SE Illinois News

Southeastern Illinois College Board of Trustees met Feb. 5.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

The Southeastern Illinois College Board of Trustees held its regular meeting on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 in the Rodney J. Brenner Board Room. On roll call, the following members were present: Jim Ellis, Dr. Frank Barbre, Dr. Pat York, Richard Morgan, Dave Dennison, Blake Bradley, Debbie Hughes and Callie Smith, student trustee. Also present were: Dr. Jonah Rice, Lisa Hite, Karla Lewis, Chad Flannery, David Wright, Gina Sirach, Dr. Karen Weiss, Lisa Dye, and Matt Businaro from Kemper CPA Group.

Dr. York welcomed guests and allowed a time for comment.

Annual Audit Report – Matt Businaro (Kemper CPA Group)

Mr. Businaro distributed the audit results booklet to the Board. He said page 96 was a summary of the audit. The audit was unmodified, and there were no compliance findings. It was a very clean and good audit.

ICCTA Report – Dr. Barbre

Dr. Barbre said that he recently attended a seminar called, Legal, Legislative & Ethics Update. At this seminar, he learned that next year if the Governor signs the bill regarding Trustees, another 2 hours of mandatory training will be added. This training will be about sexual harassment. Mrs. Hughes said she had already had the training through her job and wondered if that would count. Dr. Barbre will look into that. He said sexual harassment is a significant topic right now.

SIC Employees Report – Karla Lewis

SICEA had a Christmas party at Asian Bistro in Marion on December 1st. The party was attended by 25 people. Sara DeNeal was appointed as a 2-year institution representative board member on the Illinois Higher Education Art Association Council at the IHEAA meeting held at WIU in Macomb. Sara is also now on the IAI Art Panel. Diane King was asked to present, and did, on her best practices in online teaching for the ICCB conference on early childhood education. Diane also just returned from taking 5 of her education students to the IEA student conference in Chicago where students attended a series of workshops at the 11⁄2 day conference. Media Services has a faculty development workshop on ADA compliance for online courses scheduled for December 7th. Another faculty development workshop on incorporating multi-media into online classes will be held on January 5th , which is Staff Development Day. Media Services will be installing video conference equipment at Pope County High School on December 12th. Lastly, Media Services is recycling some 44 inch tv’s. These will be recycled into the Student Services conference room, the T115 classroom, the speech practice room, the C building conference room, and there are 2 or 3 still available for other rooms. The USDA distance learning grant purchased new 65 inch tv’s for the videoconference classrooms.

