CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at
6:05 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Present: Brannan, Canady,
Laverty, Murray, Pelleran, Proctor, Thomas
Absent: None
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Trustee Brannan led the Pledge of
Allegiance.
ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO THE
AGENDA
Chairperson Laverty asked to move
the National Community College month scholarship recipient item up in
the agenda before the Limited Public Comment.
Chairperson Laverty tabled the
Trustee Indemnification item to the June meeting.
President Cunningham asked to move
the PT-CTU to Action Items under the President's report.
NATIONAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE
MONTH SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
Chairperson Laverty introduced the
recipient of the scholarship that covers 24 credits at LCC. This
year?s recipient is Benjamin Lambert of Dansville. Benjamin was born
at Sparrow Hospital at 12:09 a.m. on April 1, 2005 to Ben and Tammy.
Benjamin is the 12th child born to the Lamberts. He offered
congratulations to Benjamin and his family.
Mrs. Lambert thanked the Board for
the scholarship.
LIMITED PUBLIC COMMENT
REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS
Lynn Savage - Good evening, my
name is Lynn Savage and I am speaking to you again tonight on behalf
of the LCC Labor Coalition with respect to the proposed budget for the
coming year. The coalition is highly supportive of the proposed
tuition increase and believes the amount of the increase, while
substantial, is necessary and essential. With this increase all four
of the College's priority need areas including quality programs and
services, state of the art facilities, superior technology, and the
highest quality faculty and staff will find badly needed support.
Without this level of support we may find that we will lose quality
programs and/or faculty and staff in an effort to balance our budget.
We know that this is a difficult decision to make. We have not
reached our own decision to support this budget without a great deal
of thought and effort on our part. We urge you to adopt the budget as
presented tonight including the proposed tuition increase for all
students. Thank you very much for your attention.
Eric Wilmoth - Good evening Ms.
President and Board members. My name is Eric Wilmoth and I am the
president of the Lansing Community College Comics Coalition. It is
actually a student group here on campus and recently we heard that the
proposed budget for the 2005-2006 year will be decreasing visual arts
and media department and in fact will be combined with the Information
Technology Department. There have been a number of rumors concerning
all this. We are not exactly certain of all the facts and how this
will be playing out over the next year but there is definitely a lot
of concern with the students as far as the future of the program and
what it means to become a part of Information Technology as opposed to
being an actual art department as it stands right now. we're
basically wanting to come here today to express these concerns and to
also essentially share with the community the awareness of what our
particular program and our particular department has done to actively
promote both the art department and the school and in this last year
we have, actually I failed to bring a copy with me today which I
apologize for, but we actually produced a book that actively promotes
the college and the program that we distribute to high schools and
book shops throughout Michigan. In fact we are just coming back from
a weekend of being in Novi at a convention where we had a large
display promoting the school and the program and also promoting the
students themselves and giving them an opportunity to get real world
professional experience out in their chosen field to meet with
individuals who would sell their artwork.The bottom line is we just
wanted to make sure we expressed to everyone here how much we
appreciate the art program and how we want to make sure it is as
strong as it possibly can be as it moves into the Information
Technology department and that everyone?s aware of the potential our
group has to actually promote the school and I would ask that that be
taken into consideration as the budget is evaluated so it is clear
that we are out there wanting to promote the school and make it
better. We would like to see that same support in your evaluation of
the budget. I actually have a number of letters from concerned
students that I?d like to leave with you (the letters are on file with
the official Board materials.)
Todd Heywood - Good evening, my
name is Todd Heywood. I am a former trustee. I believe you know
that. First of all I wanted to thank you for postponing the trustee
indemnification issue until next month. Hopefully next month you will
decide to stop talking about it and stop trying to do it. You know as
well as I do that you have two legal opinions saying that it is not
appropriate to try and give him his money back. It is a violation of
the Michigan Community College Act. If you proceed in providing that
money the controversy that will follow will not be good. Please for
the sake of this institution stop. In addition, last month I had a
letter read into the record because I had to hold auditions.
