Minutes

Fr. Raj led prayer at 5:30.

Present:  Fr. Raj, Terry Brennan, Anne Welborn, Eileen Grant, Bill Jacobs, Dan Putschoegl, Yvonne Napolitano, Brad DeSaye

Absent:                       

Guests Present:  Jim Wren, Donna Maneely

1. Capital Campaign Report: figures as of December 18, 2019

• Pledges and donations paid to Capital Campaign: $2,539,877

      Completing the Mission Report: figures as of December 18, 2019

• Pledges Made: $441,597
• Total Contributed: $420,834

• Balance on Reserve Fund Loan $45,000
• We paid $8,000 toward the reserve fund loan

2. Minutes Approval: November 20, 2019 Minutes approved

• In answer to last month’s minutes, Brad commented that he does intend to stay on the council for a minimum of 3 years or longer
• Yvonne motioned to approve the November minutes, Dan seconded it; all in favor

3. Financial Statements: November Financials approved

• Terry asked about the CEA round 1: are we short students that qualify for round 1 or are the parents not filling out applications? Shelly responded by email that all but one family has filled out a CEA/FAIR application. Several families did not make the cut off for round 1. 71 students received some amount of funding in round 1; 37 students will be receiving round 4. She also wrote that currently, individual contributions to the CEA are $207,345 and corporate contributions are $37,500. Shelly is going to St. Catherine’s to speak about CEA on November 24th.
• Bill asked about having $800k in operating cash; do we need it or can we invest it? We opened the money market last year to earn interest on the money but it is not earning much interest now. Jim stated that we would need a policy to follow. We need to figure out how much we need on hand. Bill will draft a policy for the next meeting. He will meet with Donna.
• Terry asked for year-to-date income statement and balance sheet in comparison to last year in monthly financials. Bill motioned to include this, Dan seconded it, all in favor

4. Bank Statement Approval:

• Bill Jacobs reviewed the November Bank reconciliation, no discrepancies noted

5. Pastor’s Report:

• Raj spoke at all the Masses about the diocesan campaign. We are in last phase which will last 5 years. People from the diocese have responded well- $600k pledged just from priests. Another $107 million has been pledged from the other parishes in the diocese. After Father’s appeal there was a silent phase and the weekend of November 23^rd Father made a pulpit announcement. He did not see much enthusiasm the first week which is understandable due to our own building campaign. Many people took pledge cards and we are having a better response now.  Our goal is $1.7 million. Bill suggested pushing this to next year. Father explained that we cannot since we are in the last phase. Some parishioners are giving to our specific causes instead of to the campaign.  People are asking Eileen why we have to give if the diocese has already raised the money. The figures stated are pledges, not cash received. The diocese is expecting a high percentage of bad debt-maybe 20-25%.
• Bill commented that $4 million is going to seminarians-$40,000 per parish. We are sending our money to support the seminary but we are not benefiting since we have no diocesan priests. Maybe we should ask for some of the money back for our Claretian seminarians. Fr. Raj can ask but he feels that they will say no as there are 40 seminarians and they are buying a home for them and we are part of the diocese. This is for extraordinary expenses compared to the CDA which is ordinary expenses.

• The new development director, Melissa Cambra, has started.
• Advent pageant is December 19th.
• We have added more ministries-bible program for recovery, ecology committee for more awareness and a veterans group.
• The book ‘Rediscover the Saints’, a gift for our parishioners, will be given out the weekend of November 23rd.
• The new painting of St. Anthony Marie Claret is finished and has been hung up. It was paid half by us and half by the Claretians.

6. Parish Manager Report:

• Thirty seven people attended the Diocesan Jubilee from Sacred Heart. Jim and Jimena did the floral offering; Bishop Olmsted commented on how nice it was that so many people came from Sacred Heart.
• Jim applied for a $4500 grant from the Catholic Community Foundation to pay for the new painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a new modern candle stand with environmentally safer electronic candles, a built in safe, and larger candles. The grant has been accepted and now we need to present before the committee. Jim will make the presentation.
• The $60K bequest for the school was received; Fr. Raj will decide what to use it for: possibly the school roof and tuition scholarships. We are getting 3 quotes for the new roof right now. Estimate $150k-$175k for the roof.  May be funded by diocesan capital campaign and parishioner donations. If parishioners give a donation for a specific purpose they fill out a restricted form and we send to Fr. Adamson to have approved.
• Safe Environment Training- need to be compliant by 12/31/19.

