Southeastern Illinois College Board of Trustees met March 21.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
The Southeastern Illinois College Board of Trustees held its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 21, 2019 in the Rodney J. Brenner Board Room. On roll call, the following members were present: Dr. Pat York, Mrs. Debbie Hughes, Mr. Jim Ellis, Dr. Frank Barbre, and Mr. Alex McRoy. Also present: Lisa Hite, Gina Sirach, Dr. Chad Flannery, Sara DeNeal, Jerri Harbison, David Pistorius, Callie Smith, Bridget Payne, Dr. Rice, and Lisa Dye.
Dr. York welcomed guests and allowed a time for comment.
Seating of Student Trustee
Dr. Rice swore in Bridget Payne to the office of Student Member of the Board of Trustees of Southeastern Illinois College for the academic year 2019 – 2020.
Bridget Payne and Callie Smith left the meeting.
Action Item A
Approval of Selection of First Midstate Inc. as Underwriter/Placement Agent and Chapman and Cutler LLP as Bond/Disclosure Counsel to the Underwriter/Placement Agent with respect to the District’s General Obligation Community College Bonds.
David Pistorius, Senior Vice President of First Midstate Inc., was here to discuss the health safety project. This is the fourth time that SIC has gone through this process with First Midstate Inc. Pistorius provided a 10 year treasury graph showing interest rates dropping since November 2018 to the current rate of 2.59%. He said this is the type of yield buyers want to start out with. He then provided a bond buyer 20 index graph showing the last 9 to 10 weeks where bonds have been selling at the 4% mark. This represents pure rates and doesn’t include fees. He said First Midstate is an investment banking firm with 60 years of experience. Chapman and Cutler are Bond Attorneys that work with First Midstate. SIC’s bonding capacity over the last 3 years has had a little growth. We are allowed 2.875% capacity which is based on our EAV. Our current potential bonding capacity is $6,089,990. We need to do two things, said Pistorius. First, we need to have a public hearing, and second we need to adopt a bond resolution. We can do this on April 15th and April 22nd. Funds in their entirety will be available for us 2 weeks after the April 22nd bond resolution adoption. Pistorius also said two of our previous bond issues will be gone this December.
ICCTA Report – Dr. Barbre
Dr. Barbre said he was not able to attend the last ICCTA meeting, but he said Mr. Ellis attended and asked him to elaborate. Mr. Ellis said the round table discussion was and always is beneficial. Minimum wage was one of the round table topics. Mr. Ellis encourage other Board members to attend ICCTA’s Lobby Day on May 1st.
SIC Employees – Sara DeNeal
The Art Department has won several awards at the Intercollegiate Art show in Little Egypts Arts Association Art Center Gallery on the square in Marion. The show runs March 12th through March 31st. Creative Endeavors: The Regional High School show is on display in the VPAC Gallery until April 3rd. The Concert Choir was well represented at the Community College Day at SIUC. Several of our students performed for masterclasses with SIUC faculty, gave a short concert of works we prepared from the past two semesters, and learned and performed a joint piece with choirs from SIUC, RLC, and JALC. The ECE Expo was on March 2 and it was a huge success. Over 125 professionals and students attended. They visited 20 exhibitors, networked with each other, and attended 3 workshops on topics related to Early Childhood Mental Health. The MIG team won the State Competition and was named “Outstanding Small Delegation Award.” SIC led all eligible schools (large and small) in total points and leadership positions. SIC’s five competitors where able to outscore the large delegations who brought as many as 25 students. SIC students were elected to 5 committee spokesperson positions.
Dr. Rice’s Report
A lot of work was done over spring break in the Learning Commons. The Learning Commons update will be done in two phases. Over spring break, Mr. Brown tore up and relayed gravel to improve the east road. Ed Fitzgerald, Adam Potts, and Mark Stucker did a lot of work over spring break including tiling the elevator. We got back a great idea from the architect to redo the flag pole area. Student Government wants to start this flag pole project and will sell bricks to offset the cost. We’ll have to do this in phases and modify the design due to the cost being $250,000. We’ll probably do the horizontal design, not the vertical design. The gun range had a covering put on with fencing at the top and will soon be an authorized police training facility. At this time we cannot do both the parking lot update and batting cage covering for the baseball/softball team. The coaches want the covering done first. The Foundation helped in the Student Center, with the Theater Sign, and the new base for the electrical sign. The Looking Glass can make the sign and get it done before HLC gets here. PHS work in the A, B, and C buildings needs to be done, specifically tile work. The ICCCP Development Education Reform Bill is gaining speed. Senator Pat McGuire sponsored the bill and is expected to hand it off the Senator Burke. This is a great disservice and a radical idea that will make changes for us and we are hoping our lobbying efforts will help curb this bill. The bill is now at its 3rd reading. This is the largest piece of legislation that we are concerned with at this time. Dr. Weiss added that Pam Lau, Vice President of Academic Affairs for Parkland College in Champaign and President of Chief Academic Officers (CAO) group for the state will testify on our behalf and said that Ms. Lau is a great spokesperson. The Credential Bill is most likely not advancing. We hope to see a modest increase in the budget. Dr. Rice said his ICCCP Chair position expires June 30th, 2019. The Finance Subcommittee will meet soon to discuss the minimum wage impact. We have hired Hanna Reed (80% endowed) as the Curator and Event Assistant. We are using new recruitment and advertising for the OWL position. SIH just hired 8 of our current ADN students, we have a BSN agreement with Illinois Eastern; University of Illinois at Chicago has asked about working with us, and we are meeting with Lindsey Wilson next week. TRIO will be under Karla Lewis’ supervision in a year and we will submit that move and finish the grant. We have a joint meeting tomorrow with Rend Lake College to discuss joint Ag and Dual Credit. ICCB report shows the national average Spring head count is down-2%; SIC is down at-0.7%. Rend Lake College will host the Southeast Region Trustees Meeting on April 10th. Dr. Weiss and her assistant, Cara Lehman have sited over 500 sources for the HLC document. April 22-23 is our HLC visit. Board members need to be here on April 22nd as HLC will discuss governance with them along with other items. Campus Safety Training starts in fall 2020. We need more training and will be getting into a cycle for safety training. Dr. Flannery has formed a new AG committee, and done well with one on one outreach calls for registration. Gina Sirach – WYSE was successful, MIG was successful, and she is currently working on assessment. Lisa Hite oversaw a lot of work done to the facilities over spring break, and made a good effort to expand our student base and keep it growing. Dr. Weiss has been working on HLC. Dr. Barbre asked if we were recognizing Mike Monaghan at the Rend Lake Meeting and Dr. Rice answered yes.
