Call to
Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:06 p.m.
Roll
Call
Present: Brannan, Laverty, Murray, Proctor
Absent: Canady, Pelleran, Rasmusson
Trustee Canady arrived at 6:07 p.m.
Trustee Rasmusson arrived at 7:05 p.m. during
closed session.
Additions/Deletions to the Agenda
There were no additions or deletions to the
agenda.
Limited
Public Comment Regarding Agenda Items
There were no comments from the public.
Chairperson and Board Member Reports
Chairperson
Emergency Purchase Provision
Chairperson Laverty recommended tabling this
agenda item until everyone was present.
There was no objection from the Board.
RED Team
Chairperson Laverty reported that he attended the
October 2nd Regional Economic Development Team meeting.
There was a report given from the Board of Water and Light and
Consumers Energy regarding the blackout and its effect on the
tri-county area.
Foundation Board of Directors
Chairperson Laverty reported on Lip Sync that
took place on October 19. He said it was a very successful event.
Chairperson Laverty publicly thanked Mr. Charlie Creamer, former
Lansing Community College Trustee, and Ms. Deb Dolman who both
co-chaired the event. He also thanked Ms. Joan Bauer and the
Foundation staff and Mr. Chris Holman for doing an excellent job. The
event raised approximately $28,000 for scholarships.
Tours/Board Orientation
Chairperson Laverty reported that he and other
Trustees toured the Aviation Center in Lansing and the Truck Driver
Training program in Battle Creek. He announced that there are tours
scheduled on October 28 of the Star Institute and on October 30 of the
Livingston and St. Johns Centers.
Chairperson Laverty reported that during the
Board dinner the Trustees met with Trustee George Potter of Jackson
Community College, who is a renowned expert on policy governance,
regarding the process and how it works.
President Cunningham expressed her appreciation
for the Board having taken the time in learning as much as they can
about community colleges, how they operate and how Lansing Community
College operates. President Cunningham said none of the Trustees are
paid to serve the College and their time, commitment, and effort are
appreciated.
Board Members
Trustee Proctor – Association of Community
College Trustees (ACCT)
Trustee Proctor reported that he had the
opportunity to attend the ACCT convention September 17-19 in Denver,
Colorado. He said the ACCT convention was quite informative and all
the sessions were of great value. Trustee Proctor listed some of the
sessions he attended which included new trustee orientation,
evaluating the CEO’s contract, evaluating the CEO, and attracting and
sustaining new programs. He encouraged the other Trustees to attend a
national convention.
Chairperson Laverty stated that the Board will
continue to spread professional development opportunities to the other
Trustees.
President’s Report
Informational Items
Budget Update
President Cunningham introduced Mr. Gary Olson,
Director of the Senate Fiscal Agency and a Lansing Community College
Foundation Board member. She shared that Mr. Olson has addressed the
Board previously regarding budget projections for the State of
Michigan. A budget update will be on all future agendas until the
budget is adopted in June.
Mr. Olson thanked President Cunningham for having
invited him to speak tonight. He explained that the Senate Fiscal
Agency is a nonpartisan agency that’s the primary fiscal advisor and
is responsible for establishing economic revenue forecasts for the
Michigan Senate. Those forecasts become a part of the consensus
revenue estimating process for the Michigan State government. Mr.
Olson explained that the individuals involved in the consensus revenue
estimating process, which include himself, the state treasurers, and
the director of the house fiscal agency, meet twice a year to
establish official State revenue estimates. Those estimates place the
limit on the amount of money the State can spend at any one time. By
law, the group meets in January and May although any one of the three
principles in the process may call a special meeting, if conditions
warrant. Mr. Olson shared that the group met on October 14, 2003, and
unfortunately the outcome for revenue estimates for higher education,
community colleges and many other programs in state government is
universally bad. He explained that the state of Michigan has suffered
over the last three and a half years from very bad economic
performances which have had a great impact on revenues.