Following that two of you decided to slander me. I am asking
immediately for an apology from the two trustees and I am also asking
this evening that you strike from the public record those slanderous
statements. You have received a formal complaint for violation of the
by-laws by both the Chair and the Vice Chair. I find it interesting
that none of you have bothered to put that into your reports for this
evening. There is a standing complaint against the Chair and the Vice
Chair under the by-laws you have to figure out how you are going to
deal with it. I will be very interested to know how you are going to
address my concerns because slander is an issue of great public
concern. You send a chilling message to those who choose to come and
speak before this Board by slandering and attacking those who choose
to come and speak against your agenda. Finally, I just noticed when I
was thumbing through the information on the budget that there is a
plan to reduce the number of performing arts performances. This is
unacceptable. We have gone over this time and time again. The
Performing Arts department, including the dance program, is essential
to public relations at this institution. It is absolutely essential.
It feeds all the local theatre programs. It helps to create the good
feeling that happens in this community. If you allow this to happen
you are going to damage irreparably the reputation and the standards
of the Performing Arts program. It is unacceptable. And finally I
notice that the sports department is not on the cuts list. Isn?t that
interesting? Once again the groups that are doing the most for public
activity are the ones that are not being cut. Let?s be real again.
Thank you.
PUBLIC HEARING
The Board published a notice on
Sunday, May 8, 2005 of this public hearing on the budget for the
2005-2006 fiscal year, which the College proposes to levy 3.8375
mills. This millage rate is the amount of millage to be levied to
support the fiscal year 2006 and the approval of the budget by the
Board of Trustees will meet the requirements of the truth in budgeting
statute for levy of the proposed mills.
Chairperson Laverty opened the
floor for comments.
There were no comments from the
public.
Chairperson Laverty closed the
public hearing.
CHAIRPERSON AND BOARD MEMBER
REPORTS
Chairperson Laverty
Information and Announcements
Chairperson Laverty congratulated
Trustee Rasmusson on another successful election and stated he looks
forward to continuing to work with him.
There was an event at the Howell
Schools where Howell Schools entered into an agreement with LCC as
well as Ferris State University.
President Cunningham stated that
Jean Morciglio and her staff have formed an excellent relationship
with the folks in Livingston County so much so that LCC has been asked
to be part of an exclusive partnership with the new Parker High School
in Howell where LCC will offer college classes right in the high
school as will Ferris State.
Chairperson Laverty attended the
Police Academy Cadets graduation on May 6th. One of the
most enjoyable events he attended was the Beverly Hunt Award
luncheon. He also attended the visual arts and media students
showcase event.
Trustee Pelleran attended the
Foundation Scholarship Breakfast. She was thrilled to see students be
so appreciative of receiving the scholarships.
Trustee Proctor also attended the
Foundation Scholarship Breakfast. He found the recipients? remarks to
be compelling, inspirational and moving.
Trustee Murray attended LCC
graduation and stated that it is the absolute highlight of the year
and feels it is amazing to see the looks on their faces. They beam
with pride and excitement.
Trustee Canady attended the grand
opening of the greenhouse at the West Campus. It was well attended
and followed up by a flower planting out in the front of the building.
Board Bylaws
Chairperson Laverty mentioned that
Board Liaison Rich Howard and General Counsel Tim Zeller have had two
meetings to discuss the by-laws and how they interrelate and how it
may or may not coincide with policy governance process. They should
have something ready to present to the Board soon. Chairperson
Laverty told the Board that there are two areas in the by-laws that he
would like them to start thinking about that don't follow policy
governance. One is the approval of bids over $100,000. His opinion
is that the Board approves the strategic plan, they approve the
facilities master plan and approve the budget on an annual basis so do
they still need to approve everything over $100,000 on a monthly
basis? Grand Rapids and Jackson Community colleges have a reporting
process that the Board receives on a regular basis outlining bids over
a certain dollar amount, which is something this Board may wish to
consider. He had samples for the Board to look at. The second issue
is the Board approves the President and by law the chief financial
officer. The LCC Board also must approve vice presidents and
Chairperson Laverty would like to take a look at the by-laws to see if
there is any merit to approving vice presidents.