7. Old Business:

• The charitable donation sub-committee (Bill, Dan, and Terry) met to review our current donations. They talked about supporting seminarians who are starting next year. Bill suggested giving our two seminarians some money to show support; Dan says we need to support the program not the individual. Fr Raj would like to see a letter asking for support from them. Fr. Raj feels that we could give to other worthy causes; maybe have a rotation for the 5^th Sunday collections—Fr. suggested the preschool or the homeless. The sub-committee will make some recommendations to Fr. Raj.  Bill also mentioned that People Who Care is a worthwhile cause. Brad asked if St. Vincent de Paul relies on us for their budget. If so, we should wait to make any changes. Anne asked about what services St. Vincent de Paul provides. Do we send people there for help? We do send them there and to other places. They do provide a needed service.
• Meeting dates for 2020- Brad made the motion to accept the meeting dates, Anne seconded it, all in favor

8. New Business:

• Jim discussed the budget process for the 2020/2021 budget. Jim would like to make sure the reserve budget is done earlier than last year. He drafted a letter and timeline for the department directors with guidelines. Fr. Raj will be away in February for the pilgrimage which may change the timeline a bit.
• Bill commented that the April 22^nd meeting on the budget timeline shows that the capital budget be proposed and approved on the same day. Bill asked that it be sent out a week before for review.
• Jim will change the wording of zero based budget. Terry’s idea of zero based budget is different.
• Jim wrote up a credit card usage policy. Brad said it is very thorough and Terry said it is well written. The diocese likes it as well. Raj will sign the policy tomorrow, December 19th.
• Anne asked why the retirement fund for the Religious is not funded. Was there no foresight? There are not as many nuns and priests now to support the older religious.

Fr. Raj led closing prayer at 6:32pm

Respectfully submitted by Donna Maneely

Fr. Raj led prayer at 5:30.

Present:  Fr. Raj, Terry Brennan, Anne Welborn, Eileen Grant, Bill Jacobs, Dan Putschoegl, Yvonne Napolitano

Absent:  Brad DeSaye

Guests Present: Jim Wren, Donna Maneely, Shelly Cooper, Michael King

1. Capital Campaign Report: figures as of November 20, 2019

• Pledges and donations paid to Capital Campaign: $2,493,319

      Completing the Mission Report: figures as of November 20, 2019

• Pledges Made: $434,841
• Total Contributed: $413,953
• Balance on Reserve Fund Loan $53,000
• We paid $21,000 toward the reserve fund loan

2. Minutes Approval: October 30, 2019 Minutes approved

• Eileen stated that the diocesan capital campaign roll out dates should be November 23 and 24 not November 16 and 17 which the minutes state. Fr. Raj stated that the original plan was for rolling out the campaign on the weekend of November 16 and 17. Raj said it was what he reported so no change is needed to the minutes.
• Bill Jacobs brought up that the minutes stated that the letter from the parishioner requested a response from the Finance council. Terry sent a response.
• Anne motioned to approve the October minutes, Dan seconded it, motion passed

3. Financial Statements: October Financials approved

• Shelly Cooper attended the meeting to answer questions about CEA and tuition. Terry advised everyone that on December 3^rd CEA is matching donations up to $500,000. He suggested someone speak at all the masses; there are not any speaker times available since such short notice. Shelly said that IBE, another school tuition organization is also having a matching day.
• Bill asked about the golf tournament earning less income than budgeted. Talking Rock can only accommodate a small amount of golfers so less people can golf. Shelly said they made less money since there weren’t many raffle items. The golf tournament will be at Antelope Hills next year.
• Bill indicated that the School kitchen sink is in the current year’s reserve budget but not in the reserve study. Jim stated that we didn’t know that we had to make the changes; that is why it’s not in the reserve study. The county required us to make the changes. Bill said it was not a reserve item so it shouldn’t be part of the reserve budget. Jim replied that it is a capital item since the cost is $15k and was not in the school’s budget. According to Terry, GAAP states that the minimum useful life for a capital item is 3 years, which the sink is. It is in the depreciation schedule. Bill said we don’t know how many years it will be to replace the sink, and we need to know the life. We need to check with someone in the industry who can tell us when it will need to be replaced. Jim can check with the plumber.
• Yvonne motioned to accept the October financials, Bill seconded it; motion passed

4. Bank Statement Approval:

• Terry reviewed the October bank statements along with Brad; no discrepancies noted
• Brad would like to look closer at the monthly credit card bill and asked if we have a credit card policy in place. We do not have a written policy. Jim will create a policy.

