Adopted Meeting Minutes
Organizational Meeting
July 31, 2003

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 12:03 p.m.

Roll Call

Present: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Murray, Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson
Absent: None

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.

Oath of Office

Trustees Brannan, Laverty, Murray, and Proctor took the oath of office and were sworn in by the Honorable Charles Filice from the Lansing 54A District Court.

Chairperson and Board Member Reports

Chairperson

Officers

Trustee Canady opened the floor for nominations.

Trustee Rasmusson presented a slate of officers.

Chairperson - Canady
Vice Chairperson - Laverty
Secretary - Pelleran
Treasurer - Rasmusson

Trustee Pelleran nominated Trustee Laverty for the position of chairperson and nominated Trustee Proctor for the combined office of secretary and treasurer.

Trustee Proctor nominated Trustee Pelleran for the vice chairperson position.

Trustee Canady asked for a roll call vote for each of the positions.

Roll call vote for the chairperson position:
Trustee Brannan - Laverty
Trustee Canady - Canady
Trustee Laverty - Laverty
Trustee Murray - Laverty
Trustee Pelleran - Laverty
Trustee Proctor - Laverty
Trustee Rasmusson - Canady

Trustee Laverty will serve as chairperson.

Roll call vote for the vice chairperson position:
Trustee Brannan - Pelleran
Trustee Canady - Abstained
Trustee Laverty - Pelleran
Trustee Murray - Pelleran
Trustee Pelleran - Pelleran
Trustee Proctor - Pelleran
Trustee Rasmusson - Abstained

Trustee Pelleran will serve as vice chairperson.

Roll call vote for the secretary/treasurer position:
Trustee Brannan - Proctor
Trustee Canady - Proctor
Trustee Laverty - Proctor
Trustee Murray - Proctor
Trustee Pelleran - Proctor
Trustee Proctor - Proctor
Trustee Rasmusson - Proctor
Trustee Proctor will serve as secretary/treasurer.

Committee Appointments

Chairperson Laverty made the following committee appointments:

Audit Committee - Trustees Canady, Rasmusson, and Brannan

Ingham County School Officers Association - Trustee Murray

LCC Foundation Board of Directors - Trustee Pelleran

Leslie Local Development Finance Authority ? Trustee Pelleran

Mason Local Development Finance Authority ? Trustee Pelleran

Michigan Community College Association Board of Directors - Trustee Brannan, alternate ? Trustee Murray

Regional Economic Development Team ? Chairperson Laverty

Workforce Development Board - Trustee Proctor

Calendar of Meetings for 2003-2004 and 2004-2005

IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Rasmusson and supported by Trustee Proctor to approve the meeting schedule for 2003-2004 and 2004-2005.

Chairperson Laverty asked the Board if the proposed time of 5:30 p.m. will work for everyone.

Trustee Pelleran asked if the Board will be having pre-Board meeting dinners.

Chairperson Laverty responded, yes.

Trustee Pelleran recommended moving the meeting to 6:00 p.m. because of the pre-board meeting dinners, and the time may be more convenient for the public to participate.

President Cunningham stated the reason for the 5:30 p.m. time was due to the staff having to attend the meetings and the public rarely participates. However, staff will do as the Board wishes.

The Board agreed having the meetings begin at 6:00 pm .

Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Murray, Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: None

Motion carried.

President's Report

Action Items

Finance

Approval of Bids?

President Cunningham presented the following three different bids related to the construction of the M-TEC and TTC for the Board's approval:

1. Landscape and lawn irrigation. The bid was awarded to WH Cannon, Inc., of Romulus , Michigan in the amount of $414,309.98, which was the lowest and deemed the most advantageous to the College.

2. Miscellaneous/ornamental metals. The bid was awarded to Union Fabricators & Fitters, Inc., from Jonesville , Michigan in the amount of $625,000, which was the lowest and deemed the most advantageous to the College.

3. Site electrical. The bid was awarded to Superior Electric of Lansing, Inc., of Lansing , Michigan in the amount of $306,700, which was the lowest and deemed the most advantageous to the College.

IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Canady and supported by Trustee Proctor to approve all three bids.

Trustee Murray said it was curious that only two companies responded to the ornamental metals bid and there is such a dramatic difference in the proposal amounts.

President Cunningham stated that the Union Fabricators had left out a panel in their proposal and it was then negotiated and included in the final amount. She asked Ms. Beckie Beard or Dean William Darr to further address Trustee Murray?s question.

Ms. Beard responded that the higher bid was from Dumas Concepts in Building. They were also awarded the structural steel bid. She believes that after giving the College the low bid on the structural steel project, they may have realized that they were under bidding.

Roll call vote:
Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Murray, Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: None

Motion carried.

Chairperson Laverty distributed a memo to the Board (it is on file with the official Board materials). The memo contained suggestions of topics for special meetings prior to the September 15 regular Board meeting, and a request for various tours to further orient the new Trustees.

Trustee Rasmusson referred to the memo Chairperson Laverty distributed. He highlighted that the memo reads that the Board would have three special meetings and asked when was that decided.

Chairperson Laverty responded at this moment.

Trustee Rasmusson asked if the new Trustees had decided on this schedule.

Chairperson Laverty responded, no, he is asking for the special meetings to be scheduled.

Trustee Rasmusson said that if the new Trustees had decided this it would violate the Michigan Open Meetings Act to have a serial meeting where each person is polled to decide something.

Chairperson responded that this is his suggestion, and what Trustee Rasmusson is referring to did not happen. He said that these were weeks that we felt we could fit in.

