June 2020 Board Report

Illinois Valley Community College’s 6,000-square-foot storage and routine maintenance building is on schedule for completion by the end of June, board members learned Thursday.

In his monthly report, IVCC President Jerry Corcoran said a grand opening for the facility is underway.

“That event will be an opportunity to showcase the facility and thank our many generous donors who helped make Phase I of our ag complex a reality, especially donor Barbara Davis of Batavia, State Rep. Lance Yednock (D-Ottawa) and State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris).”

There’s also considerable activity on the farmland surrounding the new building.

Last week, ag program co-coordinators Willard Mott and Kathryn Lillie planted 86 acres of soybeans with equipment provided by the Case IH Innovation team of Burr Ridge and its local partners at Stoller International in Ottawa. 

“Last weekend was a big week for the ag program,” Corcoran said. “We’re lucky to be able to work with our farm tenant Luke Holly on these field activities, as well as our friends from the Illinois Extension on research opportunities using Case IH prototype equipment.”

Following closed session, the board approved an “Information Technology Backup Solution” from Rehmann (RTS) for equipment, licensing, project management and three years support and maintenance.

“Our fiscal 2021 budget had included off-site data backups,” Corcoran noted. “Unfortunately, the need for it became more urgent.”.

The $165,111 project cost will be borne by a fund designated for IT, not the Education Fund.

Corcoran said all major IT functions have been restored and improvements scheduled for next year have already been completed such as moving staff email to Office 365, installation of Windows 10 on every computer and moving the website to a cloud-hosted environment.

In other action, trustees approved:

  • A property tax assessment settlement with Exelon’s La Salle Station nuclear power plant near Seneca. In 2020 and 2021, Exelon’s tax distribution to IVCC will be slightly over $1.6 million annually, the same as 2019.
  • Midland States Bank will continue to provide IVCC’s banking services. IVCC seeks proposals every four years. Midland States, formerly Centrue, has provided the service since 2012.
  • Renewal of student athletic insurance with 1st Agency for $28,802 and student athletic catastrophic insurance with Zevitz Student Accident Insurance for $2,990.
  • Annual radio advertising contracts with Studstill Media of Peru for $19,980, Starved Rock Media of Oglesby for $15,600 and NRG Media of Ottawa for $9,500.
  • Authorization for the administration to continue operation of the college from July 1 through budget adoption.
  • The $642,429 bid of Commercial Mechanical of Dunlap for the Building G (gymnasium) air handler unit.
  • Employment contracts with President Jerry Corcoran and Vice Presidents’ Cheryl Roelfsema, Deborah Anderson and Mark Grzybowski.
  • Following closed session, the board approved fiscal year 2021 compensation for approximately 300 employees not affected by a labor agreement.

The board learned:

  • Corcoran is optimistic about the summer session that began Wednesday. “It looks like we’ll end up with over 900 students and approximately 4,600 credit hours; not far from where we were one year ago. If we keep these students, we should be in good shape,” he said.
  • Thomas Nestler is the new Truck Driver Training coordinator. Nestler is a former award-winning driver with 44 years in the industry and over 2.8 million miles of safe, accident- and violation-free driving.
  • Matthew Phillips resigned effective July 23 from his part-time position in Admissions to accept a social studies teaching position at Woodland CUSD in Streator.
  • Enrollment services assistant Sarah Tipton will resign July 9 to pursue an advanced degree in college student affairs.
  • Marie Ortiz resigned May 11 after 10 years as a utility clerk.
  • Math tutor and instructor Marilyn Lange retired.
  • Longtime Spanish, Italian and French instructor Atti Padoan resigned.
  • Assistant men’s basketball coach Jon Murphy resigned and custodians Dennis and Kathy Arbuckle will retire June 24.
  • Transitioning to Gov. JB Pritzker’s Recovery Phase of the Reopen Illinois Plan has gone well, Corcoran said.  

Senior administration has discussed partnership opportunities with Oglesby Mayor Dominic Rivara. “We look forward to having the mayor visit with the board’s facilities committee later this summer so he can unveil what he has in mind. It will also be an opportunity to discuss possible PHS projects and RAMP document submittals,” Corcoran said.