October 2019 Meetings

Pastoral Council Meeting  - October 15, 2019
 
Present:   Ruth Schluter, Jennifer Siech, Jeff Keen, Gerri Dix, Kelly Willis, Kelly Flege, Wayne Green. Absent:  Elaine Lawler, Trent Lockard, Kris Dunkin
 
Prayer – Fr. Dave
 
Finance:  Kelly Willis presented a proposal to increase our giving $2,150 for NCYC, LOTEC and NDVision. (A leader must have at least two students to attend NDVision)  Jennifer moved, Wayne seconded.  Motion passed.
 
Discussion regarding how the budget-to-date is presented in in the bulletin.  Propose having a quarterly report of actual income and expenses in the bulletin.  Wayne motioned, Kelly Flege seconded.  Motion passed.
 
Joe Barber is the new member of Finance Committee, replacing Dan Dufner.
 
Review/Accept Minutes: 
Jennifer moved, Jeff seconded
 
Faith Formation Update:  CGS atrium is now in the conference room in the office.  13-14 kids in both sessions (Sunday and Wednesday). 
 
Room is tight with Edge, with around 50 kids attending sessions.
 
While we know we have space constraints, it’s hard to go forward with a capital campaign.  We need a Faith Formation Director first and a solid plan of what we need.    Search will begin again at the beginning of the year.  Hopeful to get someone hired and up and running before the end of the school year. 
 
Thanks again to Angie and Dixie for all their extra help during this time.
 
Evangelization/Committee (Fr. Dave):  How do we get the good news out?   Tabled until next month.
 
ArchDioceseOne Campaign (Fr. Dave):  A form of evangelization .  Hope to bring everyone in the diocese together.  $400K per priest to be vested.  Father is hoping the campaign will begin in the spring.  There is no set amount expected from each parish.  Will probably be presented in a mailing.  Was brought up that this may affect our own capital campaign.  Father said our capital campaign will probably not happen for another two to three years. 
 
Sharing our Time and Talent:  The rough draft looks good, but we would like to see a “check list” to hand to parishioners.  We would like Dixie to see if the one we used with Fr. Mike is still available.
 
Agenda Items for November 19:
Finance Committee update
Faith Formation update
Time and Talent
Evangelization
Quarterly report in bulletin
Adjourn:  Wayne moved.  Jeff seconded.  - Respectfully submitted by Gerri Dix
 
 
Finance Council Meeting – Oct 15, 2019
Attendees: Kelly Willis, Steve Phyfe, Joe Barber, Scott Danner, Becky Willson, Fr Dave Ambrosy. Also present: Dixie Jacobs.
Monthly Financials: Offering is about $6000 above the budget and last year’s giving. Sept was especially strong. Expenses are below budget; primarily due to payroll being under budget without a director of faith formation. We had a couple unexpected expenses $1200 to repair the sprinkler system and $590 for tech services on the wi-fi system. Our annual database/accounting software fee $3100 was paid (web-based), and the $1400 sprinkler inspection (completed every 3yrs). After a discussion on the offering update in the bulletin, it was decided to include a quarterly summary of income/expenses in the bulletin.
Faith Formation Update: All the classes have meet at least once. Space has been an issue. On Wed, we have 24 first graders in classroom and 17 second graders in classroom B. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (PK-K) was moved from classroom A to the office conference room to accommodate the large 2nd grade class. The conference room is significantly smaller and has made the PK-K sessions challenging due to the cramped space. The room also needs to be “flipped” (rearranged, tables moved in/out, etc) from class space to meeting space twice a week. First graders are meeting in the office resource room. On Sunday, we had to move the children’s liturgy of the word out of classroom A into the office reception space. All the classrooms are being used during the 10am Mass for faith formation. Sixty middle schoolers are using the hall and church on most of the Wed. Once a month 2nd graders and their parents will gather for sacramental prep. We need to find a way to divide the hall during these evenings to accommodate both middle school and the sacramental prep.
Youth Ministry: Julie Feldhake, youth minister, and the faith formation commission submitted a recommendation to the council. Continue NCYC on odd years (Nov 2019, 2021, etc); and add LOTEC and ND Vision on even years (July 2020, 2022, etc). The proposal is to support LOTEC and ND Vision similar to NCYC. The teens pay a third, fundraise a third and the parish funds a third. $5000/yr is budgeted to cover NCYC’s third ($10,000 per trip). The proposal would add $2150 to the 2020/21 budget. The ND Vision would need a staff member to attend for the cost of $450.
Motion – 2020/21 Budget: Steve made a motion to include a $2150 increase to cover the parish’s cost (one-third) for teens attending LOTEC and ND Vision; the ND Vision would need a minimum of 2 teens attending to justify the cost of funding a staff member attending. Scott seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The council also clarified that if all the funds were not needed due to lower than projected participation, the funds could not be used for used for other expenses without consulting the finance council.
ArchdioceseOne Campaign: Publicity occurring this fall with the campaign beginning in the spring for the seminarians, cathedral in Dubuque, Catholic Charities’ immigration program, and priests retirement fund.
Thank You to the Knights of Columbus for all their work organizing the Fall Dinner. It was well attended and we received lots of good feedback. The proceeds support St Mary’s ministries.
Long Range Planning: An update was given that the mission and vision statements were approved by the pastoral council.
Next meeting Nov 19. Meeting adjourned.
 
