October 9, 2014 Minutes of Regular Meeting

The Board of Trustees of Illinois Valley Community College District No. 513 convened a regular session at 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 9, 2014 in the Board Room (C307) at Illinois Valley Community College.

Members Physically Present

Melissa M. Olivero, Chair
Michael C. Driscoll, Vice Chair
Larry D. Huffman, Secretary
Laurie A. Bonucci
Jane E. Goetz
David O. Mallery (entered the meeting 6:04 p.m.)
Everett J. Solon

Members Absent

Amy M. Rogowski, Student Trustee

Others Physically Present

Jerry Corcoran, President
Cheryl Roelfsema, Vice President for Business Services and Finance
Deborah Anderson, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Sue Isermann, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mark Grzybowski, Interim Associate Vice President for Student Services
Walt Zukowski, Attorney

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

It was moved by Dr. Huffman and seconded by Mr. Solon to approve the agenda, as presented.  Motion passed by voice vote.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

CONSENT AGENDA

It was moved by Dr. Driscoll and seconded by Ms. Bonucci to approve the consent agenda, as presented.  Motion passed by voice vote. 

The following items were approved in the consent agenda:

Approval of Minutes – September 11, 2014 Board Meeting

Approval of Bills - $2,042,900.25

Education Fund - $978,478.81; Operations & Maintenance Fund - $245,229.87; Operations & Maintenance (Restricted Fund) - $193,111.52; Auxiliary Fund - $455,341.62; Restricted Fund - $35,738.46; Audit Fund - $12,000.00 and Liability, Protection and Settlement Fund - $122,999.97

Treasurer’s Report

Personnel

Approved the stipends for the pay periods ending September 6, 2014 and September 20, 2014.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Construction update: Bid documents for Phase 3 of the Community Instructional Center project have been released. A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for the middle of the month and the bid opening will be completed in early November. By mid-January, the notice of award should be given and the estimated substantial completion date will be late November 2015. Phase 3 is the new student life space and cyber café, as well as support for emergency medical service and forensics programs. Dr. Corcoran thanked Representative Mautino and Senator Rezin for their role in helping the college receive a $300,000 special appropriation for this extraordinary project.  Dr. Corcoran congratulated and thanked Fran Brolley, Jeanne Hayden, Carey Burns and Reed Wilson on all of the work that they put into LPO-IVCC’s 90^th birthday celebration. It was a great event and Dr. Corcoran appreciated the terrific support by everyone involved.  A few days following the 90^th anniversary was IVCC’s Spirit Day on campus and Dr. Corcoran recognized Cory Tomasson for this year’s event being so successful. As is always the case with Cory, he shared the recognition with others for their work including the Physical Plant employees, all of the advisors for the many clubs and organizations, Dawn Watson and Lisa Witalka for making sure that contracts and paperwork were in order, and last but not least, Country Catering for the food and drinks. The staff has estimated that an all-time high 350 people (126 students) attended the scholarship recognition event on September 18.  Fran Brolley, Donna Swiskoski and Sue Monroe were recognized for their fine work on behalf of the Foundation.  The annual Small Business Development Center’s 40 Under Forty program is becoming very popular across the district thanks to Bev Malooley and Gina Czubachowski. Jennifer Sowers was congratulated for being inducted into this year’s class of honorees.  Instructors Kim Radek and Delores Robinson have been recognized by the Sigma Kappa Delta board of directors for the wonderful job they have done promoting the English Honor Society mission for two-year colleges. A picture and press release is forthcoming.  This year’s PTK Induction ceremony was held the evening of October 7. Fourteen students participated in the event and another 45-50 students are expected to enroll in the honor society by the end of the semester. Dr. Deborah Anderson was there to join Dr. Corcoran and they both recognized Eric Schroeder, Carmen Hartford, and Charles Kwiatkowski for their fine work as PTK program advisors.  And finally, with the news last week that California has become the 23^rd state to allow community colleges to offer applied bachelor degrees and BSN degrees, the Illinois Council of Community College Presidents has endorsed the introduction of community college applied baccalaureate and bachelor of science in Nursing degrees in Illinois and will forward a white paper supporting this position to the Illinois Community College Trustees Association for consideration at its January meeting. The Council feels that community colleges being able to offer applied baccalaureate degrees, including and highlighting the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, makes good sense because it will. . .  

• Increase educational attainment and completion rates
• Improve college affordability
• Strengthen workforce development (all three are aligned with the IBHE’s Public Agenda for College and Career Success)
• Provide increased access to education
• Allow colleges to amortize program costs over four years
• Keep students in state
• Allow students to continue their education, especially those who are location-bound and unable to transfer to a 4-year university, and most of all,
• Improve the quality of life.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Dr. Huffman prepared a memo that highlighted the discussion of the Audit/Finance Committee meeting.  They reviewed the draft of the Audit and it will be delivered to ICCB by October 15.  The auditors provided an “unmodified” opinion, which is without flaw.  Despite the College’s enrollment being below what was projected for revenue generation in the FY2014 budget, careful management of expenditures by the administration allowed the College’s Operating Funds to have a slight surplus at year’s end.  A slight deficit in the Education Fund was offset by a surplus in the Operations & Maintenance Fund, resulting in a surplus for these two Operating Funds of about $80,000 for the year.

