August 9, 2012 Audit/Finance Committee Meeting

PROPERTY/CASUALTY AND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION INSURANCE BID RESULTS

It has been the College’s practice to bid property/casualty and workers’ compensation insurance every three years.  A request for proposals was issued and a summary of the proposals by the College’s insurance consultant, Bushue Human Resources, Inc., were presented to the Board for their review.  The bids that offer the College the lowest proposal are presented by Arthur J. Gallagher.  The insurance carriers are from the Illinois Community College Risk Management Consortium (ICCRMC) and Chartis for the Foreign Liability.  This Consortium is similar to the College’s health insurance consortium.  The ICCRMC was formed in 1981.  If the College were to accept this proposal, there are a few items that would need consideration.  There is a three-year commitment plus any partial fiscal year.  Their fiscal year starts in July, so if the College were to join in September 1, 2012, the earliest withdrawal date would be July 1, 2016.  IVCC would have representation on the Board of Directors.  Members of the Consortium must accept all of the coverages offered including basic and catastrophic student athlete coverages.  IVCC’s current student athletic policy is in place until August 1, 2013 which at that time would be with the Consortium.  There is no guarantee on the rates and premiums.  ICCRMC does have the potential to pay dividends based on property values of the member, number of vehicles, payroll, budget, claims and loss experience.  The ICCRMC bylaws provide for imposing a fee for new members to join but to date no fees have been imposed.  The ICCRMC bylaws also provide for the Board of Directors to authorize supplementary payments, but this has not been done in the history of the ICCRMC.  The second lowest proposal was from Mesirow Financial for all coverages except workers’ compensation which would be from Kuhl & Company, the College’s current agent for all coverages. IVCC’s current total premium for all coverages is $327,899.  ICCRMC’s cost would be $314,325, a savings of $13,574.  Mesirow Financial’s cost would be $318,307, a savings of $9,592 – a difference of $3,982.  Dr. Corcoran had reservations with the ICCRMC due to being locked in for nearly four years.  Other members of the committee shared his concerns.  It was the recommendation of the committee to select Mesirow Insurance/Kuhl & Company due to the multiple-year commitment with the Illinois Community College Risk Management Consortium.

CTC CHANGE ORDERS

A list of change orders submitted to and/or approved by the Capital Development Board for the Peter Miller Community Technology Center was presented to the committee.  As of July 31, 2012, the change orders, including pending change orders, total $58,610.04.  The project had over a $2 million contingency, but this was reduced to $1,056,900 after the bids were received for Phase 1.  The College has approved payout of a little over 20 percent of the project and the change orders reflect approximately 5 percent.  The change orders will be noted under “Items for Information” in the August board agenda. 

CTC PLAQUE EXAMPLE

An example of the Capital Development Board plaque to be displayed in the vestibule of the Peter Miller Community Technology Center along with two supplemental plaques were reviewed by the committee.  Dr. Huffman had suggested deleting the PhD after his name and Dr. Driscoll also agreed.  The College is waiting for a picture of Peter Miller III for the final completion of the plaque.  The plaque included the present IVCC Board of Trustees, IVCC President, Peter Miller, Jr. and Peter Miller III.  Two additional plaques were presented – one to recognize State Representative Frank Mautino and former Senator Gary Dahl, former board members, former student trustees, faculty staff and administration and one to describe how the project came about and to further recognize Gary Dahl and Frank Mautino for their support in obtaining state funding.  The two additional plaques would be the responsibility of the College and would cost approximately $2500 each.  Dr. Huffman was in agreement to include the plaque with the former board members, but did not feel the plaque describing how the project came about was essential and it diminishes the other plaque.  The committee was in consensus to approve the CDB plaque and one additional plaque. 

OTHER

Library Hours

An email was sent to everyone indicating the library hours were reduced and the hours would be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  This is being reconsidered.  Administrators are meeting to come up with the right mix of staff to staff the library during normal business hours for the fall semester.  The administration feels very confident by taking another look at the budget and reviewing different options, the library will extend hours to something closer to what has been past practice.  Dr. Huffman believes reducing the hours would be grossly unfair to the students, faculty and community.  He stated we tend to keep doing things the same way instead of accomplishing the same goals by changing the processes. We need to look at how we are doing things and can we do it differently – working smarter and not necessarily working harder.