May 18, 2020 Minutes of Regular Meeting
The Board of Trustees of Illinois Valley Community College District No. 513 convened a regular session at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 18, 2020 in the Board Room (C307) at Illinois Valley Community College.
Members Physically Present
Jane E. Goetz, Chair
Everett J. Solon, Vice Chair
Members Virtually Present
Angela M. Stevenson, Secretary
Amy J. Boyles
Jay K. McCracken
David O. Mallery
Manuel “Tony” Galindo, Student Trustee
Members Telephonically Present
Maureen O. Rebholz (joined the meeting at 6:56 p.m.)
Members Absent
Others Physically Present
Jerry Corcoran, President
Chris Dunlap, Director of Information Technology
Others Virtually Present
Cheryl Roelfsema, Vice President for Business Services and Finance
Deborah Anderson, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mark Grzybowski, Vice President for Student Services
Bonnie Campbell, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
Walt Zukowski, Attorney
Ms. Goetz informed that it is the custom and practice of the College to record Board meetings and all present were informed that the meeting was being recorded both audio and video.
APPOINTMENT OF SECRETARY PRO-TEM
Ms. Goetz appointed Mr. Solon as secretary pro-tem in the physical absence of Ms. Stevenson.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Ms. Stevenson to approve the agenda, as presented. Motion passed by voice vote.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Tracy Lee informed that the AFT Local 1810 executive board wanted to publicly acknowledge the unprecedented amount of work involved in a short amount of time undertaken by the faculty in placing the courses online to finish the end of the spring semester. Ms. Lee thanked the faculty for looking after the students with such compassion and thanked the faculty, staff, students, and deans for the role that each played in stepping up to the challenge. Congratulations and appreciation were extended to Matt Klein and his team for the excellent IVCC commencement.
CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS
It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Mr. McCracken to approve the consent agenda, as presented. Motion passed by voice vote.
The following items were approved in the consent agenda:
Approval of Minutes – March 12, 2020 Board Meeting; April 22, 2020 Board Planning Committee Meeting; and April 25, 2020 Special Emergency Board Meeting.
Treasurer’s Report
Personnel
Approved the stipends for pay periods ending March 28, 2020 and April 11, 2020.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Dr. Corcoran began by thanking the incomparable Matthew Kline for all of the work that he put into producing our 2020 Virtual Commencement to be presented on Saturday May 16 at 1:30 p.m. Dr. Corcoran reported that when it first became apparent to all of the community colleges that we were going to need a back-up plan for a traditional commencement, it was comforting to know that we had a person like Matthew who was ready to step up to the plate and work closely with Mark Grzybowski’s Student Services team (especially Aseret Loveland and Crystal Credi) and Fran Brolley’s staff on something that would make everyone proud, and they, along with our outstanding keynote speaker, Melissa Olivero, have exceeded everyone’s expectations in that regard. He added that we had 160 students participate in the program. Dr. Corcoran advised to check it out at the temporary homepage and he thought that everyone would be impressed. Dr. Corcoran extended kudos as well to our Nursing Faculty and staff on the heartfelt YouTube video tribute to this year’s nursing students. He noted that he has often stated that our nurse pinning ceremony is one of his favorites of the year so while he will miss it, the video turned out just fine and that is a credit to Julie Hogue and her colleagues. Many of our nursing graduates chose to participate in the virtual commencement. Dr. Corcoran expressed that he was also happy with the way in which the college’s faculty, staff and students have handled probably one of the most trying times in IVCC’s history this semester beginning with the coronavirus pandemic which led to the direction of Governor Pritzker to close all Illinois community college campuses to the public and move the delivery of instruction to online platforms followed by a cyber-attack on our servers. He noted that you could not make this up! Dr. Corcoran commented that instead of bemoaning our situation, our faculty and staff did everything they could to serve students in new and different ways, and we are still holding out hope that our governor will grant ICCB permission to allow community colleges a bit of leeway in how to finish up spring semester-student needs, particularly in the career and technical fields, at the same time as we begin the first of two summer sessions on May 26th. Dr. Corcoran added that prior to all of these developments, we were on track for meeting mid-term budgeted credit hours and revenues, and he remained optimistic that our early assumptions for fiscal year 2021 credit hours should be unchanged. Dr. Corcoran noted that community colleges have an excellent reputation for preparing college-bound students to enter the workforce or move on to a four-year college or university. Dr. Corcoran informed that although he loves his alma mater in Champaign, Illinois, the credit-hour cost-difference choice between online and blended instruction at IVCC versus UI/ISU/NIU is seismic and a no-brainer. Dr. Corcoran advised students and parents to think twice about the possibility of starting at a four-year institution in the fall, only to be told to stay home and learn online for the full-cost of tuition. He added that despite the staggering high unemployment rates we are seeing right now this is also a time for the community college system to excel at what we do best in the way of workforce training. Dr. Corcoran advised to think back to what community college record enrollments looked like following the 2007-2008 recession and one cannot help but think we have the opportunity to turn a negative into a positive because of the good people we have employed at IVCC and how we are going to need every one of them to do all that they can for the people in our district who can benefit from what we have to offer in the next fiscal year. Dr. Corcoran noted that Chris Dunlap and his IT staff have been working awfully hard behind the scenes the past few weeks on some challenging IT-server issues that had to be addressed and he hoped that everyone will thank them when the opportunity presents itself as we move forward into the new fiscal year.
