Call to Order
The May 14, 2001 Board of
Trustees meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m.
Roll Call
Present:
Canady, Creamer, Holden, Jeffries, Patterson, Pelleran
Absent:
Rasmusson
Additions/Deletions to
the Agenda
None.
Limited Public Comment
Regarding Agenda Items
Jan
Penton, President of the Part-Time CTU - We did vote today
on our tentative agreement and the contract was approved by our
members. We had a
great turn out and we want to thank the administration for
working for us, with the fact finding it would have been a long
drawn out process and we hope the Board will approve our
contract that we came to.
Chairperson and Board Member Reports
Chairperson Report
Special Recognition - National
Community College Month Scholarship
Chairperson
Jeffries presented the Lansing Community College National
Community College Month Scholarship to Brendan James Peterson.
Brendan?s parents, Carrie and Heath Peterson, were
present to accept the scholarship/good for one full year.
Brendan was born on April 1 at 5:06 a.m.
Appoint Nominating
Committee
Chairperson Jeffries
appointed Trustees Creamer and Holden to the nominating
committee. Trustees
Holden and Creamer will provide recommendations for officer
positions that will be voted on in July.
Trustee Jeffries stated
that there will be a resolution dealing with an issue that
Trustee Creamer raised regarding appointments by the Board.
This resolution will, as permitted under statute,
delegate some of that authority to the President and leave some
of that authority to the Board.
He said that the resolution would be before the Board at
its June meeting.
Board Member Reports
Trustee
Pelleran - Star institute.
Trustee Pelleran stated that she attended an open house
at the Star Institute and complimented the staff for a job well
done. She said that
there was real strong community involvement, and the students
who gave presentations did a marvelous job.
Trustee Pelleran commended Toni Glascoe for her work at
the Star Institute, and thanked Ray Turner for his leadership at
the Star.
Trustee Pelleran reported
on the Cinco de Mayo event.
She stated that it was a well-attended program, and it
was a great reflection on the College and the Multicultural
Center staff.
Trustee Pelleran reported
on the Mason Finance Authority.
She stated that they passed the budget for this fiscal
year and the revenues from their tax districts are being used
wisely and in the best interest of economic development, which
means future jobs for the children of this district.
Trustee Patterson asked
Dean Bob Bentley to report on the Women?s Softball Team.
Dean Bentley reported
that the women's softball team won the regional championship,
and the team left today for Phoenix and the World Series, which
begins on Thursday, 10 p.m.
The College is sending two staff members from WLNZ to
cover the games. He
also said that the golf team left today for Texas, they are also
the regional champs and are in the nationals in Texas.
Trustee
Patterson gave a report regarding the Michigan Community College
Association (MCCA). He
stated that the last MCCA Board of Directors meeting was held on
the campus of Grand Rapids Community College in April.
He said that Mr. Gary Olsen gave a similar presentation
at the MCCA meeting that he gave the Board at the April meeting,
however, the financial forecast seemed to be even worse.
Trustee Patterson stated that at the MCCA meeting another
issue was discussed regarding the manner in which data is
calculated and reported to the State from the 2-year and 4-year
institutions. He
said that the issues with numbers have to do with comparing the
number of certificates and degrees that community colleges issue
compared to the 4-year institutions, so in comparison with the
2-year degrees, the 4 years look much better.
So, it is a political football in terms of how community
colleges are being looked at by some of the new number crunchers
in the legislature how can you have this number of students and
only hand out 19,000 certificates.
Trustee
Patterson said that community colleges have a bigger student
population; therefore, as community colleges are reviewed, the
conclusion may be that the community colleges aren't doing their
job. He said that
how is success measured of a student, that comes in and takes
one class, goes back to their job having improved their computer
skills and is very happy. Trustee
Patterson encouraged the Board's attendance at the MCCA summer
conference in July.
Trustee
Holden reported on the Capital Works Work Force Development
Board meeting, which is held on the first Wednesday of the
month. She said
that President Cunningham was a guest giving an update on the
M‑TEC and it was helpful to have her there.
Trustee Holden stated that there was a conference related
to workforce development on May 10, which was in regards to the
supply and demand side of employment.
There were a number of Lansing Community College
representatives, and the material was outstanding.
She said that the conference confirmed the College's
areas of excellence that are written in the strategic plan.
Trustee Creamer commended
John Dale Smith and staff for their work with the graduation
ceremony.
Trustee Pelleran also
commended the staff for their work with graduation and the
President's Inauguration.
Chairperson
Jeffries provided an update regarding the one-way two-way street
resolution. He said
that the City would no longer consider converting Capitol and
Grand Avenues into two-way streets.
President's Report
Informational
Negotiations
President
Cunningham provided the Board an update regarding the Public
Safety Officers. They have now affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Police
and those negotiations have been very consuming.
She stated that the Part-time CTU contract was ratified
and the Board will act on it being completed early.
President Cunningham stated that she is still optimistic
about MAHE negotiations.
Budget Update
Vice President Barbara
Larson stated that course fees are being recommended for Board's
approval for courses affected by the recent program review
process.
These fees will take
affect Spring 2002. President Cunningham stated that the
proposed budget for 2001‑2002 has not changed since the
budget workshop conducted in April.
She stated that it has been communicated from the State
that community colleges should expect a decrease, which for LCC
could mean approximately one million dollars.
