April 2010 Minutes of Regular Board Meeting

The Board of Trustees of Illinois Valley Community College District No. 513 convened a regular session at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, 2010 in the Board Room (C307) at Illinois Valley Community College.

Members Physically Present:
Thomas C. Setchell, Vice Chair
David O. Mallery, Secretary
Michael C. Driscoll
Leslie-Anne Englehaupt
Larry D. Huffman
Melissa M. Olivero
David Zallis, Student Trustee (2010-2011)                                        

Members Absent:
Dennis N. Thompson, Chair                                      

Others Physically Present:
Jerry Corcoran, President
Cheryl Roelfsema, Vice President for Business Services and Finance
Rick Pearce, Vice President for Learning and Student Development
Lori Scroggs, Vice President for Planning and Institutional Effectivness
Walt Zukowski, Attorney
Cheyanne Smith, Student Trustee (2009-2010)

Mr. Thomas C. Setchell called the meeting to order in the absence of Mr. Dennis N. Thompson.

APPROVAL OF AMENDED AGENDA

It was moved by Dr. Huffman and seconded by Ms. Olivero to approve the amended agenda as presented.  (Item #12 – Renewal of Food Service Contract was removed and replaced with Requests for Proposals – Food Service Provider.) Motion passed by voice vote.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

RECOGNITION – WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM

IVCC won the Region IV, District K Tournament and its opening round game at the National Junior College Athletic Association championships before losing to eventual national champion Kirkwood Community College of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Eagles, 28-7, finished with the most wins in IVCC women's basketball history. The team’s GPA at the end of the fall term was 3.0.  Each member of the team and coaches received a resolution honoring their accomplishments along with personalized plaques. 

RECOGNITION – CHEYANNE SMITH, STUDENT TRUSTEE

Mr. Setchell presented Cheyanne Smith with a resolution honoring her for her service to the College as a student trustee.  Ms. Smith was grateful for the opportunity to serve as a student trustee.  She ran for Student Government and fell in love with the process and the people.  Cassie Fuller, the former student trustee inspired Cheyanne to fill some big shoes.  In her year as student trustee, she met some amazing people and made connections that will last forever.  College is about experience and Cheyanne, a 19-year old, believes not too many people have had the experience that she has had.

CONSENT AGENDA

It was moved by Dr. Driscoll and seconded by Ms. Olivero to approve the consent agenda as presented with Agenda Item #7.7.1 – Bid Request-Parking Lot and Roadway Lighting Control removed, as requested by Mr. Mallery.  Motion passed by voice vote.

The following items were approved in the consent agenda:

Approval of Minutes – March 15, 2010 Special Board Meeting and March 25, 2010 Board Meeting.

Approval of the Bills - $1,691,321.41

Education Fund - $1,317,195.82; Operations and Maintenance Fund - $77,374.02; Operations and Maintenance (Restricted Fund) - $163,281.29; Auxiliary Fund - $36,072.73; Restricted Fund - $89,898.98; Liability, Protection and Settlement Fund - $7,498.57.

Treasurer’s Report

Personnel

Approved the stipends for the pay periods ending March 27, 2010 and April 10, 2010.

Request for Proposals – Beverage Service

Authorized the administration to seek proposals for beverage services for a term of five years.

Request for Purchase – Computer Desks and Chairs A208

Authorized the administration to purchase forty-eight Falcon computer desks from Henricksen & Co. in the amount of $14,379.84 through the Illinois Public Higher Education Consortium and forty-eight Elan chairs from Computer Comforts in the amount of $5,670.24.

Bid Request – Biology Lab Audio/Visual Equipment

Authorized the administration to seek bids for audio-visual equipment at an estimated cost of $12,000.

Bid Results – Replace Aluminum Feeder Wire, Branch Panels & Medium Voltage Transformers at Building G

Approved to accept the base bid from Excel Electric, Inc., Frankfort, IL, in the amount of $309,470 for the replacement of aluminum feeder wire, branch panels and medium voltage transformers at Building G and alternate 1 in the amount of $56,844 to replace the existing gymnasium and fitness center light fixtures, including new lighting controls at Building G for a total of $366,314.

Bid Results – Ottawa Center Audio/Visual Equipment

Approved to accept the bid of $45,687.96 from Chicago Office Technology Group – Itasca, IL, for audio-visual equipment for the Ottawa Center.

