September 5, 2006

DIAMONDS in a NEW SETTING

# 6 Meeting Date: 09 / 05 / ’06 @ 7:00 p.m. in the parish hall. Father Hemann opened the meeting at 7:03 with prayer. Brad Mollett, architect, was present along with John Blanco – Jean Burns – David Forbes – Jill Godbersen – Peter Goldsmith – John Kallin – DarleneAnn Lansink – Dixie Lansink – Ken Newquist – J. D. Parks – Diane Patera – Leneé Sinnott – Mike Stover.

Peter Goldsmith read the notes taken from the previous meeting...he made special note that we would like the parishioners from our sister-parish at OLGC, Holstein, to know that we are not rejecting them when it comes to our choirs being a joint one as it may have sounded from our last meeting; rather that, at this time, it does not seem as if it would work out.

The first order of business was the Topographical Map. Father conducted a search of papers in the rectory files, finding nothing like what we needed. He and the trustees then employed Kruegers of Sac City to provide this map for the cost of $3500.00 which they sincerely believe to be a reasonable figure. This will show us (in particular, the building committee) the boundary survey of the property, site improvements, the slope of the land in one foot intervals, utility lines, etc. MidAmerican Energy would be very helpful in determining underground cables and the like.

Next the question was raised: do we really need a new church? First off, what is best known by the bulk of parishioners is that our hall and restrooms are NOT handicapped-accessible, with the church itself barely so. It was mentioned that some people avoid coming to church due to the lack of accessible restrooms. Nine years ago a generic study was made of the church and its shortcomings. It easily shows the walls bowing out, that the walls are out of plum; for the inches that it has spread, the roof is expanding quite a bit. When Father is in the choir loft on a windy day, he can see the light fixtures sway with the breeze. If we were to remodel as some of our die-hard, keep-what-we-have parishioners wish we would do, we would have to bring all the electric and plumbing features up to code. The previous study would have to be “taken apart” for a full analysis. One could say that even though the timber may be great, what about the joints? Our present bishop along with those preceding him, have all come to the conclusion that remodeling is not the answer ...they reiterate that “this church has served its parish”. Not only that, but the sum of money needed for this remodeling would come to a staggering amount of ONE MILLION dollars; besides, we would still have an old church. Wouldn’t it be better to put that one million dollars into a new structure? This was the consensus of those in attendance.

Discussion went back to a possible placement of the new buildings...and those members present agreed that we will not use the present site of the church for any part of a new building. Why? Because it would take twelve months for the compaction of the fill to be settled enough for it to be a successful building site. Also, we do not want to rip out any of the parking lot. Moving necessary dirt from along the south side of our property was determined to be very doable. Concept-wise, the old basement area would make a perfect area for the prayer garden. This would not be done for sometime after the buildings were up and operating; therefore, enough time will have passed for the ground to settle and if, per chance, there would be some further settling, it could virtually go unnoticed in a prayer garden. The prayer garden would be an on-going project with funeral memorials and like-contributions being used to add plants, trees, benches, etc.

Father Hughes contacted our pastor and said that we are to stick to a non-graphic design, then eventually show the orientation of the church concept. First comes the conceptual (the bare-bone look) followed by the schismatic and then the full-blown image.

Fund-raising will likely be in full swing two weeks from now and be a sixty-day event. Next week the Steier Group out of Omaha will be conducting training for the fund-raiser persons. Before they can do anything, the parish needs to know the results of the feasibility study, the results being available on this Thursday, the seventh of September. That night at 7:00 p.m. a short meeting of only the Building Committee will take place. They will again come together on Tuesday, the 19th, when they will be joined by the architect. Several folks brought it to the attention of the group that it would be easier to raise funds if the ones from whom we wish to elicit funds would be able see what it – the new church – will look like and a bit of where it might be located. What it will look like may not be readily available, but the location very likely will be south and west of the present rectory. It was said that there is a general consensus that the new church should not be too modern....our parishioners are not at all in favor of that. It was stressed that in no way can we come up with a phony pitch to get funds for the new church and hall. We are well aware that both have to be designed together, even if not built “together”. For collection purposes, there should be an exterior view…a “footprint” prior to going out and collecting. It was also noted that it make take a second fund-raiser to render enough funds for this major project. Square footages for the facilities floating among the group were 12,000; also, 14,000 and 15,000.

It was noted that the church is what gets the REAL usage, rather than the hall. Then that was countered with the fact that the hall would get more usage if it were more accessible, both for the handicapped and all others using it...that the usage of the hall (or lack of it) is directly related to its accessibility. If our hall was up to par, activities of the Knights of Columbus and of the Altar Society would increase significantly. We need to plan for what we want and if the feasibility study informs us that we are falling short of our goal, then we need to decide what to do first / next. We need to make choices, some of which would call for tough decisions. The ultimate goal is to do both structures together.

Mr. Mollett had with him the Adjacency Matrix papers he had collected at an earlier meeting calling them a “good exercise”. He found them interesting in letting him know just what the committee found took priority and that some of the results differed from what he had expected.

The Parish Hall /Kitchen Committee is continuing their efforts to visit other parish halls / kitchens to take notes and pictures prior to making definite decisions as to what we need for our new, very functional structure. Once this committee has put together their plans and ideas, they were advised to meet with a member or two of the building committee to submit their design notes.

Father David requested that a documentation be made of our present church and hall; he assigned a chairperson who will in turn engage a sub-committee or two to take the pictures needed, etc. The chairperson will then put together a booklet including the history and the photos.

Acknowledging that there is much work ahead for everyone, Father brought the meeting to a close at 8:10 with a prayer.