October Meeting Minutes
Coffee with the Pastor 10/21/2007

Items Discussed:

1. Need for a new Maintenants Director
- Doing interviews right now
- What can we afford? Now and in the future? is an issue

2. Need a Part-time Music Director
- many interviews…..no good candidates
- Full-time with benefits is too costly for the Church

3. Trying to address low salaries at the Church
- Many employees now making over $30,000 per year

4. Strategic Planning Report
- need to look at hiring for new positions
- Director of Stewardship already hired (Doug Tam)
- very helpful in prioritizing needs of Church and school (should focus in particular on Part VII of the Strategic Planning Report)

5. Finances
- Collections continue to rise
- Checking account has $110,000 (not as much as it sounds like – big bills to pay)
- Had unexpected expenditures this summer: Roof repairs, church A/C repair, Seminarians working for church this summer
- Angel’s Wing (Modular Building) when way over budget (Total cost = $326,000)
- School: - Parish gives $160,000/year to help support
- Diocese looking into starting a tuition assistance fund which would be an additional aid to the $160,000 that the parish gives
- Father feels strongly the need to start an endowment fund to aid the schools future needs (new buildings, etc)
- $20,000/year in tuition assistance from parish: we monitor attendance

6. School Testing: We use National Iowa Testing as a diagnostic test, NOT as a Pass/Fail Tool

7. Pastors Council: just interviewed for new members

8. Steering Committee: Interviewed 3 fund raising companies so far and going to interview a fourth soon (fund raising for new church and Pastoral Center)

- All Fund raising companies have talked of the possibility of doing a “Stretch” Campaign which would involve increasing offertory. Father Bill feels we will have to do a combination of different types of Fund raisers and hopes that we will land some large single donor grants

- Minimum spacing needs of a new church is about 10,000 sq. ft., ideally 14,000 sq. ft. – this does not take into account addition office space needs

- Father Bill does not see our Fundraiser and the selling of the current church as being enough to meet the minimum 75% of funds required by the Diocese. He believes that if we show that we can handle our money well and that we have a well organized plan, we can approach the Diocese for a loan.

9. Expansion of Bell Shoals Road: It will become a 4 lane road and church will receive about 4 – 4.5 dollars per square foot for the loss of
property

10. Projected start of building for new church is around 2009