Terry began the meeting at 5:00pm.

Fr. Raj opened the meeting with a prayer.

Present: Terry Brennan, Anne Welborn, Dan Putschoegl, Brad DeSaye, Bill Jacobs, Bob Dressler

Absent:  Eileen Grant

Staff: Fr. Raj, Jim Wren, Donna Maneely, Shelly Cooper

Guests: Keoni Murphy (future council member)

  1. Minutes Approval:
  • Bill requested that the following be removed from the October minutes: “Bill suggested using the money in the Reserve checking account” as he did not state this. Minutes will be amended.
  • Anne motioned to approve the October 26, 2022 amended meeting minutes; Brad seconded it; approved
  1. Financial Statements:
  • Bill had some questions for Shelly about bingo night: will the school be holding bingo permanently and where did they get the bingo equipment. Shelly said that the school did not buy professional equipment since it was a fun night of bingo and that it would be too hard to find a chairperson to hold bingo every month but that the school is planning to have another bingo night.  Bill suggested asking the Knights of Columbus for help.
  • Bill asked if any thought had been given to how to increase collection revenue especially since it looks like online giving is decreasing. Jim stated that we have lost some large donors lately due to moving or passing away and that although we are getting many new families each month, they do not donate as much. Fr. Raj does not want to have a special appeal at this time.
  • Terry asked if there is any concern about the decrease in the CCF endowments. Jim stated that we are concerned but there isn’t anything we can do about it.
  • Anne asked if there was any concern about our overall results so far this year. Jim stated that we are doing well compared to other parishes; we have no debt and quite a bit of money in reserves. The market will turn around some time.
  • Brad asked about attendance at the Masses. Fr. Raj said that attendance is up since Covid except at the 5pm Sunday Mass. Jim added that we average 10 new families a month.
  • Terry questioned Shelly about speaking more about CEA. Shelly said that the school has quite a bit of extra CEA money banked and many families have moved to using ESA Universal vouchers for their tuition so they are reallocating the CEA funds to other families.
  • Terry asked about the big difference in vacation accrual on the balance sheet from last year. When we switched to accrual accounting a few years ago, this was missed.
  • Dan motioned to approve the October Financials; Anne seconded the motion; motion approved
  1. Bank Statement Approval:
  • Bob reviewed the October bank reconciliation; no discrepancies noted
  1. Pastor’s Report:
  • Fr. Ralph had a medical procedure and is now back in the rectory. We are getting help from Fr. Tony Diaz. Fr. Gaspar is helping at St. Catherine’s.
  • Tina and Lisa Tucker are retiring at the end of the year. Alma is taking Tina’s position and we are in the process of hiring someone for Alma’s position. The Cook position is still open.
  • The Advent Mission is on Sunday, December 4th and Monday, December 5th.
  • Holy Hours for the Lord will be December 16th from 3-6pm.
  • New ministry groups are going well: Vocation committee, World Youth Day, and the Saturday morning prayer group. The prayer group is finishing up and would like to do another session next year.
  1. Parish Manager Report:
  • Collection plate in October: $82k, online giving: $46k.
  • Advent Mission-Sr. Regina Marie a Carmelite nun from LA is our speaker. The mission is on Sunday after the 5pm mass and Monday at 9:30 am and 6:30 pm.
  • Staffing update: we are still looking for a full time Custodian for the school. We received 3 calls this week about the job. Someone had accepted the Cook position but then she got another job. We will advertise again for this position at the beginning of the year.
  • We received 6 applications for Alma’s job; many were over qualified. A parishioner applied and we offered her the job. We are waiting for her reply.
  • John is the next employee who will be retiring; in April.
  • Lisa and Tina did not want a party so we are having an office meet and greet on December 16th.
  • The Blessed Carlo Acutis exhibit will be March 17-20, 2023 in the Forum. Someone has to be present at the exhibit at all times.
  • Bishop Dolan is setting up an Office of Mental Health at the Diocese. Jim will be attending the ground breaking on December 13th.
  • Two parishes, recommended by the Diocese, have reached out to Jim for help in the last two weeks: Camp Verde and Lake Havasu. The Lake Havasu members are flying here to meet with Jim on December 15th.
  1. Old Business:
  • Jim thanked Brad for his advice and education on IBonds. IBonds can only be purchased up to $10,000 per year and must be purchased directly from Treasury Direct, which has been overwhelmed  because of the great demand for the high-yielding IBonds. Per Doug Pritchard, Diocesan policy does not allow parish staff to make investments through Treasury Direct. Doug indicated  that he had other ideas but has to run them by CFO Joe Anderson. No information has been received since. Therefore, we are not proceeding with IBonds until we hear from the Diocese.
  • The Diocese also does not permit investing in T-bills through Treasury Direct. We must use a platform. BOK can offer this service. Jim read an email from Scott Sas indicating that current rates are:
    • 4-week bill – 3.53 %
    • 2-month bill – 4.13%
    • 3-month bill – 4.13%
    • 6-month bill – 4.5%
    • 1-year bill – 4.54%
    • 2-year bond – 4.3 %
    • 2-year agency debt – 5-5.5%
  • Reviewing the October balance sheet, Bill Jacobs noted that we have $660K in PNC general account, $220K in PNC Money Market Account and $253K in BOK Operating Account for a total of about $1.1 million in available funds. We will need to retain at least $300K in Operating cash to support regular operations, leaving about $800K available to invest. There was some discussion about laddering investments in various maturities. Ultimately it was decided to be conservative and invest $600K – $300K in a 3-month bill and $300K in a 6-month bill.
  • Before investing, the Council asked Jim to determine what BOK fees will be to do these investments for us.
  • Brad made a motion that, assuming fees are reasonable,  to transfer $600K from a combination of the three operating accounts to invest through the BOK platform in a $300K 3-month treasury bill and $300K in a 6-month Treasury bill.   Dan seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
  1. New Business:
  • The next meeting was changed to February 15th since Fr. Raj will be in India until the beginning of February.
  • Keoni Murphy will be our new Finance Council member as of our next meeting, February 15th.

Dan ended the meeting with a prayer at 6:08pm.

Respectfully submitted by Donna Maneely