Contents

Article I - Officers

Article II - Recording Secretary

Article III - Council Members

Article IV - Nomination and Election Process

Article V - Organization

Article VI - Term of the New Members of Council

A.  Chairperson

1. Presides at all meetings of Council.

2. Solicits agenda material from all Council members.

3. In conjunction with the pastor, prepares and distributes the agenda.

B.  Vice-Chairperson

1. Assists the Chairperson and assumes this responsibility during and absence by the chair.

2. Coordinates phone poll survey.

3.  

C.  Financial Council Representative

1. Attends all Finance Committee meetings.

2. Makes financial reports to Parish Council in January, April, August and October.

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1.      Records the minutes of each Council meeting.

2.      Keeps a record of all Council members' attendance.

3.      Distributes monthly Council minutes to each Council member.

4.      Prepares monthly minutes for publication in the parish bulletin.

5.      Maintains a list of all Council members' names, addresses and phone numbers.
 

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1.      The council consists of nine voting members including the Chair, Vice-Chair and Financial Council Representative.

2. Members serve a term of three years.

3. Three new members are elected each year to provide a rotated turnover of members.

4. Each year at the June meeting, the nine voting members, including the nine outgoing members, will elect the officers from the nine members remaining on Council the following year.

5. Provide suggestions for monthly agenda topics.

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1.      In April a notice shall be placed in the bulletin and the entire parish solicited to find parishioners willing to run for Parish Council.

2.      The nomination committee consists of the outgoing members of Council, and other members of the Parish appointed by Council.

3.      The nomination committee shall offer a slate of at least nine nominees.

4.      Members of the nomination committee must obtain permission from nominees before placing their names up for election.

5.      The list of nominees shall be published two weeks before elections.

6.      Nominees must be members of the parish who are at least 18 years of ages.

7.      Nominees may not be incumbent members of Parish Council.

8.      All members of the parish who are 18 years or older are eligible to vote.

9.      Elections will take place in May each year.

10.  Each voter may vote for a maximum of five nominees.

11.  Voting will be supervised by the nomination committee.

12.  Ties will be resolved by the nomination committee.

13.  In the event of a vacancy, Council will offer the seat to the nominee with the next highest number of votes from the May election (and so on down the list).  If the vacancy is not filled, the Council may appoint someone from the Parish at large. A vacancy will be declared after three unexcused absences.

14.  The chairman of the Council should keep a list showing the ranking of the nominees who were not elected to Council, in case a vacancy must be filled.

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1. Parish Council members act as representatives of the people of the parish.

2. The Council evaluates services provided by the commissions of the parish.

3. The Council can make direct recommendations to commissions concerning the general well- being of the parish.

4. Council can make direct recommendations to the pastor and pastoral staff about the parish.

5. The pastor can ask the Council to study, evaluate, or make recommendations to enhance the general well-being of the parish and its members.

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1. New members' terms begin at the June meeting, after the election of officers.

2. New members do not vote for officers for the upcoming year.

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1. Council meetings are open to all parishioners.

2. The time and place of meetings shall be published in the parish bulletin, prior to the meeting.

3. Agenda items from parishioners other than Council members must be communicated to the Chairperson two weeks prior to the scheduled meeting in order to be placed on the agenda.

4. Parishioners may speak at a Council meeting when recognized by the Chair.

5. Discussion of topics may be given a time limitation by the Chair.

6. When decision is needed, a process of presenting and working through motions should be invoked.  Consensus should be worked for.  When this cannot be achieved, majority vote shall prevail.

7. Members must be present to vote.  There can be no voting by proxy, telephone or fax.

8. There shall be a report from both the Education Commission and the Worship Commission after their respective meetings at the following Parish Council meeting.

Approved:  December 1, 2005

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This page last updated 12/05/05