Mr. Olson distributed a document which included
the nation’s economic forecast highlights, Michigan economic
highlights, consensus revenue estimates, and year-end balance
estimates (it is on file with the official Board materials.) He
highlighted the following points:
·
The State of Michigan has continued to lose jobs since
the end of the national recession in the 4th quarter of
2001. Michigan has seen a decline of 113,000 wage and salary jobs
since the end of the national recession.
·
As of August 2003, the decline in Michigan wage and
salary employment since the 4th quarter of 2001 represented
23.3% of total decline in wage and salary employment reported
nationally. In comparison, Michigan wage and salary employment
comprises only 3.3% of United States wage and salary employment.
·
Approximately 60% of the jobs lost in Michigan can be
attributed to declines in the manufacturing sector. These job losses
are best explained by a combination of productivity increases and the
fact that the domestic auto companies are continuing to lose market
shares to foreign-based companies.
·
The State’s economy and in turn the State’s revenue
picture will not begin to improve until the State’s job performance
begins to turn around. The consensus revenue estimates agreed to on
October 14, 2003, represent a substantial downward revision from the
consensus revenue estimates agreed to in May 2003.
·
The consensus estimate of fiscal years 2002-03 and
2003-04 General Fund/General Purpose revenues has been revised
downward by approximately $572 million. The School Aid Fund, which
funds K-12 education, has been revised downward by $350 million over
the two fiscal years. The downward revisions may be attributed to
changes in the estimates of income tax revenues and changes in the
estimates of sales and use tax collections.
·
Over the last four years, the State has lost $2.0
billion or 20.6% in General Fund/General Purpose revenue collections.
The decline may be attributed to the economic conditions, reductions
in state income tax and single business tax. The funding for Lansing
Community College comes out of that revenue stream.
·
The Senate Fiscal Agency is now estimating that the
Fiscal Year 2003-04 General Fund/General Purpose budget is in deficit
by approximately $570 million. One of the factors attributed to the
deficit is the Medicaid case load that is increasing much faster than
estimated. The Governor shall make a recommendation to the Legislature
as to how this projected budget deficit will be eliminated. The
Legislature will then have the responsibility to either accept or
reject the Governor’s proposal and develop an alternative way to
balance the budget.
Mr. Olson shared that by early December the
community colleges will have some idea of what actions will be taken
to eliminate the potential budget deficit. He estimated that there
will be additional reductions to the existing state appropriations,
which were 6.5% lower than the prior fiscal year. Mr. Olson felt that
another reduction cannot be avoided due to the deficit. He suggested
that the College plan on additional cuts between 3% and 5%.
President Cunningham asked when the Governor
holds various forums regarding higher education, does she distinguish
community colleges from universities or are they placed in the same
category.
Mr. Olson responded that community colleges and
universities are typically placed in the same category; however, it
does not have to be that way and it ultimately is up to the Governor.
College Spotlight – Workforce Development
President Cunningham introduced Mr. Chris Holman,
Executive Director/Dean of Workforce Development. Mr. Holman provided
a PowerPoint presentation (it is on file with the official Board
materials) regarding an overview of the areas in the Business and
Community Institute. Some of the areas highlighted during the
presentation included the following: Small Business and Technical
Development Center, Work First, Star Institute, and English as a
Second Language.
There was discussion regarding if the individuals
teaching the classes on site were faculty members at the College.
Staff responded that was correct. There was also discussion regarding
having another presentation in the future on how the M-TEC and
Workforce Development will work together.
Human Resources
Appointments—
Administrative
Howard Dillman, Chair, Transportation
Technology, Transportation Technologies, Technology Careers
Mary Cusack, Program Director – VAM, Visual
Arts and Media, Business and Media Careers
Mary Roering, Program Director – Nursing
Programs, Nursing, Human, Health and Public Service Careers
Faculty
Eric Bennett, Math Skills, Student and
Academic Support Division
Michael Aguila, Math Skills, Student and
Academic Support Division
Credit Hours vs. Contact Hours
President Cunningham asked Dr. Gary VanKempen to
provide an update on this agenda item.
