Council Update | February 10, 2022

Last week Prince of Peace was notified by Monarch Health Care, the company that operates the Caterpillar Learning Center (CLC), that they could no longer sustain their operations in our building. CLC staff and families have been notified by Monarch that daycare operations are scheduled to cease on March 15, 2022. 

Pastor Christ asked for an emergency meeting of the executive committee of the Congregation Council to respond to this news. The committee met via Zoom at 11:30am on Sunday, February 6, and drafted a motion to present to the full Council. At the regular meeting on Tuesday, February 8, the following motion was adopted:

Motion (Executive Committee):

That a new space usage workgroup be established for the purpose of planning how Prince of Peace should respond to the planned closure of the Caterpillar Learning Center.

  1. Treasurer Rick Rothausen will lead this group and recruit members.

2. The group is authorized to continue work until a plan is adopted by the congregation council and, if determined to be in order, the full congregation.

3. The objectives of the group will include:

  • Define the problem for the purpose of informing the congregation, including an assessment of the financial impact on the current budget;
  • Create a transition plan;
  • Explore long-term options for use of our classroom space consistent with the mission, vision, and values of Prince of Peace;
  • Create and implement a framework for analyzing those options, consistent with best practices for the development of business plans;
  • Create and implement a communication plan to assure appropriate and timely communication with all stakeholders.

This group began work immediately to explore the possibility of keeping the daycare going until a smooth transition can be planned.  Members of the group now include Rick Rothausen, Deb Cordes, Michael Ashworth, Barb Burkhart, and Michael Stetzler (ex officio).

I expect that many of you will have concerns and information that you want to share with the Council and the workgroup. We want to include everyone in discussions of this issue, but to avoid overloading our response team I ask that you email your comments to the church office (office@poproseville.org), where Kristin will route and archive messages so we can respond in a coordinated way.

As we proceed to respond to this challenge, I feel very confident that God will lead us in a direction that energizes and informs our efforts to “build the church and love the world.” 

In faith and service,

Michael Stetzler, Congregation President