Dr. Rice’s Report

The Foundation had a great meeting and a nice donation was received. Mr. Port will be stepping off the Foundation Board, and it will be sad to see him go since he’s done such a good job. The Susan Alexander Scholarship donation was received. Dr. Rice mentioned that he will soon develop a debt management policy for the Board. This comes about from a presentation that he saw at the Presidents Council. There has been some vandalism on the campus. The baseball tarp was vandalized as was the archery 3D targets. Insurance claims have been filed. New cameras will be installed and the back gate is now being locked in the hopes of deterring further vandalism. Security has been increased. Dr. Rice analyzed enrollment showing a 5 year change and 2016- 2017 change. He said our most neighboring community colleges have enrollment issues that are more challenging than ours. Enrollment across the entire state is down. The new enrollment focus is not grow, grow, grow and that is partly due to a smaller enrollment in the local high schools. We are recruiting by active engagement and new program development. We are actively recruiting in-district and in other states that border Illinois. Alli Armstrong and Archie Blair are recruiting in Marshall and McCracken counties and CTE will be recruiting there soon too, as will Rachel Parish for Dual Credit. We have to think institutionally not departmentally to mitigate the loss in enrollment and stay ahead of the curve, said Dr. Rice. Our recruiting service area is now larger. Dr. Weiss and Dr. Rice have met with local school superintendents to discuss enrollment ideas with them. New programs/curriculums such as taxidermy, bowling, and archery are coming soon to SIC. In fact, the Archery Grand Opening is December 15th. The community is very interested in our archery range. People out of district are interested as well and we will handle this carefully in respect to our community college neighbors. CTE is exploring program options and a full-time faculty position. The ADN program has 30 students and can take 10 more and the RN program can also take 10 students If that happens, we would need another instructor. Dr. Rice would like to increase the at-large numbers that SIC currently allows into the program by admitting the top entrance scores. Dr. Rice said we would be careful not to repeat the problem we had years ago with too many lower scoring students pulling our good numbers down. We don’t want to drop our pass rates. Mr. Ellis asked if the same entrance test is given to everyone and Dr. Rice answered yes. Dr. York asked if we would stop at 8 students if the scores weren’t there and Gina Sirach answered yes. We will not change how the first 30 slots are determined. Mrs. Hughes asked about hiring another instructor and then not being able to fill the extra seats. Gina Sirach answered that we would know 6 months out if there would or would not be a need for a new instructor. New state legislation is requiring an additional endorsement for our nursing program. Dr. Rice said this is one of the most onerous unfunded mandates he’s seen in his presidency. This will cause us to cut our program credit hours. Gina Sirach is working with nursing faculty to reduce hours. The program must have class and clinical ratios. We expect about a $200,000 drop in revenue. Dr. Rice continued his report by saying we need 2 Financial Aid Clerks and we have needed them for a long time. In the last 6 years, we have gone through 11 employees in the Financial Aid Department. Millions of dollars for students are processed in this department. We need to hire a Student Services person (new position) who can handle multiple operations in that area, including recruiting, testing, and training in multiple service areas. We expect one more good payment from the state somewhere between January and June of 2018 with periodic payments throughout the year. Dr. Rice said that he is meeting with Mr. Hise tomorrow to discuss small issues regarding the Art Museum. At the next Board meeting, we will have a contractor to approve for the Hise project. Mr. Hise is transferring a large sum of money for the project before the end of this month. Mr. Dennison asked if Mr. Hise will help pick the contractor. Dr. Rice answered by saying, the Board does that, but we are keeping him informed and value his input. Dr. Rice mentioned that dual credit information, data on completion, and student satisfaction is in the Board packet. Completion has increased and that is good news. Student satisfaction is good, but there is room for improvement. Dr. Rice met with Sheriff Brown recently to discuss SIC having a part-time deputy/deputies on campus. SIC would have to pay a portion of his/her salary and benefits, including workers compensation. Mr. Ellis asked what kind of uniform the deputy would wear. Dr. Rice answered that he/she would wear a Saline County sheriff uniform. The deputy would have space in the A/B building and would patrol all over. Dr. York said to check it out further and put some figures together. The entire Board agreed. Dr. Rice said we would still keep our own security personnel. The House proposed the UBIT Bill that would cause investments to be taxed. The Senate version of the Bill does not include that, but we will have to wait and see. If passed, this could be in place January 1st. HLC adopted a TA model to get more dual credit hours. SIC staff is investigating Tier 1 Tactical Solutions for the possibility of using them for a staff development day. We might apply for the Upward Bound Grant in the next 5 year cycle. Mrs. Hughes asked if SIC does anything for County CEO programs. Dr. Rice answered yes, through the SBDC in Saline and White Counties. On the Ad Hoc Committee, Karla Lewis, Kyla Burford, and Lori Cox are working on in-district initiatives, and Dr. Rice is on the out of district task force. There is interest in Paducah and Mt Vernon for the welding program. We might look into Solar Energy later in the spring. David Wright said we are almost too late because it is such a fast moving program. Dr. York said let it go and not pursue it and the Board agreed. Mr. Ellis said the Co Op here will not do a buy back and that the program is high maintenance after 5 years.