President Cunningham said that it is intended to bring
the budget to the Board in June for adoption, but considering
the College may not know in June if there will be an increase or
decrease, this may postpone budget adoption until July because
staff will need time to recommend adjustments.
M-TEC
Update
President
Cunningham reported that there have been two meetings with the
external M-TEC planning committee.
The committee decided to conduct M-TEC site visits to
Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.
Those visits are being arranged and each committee member
will invite 3 or 4 other companies to participate in the visits. An M-TEC work session with customers has been scheduled for
June 22, 2001 from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Action
Items
Approval
of Minutes
President
Cunningham presented the April 17, 2001 meeting minutes.
Human
Resources
Appointments
Administrative--
Richard T. Howard,
Executive Assistant to thePresident/Board
Liaison, President's Office,
Executive Office
Resignations
Faculty?
William
G. Blanchard, Faculty Member, Technology Careers, Careers
Division
Deanna
Hanieski, Faculty Member, Technology Careers, Careers Division
Francia
Trosty, Faculty Member, Technology Careers, Careers Division
Clerical
Technical Union - Tentative Agreement
President
Cunningham presented the Clerical Technical Union tentative
agreement to the Board.
2000-2001
Budget Reconciliation
Vice President Larson
reported the use of the projected surplus will go towards
funding the following: employee
training and professional development, student financial
assistance, Math Lab renovations, instructional equipment,
increase in College's reserve for future Capital Outlay, and
carry-forward the M-TEC set-aside.
Finance
Update
Approval
of Bids?
Phase
one of the Arts and Sciences renovation bid was presented for
the Board's approval. There
were five bids received from different vendors and Thatcher
Construction Company of East Lansing was awarded the bid.
Trustee
Creamer asked why is the recommendation coming in at $630,000
when all of the bids came in higher than that amount.
If the successful bidder came in at $640,000, why isn?t
the recommendation to increase the budget by $10,000.
Mr.
Bill Darr responded that the intent is to stay within the budget
Trustee
Creamer asked President Cunningham if there are times it makes
sense to go beyond the budget, if the original plans made sense.
President
Cunningham responded yes and that this is a project that a
specific amount of funds had been set aside to accomplish.
The budget is the primary motivation.
Trustee
Canady recommended that the budget be increased to $640,000.
IT
WAS MOVED by Trustee Holden and supported by Trustee Creamer to
accept the President's report except item 5, A, which will be
dealt with separately.
Ayes: Canady, Creamer, Holden, Jeffries, Patterson, Pelleran
Nays: None
Absent: Rasmusson
Motion
carried.
IT
WAS MOVED by Trustee Canady and supported by Trustee Patterson
to increase the Arts and Sciences Renovation proposal by
$10,000.
Ayes: Canady, Creamer, Holden, Jeffries, Patterson, Pelleran
Nays: None
Absent: Rasmusson
Motion
carried.
Public
Comment
Julie
Jasmin - I might as well voice my opinion while I am here.
For one thing, Bill Blanchard is a wonderful man and you
are really losing a nice guy.
He was married to my aunt.
Secondly, and this probably doesn't address the board as
much as it does the administration with the Aviation Department,
again, I think it is wonderful that we want to save it, keep it,
but structurally right now we are in limbo and all the hard work
that was put forth will fall apart if somehow things don't move.
So I don't know if there is somebody that can get with us
to let us know what is going on.
There is no time set aside to do the proposed changes in
the curriculum, nobody that is going to be paid to do those, I
don't know what is going to happen, but we are already up in the
air and students are really going to end up feeling the crunch
come fall. I would
like to encourage you to maybe fill us in or set something
aside. Secondly, in
regards to negotiations and stuff, I would like to address the
fact that I am a lab technician/librarian, and I do a lot of
teaching, direct teaching, one on one teaching in a lot of
areas. Dynamics,
Meteorology, Aircraft Systems, Navigation, Math, I teach Radio
Navigation, a lot of different things and at $11.85 an hour,
that probably isn't what I am worth. At this point in my life I am willing to work with that
because it works with my children's schedule, I am willing to
make that sacrifice. My
children come first. I
put $25,000 in my education and the average rate right now is
$20 an hour. I am
willing to make the sacrifice for my kids, but I would also like
to know what I do is appreciated and the time I put in is being
compensated. I know
the budget is always a problem, I understand that, I have a
budget at home I have to deal with.
So I can't always put in what I like to. But we work
really hard, we are up there 6 hours a day solid, teaching, and
they do it to build time, to move on, but we have a high turn
over rate, too. It
would be nice if we could have a pay that would reflect what we
are doing, what we are worth and I think it works well for the
students; they are not being transferred from one instructor to
another. It is part
of the learning process, it is nice to start and finish with one
person. We have had turnovers, three of them this year, just this
January, and that has been really stressful all the way around.
Thank you.
Tom
Ferris - I would like to thank the Board for their action
tonight. The
agreement is a 4-year agreement, 3 years forward, one year back.
It lays some groundwork - work for some continued joint
effort on the park committee and also classification study.
We have a very dedicated part time support staff here at
LCC, some very valuable and important people and it is good to
get an agreement out of hard work and mutual respect as opposed
to going to a third person.
Adjournment
The
meeting adjourned at 6:57 p.m.
