April 13, 2017 Minutes of Regular 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 13, 2017 in the Board Room (C307) at Illinois Valley Community College.

Members Physically Present

Melissa M. Olivero, Chair
Larry D. Huffman, Secretary
Jane E. Goetz
David O. Mallery
Amy L. Sipovic
Everett J. Solon
Sarah J. Tipton, Student Trustee (2016-2017)
Matthew Pehoski (2017-2018)

Members Absent

Michael C. Driscoll, Vice-Chair

Others Physically Present

Jerry Corcoran, President
Cheryl Roelfsema, Vice President for Business Services and Finance
Deborah Anderson, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Bonnie Campbell, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mark Grzybowski, Associate Vice President for Student Services
Walt Zukowski, Attorney

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Dr. Huffman to approve the agenda, as presented.  Motion passed by voice vote. 

PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

RECOGNITION

The women’s basketball players and coaches were honored for being co-champions of the Arrowhead Conference and advancing to the Region IV championship.  They finished with a record of 21-10 and carried an overall 3.3 g.p.a. for the fall semester.  Coach Tom Ptak noted the team is also involved in community activities and he is very proud of them.  The team’s assistant coaches are Sammy Kromm and Nick Bernal.

Ms. Olivero read a resolution and presented it to Sarah Tipton along with a gift on behalf of the Board of Trustees to express their sincere appreciation that she has given generously of her time, energy, and talents in her responsibilities to the college as a student trustee.  Sarah thanked the College for an amazing experience and noted it has been by far the most fulfilling position she has ever had.  She said it has been a pleasure working with the Board.

Melissa Olivero was honored for serving two consecutive terms as Board Chair.  She was elected to the Board of Trustees in April 2009 and served as Vice-chair from 2011-2013.  She was elected Chair in May 2013.  Dr. Corcoran noted that she and her husband have attended and supported many College and Foundation functions and the College owes her a debt of gratitude. He said Ms. Olivero has done a fantastic job as Board Chair and it was a real honor to work with her. Dr. Corcoran presented a plaque to Ms. Olivero for serving as Board Chair from 2013-2017.

Two officers will be leaving the board and Dr. Corcoran recognized them for their service.

Larry Huffman was appointed to the Board of Trustees in August 2009 and elected in April 2011. He served as Board Secretary for four years, Planning Committee and Closed Session Minutes Committee for two years, and chair of the Audit/Finance Committee for six years.  Larry and his wife Chris have attended every major event at IVCC and have been so supportive of the College and Foundation.  Dr. Corcoran wanted to let him know how much he has meant to him as a friend, colleague, and role model and wished him many more years of success.  Dr. Corcoran presented him with a gift as a token of appreciation.

Michael Driscoll was not present for the meeting as he had other obligations. Dr. Driscoll was appointed in March 2009 and elected in April 2011.  He has served as Board Vice-Chair for four years and took on a leadership position for the Planning Committee.  He is a phenomenal person to work with.  He is a reminder of the College’s Core Values and taught everyone so much of how behavior has to be in step with core values.  Dr. Corcoran noted he will miss him tremendously.  Dr. Corcoran also has a gift for Dr. Driscoll as a token of appreciation.

CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS

It was moved by Ms. Goetz and seconded by Dr. Huffman to approve the consent agenda, as presented. Motion passed by voice vote.

The following items were approved in the consent agenda:

Approval of Minutes – March 9, 2017 Board Meeting

Approval of Bills - $1,233,023.64

Education Fund - $952,866.67; Operations & Maintenance Fund - $142,724.93; Operations & Maintenance (Restricted Fund) - $26,166.74; Auxiliary Fund - $63,258.56; Restricted Fund - $5,343.13; and Liability, Protection & Settlement Fund - $42,663.61