Trustee Rasmusson asked who ?we? was.

Chairperson Laverty responded it was himself. He said at the new Trustee orientation held earlier that day, Mr. Rich Howard and President Cunningham had suggested other dates for additional orientation, and those dates might work too; however, the goal would be to cover the various topics prior to September 15.

President Cunningham referred to item #2 on the memorandum, which indicates litigation issues update. She recommended that this topic be discussed in closed session at one of the future meetings.

Trustee Pelleran asked that the record reflect that there was a question regarding it being highly irregular for someone brand new to come in and chair the Board. This year there were many new people both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate who were not in those seats before and are now serving as chairman of very significant appropriation sub-committees, which include K-12 and the Department of Education. Trustee Pelleran felt that is the democratic process and we will work together, continue to support one another, and work as a team. She nominated Chairperson Laverty because of his experience and his solid working relationship with the President while having served on the Foundation. Her nomination was not a slight to her colleague, Trustee Canady, who she?s known, has been endeared to and has felt his support while she has served on the Board of Trustees. Trustee Pelleran made the commitment to the community that we will work as a team, looks forward to the leadership of Chairperson Laverty and looks forward to working with all of the Trustees.

Public Comment

Sally Pierce - Good afternoon, my name is Sally Pierce and I teach in the department of Language Skills. I'm also the president of LCC MAHE, the faculty association here at LCC. It is a pleasure to be here and see four new Board members seated. To our association they represent a new day for LCC. They're here because they worked together and with our union and other members of the Lansing Community College community to win election to their seats. Since their election our association and other unions on campus have worked with the LCC management team to resolve pay problems stemming from the implementation of the Oracle HR system. And the last meeting we had was Tuesday. I'm hopeful that the spirit of cooperation of those meetings marks the beginning of a new day for labor management relationships here at LCC. Historically relationships between my association and management haven?t been good and we still have a long path to travel before I would characterize relationships as cooperative and good. We've sustained many injuries and insults in the past. It will take time and work for those injuries to heal. I'm excited today because today marks a new day and a beginning. Tomorrow will be a new month and in a few days a new semester will begin. One of the reasons I like to teach is you always get to start over. Today we, the LCC labor, LCC management, and the LCC Board have an opportunity to heal old wounds and begin afresh. I'm here today to pledge to work with all of the members of this Board, old and new, to make the new LCC?and I'm here to remind the Board that it isn?t too late to heal some old wounds. Mitzi Carol, a faculty member in the Dance Program, is still seeking to exercise arbitrator awarded recall rights this fall. There is time to do the right thing for her and my association. I'm here also to pledge publicly to work with management to make a new environment for labor and management at LCC. I want to thank you for your time and I want to welcome new Board members and say hello to continuing Board members. Let?s work together to make it a better day for the entire LCC community and make LCC the best educational community we can for our students.

Charlene Decker - I'm a resident of Lansing . that's it. I'm interested in LCC. I have in the past myself been?I want to congratulate the four new members. I voted for you. I like the change; the new members. I look forward to seeing everybody work together here even if you disagree with each other - that's extremely important. I don't like rubber stamping. I like to see people discussing and coming to a meeting of minds. But please keep in mind the residents of this city. We have been kicked and bruised around and it's time people pay attention to us. I'm not saying specifically LCC. But I would like to see this happening here. I charge all of you with please, please be honest with us. Keep closed meetings to a minimum. If you can explain something without revealing (inaudible) litigation, I have no problem with that. But please be honest and (inaudible)?you can speak your mind. I'm not saying you have to agree with what Charlene Decker says, but let us be informed. Information is so hard to get through the newspaper here in town and of course it can be suppressive. that's why I do try to make some meetings and it isn?t easy for the average citizen to come in the middle of the day to a meeting. I understand the needs (inaudible) and accommodating. Please take care of us. We love LCC. I started here in 19?I think?I?d have to check my records, but it was at the beginning of LCC and I always considered it our college. And we loved it. And of course I heard the abusive comments when I first came here calling it ? Last Chance College ?. I took umbrage with that comment. Of course, we are not. And I want you to have in mind that those of us out there really covet this college. We want it taken care of, so please do so. I have one question. I was at the M-TEC meeting and votes were voted in by telephone. Some members were not here. That bothered me. I mean my goodness. How did I know that this wasn't some lieutenant from Osama Bin Laden holding the gun behind the person?s head? I know that's an extreme example, but voting is very important and I want to see the faces of those that make a vote. Could you make an effort that this not happen? Keep in mind important votes like I'm pertaining to like the M-TEC vote. So, take care of us and thank you.

Joe Warren - Joe Warren. Department of Humanities and Performing Arts and editor of the Faculty Advocate. I just wanted to say congratulations to the members. This is a new day. And we've been working a long, hard time for this. The Advocate is going to be back this fall as an independent voice. With a full outline of things that we?d like to see accomplished in the coming years and putting LCC at the center of the community connecting K-12, connecting the four-year schools. Making that seamless web because people are talking about these incredible tuition increases at the four-year colleges. This is our marketing opportunity and we cannot let that be lost. So, the Advocate is coming back. It's coming back strong with a lot of humor, a lot of criticism, as the independent voice of the people who don't have a voice on campus. So, to the new Board members, congratulations. We welcome you and we look forward to working with you. Put LCC at the center of the community. It's time to put the community back in the center of LCC. Thank you.

Adjournment

IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Pelleran and supported by Trustees Canady to adjourn the meeting.

Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty, Murray, Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: None

Motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:42 p.m.