Parish Council Minutes
August 17, 2004

Attendance – Present – Fr. Witte, Jerry Grefer, Rick Hoban, Fred Bernier, Marin Smith, Joe Meiman, Laurie  Battiston, Larry Lense, Jill Canode, Michelle Svec, Kim Wiehoff, Sarah Hoeben, Mary Brzinski
Absent/Excused – Laura Eades, Mark Dornoff
Absent/Unexcused – Mark Anderson, Dianna Taylor

1. Opening prayer read by Jerry Grefer.
2. Introduction of Chris Brewer - Chris Brewer is the latest addition to the St. Timothy staff, and she is responsible for overseeing all areas of Faith Formation and Religious Education for the parish. Parish Council welcomed Chris aboard.
3. Community Pillar Pastoral Plan –
   Update given by Jill Canode
   A handout was given to all parish council members basically outlining the pastoral plan and going into depth regarding each one of the issues.
   1. Address in the campus vision, the need for a community center
   2. Evaluate the need for sports fields and courts
       Both 1 and 2 will be covered by the facilities pillar
   3. Provide an enrichment experience including community workshops and retreats
      that will reach all demographic groups. This issue will be covered by formation.
   4. Further utilize technology for increased awareness of parish activities
      a.Utilize e-mail addresses as another form of communication to parishioners
         (long term end of 2004)
      b.An annual directory will be published that will have a list of parishioners, n
         names, address, phone & e-mail – that will also include all ministries and
         contacts. This will be mailed in Oct. (tentative) at no cost to the parish.
      c. Binders were created for each major community event to facilitate ease in
         transition of chairmen. The binders include things like budgets, advertising,
         success reports, basic record keeping of events.
   5. Expanding welcoming approach for new parishioners
      - Staffing the welcome center at all weekend masses.
      - Increase individual outreach in the parish regions.
   6. Further developing the regions to increase involvement in parish activities.
       - Each region has one outreach and one community event.
       - New parishioners will be called 2x at least once to participate in outreach and
        again for the community event by different region coordinators.
4. Parish council member update
   It has been brought up that there have been a number of unexcused absences from the parish council meetings. The bylaws state that three unexcused absences would result in dismissal of that parish council member. Unexcused is defined as no notification given for absence from meeting prior to meeting. Excessive absences as well have been brought up, excused and/or unexcused.
   It was also brought up as to how parish council members are selected. The current process was a phone call to various parishioners in a certain region to see if they would be willing to serve, then their names were drawn from a hat.
5. Pastoral Planning Update
   a. Land acquisition from the diocese – the deal has not been finalized, however, an engineer has been contracted to do a staked survey and an engineering study on the 15 acres. This cost will be shared between St. Timothy’s and the Diocese of Covington.
   b. Pastoral planning piece –
   i. Are we building a school??? This question is answered by what is best in the vision of the entire parish and it’s many ministries. Whatever project we engage in has to touch the life of every parishioner. It will involve a capital campaign. Information that should be known:
   1. The Diocese of Covington is NOT declaring bankruptcy.
   2. Diocese is in the process of mediation over the class action lawsuit – this will have some financial component.
   3. The process of mediation and the outcome of this event must be considered when considering our pastoral plan as it relates to borrowing money.
   4. Father Witte will try to communicate to the parish any information regarding the Diocese as it becomes available.
6. Construction Project Update
   a. Goal is to have an open house for the new addition and offices by Labor Day weekend. – Greg Egbers, Mona Lewis and Glen Taylor have worked very hard on this project.
   b. There is a cost overrun on this project – the final numbers are not in as construction is not totally complete. The cost overruns are due to the following:
   i. Updating items to comply with current building codes
   ii. Lighting in the parking lot
   iii. Parking lot
   iv. A new roof was added to the old section of the parish center at the same time as roofing the new section.
   v. It should be noted that various cost savings occurred due to donations by parishioners giving reduced prices on work completed or materials. Office furniture was totally donated saving around $40,000 to $50,000.
7. Pastor Update –
   a. Fr. Witte is grateful to the parish and to the staff for all the work completed in the parish center
   b. Fr. Witte feels good about the staff and the work space – Change in staff is going to occur due to Debbie Froschauer leaving sometime in the near future, her family is relocating.
   c. Staff is responsible for their budget and sticking to it.
   d. Questions brought up –
   - What does the mass schedule look like for the fall?
   -Does our current mass attendance facilitate a schedule change or addition of mass? Currently, no. This will be addressed later.