The Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Board of Trustees convened their quarterly meeting on Monday, May 6, 2013, at 3:30 p.m. in Magnolia Dining Room. Richard Hurley, Chair, presided.
The following members of the Board were present: Tom Alexander, Wayne Brigman, Joe Brumit, Mary Ruth Fowler, Bill Hart, Don Locke, Kaye Myers, John Parham, Carol Peterson, Ray Spells, Mandy Stone, David Wyatt, Chair Richard Hurley, Vice-Chair Ray Spells, and Lin Orndorf, SGA President.
Others present for the meeting included: Hank Dunn, President, Brian Willis, Vice President for Information Technology/CIO, Kaye Waugh, Vice President for Human Resources and Organizational Development, Scott McKinney, Vice President Business & Finance/CFO, Dennis King, Special Assistant to the President for Accreditation, Shelley White, Senior Executive Director for Economic and Workforce Development/Continuing Education, Melissa Quinley, Vice President for Instructional Services, Sara Smith, Special Assistant to the President, Martha Shanks, Secretary to the Board, Laura Pennington, Grant Writer, and Chris Campbell, College attorney.
Call To Order
Mr. Hurley read the ethics statement, and no conflicts of interest were reported. Ms. Shanks called roll. A quorum was present.
Consent Agenda
The Board received the Consent Agenda one week prior to the meeting. Mr. Brumit moved to accept the Consent Agenda items to include: (A) Minutes of January 28, 2013, Quarterly Board meeting, (B) Minutes of March 21, 2013, Special Called Board meeting, (C) Minutes of April 3, 2013, Special Called Board Meeting, (D) Personnel Actions, (E) Budget Resolution Amendment, (F) State Funds Budget Transfers, (G) Schedule of Investments, (H) Approval of New and Revised Policies: 1. Continuing Education Records Retention, 2 Curriculum Academic Records Integrity, Retention, and Disposition, 3. Graduation/Program Completion and, 4. Small Business Incubators. (I) Blanket Travel Authorization – President, (J) Calendar Changes for Summer 2014. Mr. Alexander seconded the motion.
Mr. Hart moved that Item (I) on the Consent Agenda President’s Blanket Travel request be changed to read that the full Board must approve out-of-country travel rather than the Board Chair or Vice-Chair in the Chair’s absence. Ms. Peterson seconded the motion. The Consent Agenda was approved unanimously with the requested change to the President’s Blanket Travel approval.
Resolutions/Action Items
2. A. Mr. Campbell explained the changes to the Board of Trustees’ Constitution as received in the Board packet. Dr. Locke moved to approve A-B Tech Board of Trustees Constitutional changes as sent to Trustees in the Board packet, seconded by Dr. Parham. Mr. Campbell raised the point that other Board constitutions often only require 48 hours notice of a special called meeting, Dr. Locke recommended that the notification to the Board of an upcoming special called meeting not be changed to 48 hours, but rather remain at 72 hours.
Ms. Stone questioned the reasoning for changing the vote on electing officers from August to September. Mr. Campbell replied that the nominating committee could be appointed at the June meeting, with the vote coming to the August meeting. Dr. Locke moved to make this change, seconded by Carol Peterson. The Board unanimously approved the change.
The Board unanimously, by a vote of 13, passed the recommended changes to the A-B Tech Board of Trustees’ Constitution.
2. B. Ms. Quinley summarized program additions and deletions presented for Board approval. Dr. Parham moved to accept the program changes. Mr. Spells seconded the motion. The Board voted unanimously to approve the program changes as presented.
2. C. Jack and Carolyn Ferguson have committed $5 million to the A-B Tech Foundation in undesignated funds. This donation amount is approximately ten percent of the cost of building the new Health and Workforce Development Building, which allows the building to be named in their honor pursuant to Board policy. Mr. Hart moved to approve naming the building in honor of Jack and Carolyn Ferguson. Mr. Brumit seconded. Mr. Hart moved to recommend that the Board pass a resolution of appreciation to the Fergusons at the June 3, 2013 Board meeting. Dr. Locke seconded the motion. The Board unanimously approved both motions.
2. D. Dr. Locke moved, with Ms. Myers seconding, the motion to allow the College to participate in the NC Deferred Compensation Plan 457(b), as another opportunity for staff and faculty to save for retirement with no cost to the College. The Board unanimously approved the motion.
2. E. Mr. Hart moved, with Dr. Parham seconding the motion, to approve a trip by two faculty members to sister city Valladolid, Mexico in late May. The Board unanimously approved the motion.
2. F. Mr. McKinney explained documents in the Board packet pertaining to a request for approval of Huntley Construction Company as the selected bidder for sidewalk and parking lot improvements to the Victoria Road campus. This project, which is being conducted under state construction authority, will cost a total of $1.5, with the amount for paving $1,056,577.00. Funds for the project are coming from the sales tax referendum. Mr. Alexander moved to approve the selection of Huntley Construction Company. Ms. Fowler seconded the motion. The Board unanimously approved the motion.
2. G. Dr. Parham moved to approve the removal of the historical Grotto from the A-B Tech property by Carolina Day School, who will pay all associated costs. Ms. Myers seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously by the Board.
Trustee Business
3. A. Mr. Brumit presented a report on the Entrepreneurial Foundation:
- The Craft Beverage Institute is moving forward.
- A hackerSpace (a quick way to learn software skills) is in development.
- The Drug Treatment Court is being discontinued.
- Blazemaker Labs LLC, the new business accelerator, is moving forward with Entrepreneurial
Foundation Board members interviewing applicants for the new director position.