Trustee Pelleran stated that she
has a differing opinion and feels that the Board needs to continue to
approve items over $100,000 in order to continue monitoring the budget
and how we are spending our money.
Trustee Brannan responded that the
Board could receive a report on either a monthly or a quarterly basis
of all the purchases over $100,000.
Trustee Pelleran attended the
annual Lucero Program event, which was well attended by students and
their families. She and Trustee Proctor also attended the Student
Life awards dinner.
Trustee Proctor commended the
administration and staff for the way they handled the technological
glitch that occurred.
President's REPORT
Informational Items
President Cunningham recognized
and welcomed former Trustee Melvin Villarreal.
President Cunningham also
recognized the work that Trustee Murray has done for the past two
years and there will be a college reception for her prior to the next
Board meeting.
College Spotlight - Student
Marketing Association
Dean Barry introduced Bill Motz,
Advisor to the Student Marketing Association.
Mr. Motz informed the Board that
the Student Marketing Association (SMA) has been on campus for 25
years. For the last five years the SMA has raised over $30,000 per
year for their scholarship fund through the SMA Golf Outing. The LCC
Chapter of SMA won the Midwest Regional Championship. They competed
in the National competition against Penn State, South Carolina
University, and Central Washington University. They were successful
in being the top chapter in North America.
Human Resources - New Hires,
Leaves, Sabbaticals
Administrative Appointments?
Dean
Souden, Director of the Business and Community Institute and the
Michigan Technical Education Center.
Strategic Plan Update
Rich Howard gave the Board an
update on the Strategic Plan Renewal 2006 - 2011. (A copy of the
presentation is on file with the official Board materials.)
High School Drop Out
Initiative/Star Institute
President Cunningham stated that
the High School Drop Out Initiative has broken up into two groups one
to look at long term structural issues and the other is looking at a
program for this Fall. The College is looking at restructuring Star
Institute to include the high school drop out initiative and to serve
those who might not otherwise attend college.
Michigan Community College
Association Reorganization Initiative
President Cunningham stated that
this is an initiative that is very important for LCC. Bill Danhof, of
Miller Canfield, approached the College about resurrecting this 1992
initiative.The initiative would mean that all geographic areas of
Michigan that do not currently rest in a community college district
would be divided up and distributed to a community college district.
All community colleges need to agree on how the land would be
divided. If the legislature approves this, then this would be voted
on by residents of the new district. If passed, this would mean more
tax dollars for LCC and all community colleges.
Action Items
Approval of Minutes
The April 18, 2005 Budget Workshop
minutes were presented for approval.
There were no changes to the
minutes.
The April 18, 2005 Regular Board
meeting minutes were presented for approval.
There were no changes to the
minutes.
PTCTU Tentative Agreement
The PTCTU and LCC have reached a
tentative agreement. All parties worked hard to come to the agreement
and President Cunningham thanked everyone for their hard work.
Fiscal Year 2005 Revised Budget
Vice President Barbara Larson gave
a presentation on the 2005 revised budget. (A copy of the
presentation is on file with the official Board materials.)
Fiscal Year 2006 Proposed
Budget
Vice President Larson gave a
presentation on the 2006 proposed budget for adoption. (A copy of the
presentation is on file with the official Board materials.)
There was discussion about the
budget.
Trustee Pelleran ask to amend the
budget by reducing the in-district tuition increase from $10 to $9,
decrease the major equipment budget by $200,000, and decrease the
amount projected for the fund balance by $180,000.
Trustee Canady stated that he
would not be supporting Trustee Pelleran?s amendment. His concern
with reducing the equipment budget is the longer you wait the more it
will cost. He was also concerned in decreasing the fund balance
because it is important to the College's bond rating. A slip in the
bond rating could mean millions of dollars in interest. He
understands these are tough times and hates having to raise tuition,
but we need to remain prudent in terms of our vision of the future.
