ST. THERESA of the CHILD JESUS
FINANCE COUNCIL
August 14, 2015
Fr. Mark Neal
John McMichael
Tom Hueholt
Paul Johnson - absent
Kevin Olsen
Paul Galloway
Mary Gisler
Don O’Neill
Margie Pope
Jim Langeness - absent
Steve Michaud
John Magennis
Ellen Stemler was also present.
Tom called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm. Fr. Neal led the group in prayer. Reading of the June
minutes was suspended. Margie moved and Don seconded that the minutes be accepted as
presented. The motion passed unanimously.
REPORTS
SCHOOL
Enrollment/Tuition – STCS currently has 292 registered for the 2015-16 school year. The second
round of CTO awards will be coming up. CTO support went up to 75% of tuition maximum. We
received up to $25,000 in Project Hope last year, but Ellen doesn’t think we’ll get as much this year.
Tuition collection is going very well.
Hiring - Ellen is still working on filling the open positions at the school including 3rd grade, bus driver
and Spanish.
Other –
 Cameras - We will be putting a camera system on Bus 5, using funds from the sale of Bus 2 and
some other funds already held.
 Awards, Grants & other income - Ellen reported that Monsanto employees will be present at
the Hog Roast to present our $6,000 grant award. STCS has also received checks for timely
completion of the safety survey ($200), the Fr. Bob Hoefler fund ($400), transportation funds
($17,779), and Wells Fargo matching funds ($1,329). STCS has been awarded $9,400 in 21 st
Century grant funds, and there is a donor paying the $6,700 for STEM training for new
teacher(s).
 Clock system – Ellen and Mary presented a formal funding approval request of $6,466.84 for
the purchase of synchronized clocks in the school. These would replace the atomic clocks
purchased when the new phone system was put in several years ago. The atomic clocks do not
receive time transmissions clearly through the thick walls of our school. Mary explained that
the proposed clocks run on a very low frequency FM transmission, which is used by many
hospitals, school districts and universities in the state, including the entire UofI university and
medical complex campus, Dowling Catholic, Mercy medical center and others. Kevin moved,
and Paul G. seconded, that the purchase be approved upon the following conditions:
o That the proposed system be tested throughout the campus to make sure it works;
o That Mary send an email of some different hospitals/schools that use Primex;
o The results of testing be forwarded to Council members for final approval before
purchase is made;
Ellen was excused at approximately 6:07pm.
OTHER BUSINESS
Tom introduced John Magennis, the new Pastoral Council representative to the Finance Council. John
currently assists Tom with monthly bank reconciliations. Tom announced that he is planning to move
in the near future, and the Council will need to seek a replacement for him as Chair, and also asked for
members to consider who might replace him in working with John on the reconciliations.
FINANCIALS
ADA/SGG – Mary reported on the ADA (only about $500 due, with over $12,000 outstanding pledges)
and SGG (received payment in July, with October remittance at $21,000 so far).
CASH MANAGEMENT – our first 3-month CD matured in July, so it was rolled to a 12-month
instrument and an additional $10,000 was added, so we have 3 $40,000 CDs (at 6, 9 & 12 months) and
one $50,000 12-month CD.
2014-15 TUITION RECAP – John shared a worksheet on tuition collection from the school year just
ended. One item that came up for discussion was the line item “other discounts”. The Council is
unclear how these discounts were authorized. Mary G. will follow up with Ellen and Mary B. to find out
how the discounts were authorized and report to the Council.
YEAR END – For the year end, we were about 1% below budget for tithing, but still came up over
$120,000 in the black due to over budget performance by Childcare, below budget spending and
receipt of substantial bequests.
The Council asked whether Mary had drafted a letter to Paul Carlson, following the Bishop’s directive,
to request financial support of an ELL teacher. Mary has not completed this task, but will see that it is
done before the next Council meeting in Sept.
The meeting adjourned at 6:35pm.