Call to Order
The meeting was called to
order at 6:35 p.m.
Roll Call
Present: Creamer, Holden,
Jeffries, Patterson, Pelleran, Rasmusson
Absent: Canady
Trustee Canady arrived at
6:42 p.m.
Additions/Deletions to the
Agenda
There were no additions or
deletions to the agenda.
Limited Public Comment
Regarding Agenda Items
There was no limited public
comment.
Chairperson and Board
Member Reports
Facilities Master Plan
Report
Trustee Patterson stated
the Board of Trustees unanimously approved a strategic plan in
June of this year. One of the reasons for the strategic plan was
to set forward a process to come up with a master plan. It is
certainly important to do this kind of planning so we can best
serve our college and students for years to come. This five-year
master plan is also a requirement of the State of Michigan, and
the College must submit the plan to the State by November 21st.
This facilities master plan is crucial for us to receive future
outlay in the capital expenditures. The college received 50%
funding on the Technology and Learning Center in 1993. Trustee
Patterson acknowledged and thanked the other members of the
subcommittee, Chairperson Jeffries and Trustee Pelleran.
Additionally, he thanked Barbara Larson, Bill Darr, and all of the
members of the master plan task force.
Vice President Barbara
Larson, Bill Darr, and Joe Miller, architect from Hobbs &
Black, gave a presentation on the Facilities Master Plan. (A copy
of the presentation is on file with the official Board materials.)
Trustee Holden asked if the
old SPS building will hold classrooms and if so, what classes
would be held there.
Vice President Larson
answered that it will hold eight general classrooms and two
computer classrooms beginning Spring semester.
Trustee Holden asked if any
of the programs could be assigned there.
Vice President Larson
answered, yes.
Trustee Holden said that
there was talk about renovating Carnegie Library. She wanted to
know if it was being discussed to renovate to it's original
state.
Vice President Larson
answered, no. One of the things, it didn't have originally was an
elevator, and we would need to put an elevator in, if it was going
to be used for offices on a regular basis. Certainly the Carnegie
Library looks more like it did when it was built than Old Central.
Trustee Canady stated it
seems scenario one is really dependent on the extension of the
M-TEC. Is General Motors okay with that?
President Cunningham stated
that ever since the Board sold the airport property to one of the
suppliers, CTI, they have committed us to 20 acres, either close
to or on the other side of General Motors. Those 20 acres will
allow us to do all of this.
Chair Jeffries asked Bill
Darr if the 20 acres would be enough space to do what the
recommended proposal states.
Mr. Darr said, yes it would
be enough space.
Trustee Holden wanted to
know if it is realistic for the State, since some of the master
plan includes new construction, that the College can get half of
the funding of the $51 million dollars that are needed.
Vice President Larson said
that the College was funded for the TLC building and that was a
$25 million project. There have been larger projects since then.
Grand Rapids had a $30 million project. This would be the largest,
but she thinks it is possible.
President Cunningham stated
the College is also looking for partners. They are not just
banking on M-TEC and the additional money from the state. Health
Careers, for example, finding organizations that can come to the
table and bring resources with them.
Trustee Holden wanted to
know how much money the College has in capital.
Vice President Larson said
there is $5.4 million reserved for capital outlay, and also
$900,000 that the Board has for appropriations, recognizing we had
to address Old Central.
Chair Jeffries asked if in
the analysis of all of the buildings, are there any buildings that
the College can sell, any properties such as Kalamazoo.
Vice President Larson said
yes, the warehouse is one piece of property that if the College
converted the first two floors of AOF, that would meet Holden Hthe
College's storage needs so we could sell the Kalamazoo property.
Chair Jeffries wanted to
know what the fair market value is.
Vice President Larson said
it was appraised at $405,000.
Chair Jeffries stated that
the sub-committee has completed its work. He thanked Trustee
Patterson, and Trustee Pelleran for the time they put in.