Trustee Pelleran responded that
her amendment was an attempt to strike a compromise.
There was no support for the
amendment.
President Cunningham thanked Mr.
Bill Turowski for all his outstanding work with the LCC Athletic
program.
She also thanked the
representatives from the bargaining units. They are talking and
sharing information and the dialogue that is taking place is
important.
President Cunningham also thanked
Vice President Larson and her entire staff for all of the hard work
and long hours they have put in on the budget. She shared that if
reductions in the budget are necessary next year, we have no where
else to go with our budget except to programs and services. Other
revenue sources will be explored other than state appropriations.
President Cunningham expressed appreciation to the entire LCC family
for all the work they?ve done concerning the budget.
Trustee Pelleran shared that she
will be supporting the budget including the tuition increase because
of the preservation of the necessary programs that we have and the
investment the community has in the College. However, she supports
the budget with mixed feelings because she believes the College needs
to look at the bigger issue which is the state?s economic situation.
Proof of that is the decrease in state appropriations. She stated
that everything will hurt when the state has lost $4 billion in the
last four years. In order to maintain the quality of programs at
Lansing Community College, the Board has no choice but to raise
tuition and fees.
Annual Results Inventory Report
- Student Learning Outcomes & Stakeholder Satisfaction
Dr. Gina Karasek and Vice
President Glenn Cerny provided a presentation on the highlights of the
Student Learning Outcomes & Stakeholder Satisfaction report. (A copy
of the presentation is on file with the official Board materials.)
Bank Resolutions
Vice President Larson stated that
with the new Director of Accounting and Payroll it requires a
resolution to name Vice President Larson and Marian Frane to be named
as the Electronic Transaction Officers for LCC. (A copy of the
resolution is on file with the official Board materials.)
Finance
Approval of Bids
Ms. Beckie Beard presented the
following bids for the Board's approval:
-
Housekeeping Services FY 05/06 - 06/07 in the amount of
$1,159,123.80. The bid was awarded to WFF Facility Services of St.
Louis, Missouri.
-
Planning Services in the amount of $55,000.00 per year. The bid was
awarded to B&J Painting and Moore & Moore Painting both of Lansing,
Michigan.
-
Carpet Installation and Repairs in the amount of $30,000.The bid
was awarded to Pro Tile Inc. of Lansing, Michigan and Seelye Group
of Bath, Michigan.
-
Patient Simulation Units in the amount of $379,285.34. The bid was
awarded to Kavo America Corporation.
-
Visual Arts and Computer Technology System in the amount of
$245,982.00. The bid was awarded to Intaglio Visual Arts and
Technologies.
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Pelleran
and supported by Trustee Canady to approve the President's Report as
presented.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty,
Murray, Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: None
Motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Dr. Melvin Villarreal -
Chairperson Laverty and members of the Board of Trustees, thank you
for your (inaudible) service. President Cunningham, thank you for
your gracious introduction. I did not expect that. During my nearly
eleven and a half years on the Board of Trustees at this outstanding
institution no one, no trustee championed diversity more than I and I
think President Cunningham may agree with that. And certainly no
trustee embraced and understood policy governance like I felt that I
did. So I am here to thank you for bringing it back. Finally, no
trustee championed the need for providing quality education to all
students here at Lansing Community College specifically through the
management theory called the system of profound knowledge that Dr.