Treasurer’s Report

Personnel

Approved the stipends for pay periods ending March 4, 2017 and March 18, 2017

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Dr. Corcoran reported IVCC’s March 24 Career Expo was a great event -- 883 students from 13 schools visited with faculty, staff and representatives of the Building and Constructions Trades regarding all kinds of career-training options in the Illinois Valley. The business after-hours on the east campus the night before the expo hosted by the Building Trades group and promoted by the local chambers of commerce was terrific. Feedback from the 150 attendees was very positive.  Dr.  Corcoran thanked everyone involved in promoting the college.  Aelsa Butler and Trevor Finnan are the college’s top honor students this year and Dr. Corcoran was delighted that they could attend the All-Illinois Phi Theta Kappa awards banquet in Springfield with Eric Schroeder and Dr. Corcoran on April 4. Locally, trustees and Foundation directors had a chance to visit with Aelsa and Trevor the following night in the College’s gymnasium where the annual academic achievement program was held honoring nine Publow Award winners, 10 McCormack Scholars and a total of 206 students. With Jill Urban-Bollis and Promise Yong addressing the crowd, it was one of the best academic award programs that Dr. Corcoran ever remembers attending. Kudos to Mark, Linda Hawkins, and Crystal Credi on a job very well done and a special thanks to Trustees Melissa Olivero and Jane Goetz for being on hand to represent the Board of Trustees.  Elections to IVCC’s Student Government Association were held last week for 2017-2018 and Dr. Corcoran was pleased to report that Matt Pehoski is the new student trustee, Nick Needs is student body president, Lauren Tomasson will serve as vice-president, Parker Weber is now the treasurer, Brianna Lenger is the secretary, Brianna Lau is the sophomore representative, and Adrian Perez and Quincie Weber will represent the sophomore programming board. Dr. Corcoran thanked the students for stepping forward into these key leadership positions, and thanks as well to Sarah Tipton, Ellen Herrmann, Lexi Scarpaci, Abbey Azarskis, Christian Mendez, Gabe Braboy, Nick Needs, Dexter Baker, Hugo Perez, Lauren Tomasson and Matthew Pehoski for serving as SGA officers in academic year 2016-2017.  The College received lots of positive feedback on last week’s agriculture open house from students representing the nine high schools in attendance. Willard Mott’s work on resurrecting the agriculture transfer program and expanding it with (1) the AAS in agricultural business management (to be acted upon tonight) and (2) soon the AAS in agronomy has been nothing short of phenomenal. Dr. Corcoran really appreciates the great support Willard has gotten from Ron Groleau, Dr. Deb Anderson, Bonnie Campbell, Reed Wilson and Fran Brolley. This has been a great team effort.   Yesterday’s job fair was terrific. A person behind the scenes who has quietly done a fine job on the college’s behalf of orchestrating it and managing the Career Services office for Mark Grzybowski is Lisa Witalka. Thanks to Lisa and Mark, 69 employers were represented and more than 200 visitors to the campus were well served. Jeanne has updated the Board’s calendars noting key upcoming events, so Dr. Corcoran encouraged Board members to keep it handy and participate whenever they can.   Last month the Board accepted with regret the retirement notice of Glenna Jones, IVCC’s HR director for 10 years. Glenna was unable to be present for the meeting, but Dr. Corcoran wanted to publically say that he has admired her work and appreciated everything she has done for the College in such a classy and professional way. He was sure he was speaking for others in saying that he hopes she enjoys many years of a well-deserved retirement.  Dr. Corcoran thanked Fran Brolley, Donna Swiskoski, Janice Corrigan and others for the fine job they did of hosting the college’s first “OneIVCC Giving Day” event. He thanked those who helped the College exceed its goal, especially first-time donors to the Foundation. Their generosity and support was deeply appreciated.  As a side note, although the University of Illinois basketball program underwent a recent change at the head coach position, which has resulted in some star recruits backing out of their previous commitments, there is no truth to the rumor that IVCC Foundation President O.J. Stoutner may soon sign on with U of I as a free-throw shooting specialist. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

None.

STAFF APPOINTMENT – DR. ROBYN SCHIFFMAN, INTERIM DEAN OFHUMANITIES, FINE ARTS, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

It was moved by Ms. Goetz and seconded by Dr. Huffman to approve the appointment of Dr. Robyn Schiffman, Interim Dean of Humanities, Fine Arts, and Social Sciences, with additional compensation of $400 per pay period, effective April 1, 2017 to September 30, 2017.  Motion passed by voice vote.

