Building Schedule

Effective May 1, 2024 all meetinghouse use and scheduling must be in accordance with the new Highland Stake Meetinghouse Guidelines found below.

• All use or activities in any of the meetinghouses must be first scheduled in a ward or stake calendar by a designated individual authorized to add/edit that calendar.
• All scheduled events should be for members of the Highland stake or a child of a member of the Highland stake.

Please access the church calendar system for an official list of events and activities.

Highland Stake Meetinghouse Use Guide

A reference on meetinghouse use for the Pocatello Idaho Highland Stake—Effective May 1, 2024

Purpose

Church General Handbook 35.1 

The Church provides meetinghouses so that all who enter can:

• Make and renew covenants through sacred ordinances (see Doctrine and Covenants 20:75; 59:9–12).
• Meet together (see 3 Nephi 18:22–23).
• Worship and pray together (see Mosiah 18:25; Moroni 6:9).
• Teach and minister to one another (see Moroni 6:4–5).
• Participate in other approved uses as described in this chapter.

The primary and most important purpose of the church buildings is to help people come unto Christ.

Church meetinghouses also provide a safe and accommodating space for many other activities.  Because the Highland stake is large and its meetinghouses have heavy demand for their use, the following guidelines and procedures have been implemented.  This is an attempt to provide fair building use to as many members as possible, increase the unity of our Stake members, maximize the use of  His meetinghouses for gathering Israel and accomplish the work of the Lord.

Event Priority

The following priority is given when reserving and scheduling a meetinghouse.  Except for when noted, if there is a conflict on the calendar, the event with the higher priority is given the calendar slot.  If two events with the same priority are in conflict, the event that was scheduled first will have priority.

1. General Church event
   • General Church events such as sacrament meeting, other Sunday meetings, General Conference, general broadcasts and regional conferences are always given top priority.
2. Baptisms
   • • With the exception of a general church event, baptisms are given priority over all events in the stake center because it is the only location with a font.
3. Children & Youth Activities
   • • Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-9pm are reserved in all meetinghouses for children & youth activities.  No event with lower priority should be calendared during this time.
     • Stake Youth Activities (i.e. stake youth conference, stake youth camps)
4. Funerals
5. Ward/Stake/Organization Activity
   • Activities such as RS activities (Thursday nights are typically reserved for RS ward activities), Elders quorum activities, ward parties, etc.
   • Priority is given to the wards that attend the meetinghouse.
     • Example: if the 3rd and the 1st wards both wanted to use the Butte building for a ward party on the same night, the 3rd ward gets priority because it is their meetinghouse.
6. Stake Activities Committee Events
   • Physical activities (i.e. group sports or similar) must be scheduled, sponsored and supervised by the stake physical activities committee in order to be categorized in this group.
   • Activities sponsored by the Stake Cultural Arts committee are included in this priority
7. Temple related events
   • This includes temple worker devotionals and instructions.
   • This does not include personal reservations of the church while attending the temple.
     • Example: Reserving the church for a luncheon after a wedding or as a place to entertain children while family members attend the temple. These are examples of personal use of the meetinghouse. 
8. Weddings, Receptions & Luncheons
   • Weddings, Receptions & Luncheons may be reserved no more than 6 months in advance.
   • Because these events typically include a large amount of setup/takedown, any wedding/reception reservation within 6 weeks may be given priority over all events except for general church events, baptisms, and funerals.
   • Priority between weddings/receptions are given to individuals that attends the meetinghouse being reserved.  See Ward/Stake/Organization Activity above.
   • Wedding/Reception/Luncheon reservations are limited to 24 hours, including setup and clean up.
9. Personal Use
   • Personal use for family gatherings, gym use, etc.
   • Personal events may only be scheduled for the building in which the requesting member attends.
   • Due to the low priority and heavy use of the meetinghouses, it is highly recommended that other options are considered.
   • It is also recommended that personal physical activities be organized and coordinated through the stake physical activities committee.
   • Personal events will be limited to once per month

Scheduling a Meetinghouse

Any event which requires use of a meetinghouse must be on the church calendar.  If the event is not properly scheduled, the user is not authorized to be in or use the meetinghouse.  This includes all event types and priority categories.  The exceptions are as follows.

• • Regularly scheduled Sunday meetings – Sacrament meeting, second hour meetings and ward/stake leadership meetings
  • Any event which only uses un-reservable rooms such as a Bishop’s office, single classroom or library/closet access.

Meetinghouse scheduling will follow these guidelines.  The stake calendar is periodically monitored.  If an event is scheduled inconsistently with these guidelines, the contact person will be contacted and the event will be updated and/or removed.  

