January 2014 Board Report

The Illinois Valley Community College board Thursday signed off on a seven-year agreement on property tax assessments for Exelon Generation Company’s La Salle Power Station south of Seneca.

Pending approval by eight other taxing bodies, Exelon will pay IVCC $1.7 million for 2013 taxes, $1.6 million for 2014, $1.5 million from 2015 through 2018, and $1.6 million in 2019.

“The proposed agreement is a tax-rate freeze (.35379) with a specific annual EAV,” said Cheryl Roelfsema, IVCC Vice President for Business Services and Finance. “Exelon guarantees the payment without regard to IVCC’s tax rate.”

As part of the agreement, legal disputes over the 2009 through 2012 assessments will be dropped. For tax year 2012, IVCC collected $1,739,635 from Exelon, Roelfsema said.

IVCC President Jerry Corcoran welcomed the settlement saying it would help IVCC “budget for the near term and long term. We appreciate the fine work done by Exelon representatives and all of the taxing bodies. This provides everyone with a degree of certainty.”

In other business, the board approved:

  • The appointment of Sue Isermann as Interim Vice President for Learning and Student Development effective March 1. Isermann, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Workforce Development, has worked at IVCC 33 years including 17 as an instructor.
  • The appointment of Kathryn Ross as controller to fill the vacancy created by the July resignation of Patrick Berry. A graduate of Eastern Illinois University (finance) and Kankakee Community College, Ross worked previously as controller/accounting manager at Mendota Community Hospital.
  • The purchase of $55,105 in Computer Numerical Control equipment from Iverson & Company of Des Plaines for the technology center’s CNC lab. The equipment will be paid for by CTC capital campaign funds.
  • A $10,000 transfer from the Education fund as the local match for Project Success, IVCC’s federally-funded TRiO program serving approximately 160 low-income, disabled and first-generation students.

The board also learned:

  • IVCC student and Sigma Kappa Delta member Kelly McDonough of Peru has had her original writing “Between the Lines” accepted for presentation at the 2014 Sigma Tau Delta International Convention in Savannah, Ga., Feb. 26-March 4. It is the third straight year an IVCC Sigma Kappa Delta member has been recognized.
  • Last fall, IVCC student athletes had an overall 2.99 GPA across eight sports. “All coaches and staff affiliated with athletics should be commended,” said Corcoran. 
  • Sociology instructor Jared Olesen recently earned his PhD from the University of California-Irvine, and nursing instructor Margie Francisco earned her doctorate of education from the University of Phoenix.
  • Cashier and artist Jill Hejl has had one of her illustrations published in the book “Quotes Illustrated: 100 Works of Art Inspired by Words,” and had an art opening at the Bucktown Center for the Arts in Davenport in November.
  • The 10th annual IVCC Irish Night March 1 at Ottawa’s Knights of Columbus Hall will feature the Larkin and Moran Brothers, a popular Chicago Irish band.
  • Foundation alumni coordinator Sue Monroe has been elected to a two-year term as an at-large board director for the Central Illinois Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).
  • The 18th annual employee recognition event will be Friday, April 25 at Grand Bear Lodge.