Additionally he thanked former Trustee Jim Byrum, and Trustee
Holden for the work they put into this project. He particularly
wanted to thank the staff and a number of people, faculty and
staff that attended those meetings throughout the summer,
particularly Friday mornings at 7:45 a.m. This is something the
Board has been looking forward to for a long time. He thinks it
will be very helpful to the College not only in the state
appropriation, but also critical for understanding the budget and
where to go from here. This was an informational item only. This
will be coming back to the November Board meeting for action. If
any of the Board members have any questions or concerns, he asked
them to bring them forward before the November meeting.
President's Report
Lansing M-TEC Report
- Consultants William Mothersell and Michael Moore gave the Board
a report on the Lansing M-TEC. (A copy of the presentation is on
file with the official Board materials.)
The Executive Summary and
Recommendations are as follows:
Macro Demand Factors for
the M-TEC
Our analysis of recent
economic reports and other available information indicates that
the Malibu car line will be integrated into current production in
2000, the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant will open in 2001,
the Regional Stamping Center will open in 2002, and the Delta
"Platinum" Plant will open in 2003. The economic impact
of locating the three new facilities in the Lansing area is
expected to create about 18,000 jobs (20% manufacturing and 80%
nonmanufacturing), with significant spin-off activities (e.g.,
purchases from local suppliers, increased spending, etc.). More
specifically, the location of the new GM plants in Lansing is
expected to result in approximately 20 new auto suppliers to
locate in the area between 2000 and 2003, with projections as high
as 50 over the next several years.
There are some concerns
regarding the full utilization of an M-TEC given the small
manufacturing employment base in the Lansing region (i.e., 12% in
the Lansing area vs. 22% State average). Growth in manufacturing
employment is anticipated given the expected increase in suppliers
locating in this area. As such, increased training capacity will
be needed to support these new suppliers.
While there are also some
concerns with the current economic outlook (i.e., the length of
the current economic expansion), the overall economic trends are
positive for the immediate future. The Lansing area will benefit
from receiving the first new auto plants built by GM in the United
States since it created Saturn Corporation located in Spring Hill
Tennessee in 1985. The creation of a M-TEC is seen as an important
incentive to encourage other supplier firms to locate in new
facilities in the Lansing area. The current expansion, projected
growth, and current economic trends is expected to fuel demand for
technical and manufacturing-related skills and training and thus
enables this M-TEC to play a foundation role in creating the
quality and quantity of the Lansing area workforce.
Demand for the training
provided by the M-TEC is likely to meet and exceed the capacity as
projected within the current $4 million building grant and
estimated square footage. Meeting this excess demand will be
addressed in alternative scenarios.
Recommendations
Recognize Viable
Alternatives
LCC Possesses Leadership
and Context Expertise
Need to Build
collaborative/Partnership Capacity within LCC and with Employers
and Community Leaders
Strong Support Needed
from the Board
Accept the Challenge of
Creating a World-Class M-TEC
Trustee Holden asked if GM
would be able to dictate whether we can put an LCC Vo-Tech Center
at the M-TEC site.
President Cunningham said
in terms of the complete duration we will make that
collaboratively whether it is actually inside, whether it is a
portion or a wing of the M-TEC, or something built outside or very
close it to. That is something that would be talked about
collaboratively. They asked us earlier about deal breakers. That
is one that we put down as a potential deal breaker.
Trustee Holden asked the
consultants if they believe we can readily reconcile this open
entry open exit issue.
Dr. Mothersell said he
thinks the start point is to offer something open entry, open
exit, he thinks that is going to be required. After that point
what is going to be required is a balanced approach that says,
learn as we go, are employers demanding it and you will have a
balanced approach that emerges over time where it fits both
Trustee Holden said she
recalled the Board, when they were talking about Livingston
County, did not have a hand choosing the M-TEC board.
President Cunningham said
she thinks this Board has to have ultimate responsibility for the
fiscal operations of the M-TEC. Ultimately they have to have some
input into that, in terms of who is serving on the M-TEC Board and
that make up. That might be a different question, but in terms of
fiscal responsibility, I don't know how the Board could resolve
themselves from that.
Trustee Holden said the
Board can't, but it is the ultimate responsibility that they have.
That was a contention with the Board, that they didn't have much
say in some of that make up, but yet had the fiscal
responsibility.
