CALL TO ORDER

CALL TO ORDER

Chair Sally Galer called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Members Present: Robert Bovee, Jan Keith Farmer, Sally Galer, Richard Silverman, Roy Spangler,

Patricia Webb

Members Absent: Roberta Werle

Others Present: Mark Allen, Stacey Barnes, Jerry Boerema, Patrick Calhoun, JoAnn Comerford, Brenda Dawe, Walter Dawe, Anthony Duce, Eric Hamp, Sandra Jones, Kathy Koch, Ed Koliba, Jeremy Land, Jean Lawrence, Doty Latuszek, Jackie Liddle, Kathy Marsh, Joe Meadows, Jerry Nunn, Vicki Nunn, Don Power, Jason Prout, Charles Rorie, Ilene St. Onge, Evelyn Schenk, Tim Scherer, Dale Shantz, Susan Warrington

WELCOME

Members, employees and guests were welcomed by Chair Sally Galer.

OPEN DISCUSSION

None

MINUTES

Minutes from the August 19, 2004 regular board meeting were presented. No corrections or additions were offered. The minutes from August 19, 2004 were declared approved as published.

Minutes from the September 9, 2004 AQIP Vision Facilitators meeting were presented. No corrections or additions were offered. The minutes from September 9, 2004 were declared approved as published.

FACULTY PRESENTATION

None

COMMUNICATION

Charles Rorie updated the board on the August 31 COOR superintendents’ meeting at which time they discussed selection of an election date under the new election consolidation law. No final decision was made, but there was a general consensus to select a May school election date. Rorie said he will continue to stay in touch with the contingent school districts about this issue.

Rorie announced a “Meet the Candidates Night” on September 27, 2004 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. to be held on Kirtland’s campus in the G. I. Steward Auditorium. This is a jointly sponsored event by COOR-ISD and Kirtland Community College providing an opportunity to meet the candidates for state representative.

Rorie relayed a communication from the family of the late Arlene Wilder tentatively planning a memorial service on Saturday, October 9, 2004 at the Saint Helen Community Baptist Church.

Rorie shared two letters of appreciation; one from Haley Collins for a scholarship award; the other from former trustee, Carole Kuehn for the engraved plaque recognizing her service to the college and community.

BUSINESS FOR BOARD ACTION

WHEREAS

1. The provisions of the Consolidated Election Law enacted in December of 2003 allows the board of trustees to establish the regular election date for the community college district, and

2. The permitted dates for regular elections, to be held on odd years, follows:

a. 4^th Tuesday in February

b. 1^st Tuesday following the 1^st Monday in May

c. 1^st Tuesday following the 1^st Monday in August

d. 1^st Tuesday following the 1^st Monday in November

3. The bylaws of the board of trustees Article II, Section 4 establishes the election be held biennially at the annual elections of component school districts,

4. The COOR Intermediate School District superintendents tentatively favor a May election date.

5. The tentative proposed date for the community college district is the 1^st Tuesday following the 1^st Monday in May.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT

1. The board desires to establish the regular election date for the community college district after considering comment and input received concerning the board’s tentatively proposed selection of a regular election date.

2. A public hearing will be held to establish a regular election date at the next regular board meeting in October.

3. A resolution to establish a regular election date will be presented at the regular October board of trustees meeting.

Vote: Ayes, six Nays, zero Abstain, zero Absent, one Resolution declared adopted.

2. During quarterly negotiation meetings, revisions were proposed to the Open Art Studio Load, Article X, Section D, and

3. The Art Department instructors feel that beginning-level students were not getting appropriate education in the open studio environment,

4. The current contract language does not provide for a combination of open art studio and traditional classes, and

5. The board of trustees has been afforded the opportunity to thoroughly review the proposed changes to the 2003-2006 faculty master agreement.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT

The board of trustees approve the proposed changes to Article X, Section D. Open Art Studio Load language to the 2003-2006 faculty master agreement as presented.

Vote: Ayes, six Nays, zero Abstain, zero Absent, one Resolution declared adopted.

REPORTS FOR BOARD INFORMATION

Target Specific Bargaining

Ed Koliba, Chief Business and Financial Officer introduced Don Power, Commissioner for Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services who has been instrumental with the ongoing Target Specific Bargaining process of the college with both the Kirtland Federation of Teachers (KFT) and the United Steelworkers unions.

Don Power addressed the board with comments that Kirtland is one of nine unique situations in northeast Michigan. He explained that there are 5,000 labor contracts in northeast Michigan encompassing Lansing to Port Huron to the Straits of Mackinac. Two of those relationships are at Kirtland with the faculty union (KFT) and the United Steelworkers.

He said two things make Kirtland different; how you bargain; and how you conduct yourselves with each other on a daily basis in terms of your relationship. From a historical standpoint with AFT, we have now completed five successful contracts in a row using the Target Specific Bargaining process. The United Steelworkers has completed three contracts in a row and the non-union staff has used the Target Specific Problem Solving to solve issues. The reason for Kirtland’s success is leadership; your commitment to develop leaders who are committed to solve problems in a proactive fashion rather than a reactive one.