3. B. Trustees were referred to Ms. Olesiuk’s College Foundation report in section 5.E. of the Board agenda for this meeting. Dr. Dunn shared that Ms. Olesiuk has accepted the position of Executive Director of the College Foundation office, effective July 1, 2013.
3. C. Mr. Hart is chair of the President’s Evaluation Committee for 2012-2013. He handed out the evaluation form to Trustees and requested that they all participate and return the evaluation forms to him by May 17. Dr. Parham and Ms. Fowler are also on the Evaluation Committee.
3. D. Mr. Hart summarized points from the April 2013 NCACCT Conference, including:
- NCACCT conferences are the place for required new and reappointed Trustee training.
- The attorney’s session reviewed two issues: prayer at community colleges must be non-sectarian, and best practices for closed sessions at Board meetings were reviewed.
- A general session on articulation agreements relayed the system is working for a stronger articulation agreement with 4-year colleges/universities as only one course currently transfers from community colleges to all four-year public universities in North Carolina. Trustees discussed the need for better articulation agreements at the system level, the need for A-B Tech to pursue individual agreements, and the need to be open with students regarding what will and won’t be accepted if they transfer to a four-year school. Dr. Locke encouraged the College to continue pursuing individual articulation agreements with individual colleges and universities.
3. E. Trustees will discuss the content and format of future Board meetings at the June Board retreat.
3. F. Trustees, with the guidance of Mr. Hart and Dr. Locke, discussed the content of the upcoming June
Board Retreat.
- Board collegiality is a primary goal of the retreat.
- Positive accomplishments at A-B Tech will be on the agenda, along with the desire to have an “elevator speech” of these accomplishments to share with outsiders.
- What role does the Board have in establishing the agenda for Board meetings what goes on the Consent Agenda?
- What is the Board policy regarding student/staff/faculty due process if a member questions a decision of the College?
- What should the President’s evaluation look like and how should it be conducted going forward?
Trustees decided to hold the Board Retreat on June 11, 2013, from 8:00 a.m. through the lunch hour, location to be confirmed. The meeting will start with breakfast, with business discussions to follow. Lunch will be a casual time of sharing and getting to know each other.
President's Report
4. Dr. Dunn shared the following news:
- The College received a clean financial statement audit for the year ending June 2012. For future audits, the College is permitted by the System office to choose an external auditor, which it intends to do. An RFP will be issued to choose an external auditor, the Board will be asked to approve a financial statement auditor based on responses to the RFP.
- A printout of the Master Plan 2010 was included in the handouts, as were the drawing and layout schematics of the five floors of the Health and Workforce Development Building. Also included in these documents was the summary of projects and dollar amounts approved by Buncombe County Commissioners after the passage of the sales tax referendum.
- SACSCOC Update: Comments from the off-site review committee are expected at the end of May or in early June. The on-site SACSCOC visit is scheduled for September 17-19. A five-minute video was submitted with the review report to familiarize reviewers with the physical campus. Dr. Locke stated he would be interested in seeing the video, a thought echoed by other Trustees.
- The College is working through the new IRS rules about adjuncts and the number of hours they may work before the employer is responsible to pay for their health benefits. The College is tracking this ruling, which takes effect on January 1, 2014. Part-time and adjunct hours are being reduced in anticipation of the ruling and this may be something Trustees will hear about.
- The Entrepreneurial Foundation Board has been in discussion with AdvantageWest regarding the possibility of Blue Ridge Food Ventures being moved from AdvantageWest to the College under the auspices of the Entrepreneurial Foundation.
- Trustees were given the update report on the College’s 2012-2013 Strategic Plan, including accomplishments on the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) established earlier in the fiscal year. The College has met five out of the eight established goals. The Board is asked to consider awarding a portion of the KPI money set aside to honor the partial accomplishments. This will be brought to the June Board meeting for decision.
Reports and Information
A written report from each Vice President/Senior Executive Director on his/her respective division was sent to the Trustees prior to the meeting. Trustees found the reports very informative and had no questions. Mr. Hurley thanked the Executive Leadership team for their work. Ms. Stone stated it would be helpful if reports, rather than just listing activities, relayed the performance criteria used and a basis of comparison to the report, such as graphs and charts. This will be discussed by the Board at their June Board Retreat.
SGA Report
Ms. Orndorf, SGA President, shared SGA activities over the last quarter:
- Earth Day this spring had to be held inside due to weather, which resulted in somewhat lower attendance, SGA elections were held concurrent with the event, resulting in a new SGA President, Jayne English, and Vice President, Kim Hensley, and Secretary, Mary Topper.
- Earth week efforts included a sustainability meeting and a panel discussion with the Sierra Club and other groups on the impact of coal in the WNC region.
- Ms. Orndorf is graduating this year, so this meeting is her last Board meeting.
- Several SGA members served on a focus group for the QEP for SACSCOC reaccreditation, giving input regarding student online classes.
- SGA voted to fund two $500 scholarships to offset expenses for two students to participate in overseas student trips summer of 2013.
Closed Session
Ms. Peterson moved to go into closed session pursuant to G.S. 143-318.11(a)(3) in order to discuss matters protected by the attorney-client privilege, including matters related to the lawsuit of Holland v. Madison
County Commissioners and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and pursuant to
subsection (a)(1) in order to discuss confidential personnel issues in accordance with G.S. 115D-27-29, seconded by Mr. Hart. The Board unanimously approved the motion. The Board took a brief break and went into a closed session at 5:44 p.m.
On a motion properly made, the Board moved into an open session at 8:30 p.m. On a majority vote, the Board decided to not hold a July meeting.
Adjourn
Upon a motion by Ms. Myers, seconded by Ms. Fowler, the Board unanimously voted to adjourn at 8:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha L. Shanks
Board Secretary