Student Trustee Report

Callie Smith gave a report on the current activities of the student clubs. The Archery Team won 4 gold medals at the USA Archery Collegiate Championship; The Art Club had a bake sale, visited a museum in St. Louis, and hosted a reception in the gallery; Madeline Rogers had a piano concert as part of the Cultural Arts Series on October 29th – 100 people were in attendance; The Diesel Club had a pork chop meal fundraiser; the Education Club attended the IEA Student Conference in Bloomington; The Math and Science Club along with Student Government sponsored a game tournament; The Nursing Club volunteered at a community blood drive; PBL is sponsoring an Angle Tree to provide Christmas gifts for children; PTK inducted 18 new members; The Speech Team won second place at the Fall competition; Student Ambassadors helped with the Cultural Arts Series on October 29th; Student Government sponsored pizza and politics on November 8th; and Theatre presented Miracle on 34th Street; Seasons of Sound had a choir concert; and there will be a community choir concert on December 10th.

Consent Agenda

A motion was made by Trustee Bradley seconded by Trustee Ellis to approve the Consent Agenda which included the October 17, 2017 minutes, destroying tapes of the March 2016 closed session, the Treasurer’s Report and the approval of bills for October 2017 which totaled $2,503,525.63 which included $510,176.11 in payroll. On roll call the following members voted:

Aye Nay

Mr. Dennison Mr. Ellis Dr. Barbre Dr. York Mr. Morgan Mr. Bradley Mrs. Hughes Callie Smith (Student Trustee)

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

Action Items

Dr. York told the Board that they would vote on Action Items A – I all together. He asked if there were any questions. There were no questions.

A motion was made by Trustee Bradley seconded by Trustee Hughes to approve Action Items A- I.

Revise Board Policies 4011, 8003, 9008, 9004, 9002.5, 9002.7, 4006, 4003, and delete Board Policy 5007.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Bradley seconded by Trustee Dennison to approve border county tuition rates.

Mrs. Hughes asked if classes filled up and say 2 are out of district and then in district students apply, will they be denied because the class is full? Dr. Rice answered that it is already that way with online classes, but we could open another class or the instructors could possibly accept the additional students.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Ellis seconded by Trustee Bradley to approve Board of Trustees 2018 meeting dates.

The Board was given the choice of 2 days for the March meeting date, either the 20th or the 22nd. The Board chose to meet March 22nd.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Morgan seconded by Trustee Barbre to approve the annual audit.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Dennison seconded by Trustee Ellis to approve the certificate of tax levy.

David Wright gave a powerpoint presentation showing the 3% increase on the tax levy.

Mr. Morgan asked is last year’s EAV of.87015 was used to figure the new amount for 2018. David Wright answered that he had built a hedge in to protect us.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Barbre seconded by Trustee Morgan to approve the treasurer’s bond increase for 2017.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Morgan seconded by Trustee Hughes to approve the archery building change order number 2.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Ellis seconded by Trustee Barbre to approve the budget transfers.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Bradley seconded by Trustee Hughes to approve the curriculum recommendations.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

Non-Action Items

Dr. York told the Board that they would discuss Non-Action Items A – O all together. He asked for questions. There were no questions.

First Readings for Board Policies 4007, 4016, 9007.1, 5035, 6013, 5034, 5030.2, 5010, 5020, 5003, 4010, 5002, 6015, 4011.2, 4010.1.

Closed Session

A motion was made by Trustee Bradley seconded by Trustee Hughes to convene into closed session as allowed by the Open Meetings Act 5 ILCS 120/2, Section C, Sub-Section (1) appointment, employment, and compensation of specific employees, (2) negotiations, (5) acquisitions of property, and (11) litigation. The board went into closed session at 7:40 p.m.

Personnel

A motion was made by Trustee Hughes seconded by Trustee Bradley to approve all items under personnel.

All members voted aye. Motion carried.

Approved job description revision for Secretary at the David L. Stanley Center in Carmi; Approved job description revision for Director of the David L. Stanley Center in Carmi; Approved job description revision for Coordinator for MJOCCS; Approved job description revision for Practical Nursing Instructor; Approved job description revision for Associate Degree Nursing Instructor; Approved retirement of Part-Time Library Assistant, Suzi Wilson, and Approved Adjunct faculty.

Adjournment

There being no further business to discuss, Trustee Morgan made the motion to adjourn the meeting seconded by Trustee Barbre. All members voted aye. The meeting adjourned at 8:03 p.m.

http://www.sic.edu/files/uploads/global/Minutes_December_2017.pdf