Student Trustee Report
Art club took a trip to the Evansville Art Museum over spring break. The Circle K Club has their Pay It Forward event on April 20th. Cosmetology is working on a prom hair and makeup event for local high schools. Early Childhood Education had their Expo on March 2nd. The Math and Science Club is preparing for the Game Tournament with Student Government which will be on March 29th. The Nursing Club haf Cultural Day on March 20th, and will participate in Community Health Day. PBL will be attending their State Conference April 5-6. PTK will be attending their Nationals in Orlando and they will be having their spring induction. Theta Sigma Phi had their first full cast meeting for AIDA. In total, we had 101 Civility Pledge signatures! We voted to approve the Professional Agriculture Student Organization.
Consent Agenda
A motion was made by Trustee Ellis seconded by Trustee Barbre to approve the Consent Agenda which included the February 19, 2019 minutes, destroying tapes of the April 2017 closed session, the Treasurer’s Report and the approval of bills for February 2019 which totaled $2,181,907.73 which included $514,278.98 in payroll. On roll call all members voted aye. Motion carried.
Action Items
A. Approval of Selection of First Midstate Inc. as Underwriter/Placement Agent and Chapman and Cutler LLP as Bond/Disclosure Counsel to the Underwriter/Placement Agent with respect to the District’s General Obligation Community College Bonds.
A motion was made by Trustee Ellis seconded by Trustee Hughes to approve Selection of First Midstate Inc. as Underwriter/Placement Agent and Chapman and Cutler LLP as Bond/Disclosure Counsel to the Underwriter/Placement Agent with respect to the District’s General Obligation Community College Bonds.
All members voted aye. Motion carried.
B. Approval to Revise Board Policy #4023 Social Media.
A motion was made by Trustee Hughes seconded by Trustee Ellis to approve to revise Board Policy #4023 Social Media.
All members voted aye. Motion carried.
C. Approval to Retire Board Policy #4022 Online Networking.
A motion was made by Trustee Ellis seconded by Trustee Barbre to approve to retire Board Policy #4022 Online Networking.
All members voted aye. Motion carried.
D. Approval of Curriculum Report.
A motion was made by Trustee Barbre seconded by Trustee Hughes to approve Curriculum Report.
All members voted aye. Motion carried.
E. Approval of Budget Transfers.
A motion was made by Trustee Hughes seconded by Trustee Ellis to approve budget transfers.
All members voted aye. Motion carried.
F. Approval of Spring 2019 CTE Advisory Board Recommendations.
A motion was made by Trustee Ellis seconded by Trustee Barbre to approve Spring 2019 CTE Advisory Board Recommendations.
All members voted aye. Motion carried.
Non-Action Items
A. Pre-HLC Visit.
Ten years ago HLC gave recommendations. At that time, Dr. Rice added the whistle blower policy and amended these policies: #2006 Trustee Duties, #2018 Trustee and CEO Roles and Relationship, #2020 Code of Ethics – Board of Trustees, #3008 Succession Policy, #8007 Fund Balance Policy, #8008 Debt Management Policy. These key policies include duties, expectations, give recommending power to the President and approving power to the Board. Since the last HLC Visit, SIC has done a lot of things, for example – dashboard and benchmarking. Dr. Weiss said that HLC had her put 3 items on the agenda that they might need and we won’t know if they need it until a few days before they visit. The topic will determine who will be involved if this is needed.
B. Correspondence.
Susie Lampley was awarded Faculty of the Year and sent a very nice email thanking Dr. Rice. Senator Pat McGuire send a card about the Educational Developemt Bill. Rend Lake College sent an invitation to the Southeast Region Trusttses Meeting.
Personnel
A motion was made by Trustee Barbre seconded by Trustee Hughes to approve all items listed under personnel: Approved Evaluations/Recommendations for Re-Employment for President, Administrative Cabinet, Other Administrative Personnel, and Staff and Tenured Personnel; Approved to accept resignation from Secretary to Director of Nursing and Allied Health; Approved of job description for Secretary to Director of Nursing and Allied Health; Approved of job description for Cosmetology Instructor; Approved part-time employment for Professional English Tutor; Approved employment for Curator and Event Assistant (Endowed); Approve UMWA Collective Bargaining Agreement for 2019-2022; approved Adjunct Faculty.
All members voted aye. Motion carried.
Adjournment
There being no further business to discuss, Trustee Ellis made the motion to adjourn the meeting seconded by Trustee Barbre. All members voted aye. The meeting adjourned at 7:54 pm.
http://www.sic.edu/files/uploads/global/Minutes_March_21_2019.pdf
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