November 2004 Board Meeting Report

With plans to expand the nursing program in the fall of 2005 and spring 2006, the administration of Illinois Valley Community College recommended to the board in Wednesday night’s meeting to hire two new full-time nursing instructors.

In the Fall of 2003, IVCC expanded its nursing program by twenty students with the assistance and support of area local hospitals. The college intends to increase the nursing program with ten new students in the Fall of 2005 and ten additional new students in the Spring of 2006, with five returning student slots to open. These numbers are designed to not only increase the number of students, but to increase the accessibility to the nursing program while staggering new graduates into the workforce.

"I am really committed to the expansion of our nursing program in order to be responsive to the needs of our community. We will be using dollars from our contingency fund and our own funds. We will utilize student technology funds to meet the staff and equipment needs for this expansion. It will be a stretch for us financially. We are really hopeful the work put into the Department of Labor grant will bring additional dollars into the college to help alleviate the financial concerns. The energy and the synergism experienced through the partnerships we are solidifying are encouraging. Working closely with our community and area hospitals, we are moving forward with the Department of Labor grant application in hopes of an award winning proposal to further strengthen our partnerships," said Jean Goodnow, president of IVCC.

Based on the Illinois Public School Enrollments, the Illinois State Board of Projections released its findings and projections from the June 2003 study. Illinois public school secondary enrollment is projected to increase each school year through 2008-2009.

"With the reported state demographics, what this means for IVCC is our current 7-12 graders will bring us an increase in enrollment from 2005-2010, dips are expected to occur with our current 2-5 graders in 2012-2015," reported Tracy Morris, Director of Admissions and Records.

IVCC intends to target high enrollment grades early and often being fully aware of the declines that are projected and preparing a more aggressive approach to marketing and recruiting in their traditional, expansion and non-traditional market segments.

Further reports were presented by Morris concerning the projected growing Hispanic population, and Ron Groleau, Dean of Natural Science and Business, on the baby boom population.

"IVCC is looking for opportunities in the form of courses and workshops to address the needs of the baby boom population," said Groleau.

The board approved an Inter-District Cooperative Agreement between Illinois Valley Community College and Illinois Central College, Peoria. This agreement allows any student who attends a high school that is partially in the IVCC district to attend IVCC or ICC as an in-district student at in-district tuition rates. This agreement extends to the residents of the school districts as well.

The board adopted a tentative tax levy with the total tax rate projected to be .4386 cents, which is .0163 cents (or 3.6%) less than last year’s actual tax rate of .4549 cents. A Truth in Taxation Act hearing will not be necessary. The board will finalize the levy at its December meeting.

At last month’s meeting, the board received a copy of the five-year financial plan for IVCC.

"Our five-year plan is a concerted effort to help bring numbers to life. By reaching consensus on a financial plan that considers the implications of board and administrative decisions beyond year-to-year budgets, and continuing to engage in open and honest dialog, stakeholders in Illinois Valley Community College will find the way to finance the college's future," said Jerry Corcoran, Vice President for Business Services and Finance.

Questions and concerns were entertained by Corcoran and Cheryl Roelfsema, Controller.

"We will be facing some serious monetary concerns in the next five years. With our increasing enrollments and our declining revenue, we have had to be very fiscally prudent in the consideration of our future choices. In partnership with the expressed community need, the recent decision to expand our nursing program is committing a large portion of our contingency funds. Without additional dollars, our future is of vital concern and we are thoughtfully considering the outcome," said Goodnow

The IVCC master plan was presented by Dominick Demonica and Paul Basalay. The process of master planning and the advisory task force, focus groups and steering committee were presented. Trends in community college master planning such as housing, image, parking, satellite campus, and campus life space were discussed.

The approval of a resolution to adopt and implement a 457(b) public deferred compensation plan as presented and approve TIAA-CREF as the plan trustee was authorized on Wednesday night.

The board authorized the business office to:

• Seek bids for the printing of 18,000 copies of the two-year college catalog at an estimated cost of $25,000
• Seek bids for 29 room control systems at an estimated cost of $30,000
• Accept the bid of $15,156 for the purchase of 720 cartons of multipurpose white paper from Unisource Worldwide of Addison through the Illinois Joint Purchasing Program.
• Accept the bid from Carpet Weavers of Bradley in the amount of $70,284 for the purchase and installation of carpeting in the Learning Resource Center (LRC-A), middle E corridors, upper E corridors, middle D corridors, and the Link between C and F buildings.

In other action the board:

• Approved the appointment of Beverly M. Malooley as Director of Small Business Development Center
• Approved the appointment of Fran R. Brolley as Director of Development.
• Approved the appointment of Valery Anderson Calvetti as Director of Community Relations and Marketing
• Approved the appointment of Pamela A. Masterson as the Horticulture Instructor assigned to the Sheridan Correctional Center.