• Many church members, through their current calling, have access to add/edit stake and ward calendars. Individuals with such access should only add/edit items that directly relate to their stewardship. This access should not be used for personal purposes or favors for family and friends.
• Personal events should never be added to an organizational or quorum calendar
  • All personal events are saved to the corresponding building calendar.  For example a wedding reception or family party reserved at the stake center will be saved to the Satterfield Building calendar.
• Organization & Quorum presidencies and secretaries may add calendar events directly related to organization & quorum activities.
  • For example, a primary president/counselor/secretary may add primary activities to the ward primary calendar.
  • Recurring events such as RS activity night or EQ activity are appropriate to add to the RS or EQ calendar.  
    • Care should be taken to only reserve the building when it is actually needed and remove recurring events if they are no longer taking place.
• Bishopric or Ward Clerk may add or edit ward activities on the ward calendar
  • • Activities may include ward parties, service activities or similar ward level events
    • Ward events reserved in a meetinghouse different from the one normally attended are reserved through the building scheduler of the desired meetinghouse.
• Building Scheduler
  • • The building scheduler for the stake is the Assistant Stake Clerk.  He is responsible for scheduling all private baptisms, funerals, wedding related events and private events.
    • All events scheduled through the building scheduler should be placed on the specific meetinghouse calendar
• Stake Clerk
  • The stake clerk will schedule for any events outside stake use as approved by the Stake President.  To request an event in a meetinghouse fill out the form below.

The stake building scheduler will contact you within 48 hours to confirm or deny the request.

Meetinghouses assigned to the Highland Stake may only be reserved by members of the stake for their immediate family only. For the purposes of this guide, immediate family is defined and limited to current members of the Highland stake or children of a member whose membership records are currently in the stake.  

Reservations for personal use events are limited to 3 hours, including setup and cleanup. Personal events will be limited to once per month per member.

Meetinghouses must be properly cared for, cleaned, and secured after all events. All meetinghouse use must end by 11:00 pm with everyone out of the meetinghouse, unless otherwise approved by a member of the stake presidency.  All events and meetinghouse use must comply with the instructions found in section 35.5 of the General Handbook.  These include but are not limited to:

• • The use must comply with the basic principles and requirements in 35.5.1
  • The use must be supervised in person by a responsible adult member of a ward that meets in the meetinghouse
  • The use must not interfere with scheduled Church activities
  • Users have full responsibility for any damage to the facilities or any injury or liability in connection with such use
  • Users must clean up and fully restore the facilities to pre-use condition
  • Users must comply with direction and requests from local leaders, including request by leaders to monitor the use
  • Church leaders may ask any individual or group to stop using the property if they are not complying with guidelines
  • For approved activities, ward and stake leaders should make arrangements for meetinghouse access.  Keys to the building should be given only to designated ward or stake members.

Meetinghouse Keys and Responsibilities 

Each ward has been assigned two event loaner keys to access the ward’s meetinghouse.  At the discretion of the bishop this key may be given out for weddings, receptions and other personal events.  After each use of the event loaner key, it should be returned to and remain with the bishop or ward clerk.  No event loaner key should be permanently given to an individual for recurring personal use events. The event loaner key should be returned as soon as practically possible.  

A third fob is given to the ward Physical Facilities Representative to be loaned out and used for building lockup and cleaning assignments.

An additional fob is assigned to each meetinghouse to be used for snow removal.  It is the responsibility of each ward to transfer the key to the proper ward once the snow removal assignment period has ended.

A key to the meetinghouse should not be requested or assigned to any individual whose current calling does not warrant access to the building.  There are no exceptions to this rule.  Any key loaned should be the event loaner key and not a key which has been assigned to an individual.

Meetinghouse use should be in accordance with all guidelines outlined in the church general handbook chapter 35.  This includes but is not limited to 

• No youth are allowed to be in the building without an adult member supervision.  For purposes of these guidelines, an adult is defined and limited to an individual age 18 and older and has graduated from high-school.  There are no exceptions to this rule.
• The church should not be reserved for commercial use such as kindergarten and pre-school performances and graduations.
  • All exceptions must be approved by the agent Bishop or Stake President. One example of an exception may be a piano recital where no other venue is available and admission is not charged.
• No political activities are allowed on church property
• Community or recreational league sport use/practice is not allowed.
• Meetinghouses should generally not be reserved on Monday evenings
  • The exception is for church Family Home Evening groups. These should be approved in advance by the bishop or a member of the stake presidency.
• Meetinghouses should generally not be reserved on Sundays for personal events
• Meetinghouses should only be used when the event has been scheduled through the proper channels

Most members with access to the meetinghouses via their calling are given a mobile pass through the Open Cesamee App.  Each pass is usable during specified days and times.  The access level is determined by the user’s calling.  Once the individual is released the pass will be deactivated.  If the person is called to another calling with access to the meetinghouse, a new pass will be sent.  If the user gets a new mobile device, a new pass must be sent.  Requests for new passes, key transfers, resending email invites, key deactivation, training or similar are made through the ward clerk or bishop.

The stake presidency reserves the right to modify or adjust these guidelines to meet the priorities and needs of the stake and its members, and to ensure the proper care and use of the Lord’s facilities.