Dr. Driscoll reviewed the discussion of the Board Planning Committee on Thursday, September 25, 2014.  The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the National Community College Benchmarking Project (NCCBP), and Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory compare IVCC to others. Most significantly, the performance of IVCC’s developmental students is low.  The College needs to keep focus on this for the benefit of the students.  As required by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) Report, IVCC will be hiring a full-time program coordinator/instructor.  The ICCB Recognition Report is the core of all quality controls for the College programs.  The administration will be looking at some of the programs that do not have enough enrollments to sustain them.  An AQIP update with a Systems Portfolio Timeline was discussed with the request to have more board involvement.  Mr. Mallery noted that the graduation rates for IVCC were at a higher rate of all 11 peers if receiving 150 to 200 percent of the normal time to complete it.  He also noted that IVCC institutional support and instructional expenses are far greater than all 11 peers.  Noel Levitz measures the gap of how students feel by their expectation and what they received.  IVCC is ahead of the other Illinois community colleges.  In the ICCB recognition report, IVCC continues to work on the data reports so they are accurate, on time and with no critical errors.  Dr. Huffman noted there is more involvement in the KPIs and how it measures our success.  The data from all of these studies are in line with the College’s KPIs and is data driven.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING PREPARATION OF THE 2014 TAX LEVY

It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Dr. Driscoll to authorize Dr. Jerry Corcoran to begin preparing the 2014 tax levy.  Motion passed by voice vote.

STAFF APPOINTMENT – D. SCOTT CURLEY, DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES

It was moved by Ms. Goetz and seconded by Dr. Huffman to approve the appointment of Scott Curley as Director of Facilities at an annualized salary of $68,000.  Motion passed by voice vote.

RATIFICATION OF AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS LOCAL 1810 CONTRACT

It was moved by Dr. Driscoll and seconded by Ms. Bonucci to approve the collective bargaining agreement between the Board of Trustees of Illinois Valley Community College District No. 513 and the American Federation of Teachers Local 1810 for academic years 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, and 2017-2018, as presented.  Mr. Mallery expressed his thoughts on the contract. As a past part-time instructor he values the faculty and what they do to reach out to students, yet  he cannot support the faculty’s philosophy that there is a need to raise tuition.  The students have been overburdened with debt for years and non-working people are unable to attend as is seen in low enrollments.  The tuition increases are not going to help the College or the students.  The IPEDS report shows instructor costs per FTE are 15 percent higher than the peers and instructional support is 43 percent higher than the average.  IVCC’s faculty makes $10,000 more than the 11 peer institutions.  The four-year contract insulates the faculty if the SURS contributions are passed on to the district.  Will the faculty be willing to pay their portion of this or just pass it on to property taxes?  Mr. Mallery could not support this motion to approve the contract.  Ms. Olivero abstained from voting because of her position as an administrative law judge with the NLRB.  Mr. Mallery voted “naye.”  Motion passed by voice vote.

BID RESULTS – LINCOLN ELECTRIC VRTEX® MOBILE VIRTUAL REALITY ARCWELDING TRAINERS

It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Mr. Mallery to accept the bid from Airgas, Inc. as the lowest, most responsible bid for a quantity of four (4) Lincoln Electric VRTEX® Mobile Virtual Reality Arc Welding Trainers in the amount of $80,164.  Motion passed by voice vote.

TRUSTEE COMMENT

Ms. Olivero reminded board members of the ICCTA Northwest Region Trustees Meeting scheduled for Monday, November 3 at IVCC.  Ms. Goetz congratulated Walt Zukowski on being recognized by the Illinois State Bar Association for his work in education.  Ms. Bonucci attended the IVCC Foundation Scholarship Recognition Reception on September 18 and noted it was a worthwhile experience and enjoyed hearing the stories of the students.  She recently flew in an airplane which was piloted by Ms. Goetz.  They flew over the College and Ms. Bonucci took an aerial picture of the College and sent it to Fran Brolley.  Dr. Huffman noted the Audit/Finance Committee looked ahead and forecasted what salary increases could be given.  The service employees and faculty were willing to help the College avoid a situation of substantial tax for having a Cadillac health plan.  Their willingness to switch to a high deductible plan will save the College approximately $300,000 every year.  They looked at the big picture and that was the right thing to do.

CLOSED SESSION

It was moved by Ms. Goetz and seconded by Ms. Bonucci to convene a closed session at 6:27 p.m. to discuss 1) the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body; 2) pending litigation; and 3) closed session minutes.  Motion passed by voice vote.

After a short break, the Board entered closed session at 6:34 p.m.  On a motion by Mr. Solon and seconded by Dr. Huffman, the regular meeting resumed at 8:15 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.