Articulation/Dual Credit Agreements (Electronics & Manufacturing)

Approved effective immediately, the new articulation agreements for Dual Credit in Electronics and Dual Credit in Manufacturing.

BID REQUEST – PARKING LOT AND ROADWAY LIGHTING CONTROL

Mr. Mallery noticed in the check register that JB Contracting was paid for repair of roadway lights.  He asked if this led to this bid request.  Mr. Gary Johnson, director of facilities, responded by saying a wire broke by the gym which resulted in the outage of several street lights.  The administration proceeded to have this fixed, but this did not lead to the bid request.  It was moved by Mr. Mallery and seconded by Ms. Englehaupt to authorize the administration to seek bids for a parking lot and roadway lighting control at an estimated cost of $16,000.  Motion passed by voice vote.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Dr. Corcoran reported over spring break, a group of seven IVCC Chemistry Club members, joined by Professors Promise Yong and Larry Ault, attended the American Chemical Society National Meeting, where they were recognized as one of only 20 chapters designated as "Outstanding", the highest level of recognition. Of those 20 outstanding chapters, the IVCC Chemistry Club is the only chapter representing a community college. Professor Ault and some of the club members were at the board meeting to share their thoughts.  The Student Government Association elections were held last week and the winners were Caitlin Rinker, president; Katie Brodzik, vice president; Brad Cockerl, treasurer; Abby Bertrand, secretary; David Zallis, trustee; Patrick Guilfoyle, sophomore representative; and Taylor Young and Sam Debosik, sophomore programming board. Dr. Corcoran congratulated all of the student leaders that have stepped forward to serve for a new year and thanked the SGA leaders for service this past year including Cheyanne Smith, trustee; Tiffany Bruch, president; Kyle Wineinger, vice president; Kassy Faber, treasurer; Kati Tunget, secretary; Kayla Vowles, sophomore representative; and Jake Sonnenberg and Eric Kurkowski, sophomore programming board. Dr. Corcoran reported enrollments for both the summer and fall terms are off to a fine start. The trend is higher than one year ago and the response to enrolling in classes at the Ottawa Center has been excellent (226 duplicated headcount, 141 unduplicated headcount, 882 credit hours, 226 of 968 seats = 23.3% capacity). Steve Alvin, history instructor and president of the faculty, has accepted a prestigious appointment from the National Endowment for the Humanities' summer institute on "History and Commemoration: Legacies of the Pacific War" to be held at the East-West Center in Hawaii this summer. International Titanium Powder (ITP), a titanium powder manufacturer that recently built a state-of-the art plant in Ottawa, contracted with the Business Training Center to coordinate their new employee training program. Thirty ITP employees reported to the college for their first day of work on April 12th. The two-week training program consisting of an employee orientation, conducted by ITP management, 6 days of safety training conducted by IVCC contracted consultants, and 3 days of process operations training conducted by IVCC faculty will conclude on April 26^th.  ITP employees and management will return to IVCC for a third week where management will conduct training sessions until the plant in Ottawa is completed. Dr. Corcoran thanked Dr. Pearce and Sandy Beard for their hard work on coordinating the academic awards banquet held at Starved Rock on April 13^th.  Seven students were recognized for being named McCormick Scholars plus a 161 for academic honors.  He also thanked Dr. Huffman for being in attendance and representing the board of trustees along with his wife, Chris.  Dr. Corcoran congratulated Sharon Barthelemy and all of her co-workers that helped make this year’s 19^th annual job fair a success. Forty-nine employers were in attendance to meet 850 job seekers. On Tuesday, April 20^th, Dr. Corcoran attended the annual I Read Volunteer Tutor Appreciation event coordinated by Angie Dunlap and her colleagues in the Adult Education Center where he had the chance to meet and talk to quite a few of the 81 volunteer tutors and some of their learners, and last night Lee Ann Johnson and Dr. Corcoran took Aseret Gonzalez and Run Jin You  and their family members to the PTK Honors Banquet in Springfield where members of the All-Illinois Academic team were honored. There were seven Coco Cola medal winners from Illinois of which three were Gold Scholars and two were from IVCC.  Important dates to remember and events to attend over the next month are April 23 – Employment Recognition Event. Social hour begins at 4:00 p.m., hors d’oeuvres and refreshments from 4:30 - 5:30 and presentation of awards begins at 5:30. Approximately 90 employees will be honored: the Steve Charry faculty excellence award winner, the outstanding part-time faculty member award winner, the support-staff distinguished service award winner, faculty recently awarded tenure, employees for their years of service (in 5-year increments), and retirees. May 21 – Nurses Pinning at 5:00 p.m. in the cultural centre and Commencement at 7:30 p.m. in the gym. Dr. John Peters, president of NIU, will deliver the commencement address.  Reed Wilson has worked closely with Dr. Peters and his staff on scheduling a number of activities that day that Dr. Corcoran believes will build upon an important relationship with NIU.  May 24 – GED Commencement at 7:00 p.m. in the cultural centre.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Ms. Leslie Englehaupt and Mr. David Mallery, members of the facilities committee, reported on the meeting held on April 8, 2010.  The Community Technology Center (CTC) is on target for LEED silver certification.  An update on the building elevations and exterior materials were presented.  Landscape concepts were reviewed.  The recommendation of the committee was to keep the open space landscaping where the geothermal field will be and not along the CTC building for aesthetic reasons.  Paul Basalay will come to the May board meeting with a complete design.  A list of PHS projects was distributed and the committee was in agreement with the projects recommended.  The renovations of the baseball field in preparation for a tournament were well over $400,000.  The committee opted not to install the water and sewer lines but did recommend repairing the dugouts and fencing.  The possibility of building a park district facility and funding it by various partners was discussed as a future idea.