Deming developed over the course of over 50 some odd years. I have
been a student of his theory for a little over sixteen years now. I
teach, with great joy, his theory to business majors here at Lansing
Community College and I also teach people that are already business
men and women in this theory. Later this summer I am scheduled to
train at a local charter school in this philosophy so that they can
begin their quality journey in the fall of 2005/2006. The second
reason I am here before you this evening is to say that on February 20
of 1995 I introduced a resolution seeking to commit the Board,
President, faculty and staff to learn and apply the system of profound
knowledge. That resolution failed for the lack of a second. But, I
am not a quitter. Ten years ago yesterday that resolution there, I
was able to convince three other trustees to agree to adopt the
resolution that hangs on the wall of this Board room. All trustees
signed it. I had to accept language on that resolution that I never
intended in order to get the resolution passed by my colleagues on the
Board at that time. The resolution identifies by name two or three
students of Dr. Deming, which I think was repetitive and identifies
about three other icons of quality who had competing philosophies that
were dissimilar of that of Dr. Deming. So, I have felt for a long
time that the message that the resolution sends is confusing to
staff. My three minutes are up?
Chairperson Laverty stated that if
there was no objection he wanted to allow Dr. Villarreal to continue.
Dr. Villarreal - I certainly
appreciate that Mr. Chair and ladies and gentlemen of the Board. Why
did I propose the system of profound knowledge? The answer is very
simple, because it is the most comprehensive and transformational
management theory to this day. It is referred to as fourth generation
management. Here?s what I am urging you to do. Take that resolution
down. Thank the members of the Board who supported it and develop
your own. Because quality starts right here in the Board room and it
should be a commitment that is sustained and the President, in my
view, should be the symbolic leader of it encouraging it everywhere
that she goes, because it is so important. Involve as many people in
the process as you can like you have with the Values Compact or like
you are doing now with your strategic planning process. Think about
it. Dare to dream about what you would like this great institution to
be ten, twenty or even more from now. Carve a vision, be inclusive in
involving people. It should be a corporate strategy for Lansing
Community College. As Dr. Deming would say if he were here and I've
heard him say it when he was in his late eighties, he was humped down
a bit, ?Quality starts at the top. You cannot delegate quality.? So,
I would say that I would give you the same advice. Don?t delegate
quality to a vice president or to a dean. You take it. Develop a
deployment strategy for this quality philosophy if you choose to
consider my advice and deploy it so it filters down from the Board of
Trustees, bubbles up from the staff that works at this great
institution, flows backward into the customer chain and forward into,
I am sorry it's backward into the (inaudible) and forward into the
customer chain. Think about that, please. What I, and I'll stop with
this, wanted to add about dropouts is I know the community is incensed
because the dropout rate increased from three tenths of one percent to
seven tenths of one percent. Ten years ago this district of nearly
8,000 students adopted a strategic planning process that had two words
in capital letters Quality and Equity. So, they have been advocates
of the Deming philosophy now for ten years, a little over ten years.
They are achieving some remarkable results and Dr. Banks told me this
afternoon that she wants to go with me to visit this school district.
On the MEAP, that the politicians like, the top one percent in this
state. I've already indicated what the dropout rate is. Their goal
is for 100% of their graduates of this district not to require
remediation once they get to college. I have never heard of a school
district to embrace that as their goal. Lansing Community College
spends, I think, five million dollars and perhaps more in
remediation. In this country seventy-five percent of colleges and
universities have remedial programs. The cost to society for poor
quality is a billion dollars. So, I thank you for your kind
attention.
Trustee Pelleran stated that she
wanted to thank Dr. Villarreal for all of his contributions to Lansing
Community College, to the community at large, to the students and to
aspiring for a higher quality and the highest standards of excellence.
Trustee Rasmusson added that in
continuous quality improvement and policy governance a lot of what the
Board currently does came from Dr. Villarreal.
Todd Heywood - I am sorry I had to
come and address you again. Evidently you didn?t quite hear me the
last time. When you voted to approve the minutes this evening, you
have now opened the College to the liability of the slanders of two of
your Board members. If you publish the minutes as approved at this
time, you will be violating the slander law. I will be forced to take
the action necessary to stop it. I am asking you to go back and
reconsider and either remove until the complaint is resolved, or
remove it completely. Thank you.
ADJOURNMENT
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Canady and
supported by Trustee Pelleran to adjourn.
Ayes: Brannan, Canady, Laverty,
Murray, Pelleran, Proctor, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: None
Motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 8:34 p.m.