Trustee Holden had a
question on the training and education. Typically an education
course covers the vital 80% of knowledge and leaves the final 20%
to on-the-job or local training. LCC instructors can often provide
the final 20% through specific training contracts with firms. Past
experience would indicate that many firms are resistant to paying
the full cost of training such highly specific knowledge for
learning applications. She wanted to know if this suggests that
when it comes to customize training the employers want it for
generic prices or through grants.
Dr. Moore said that is a
good summary of it. LCC is a good educational institution. It
provides the basics of a course. In building 66 and 242 training
centers run by General Motors they are proud that they are
training centers. That they can take it 100% of the way, they can
explain exactly how to pull a core out a specific machine, a
specific building, a specific location and train to that level of
detail. So back to education, in doing contract training, often
employers would love to have LCC faculty develop a course that
would do exactly what their employees needed but they may only
have two or three for the course, or one or two, so they have to
be part of a class with a larger group as the course is assembled
so they can't get all the customization they want. LCC's faculty
could do it if they were asked to, but experience is that
employers don't want to pay that final price to get things exactly
right. They rather say get the basic skills and we will train them
on-the-job back at our building. It could be a pricing matter, we
just found employers to be resistant to pay the full cost of
customized training in technical areas.
Olga Holden said the
Board's experience in Livingston county was that even though LCC
was providing the facility and resources, the employers wanted to
access the by having someone write grants for the actual cost of
the training. She wanted to know if that is what the consultants
found in the Lansing community, as well.
Dr. Mothersell answered,
yes. Once they learn they can find grant money for the training,
that is the way they want to go. He sees that as an advantage of
working with LCC because they have the capacity to write the
grants, they have access to the grant money and developed
expertise in this area. It refers back to what employers want and
what they are willing to pay for. To do that last 20% is very
labor extensive and expensive.
Dr. Moore stated they would
not be recommending the M-TEC if it had to be funded solely by
employers of Lansing. They are very small. The manufacturing
sector in Lansing is much smaller than in Flint or Grand Rapids,
smaller firms, this really requires General Motors as a partner,
then all things are possible. But, the smaller employers simply
look for grants where they have learned to look, and ask LCC to
write grants for them.
Chair Jeffries said the
College has been told that we have to get the application in by
the first of the year. Time is very short and if we are going to
be in that position to be a strong negotiator on these issues,
when should LCC expect to have some direction from GM in terms of
what we need to put in the application.
Dr. Mothersell said the
difficulty is not knowing exactly when GM will come up with the
final approval. We expect it the next month, or week, or even the
next day, we have been that close at times and it never occurs. I
think the reality is, from GM's perspective, they can get that
additional time from the State to make their decision.
Dr. Moore added that the
President's office has a grant or proposal writing team all ready
to go, and the actual draft proposal has a lot of good points in
it, so he thinks something could move very fast from the internal
management of the College, but right now the only official time we
have is the 2nd of January.
President Cunningham
thanked Dr. Moore and Dr. Mothersell for the amount of time and
energy they put in over and above, they have done an outstanding
job. Also, she wanted to publicly thank General Motors, they have
been extremely responsive. They returned phone calls, they allowed
us in their plant, we visited the training facility in Lansing,
the Saturn facility in Springfield, Tennessee, and have been very
responsive and a joy to work with. Additionally, she thanked the
Board for the support and patience with this entire project as in
the past they continue to be extremely supportive as we move this
and ask appropriate questions. For those interested there will be
a final copy of this report in our office by Wednesday, it is
quite extensive and we need to make a copy and will have a copy in
the office by Wednesday or Thursday this week.
Trustee Patterson wanted to
acknowledge Bob Bentley and WLNS. He can actually get the College
radio station now that the signal has been increased. WLNS is the
voice of this college and it is a good station.
Public Comment
There was no public
comment.
Adjournment
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee
Canady and supported by Trustee Patterson to adjourn the meeting.
Ayes: Canady, Creamer,
Holden, Jeffries, Patterson, Pelleran, Rasmusson
Nays: None.
Absent: None.
Motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at
7:50 p.m.
