St. Paul’s Parish Council Minutes Oct. 24th., 2006
Council Vice-Chair Bob Peters called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Members present: Rich Caffrey, Father Jerry Funke, Juan Avila, Maureen Coon, Dan Jones, Matt Lara, Diana Larkin, Bob Peters, Mo Peterson, Terry Radford, Norma Rodrigues. Members absent: Maria Morales, Antonio Napoles.
The opening prayer was led by Maureen Coon.
Minutes for September 26 were amended as follows: Bob Peters’ name was corrected from Peterson; number of volunteers in Perpetual Adoration needed to cover all hours of the week should be 168, not 607; spelling correction for the title of Monsignor. The minutes were then approved as corrected.
Meeting with St. Paul’s School Board: school Principal Bill Graham gave the “State of the School” report. This year there are 217 students enrolled. The 8th grade students scored in the top 10% on the ISAT for the whole state of Idaho. The 6th grade was in the top 25%. Catholic schools in Idaho will stay with the ISAT maker even though the state has dropped its contract for the public schools.
The school has had its fire inspection and is in good standing except for the 4th grade storage area (which deficiencies have been corrected). The inspection for insurance coverage was also acceptable with the exception of needing more pea-gravel in the play area. The “No Parking” signs have been installed on 9th Street, and the 16th Avenue landscaping has been completed.
The Fall Fair was very successful, the school cleared $27,405. The Gift Card program (formerly scrip) has been successful and will be resumed in November.
Mr. Graham thanked the parish’s Education Foundation for donations which have allowed some new desks and chairs to be purchased. He also thanked the Knights of Columbus for their continued generosity.
The Dinner Auction preparation is well under way. The dinner will be held the last Saturday of January (27th, 2007). Last year the dinner made $128,000. The event will be held at the Nampa Civic Center, which is the largest venue to date.
The school has the same staff as last year except for Mr. Tate leaving. His place has been filled by Patricia Hoyle.
St. Paul’s is pursuing the idea of sponsoring a Catholic schools speech contest for 8th graders.
Building proposal for St. Vincent de Paul: Jim Daniels spoke to the plan for expanding the food bank area of the current building. He presented plan drawings and discussed with the council the proper procedure for the expansion of the current building by approximately 600 square feet of the ground floor with basement underneath. The new basement would be the food bank storage. There is also need for a walk-in cooler and freezer. This holiday season they are expecting donations of 250 to 300 turkeys and hams and the existing facility can’t handle that.
Currently the food bank serves 700-800 people per month, which equals a cash equivalent of approximately $15,000 to $20,000 monthly. This doesn’t include volunteer hours.
Mr. Daniels estimates the building-expansion project will cost a minimum of $30,000. The St. Vincent de Paul Society has been saving money, mostly from the clothing store sales, toward the building expansion. The Society does all its own routine building improvements, pays its own repair costs and insurance fees, and is totally self-sufficient.
Because St. Paul’s owns the building the Society uses, the Diocese will have to be consulted and its regulations and requirements must be met. The Council is in favor of St. Vincent de Paul pursuing their plan further.
Old Business
Building on Faith report: Current pledge redemptions are at 53%, which is the expected return rate. The first of the 2nd collections for the fund resulted in $1,042, including 18 lottery tickets, one producing $3. The Mexican Dance held last week also added $1,305 to the fund.
Date for meeting with Diocesan Officials: This meeting is to discuss different handling of money being raised for building a new church (in response to our letter to the Diocese regarding this matter). Some members from Pastoral Council, Finance Council, and other fund raising groups would like to meet with Diocesan officials Pat Crisler and Stan Welsh. Fr. Jerry wants the Diocese to offer a couple of dates when the officials can be here. Our parish representatives should find it easier to meet the Diocese’s dates rather than the other way around. He asked Dan Jones to handle the transaction.
FLUX: The committee met and decided not to continue with the search for a new director until after the first of the year. This puts off hiring until next summer, which would be past the time frame for St. Paul’s membership in the group. We have until early 2007 to finally decide whether to continue in the FLUX program. Fr. Jerry will ask for representatives from FLUX to speak to the Council so we can come to a decision regarding further membership.
Stewardship Committee: The committee met on September 24. The next meeting is scheduled for November 13. There are documents to be studied, and the committee wants to get some concrete activities going as well.
Response from Financial Report: More copies of the financial report were picked up after masses than in previous years.
Change in Friday mass schedule: Maureen Coon has received approximately 7 or 8 in-person responses and one phone call regarding the mass time change. All were in favor of the change from 9 to 8:30 am. Father will pursue implementing the change at the first of the year.
New Business
Parish Groups: Mo Peterson suggested that all groups should be registered with the parish. This could be part of the Stewardship program and be incorporated into a Ministry Fair.
Ministries Fair: Matt Lara led discussion regarding having parish groups sponsor booths after masses for one or two weekends to foster membership promotions. Mo suggested that groups could also be tracked by registering for the fair. Fr. Jerry said one of the biggest problems with a fair is follow-up for people signing up for groups. There would definitely need to be contact made with interested people. Spring might be a good time to hold the fair, possibly during Lent. Matt, Mo, Terry Radford, and Norma Rodrigues will pursue these ideas.
Idaho Catholic Register: Fr. Jerry said that the parish is required to have a certain number of subscriptions, and is charged by the Diocese for that number, whether parishioner subscriptions cover that cost or not. Last year the bill was $9.000, about half of which was actually covered by subscription payments.
Purchase of old Nampa Christian School: Rich Caffrey reported on the idea of buying the current Nampa Christian site for our new facility. There is/are new building(s) under construction at a different location for the school’s future site. After some discussion, Rich will check into cost, facilities, etc. and report back to the Council.
Date of December meeting: Due to Christmas preparations, meetings, Reconciliation services, etc. there was discussion of changing the December meeting date from the 19th. It was decided that the December meeting will be held on Wednesday, the 13th.
Other Items: There will be 100 more English and 100 more Spanish calendars for next year (over last year’s number) given to the parish as a gift from Alsip & Persons Funeral Chapel.
Good of the Order: There were announcements regarding news and health of various parish and diocesan members.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 28, 7 pm. Norma Rodrigues will give the prayer, and Diana Larkin will provide hospitality.
Closing: The Building on Faith prayer was said and the meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Diana Larkin
Secretary