Dr. Huffman reported on the group exploring the future of the daycare center.  The group continues to meet with other parties who may be interested in collaborating on a community-wide effort.  The group is looking at buildings and continues to evaluate them.  They took a field trip to Peoria and toured a model that could be emulated with other groups in the community.  When the group receives more information, this will be shared with the Board.

FACULTY APPOINTMENT – NORA L. LETHIOT, ENGLISH COMPOSITION INSTRUCTOR

It was moved by Ms. Olivero and seconded by Ms. Englehaupt to approve the appointment of Nora L. Lethiot as the English Composition Instructor assigned to the Division of English, Mathematics and Education with placement on the salary schedule at Step B-4 - $40,845, as per the 2010-2011 contract agreement.  Motion passed by voice vote.  Dean Marianne Dzik reported that Nora was selected on her outstanding teaching demo.  Nora is currently a part-time speech and English instructor for IVCC and also an instructor in the writing center.  She is an IVCC graduate.

PROPERTY TAX APPEAL RESOLUTION

It was moved by Dr. Huffman and seconded by Dr. Driscoll to adopt the property tax resolution authorizing the filing of a complaint to the Property Tax Appeal Board, as presented.  Mr. Mallery asked if Whitt Law LLC will be representing all of the taxing bodies.  Ms. Roelfsema indicated that Whitt Law will be representing 11 taxing bodies.  IVCC’s share of the legal costs will be prorated at seven percent based on the percentage of receipts.  Exelon has not appealed as of today.

Student Advisory Vote:  “Aye” – Mr. Zallis.  Roll Call Vote: “Ayes” – Ms. Olivero, Ms. Englehaupt, Mr. Mallery, Dr. Driscoll, Dr. Huffman, and Mr. Setchell.  “Nays” – None, motion carried.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL – FOOD SERVICE PROVIDER

It was moved by Dr. Huffman and seconded by Dr. Driscoll to authorize the administration to seek proposals for a food service provider for the main campus.  Mr. Mallery asked how vendors would be invited to submit proposals.  Ms. Roelfsema indicated invitations were sent to the two vendors who submitted proposals the last time and others who have asked to be on the College’s list.  It will be listed on the College’s website and will be advertised in the local newspapers.  The College will also reach out to its colleagues to see whom they are using for food service providers.  Dr. Huffman suggested in the long term, the facilities committee may want to take a look at the College’s kitchen facilities that are provided.  If the College had a walk-in cooler or freezer, the food service provider could purchase a quantity of items at a lower price.  He suggested offering them the opportunity for catering group meals in which they can make more money.  Dr. Huffman believes the College may have to make a capital investment to have a better service for the faculty and students.  Motion passed by voice vote.

TRUSTEE COMMENT

Mr. David Zallis, the new student trustee, became interested in running for the position after wanting to start a debate club and talking with Cory Tomasson and Cheyanne Smith.  He began to think about being a part of the process at IVCC.  He understands the involvement and time commitment and he is willing to do it.  He is interested in how it can help him and how it can help the college.  He is looking forward to the opportunity.