Building & Grounds Minutes: Oct 29 2019
Walk about:
Outside tour – viewed erosion, washout areas, evidence that the building is settling (dips in rock fill along perimeter of foundation). Discussed gutters and roof design that leads to large amount of rain to collect and create erosion. Also discussed trees in ‘soggy’ area of grass – too much water being deposited on this area of the property.
Parking lot – also settling, creating sink holes however a re-do of the parking lot would be approx. $500,000. For now continue with crack filling until it becomes a liability. At this point, annual fall (season) insurance walk through process has deemed the current solution to be acceptable. Will continue to watch over time.
Inside walk through – Painting was recently completed by local painter and areas look fresh (classrooms and office hallways).  We discussed the space issues for faith formation classes and creative/shared use of spaces. Classrooms A and B have been carpeted to allow for comfort and sound issues. The aviary furniture and educational items have been moved to the meeting room in the main office. Some areas now require more set up and take down time than ever. 
Evidence of building settling was viewed on the inside with rivets protruding out of steel studs.
Kitchen flooring under and around dishwashing area is pitted and discolored. We can consider replacing floor tiles with extra stock left over from original build or replace with new surface.
This improvement project would require time and manpower to complete. Duane relies very heavily on volunteers to help with building, grounds and maintenance projects. It was suggested that this ‘extra time’ for various projects be tracked.
Another improvement in addition to the painting was new large screen TV’s that were donated by memorials for use in the classrooms and gathering hall. This was a suggestion made in place of bells for the steeple on top of the church.
Prayer
Welcome new members: introductions: Todd Tatroe, *Janessa Pries, Doug Mraz, Janet McCullough
Janessa agreed to serve as Chairperson for B & G and Janet will report first meeting minutes. See updated membership list, terms, and cycles.
Review old minutes: February 26, 2019 B & G Budget Meeting. This document was sent with agenda prior to Oct 29th meeting.
B & G Fiscal Year 2019/20 Expense spread sheet: 2 page report dated 10/9/2019 showed summary of actual general maintenance expenses / budgeted amount as 6,256 / 15,587. One area that was completely over budget was snow removal; budget will increase for upcoming fiscal year!
Prairie: This 5 year project has yet to begin. The special seeds are in storage and will be planted in 2020. St. Mary has 17 acres of prairie and the initial planting will take place in the spring.
Upcoming concerns: erosion, gutter overflow & drainage, foundation, ground settle, parking lot sink holes, kitchen flooring – addressed in the notes above.
Snow removal -  Crystal Heating & Plumbing will remain the vendor of choice and due to consistent pricing and service.  Look to see an increase in the budget for snow removal.
Open floor: thoughts, suggestions, concerns: Duane stated the purpose of the B & G committee is to maintain the safety of the facility inside and out with upkeep and timely repairs throughout the facility.  Following this meeting Duane will create a proposal for funds to address the erosion concerns as a priority (among other items). This committee will review the proposal at the Feb. 2020 meeting. Following discussion and committee approval, Duane will present the B & G proposal for FY 2020-21 to the Finance Committee for final approval.
 
 
St. Mary PL (Holiday Bazaar Planning) Minutes                   Oct. 29, 2019 (5 attendees )
Helen will email a copy of poster to those attending so it can put it on social media.                   Helen will email a copy to Dixie to put on church website.                                                 Sharon will take care of newspaper ad.                                                                               Helen has arranged for the Lions sign to be put on the Four Queens corner. It will be put there on     Tuesday before the bazaar.     
Sharon is working to fill vendor spaces. She currently has 27 spaced spoken for, with the payment                          deadline being Friday, Nov. 1.
Helen will write a Thrivent grant for $250.  We will know in the next couple of weeks if we receive it.
Laura will check with the office about silent auction items.  A handful have been brought in.  
Laura is getting signup sheets ready and will put them out for the Nov. 8 weekend. 
Linda is arranging for the cooking/making of food and for purchasing paper supplies needed.
The group okayed a $500. donation (for supplies) to the community meal program. Helen will ask  Dixie to transfer this before our November 20 meeting, so it will show up on the financials.    
We will have the hot pads that Helen's mother makes for one more year.   Since suffering a stroke her mother can no longer make them.
There was a question about using both classrooms for white elephant.  Helen checked with Angie and this is not possible since only 1/2 of the items for the little ones' faith formation has been moved out.  
Helen did check with Dixie about putting an article in the bulletin listing donations from last year's profits and noting that this would not be possible without all the volunteers/helpers for the bazaar.  This will be emailed to Dixie by Monday, Nov. 4.         
Next meeting:  Wednesday,  November 21   at 7:00
 
Community Meal Planning Meeting November 2019
Attendees:  Tom Singewald, Jim & Linda O’Donnell, Jim & Sue Aubrey, Nancy Carlson, Dolly Kreger.
Last month we served 227 meals of pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans, bars and ice cream.  The meal cost$193.03 and took 87 hours to prepare and serve.  There was $260 of in kind donations from Hy-Vee and Albrecht Farms.
It was reported, that St. Mary Church will serve March 16th and March 23rd, 2020 as there a several months with 5 Mondays next year.
Parish Life donated $500 to Saints Café to be used for supplies.  This will be a great help and we thank them for this generous donation.
The November meal will be scalloped potatoes and ham, squash, ice cream and cookies.
The December meal will feature maid rites, pork & beans, potato chips, bars and ice cream.
In January we will serve pork loin.
Angie Beck is preparing door signs indicating Saints Café will not be open until 4:45 PM.
Connie Albrecht will supply potatoes for the November meal.
The next meeting will be December 4th, 9:30 AM in the conference room at St. Mary Church