of that packet.  He also distributed a copy of A Prayer for Discernment which was recited by all.

Committee Report Comments:

            Copies of the following minutes were made available to council members prior to this meeting:  Building & Grounds Committee of 4/11/06, Christian Formation Committee – Family Session of April 2006 with attached Scriptures from Scratch; and Prayer & Worship Committee of 4/6/06. 

             Parish Budget Progress Report [presented out of order]:   

James R. Simmons distributed a copy of the proposed Divine Mercy 2006-2007 Budget to all council members.  Jim briefly highlighted some segments of the budget including figures showing that total expenses will be decreased by 4.3%, that total revenue will decrease by 4%; that envelopes are anticipated to be down 7.8%; holy day revenue will be down 23.4%; that offertory collections are anticipated to increase by 16.2%; that investment income will increase by 15%.  He said the school would be paying about 45% of its costs.  Jim also commented that while the school families and the youth ministries’ families are supposed to pay $10 per week, there is no way to know whether that is being done.  There is a concern about heating and air conditioning costs; an expert will be checking all the heating plants and at no cost to the parish.  The water bills at the College Avenue site are enormous; Tracey will inform the Building & Grounds Committee about this and request that it check into the plumbing.  Increases in salaries of just 2% have also been included in the budget.  Gary indicated that the school committee is working on the issue of parents contributing the weekly $10 as required.  Dave Spitzenberger noted that Kathy Wroblewski is able to manage the TOTs program without any deficits and she should probably be contacted for her insight.  The council members will study the proposed budget for further discussion and/or acceptance at the May meeting.

            Finance Committee:  Joe Dulka reported that the parish is in the black by about $32,000 for the current month.  There are still some operating expenses to be paid, but we should still come out in the black because of the investments. 

            Building & Grounds Committee.   Tracey explained the new parking lot diagram; there will be 215 parking spaces including a number designated for the handicapped and other special parking.  The cost will be at or below budget.  She also indicated hash marks will be painted on the street for pedestrians crossing from the parking lot to the church.   Once the demolition begins on or about May 8^th, the entire area will be barricaded.  Another council member opined that during the period of the demolition and construction, people should be informed that they may want to attend the two weekend Masses at College rather than Marquette to avoid the construction and because parking would be available.

New Business:

Orientation of council nominees:   Gary Hamilton began the orientation by stating that the nominees were invited to attend this meeting as their acceptance of nomination and to bring along their written biographies and their mission statements.  The nominees who presented their own oral personal histories, their involvement in the parish or school and/or ministries, and their mission statements were:  Steven Raflik, Linda Laguna, Larry Dreher, Dean Kick, Sean Nuyda and Joe Amrhein.   Mark Wolf, a nominee, was unable to be present but forwarded his information to Rich Lussier who read it to the council members.  Chris Kujawa, also a nominee who was unable to be present at the meeting, faxed his pertinent information to Gary who read the contents to the Council.  There were a few other nominees who were not present; Gary said he would follow up with them.   Joe Zolecki said he would take individual pictures of the nominees present for posting with their biographies in the lobbies of all four sites.  Gary will forward by e-mail the final list of nominees to the Council.  The discernment will be held on May 11^th at either the parish office or the church. 

Staffing Changes/Pastoral Administrator [reported above]:

Voice Graphic article – Protocol in dealing with the media:  Questionable comments were made regarding the article referring to the parking lot and contained in the April 13^th edition.  One suggested that an interviewer should be referred to a person in charge of a particular program in question; another said many comments made following meetings are taken out of context and printed as such.  In the future, interviews for articles should be referred to the parish administrator for proper response, or, at his/her direction, to another designated person.

OLD BUSINESS:

            Parish Council Discernment Process [reported above]

Marquette Parking Lot Proposal [see Building & Grounds report above]

            Parish Budget Progress Report [reported above]

OTHER NEWS, NOTES, COMMENTS AND/OR ANNOUNCEMENTS.

            Rich reported that the Good Friday fish fry was a success; over 800 dinners were served and many donations were received.  He is still uncertain as to the usual Fall Fest previously hosted at 16^th Avenue, but he is very optimistic.

            Tracey advised that a parishioner inquired as to why our parish does not have a volunteer coordinator who is like a part-time staff member.  She was informed that Good Shepherd Parish does have that type of position and it was said about half of their members are active volunteers in that church. 

           Tracey circulated a Mass schedule and requested that council members sign up to present the Council report the first weekend in May.

                      Closing Prayer:   Gary distributed a Prayer of Thanksgiving which was recited by all council members and guests.

Adjournment:  The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Marcy Gramza, Recording Secretary

                                                                        May 10, 2006