Dr. VanKempen reported that the College is
continuing to review the feasibility of charging tuition based on
contact hour rather than credit hour. He said for most of the courses
that would not represent a change; however, for some of the courses
the number of contact hours is more than the number of credit hours.
This method would provide additional revenue to the College and more
importantly it would be a way of more evenly compensating programs for
their instructional costs. Dr. VanKempen stated that they have
reviewed the report from the consultant, Mr. Joe Ross, which included
a review of what has happened at other community colleges that have
adopted this method of charging tuition. He said a small group of
faculty and staff have reviewed the report and a preliminary
recommendation has been presented to the Executive Leadership Team.
Open forums will be held to receive additional input and a
recommendation will then be made to President Cunningham.
President Cunningham stated that the
recommendation will be shared with the Board, but no action will be
needed until the budget is adopted.
Board Briefing Book
President Cunningham asked Ms. Chris Hollister to
address this agenda item.
Ms. Hollister stated that the purpose of the
briefing book is to provide the Board and other college administrators
with information that will be helpful in making policy and strategic
decisions for the College. She said in coming months various college
administrators will present issue analysis and forecasts about the
major issues facing the College. The first issue analysis will be
regarding revenue generation and will be presented at the November
Board dinner. In addition, various media articles related to these
issues will be supplied and she encouraged the Board to include these
in their notebooks as well.
President Cunningham stated that the information
in the Board briefing books may also be shared at the various
community linkages.
Action Items
Approval of Minutes – September 15, 2003
Regular Meeting
President Cunningham presented the September 15,
2003 regular meeting minutes for the Board’s review.
There were no changes to the minutes.
Facilities Master Plan
President Cunningham stated that no changes have
been made to the Facilities Master Plan. She explained that the State
mandates that every community college submit their plan every year to
show that the College has a plan and is adhering to it. However,
there are some capital outlay dollars that are available through the
State of Michigan. Capital outlay dollars are set aside for new
buildings, improvements, renovations, etc. These monies may not be
requested if the construction of a building has begun. The College is
beyond asking for funds for the construction of its new buildings;
however, renovations are included in the facilities master plan. What
is required from the Board is approval of the facilities master plan
and submission to ask for capital outlay dollars for renovations.
President Cunningham explained that if the College is successful in
obtaining capital outlay dollars, the College would only pay half of
renovation costs.
Finance – Approval of Bids
President Cunningham announced that Ms. Beckie
Beard was not present at the meeting because she is in Texas accepting
the national award of Achievement of Excellence in Procurement on
behalf of the Purchasing Department and the College.
President Cunningham presented a sole source bid
for the Board’s approval, which was a lease for one year for the
Livingston County Center in the amount of $124,542. She explained
that the lease is only for one year because it is uncertain as to
where the College will be due to the possibility of expanding its
boundaries.
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Canady and supported by
Trustee Proctor to approve items one through three of the President’s
Report.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Murray, Proctor
Nays: None
Absent: Pelleran, Rasmusson
Motion carried.
Closed Session
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Canady and supported by
Trustee Brannan that the Board go into closed session for the purpose
of discussing attorney/client privileged communication.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Murray, Proctor
Nays: None
Absent: Pelleran, Rasmusson
Motion carried.
At 6:53 p.m. the Board took a short recess before
entering into closed session.
The Board entered into closed session at 6:58
p.m.
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Canady and supported by
Trustee Proctor that the Board return to open session.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Murray, Proctor, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: Pelleran
Motion carried.
The Board returned to open session at 8:00 p.m.
Delhi Township
President Cunningham asked that this item be
tabled because there is no action required by the Board at this time.
Public
Comment
There were no comments from the public.
Trustee Rasmusson apologized for having arrived
late. He explained that he was in Ann Arbor.
Adjournment
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Brannan and supported by
Trustee Proctor for the meeting to be adjourned.
Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Murray, Proctor,
Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: Pelleran
Motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