FACULTY APPOINTMENT – RICK PRETZSCH, ECONOMICS INSTRUCTOR
It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Ms. Stevenson to approve the appointment for Rick Pretzsch as Economics Instructor effective August 12, 2020 at Step B-13, an annualized salary of $64,892 on the 2020-2021 faculty salary schedule. Motion passed by voice vote. Mr. Pretzsch joined the meeting remotely and was welcomed to the college and congratulated by the Board on his appointment.
FACULTY APPOINTMENT – CHARLES RAIMONDI, ELECTRICITY/ELECTRONICS INSTRUCTOR
It was moved by Mr. McCracken and seconded by Dr. Boyles to approve the appointment for Charles Raimondi as Electricity and Electronics Instructor effective August 12, 2020 at Step B-13, an annualized salary of $64,892 on the 2020-2021 faculty salary schedule. Motion passed by voice vote. Mr. Raimondi was present virtually and was welcomed to the college and congratulated by the Board on his appointment.
BOARD POLICIES
It was moved by Ms. Stevenson and seconded by Dr. Boyles to approve the changes to Board Policies: 3.11 – Employment at Will; 3.31 – Discipline; 3.1 – Classification of Employees; 6.7 – Cannabis; 3.22 – Medical Leave/Termination; 3.5 – Certification of Health; and 6.5 – Drug-Free Work Campus, as presented. Motion passed by voice vote.
OTTAWA CENTER LEASE AGREEMENT
It was moved by Ms. Stevenson and seconded by Mr. Solon to approve the three-year lease with the City of Ottawa, as presented. Mr. Mallery noted that while he recognized that the center has provided a convenience for the residents of the eastern part of the district, there is not sufficient evidence to demonstrate that we have increased our market share and that stretching our human and financial resources are warranted. Motion passed by voice vote with Mr. Mallery voting “nay.”
APPROVAL OF CANNABIS PRODUCTION CERTIFICATE
It was moved by Mr. Mallery and seconded by Dr. Boyles to approve the Cannabis Production Certificate, as presented. Mr. Solon inquired if this would in any way impact our federal monies. Dr. Corcoran confirmed that it would not. Motion passed by voice vote.
FACULTY RETIREMENT – STEVE ALVIN, HISTORY INSTRUCTOR
It was moved by Mr. McCracken and seconded by Ms. Stevenson to accept with regret the resignation of Steve Alvin, History Instructor, effective May 31, 2020. Motion passed by voice vote.
TRUSTEE COMMENT
Ms. Goetz congratulated the college administration, faculty and students on the outstanding commencement. It was a wonderful event and beyond what she could have imagined it would be. Special thanks were extended to Matt Klein for his expertise and to Aseret Loveland and Crystal Credi for their assistance. Ms. Stevenson added that the commencement was thoroughly impressive and extremely well done. She thanked all of the speakers for participating with special thanks extended to Tony Galindo for his role in the ceremony and noted that he did a fine job speaking.
CLOSED SESSION
Ms. Goetz requested a motion and a roll call vote at 6:50 p.m. to enter into a closed session to discuss: 1) litigation; 2) collective negotiations; and 3) security procedures, school building safety and security. Motion made by Mr. Solon and seconded by Ms. Stevenson to enter into a closed session.
Student Advisory Vote: – “Aye” – Mr. Galindo. Roll Call Vote: “Ayes” – Ms. Stevenson, Mr. Mallery, Mr. McCracken, Dr. Boyles, Mr. Solon and Ms. Goetz. “Nay” – none. Motion carried. After a brief break the Board entered closed session at 6:56 p.m.
Motion made by Ms. Stevenson and seconded by Mr. McCracken to return to the regular meeting.
Student Advisory Vote: – “Aye” – Mr. Galindo. Roll Call Vote: “Ayes” – Ms. Stevenson, Mr. Mallery, Mr. McCracken, Dr. Rebholz, Dr. Boyles, Mr. Solon and Ms. Goetz. “Nay” – none. Motion carried. The regular meeting resumed at 7:45 p.m.
POSSIBLE APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT WITH REHMANN TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, LLC
It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Dr. Rebholz to authorize the administration to approve the Master Services Agreement and related documents with Rehmann Technology Solutions, LLC, as presented. Motion passed by voice vote.
OTHER
- Corcoran directed attention to information items on pages 58-60 of the Board book containing consecutive MOUs with the AFT Local 1810 regarding sick and personal leave related to COVID-19 for Alternative Content/Services Delivery procedures from March 16 through May 15. He noted that the spirit of the MOU with our faculty has been carried out precisely as both parties envisioned and he commended the faculty in doing so and on what they have accomplished under these circumstances in a very professional manner. Also in the information items are the temporary pandemic leave procedures over the same period with our service employees and other non-exempt staff not affected by a labor agreement. Dr. Corcoran noted that the spirit of the arrangement was fulfilled and he is proud of the way that our administrators and support staff worked together in a collaborative way.
- Corcoran informed that now that the spring term has ended our focus must be on 1) what we can do to boost credit hours in the new fiscal year (beginning with the summer term) and 2) making sure that employees who are working remotely have an approved plan in place with their supervisors on what will be the expected deliverables from each situation when and if any support staff or administrators are working temporarily from remote locations. Dr. Corcoran noted that his hope is that the stay-at-home executive order will end at the end of May and people can come back to work to do the job for which they were hired, while still practicing all of the CDC guidelines such as social distancing, Personal Protective Equipment such as face masks and gloves, deep cleaning, go home if a person is sick rules, staggering shifts and breaks and so forth. Dr. Corcoran informed that Leslie Hofer, Director of Human Services, has set a meeting to talk with supervisors about this tomorrow so that everyone is on the same page going forward.
ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Goetz declared the meeting adjourned at 7:52 p.m.