June 2018 Board Report

The Illinois Valley Community College board Thursday agreed to seek bids for the demolition of a former dairy barn near the south entrance to campus.

At its October 2017 meeting, the board’s facilities committee recommended taking the barn down. With a leaky roof, the deteriorated structure can no longer be used even for storage.

Demolition and removal, estimated at $30,000, are expected to begin late this summer and since the barn’s paint is lead-based, its wood cannot be recycled.

The large white barn predates the college and was part of the Joseph Segaert farm established in 1905.

In other business, the board approved a new food service provider for the college: DeMilio’s Italian Deli, 1317 Shooting Park Road, Peru.

DeMilio’s will pay IVCC $1,000 a month in rent, will be open year-round, will provide service in both the cafeteria and Cyber Café and will cater college events. The restaurant offers a variety of subs, wraps and soups.

IVCC’s contract with Country Catering of Lostant expires June 30.

“Country Catering has been wonderful to work with the past eight-and-a-half years,” said IVCC President Jerry Corcoran. “They are first-class people and we wish them nothing but the best.”

Trustees also approved:

  • The College’s Strategic Plan for 2018-2023. A draft of the plan was presented last month for feedback by Deborah Anderson, vice president for academic affairs. Corcoran thanked Anderson for taking the lead on the project which incorporates all six of the college’s key performance indicators: student academic success, student success beyond IVCC, support for students, support for employees, district population served, and resource management.
  • Purchase of four Dell Poweredge VxRail replacement servers for $184,954, for the college’s administrative system Ellucian Colleague.
  • A proposal from Tri-City Vending and Food Service to provide vending services.
  • Annual radio and television advertising contracts for 2019 totaling $­­­­­­­­73,072 and the purchase of $50,000 of fuel from WEX Inc. for the Truck Driver Training program.
  • Parts and supplies for the automotive department for fiscal 2019 from Peru NAPA for $25,000, Advance Auto Parts of Peru for $15,000 and O’Reilly Auto Parts of Peru for $10,000.
  • The $51,628 bid of Haas Factory Outlet Chicago for a Haas ST-10 lathe for the manufacturing technology program. The purchase will be paid for through the Community Technology Center capital campaign fund.
  • Janitorial supplies from Supply Works of Peoria for $40,000 and elevator maintenance services from ThyssenKrupp Elevator of Peoria for $27,707.
  • The Prevailing Wage Resolution.
  • Authorization to continue payment for standard operating expenditures from July 1 through adoption of the budget.
  • The appointment of nursing instructor Jessie Bouxsein and accounting instructor Amber Fox, and the sabbatical leave request of electronics instructor Jim Gibson for the spring 2019 semester.
  • A three-year contract renewal with Blackboard Learn for $53,000 in 2019, $54,590 in 2020 and $56,227 in 2021. Blackboard is the college’s Learning Management System (LMS) software.
  • A three-year contract with Rave Mobile Alerts for $11,232, or $3,744 per year. Rave provides mass text messages and email notifications to staff and students in emergencies and for important deadlines.
  • Purchase of 25Live by CollegeNet, a cloud-hosted room, class and event scheduling software for $38,000. IVCC had used CollegeNet’s R25 since 2006; that software reaches “end-of-life” Dec. 31.

In other business, trustees learned:

  • Capacity crowds attended the May 19 Nurse Pinning in the Cultural Centre and the 52nd annual commencement in the gymnasium. A total of 462 graduates earned 579 degrees and certificates this spring compared to 467 graduates earning 574 degrees and certificates in spring 2017.
  • Forty-eight student athletes earned Arrowhead Conference academic honors, 20 were All-American honor students and nine were first team All-American with 4.0 GPAs.
  • Discussions are underway with representatives of Foreign Service (China) Group Limited for Chinese students who are recruited for the Sherman Education Center project in Streator to be served first by the college’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program staff, then move into college-credit coursework. Interest has also been shown in launching a visiting scholars program that would result in Chinese scholars team-teaching with IVCC faculty. “The opportunities for collaboration are almost endless” said Corcoran.
  • The college is also being considered as a possible location for the LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby consolidated police force initiative. The center would be a great learning resource for criminal justice and emergency medical service program students and the college could expand its continuing education offerings for the benefit of LPO Police officers and staff.
  • Jill Wohrley has been appointed financial aid advisor, Edna McManus has retired after 32 years of part-time service in adult education, and golf coach Jim Lukosus has resigned after 10 years.