APPROVAL OF THE ASSOCIATE IN APPLIED SCIENCE DEGREE:AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Mr. Mallery to approve the Associate of Applied Science degree in Agricultural Business Management, as presented.  Motion passed by voice vote.

INTER-DISTRICT COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT BETWEEN ILLINOIS VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND JOLIET JUNIOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE

It was moved by Mr. Solon and seconded by Dr. Huffman to authorize the administration to terminate the March 11, 2014 inter-district agreement with Joliet Junior College.  Motion passed by voice vote.

PURCHASE REQUEST – EMERGENCY REPAIRS FOLLOWING POWER OUTAGE

It was moved by Dr. Sipovic and seconded by Ms. Tipton to authorize the emergency repairs by Cleaver Brooks to the boilers in the amount of $30,900.  This expense will be covered by insurance after a $5,000 deductible.  Motion passed by voice vote.

TRUSTEE COMMENT

Ms. Olivero welcomed the College’s Student Trustee for 2017-2018, Matthew Pehoski and the College’s new board member, Amy Sipovic.  She also congratulated Mr. Mallery on his recent re-election to the Board.

This was Dr. Huffman’s last regular board meeting and he commented about the responsibilities board members have to accurately, honestly, and completely inform their various constituencies about factors that face the College.  Dr. Huffman said it was an honor to serve as a trustee and thanked his trustee peers for their service.  Many times the solutions to the College’s concerns and problems are not nearly as simple as they might appear for people who do not have the breadth of knowledge, data and other information the board has to base their decision.  The consequences must be carefully weighed and individual trustees’ opinions should be considered.  In the end the Board’s conclusions and decisions are to be reached in the best interest of the College as a whole.  Dr. Huffman encouraged everyone to take a good look at the College’s financial plan because it provides a rather worrisome outlook for the College’s future from a financial standpoint.  The executive summary gives a good understanding of the challenges facing the College.  Dr. Huffman fears the necessary solutions to some of these challenges could endanger the comprehensive nature of IVCC’s academic programs and services.  Personnel costs represent 78 percent of the total operating expenditures.  Coping with serious financial challenges would almost certainly require elimination of academic programs and services and, of course, the personnel involved with them.  This has happened at other colleges where employees were cut to cope with budget shortfalls.  Although Dr. Huffman has high hopes for the future of IVCC, he has concerns:  1) with the dismal outlook, regardless of what the State may do, will the college be able to sustain the comprehensiveness and the high quality for which it is known; 2) will the college be able to maintain an athletic program and the 124 full-time students who participate in sports after the bookstore reserves that have been used to support the program are exhausted as projected in 2020?   With the stable but slightly declining population and the expected decline in the number of high school graduates from which this College draws a substantial portion of its enrollees, and if it loses 124 full-time students if the athletic program goes away, how will the College’s enrollment be impacted?  It would be unfortunate to experience a sufficient enough decline to no long qualify as an equalization district.  Equalization allows the College to assess an additional tax that amounts to $4.1 million.  If that $4.1 million goes away that would mean a dramatic budgetary impact for the College.  Dr. Huffman asked the board members to support the college as well as the IVCC Foundation as they face the future challenges.  He personally feels that every trustee should contribute $500 on an annual basis to the Foundation.  Dr. Huffman wished the board members well and he noted he may show up at a board meeting or two to express a constituent’s opinion from time to time.  He told the Board they have a good administrative staff and good faculty and staff and he has very high hopes for the College, but also real grave concerns of what the College will look like financially in the future. 

Melissa Olivero thanked Dr. Huffman and told him he will be missed.  She wished him well in his retirement and hoped to see him frequently at the board meetings and in public.

CLOSED SESSION

It was moved by Ms. Goetz and seconded by Ms. Tipton to convene a closed session at 6:58 p.m. to discuss 1) the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body; 2) litigation; and 3) closed session minutes.  Motion passed by voice vote. 

After a short break, the Board entered closed session at 7:05 p.m.  On a motion by Dr. Huffman and seconded by Ms. Tipton, the regular meeting resumed at 7:33 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.

CLOSED SESSION MINUTES

It was moved by Dr. Sipovic and seconded by Mr. Solon to approve and retain the closed session minutes of the March 9, 2017 Board Meeting.  Motion passed by voice vote.