Council Minutes - Feb 2020

Pastoral Council Minutes - February 18th, 2020
Present: Father Dave Ambrosy, Kris Dunkin, Wayne Green, Jeff Keen, Elaine Lawler, Ruth Schluter, Jennifer Siech, Kelly Willis
 

1. Meeting called to order by Ruth.
2. Father Dave started with a prayer.
3. The December and January minutes were reviewed. Motion was made by Jennifer to approve, seconded by Wayne, and approved by the Council.
4. The Peace and Justice tithe was reviewed. Motion made by Kris to approve, seconded by Elaine, and approved by Council.
5. Jeff reported on Phase Two Planning. The first meeting was a chance to get to know the other committee members, go over procedures, and share some ideas. Chris Schaedig has joined the committee. Tab Ray and Father Dave are going to talk with representatives of the Archdiocese of Dubuque on Tuesday.
6. The Pastoral Council Meeting for March is being moved to March 24th and the Phase Two Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for March 31st.
7. Gerri and Ruth are looking at the Parish Life situation. Ruth shared a letter she received from Veronica Fink on Parish Life activity ideas.
8. Kelly Willis gave the Finance Committee report. NDVision has 4 students. The Finance              Committee recommended that the Parish fund 1/3 of the cost. Jennifer made a motion to approve, seconded by Jeff, approved by the Council. Work is being done to revise the policy of the rental of Church facilities. The revised policy will be presented to the Council at the next meeting.
9. Wayne presented a revised Director of Faith Formation job description. After discussion a few modifications were made. Jeff made a motion to approve the job description, seconded by Kris, and approved by the Council.
10. Jennifer Siech accepted the offer to extend her term on the Council by one year.
11. Elaine made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Jennifer, and approved by Council.
    

Finance Council Meeting – Feb 18, 2020
Attendees: Kelly Willis, Becky Willson, Joe Barber, Steve Phyfe, Fr Dave Ambrosy. Also present: Deacon Phil Paladino, Dixie Jacobs.
Monthly Financials: Offertory is still very strong; about $20,000 above last year’s giving. More parishioners are choosing to make a one-time gift from their IRA to take advantage of tax benefits. This may account for a portion of the higher giving in Dec-Feb.
Decision Item – Transfer: Currently we have $160,000 in checking Steve made a motion to move $100,000 to general (unrestricted) savings at the archdiocesan savings and loan (D&L) account. Joe seconded the motion; the motion passed unanimously. Withdrawals from the D&L can be transferred back to our checking account in 3-5 days.
ND Vision: We budgeted for 4 teens to attend the Notre Dame Vision program this summer. The fees will be divided into thirds with the teen funding one-third, fundraising one-third and parish support funding the remaining third. We have 5 teens signed up to attend. The council agreed to fund the one-third for the extra student; the council expressing their support for more teens involved in this event.
General Discussion: No new resumes have been received for the director of faith formation. We are just starting the spring season, when faith formation leaders typically begin their search.
Decision Item – Rental Policy: The staff requested a clarification on renting space to non-profits. Our insurance will only cover parish events and parishioners’ rentals for personal events i.e. graduation open houses, anniversaries, etc. They cannot use the space for-profit uses or their business’ events. Non-profits can use the space, if they provide proof of their own insurance coverage for the event with “additionally insured St Mary and the Archdiocese of Dubuque.” More school and children’s clubs have shown interest in rental space. These events involve large numbers of children and meals, which is causing extensive maintenance hours to prepare space for parish events following these events. Also, it has become time consuming to acquire the necessary insurance paperwork, which they often are unable to provide cancelling the event after multiple conversations and extensive follow-up by staff. Steve made a motion to clarify the rental policy to state charitable non-profits’ social and banquet events would not be offered rental space. Joe seconded the motion; the motion passed unanimously. The policy will be amended and presented at the Mar meeting.
Long-Range Planning: The archdiocesan proxy was approved to form a feasibility committee. Tab Ray, chair, and Fr Dave will meet with Rick Runde, archdiocesan finance officer, to review the long-range planning steps.
Next meeting Mar 24. Agenda – monthly finances, begin 2020/21 budgeting process (staff salaries, increasing tithe ½% to charitable needs).  Meeting adjourned.
 
 
Community Meal Planning Meeting March 2020
 
Attendees:  Jim & Linda O’Donnell, Nancy Carlson, Dolly Kreger, Jan Kriener
 
Last month we served 218 meals of chicken tetrazzini, bread & butter, corn, jello with fruit, cookies and ice cream.  The meals cost $143.18 and took 77 hours to prepare and serve.
 
On March 16th we plan to serve pork loin sandwiches, pork & beans, maid rites and potato chips through the carry out line and scalloped potatoes with ham, bread and butter, squash with bars and ice cream through the window.
 
On March 23rd we plan to serve scalloped potatoes with ham, squash, bread & butter, cookies and ice cream.
 
Goulash was suggested for the April meal.
 
We have received an e-mail from the Mission Board Chair for St. Paul Church indicating they are prepared to give us up to $500 in April and again in October to be used by Saints Café.  This is a very generous commitment and we appreciate the money.  The best use of these funds would be to apply them to our account at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank as this money supports the cost of the meal for all churches.  We usually spend about $100 per month at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.  Judi tells me she will take this to her board and recommend getting us for the $500 in April and consider more money in October depending on the need and the results of our grant application to the Waverly/Bremer Foundation.
 
In a meeting with Father Ambrosy, Dixie, Linda and I  about the Saints Café and looking toward the next year I pointed out the need for moneys to be available from the parish tithe to pay for the food St Mary cooks ($2,400) per year.  There are also the supplies we need to serve the meal.  The supplies amount to $2,500 total per year and we are including the supplies in a grant application to the Waverly/Bremer Foundation.  We will not find out until late June how much of the grant will be approved and we may need to ask for some of the supply money also.  Father Ambrosy asked me to write a letter to the Peace and Justice Committee addressing these requests and he was in support of the mission of the Saints Café.
 
Father Ambrosy also pointed out that he was aware of the Northeast Iowa Community Foundation and we should make application to see if they would support Saints Café.  We will follow up on this information.
 
There will be a large group meeting on April 2nd at St. Paul Church, 6:30 PM.
 
The next planning meeting will be April 1st, 9:30 AM in the conference room at St.  Mary Church