October 7, 2019 Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes


The Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Board of Trustees convened a meeting on Monday, October 7, 2019, at 3:00 p.m. in the Brumit Center for Culinary Arts and Hospitality. John Parham, Chair, presided.

The following members of the Board were present: Leah Ashburn, Theresa Banks, Gene Bell, Joe Brumit, Ron Edgerton, Mike Fryar, Jacquelyn Hallum, Vijay Kapoor, Matt Kern, Keynon Lake, Roger Metcalf, Frances Ramsey; and William Clinton, Ex-Officio.

Others present for the meeting included: Dennis King, President; Terry Brasier, Vice President Student Services; Shanna Chambers, Executive Director of Human Resources; Kerri Glover; Executive Director of Community Relations and Marketing; Beth Stewart, Vice President Instructional Services; David White, Executive Director of Research and Planning; Shelley White, Vice President Economic and Workforce Development/Continuing Education; Brian Willis, Vice President Information Technology/CIO; Dirk Wilmoth, Vice President Business and Finance/CFO; Cynthia Lopez, College Attorney; and Carolyn Rice, Secretary to the Board.

 

Call To Order

Chair Parham read the ethics statement. No conflicts of interest were reported. Ms. Rice called roll. A quorum was present.

 

Introductions

Dr. King introduced and welcomed the new Trustee, Mr. Vijay Kapoor, and the new SGA President, Mr. William Clinton to the Board.

Mr. Darryl Rhymes introduced several new employees to the Trustees.

 

Consent Agenda

Chair Parham asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda.

Mr. Brumit moved to approve Consent Agenda items: 1. A. August 12, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes; 1. B. September 19, 2019, Presidential Search Committee Meeting Minutes; and 1. C. Personnel Actions.

The motion to approve the Consent Agenda was seconded by Mr. Kern and approved unanimously by the Board.

 

Resolution/Action Items

2. A. The A-B Tech/Buncombe County Joint Capital Advisory Committee ( the Committee), whose members are Buncombe County Commissioners Al Whitesides and Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, and Trustees Roger Metcalf and Matt Kern, met twice in August; to select Dr. Bob Lane to be the fifth member “at-large”, and to draft a set of By-Laws for the Committee. Dr. King is asking the Board to approve the By-Laws for the Committee.

Mr. Fryar asked the Board to wait until the MOU between the County of Buncombe and the Board of Trustees regarding the use of the Article 46 Sales Tax revenue had been enacted into law before moving forward with anything related to the Committee.

The Trustees discussed the Committee at length. Ms. Lopez stated that the approval of the By-Laws of the Committee by the Board is for the record only and that state approval of the MOU was not necessary.

 

On a motion by Mr. Brumit, seconded by Mr. Kern, the By-Laws for the A-B Tech/Buncombe County Joint Capital Advisory Committee were approved. Mr. Fryar and Mr. Bell opposed the motion.

2. B. Dr. Wilmoth informed the Board that the A-B Tech/Buncombe County Joint Capital Advisory Committee agreed to present five funding requests totaling $2.44 Million to the Buncombe County Commissioners for approval, contingent upon the Board’s approval today. The $2.44 Million requests would fund the following projects:

  1. A Facility Assessment and Master Plan (Enka).
  2. The first year of programmatic capital investments (Enka).
  3. A new roof for the Technology Commercialization Center (Enka).
  4. Emergency project requests to relieve the Buncombe County Operating Budget.
  5. Quick payback energy conservation measures (LED lighting).

Dr. Wilmoth stated that the projects are prioritized and urgently needed and that this will be the last time that a request this large will be presented to the Buncombe County Commissioners.

The Trustees discussed the protocol of the Committee meeting and approving projects without prior Board approval for the requested projects, at length. Dr. Metcalf and Dr. King assured the Board that in the future, all funding requests will be presented to the Board for approval first, to the Committee for their approval second, and finally, if approved by the Board and the Committee, the funding requests will be presented to the Buncombe County Commissioners.

At 3:34 p.m., Chair Parham called the question.

On a motion by Mr. Kern, seconded by Mr. Edgerton, the A-B Tech/Buncombe County Joint Facilities Committee Capital Requests were approved. Mr. Fryar and Mr. Bell opposed the motion.

 

President’s Report

Dr. King asked the Trustees to complete and give the distributed self-Evaluation and 2018-2019 Priorities Survey, to Carolyn Rice and stated that he will email his Board Report to the Trustees.

 

SGA Report

Mr. William Clinton informed the Board that the SGA held a successful Fall Festival, with a large number of students in attendance. The SGA is seeing higher participation in clubs, and members have been working hard to connect students with their interests. Mr. Clinton will share more good news at the next Board meeting.

 

Handouts

Chair Parham mentioned that a State and County Budget Update, the 2016-2019 Strategic Plan Year Three Accomplishments, 2018-2019 Tracking Measures Scorecard Update, and the 2019 Summary of NCCCS Performance Measures are included in the Board packet for review.

Ms. Ramsey reminded the Trustees to attend “Autumn in Asheville” on October 17.

Chair Parham asked Dr. Wilmoth to provide a presentation on budgetary concerns including capital and non-capital funds at the next Board meeting. Dr. Wilmoth was also asked to show where the College’s money is coming from and where it is going.

 

Motion For Closed Session

At 3:55 p.m., Mr. Kapoor moved that the Trustees enter into a closed session pursuant to G.S. 143-318.11(a) (1) and (3) in order to discuss confidential personnel matters pursuant to G.S. 115D-27-29 and to discuss matters protected by the attorney-client privilege. Mr. Edgerton seconded the motion.

 

Return To Open Session

At approximately 4:55 p.m. the Board returned to the open session.

 

Open Session

Mr. Kapoor moved to seek a recruiting firm to help with the process of hiring a new president via an RFQ process and to extend the deadline for applications. Ms. Hallum seconded this motion. The motion passed. Voting no was Mr. Metcalf and Mr. Brumit. Ms. Ramsey abstained.

 

Adjourn

On a motion duly made and seconded the meeting adjourned at 4:59 p.m. by unanimous consent.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Carolyn H. Rice
Board Secretary