5. Pastor’s Report:

• Raj spoke about the two missions held in November. He felt they were good speakers but wished more people would attend. Fr. Zachary preached about Eucharistic Adoration and 50 new people signed up for adoration.
• Raj is thankful for the 15-20 new families that have registered and our new ministries: Cup of Joe Ministry for veterans, program for people in recovery based on Lectio Divina, and the new Care for the Environment committee.
• November 21st is the Many Voices of Thanks gathering which is an interfaith event held at Sacred Heart. Our choir and Irish dancers are performing.
• December 2^nd is the Diocesan Jubilee celebration- 37 from the parish are attending
• The public phase of the diocesan capital campaign is this weekend-November 23 and 24.-Pledge cards will be in the pews for December 7 and 8.

6. Parish Manager Report:

• There is a bus going down to the Diocesan Jubilee Mass on December 2^nd for everyone going to the event. The bus was full but someone backed out. Jim asked if anyone on the council would like to go since we have a spot open.
• The deadline for completing Safe Environment compliance is December 31. Jim asked that all the council members be up to date by that time to continue on the council.
• We are getting a $5000 bequest to the parish. It is assessable since nothing was specified in the bequest.
• The school roof is in bad shape. Fixing it is not in the current capital budget, but it will be part of the money raised from the diocesan campaign. The roof is not that old, but it was not well done. We do not have any budgeted funds right now for the roof but we need to address it. Terry asked if we can get bids. Jim said he will have John Gust start getting bids. We have no way of knowing how much we will get from the diocesan campaign. Bill asked if we could take it from the reserve funds. We do plan to use reserve funds.
• Since the council agreed to the December 18^th meeting, Jim will have a proposed 2020 budget timeline and letter from Fr. Raj to the directors ready to send out with the November Financials. Jim would like to get the budget done earlier this year.
• We will have a new Development Director in December. She needs family benefits which impacts the budget. Her benefits will start in January.
• The office is doing succession planning overall with Stacy being trained right now for the front desk and safe environment. We may need a part time assistant for Hispanic Ministry. We need to consider this for the 2020 budget.
• Jim would like to increase the conference budget next year. We are missing out on important continuing education for our staff.

7. Old Business:

• Charitable donations- Bill, Terry, Dan and Anne have formed a sub-committee to review our charitable contributions and make recommendations to Fr. Raj.
• Terry responded to the parishioner letter about the bulletin financials. The parishioner responded with another letter. The letter stated that he could not find the annual financial report on the church website and the finance council meeting minutes were not up to date on the website. He also stated that he liked the Capital Campaign report. The annual financial report is in the September 29^nd bulletin, which was on the website. The finance council minutes have to be approved before we add them to website so they are up to date. It was decided to stay with the year to date financial report that we updated for the bulletin, based on the parishioner’s request.
• The 2020 Finance Council meeting dates were discussed. The approved dates will be sent out with the November Financials.

8. New Business:

• Terry asked the Finance council members to spend some time with the Lord at the 12 Hours for the Lord on December 6^th. The time is from 8am-8pm.
• Brad had commented to Terry that Fr. Darrin said Brad only had a 2 year term. He plans to leave after 2 years. If this happens Terry would like to see an investment banker like Chris Kissel to replace him if possible. Jim will speak with Chris to see if he has any recommendations.
• Mike King attended the meeting. Mike and Terry are nonvoting members for the Parish Corporation. Mike is the chair of the pastoral council. He updated us on the pastoral council: there are 9 members, 7 of them are new members. Each member is adopting 3 ministries to be a liaison with. Mike chose the finance council. Fr. Raj is working on the pastoral plan and he asked the pastoral council to work on specifics. Mike chose temporal goods and would like to work with Terry on this.
• Anne commented to Shelly that the Finance Council is appreciative of her efforts in collecting tuition and making the school better.
• Anne asked what happens if we don’t make our goal for the diocesan capital campaign. We just won’t get as much from the 35% that comes back to Sacred Heart.

Fr. Raj led closing prayer at 6:46pm

Respectfully Submitted by Donna Maneely