Collective bargaining historically was a reactive process. The question was, why can’t we just simply go to the truth? Kirtland selected to go to the truth. This is done by using systematic ways of identifying, documenting, discussing and solving using jointly agreed upon data to solve the problems jointly identified. In doing so, you overcome the defect in the old system of mistrust. The question is can I accept it? Is it truthful? Did I have an input to it and an ability to have a say? That is what is important.

An offshoot of Target Specific is the quarterly meeting. There is an obligation created from two documents, the labor contract and the non-contractual document. To make certain that we keep our commitment to each other; you use a check-off list to see that you have met your markers, and then look ahead and try to plan for problems. Power listed health insurance as an example. Kirtland has done well to constantly look ahead to arrive at solutions that work for all.

Personnel Actions Requiring Board Notification

Dale Shantz, Director of Human Resources, prepared and distributed a memo listing eight policies and procedures that deal with personnel actions. Four of them specify or imply that there should be information provided to the board, and four do not. The principle difference seems to be that the board wishes to know when an action of a permanent change is being made rather than temporary. He said the board does not even specify it be informed in the event of a resignation or termination the way we have practiced under certain circumstances.

Richard Silverman referred to his question of release time for the honors program where he asked if it was a decision just for the honors program or across the board. He believes that kind of a departure from past practice should come to the board as an information item. Shantz explained that there is a great deal of incremental change that takes place that later, upon reflection, may be considered significant. He questioned, how do we determine what needs to come to the board if it is not referenced in policies and procedures? Rorie said now that the concern has been brought to their attention, the administrators will seek to be sensitive to the issue Silverman raised. If it turns out to be insufficient, the issue will be raised again. The board chair and Silverman expressed satisfaction with that response.

Deferred Maintenance

JoAnn Comerford, Director of Facilities, introduced Tony Duce and Patrick Calhoun of Duce Simmons and Associates, (DSA) architectural firm. As part of the Master Plan developed in 2000-01, the original deferred maintenance report was a part of that plan and has been used by the facilities department to track and assess our building needs. Patrick Calhoun said that Kirtland has been the best in the state in using and updating the deferred maintenance plan.

He provided a listing of items that were completed and items that have been added for tracking changes in the report from year-to-year and between major updates. The purpose of a deferred maintenance report is to keep track of facilities issues for use in developing a budget system and to meet state requirements. If a community college or university is to get any money from the state for developing new buildings, they have to show they are making a concerted and ongoing effort to keep the existing structures in good operating order or improving the condition of those structures. The report provides, in a database format, an inventory of all the facilities. It keeps track of what they are worth to replace, the general condition they are in compared to each other and campus to campus such as the M-TEC, and then the college as a whole. Another objective of the report was to help Kirtland determine the general condition of all the facilities in an easy-to-read and easy to update format. It also allows you to look at how you compare with competing institutions in the state or on a national average.

Another goal of the plan was to assist Kirtland in meeting the goals of its mission statement. Without the buildings in good repair, it is difficult to meet the mission statement to improve the quality of life in the Kirtland region by providing educational programs and services.

Some of the benefits of doing this report is that first, the state requires an annually updated five-year master plan. It identifies urgent projects for prioritizing and use as a budgeting tool. It helps track progress and it has been a good tool for other institutions in millage support for raising additional funds for facilities upkeep. For the facilities department it is a wonderful history of the facilities. When you hire someone new, you can say, here, this is us. You have it written down before someone retires or leaves for another position and does not remember to tell everybody what they need to know.

The national average right now for facilities condition index (FCI) is approximately 7 percent. Kirtland has improved from 8.8 percent down to 7.5 percent now, partly due to increased funding for repairs and the addition of a new building, M-TEC at Gaylord. The current replacement value has increased considerably from 25 million dollars for all buildings on campus to 30 million dollars with the addition of M-TEC.

As a whole, a major issue is that most of the buildings are 35 years old which exceeds the lifespan for most systems such as roofs and boilers, heating and ventilation equipment, door hardware, ballasts, etc. The report looks at five years down the road. If nothing is done, the consequences would mean going from a 7.5 percent FCI to 15.5 percent.

Long term recommendation options are (1) to stay where you are now; 7.5 percent FCI is good; it represents the national average. To do that, a budget of 2 percent of the value of the college buildings annually for maintenance materials and labor is needed. That adds up to approximately $611,000 per year. Option 2 is to spend up to 1.5 million dollars annually over the next five years to completely eliminate all the problems.

Enrollment

Stacey Barnes, Dean of Student Services, noted that fall semester enrollment as of the census date is down 11 percent in head count and down 2 percent in credit hours. With FLEX and other open-entry enrollments, she expects to be at a break-even status by the end of the semester.

Her full report for this presentation was a student profile comparison of Summer 2004 end of semester compared to Summer 2003 end of semester. Headcount, at 923, was down 3.6 percent while credit hours, at 3,616.7 were up 3.4 percent. She pointed out some interesting things such as the ratio of male to female students about 30/70. This is different from the normal for fall and winter semesters which is usually closer to 50/50. Forty-one percent of students are considered “traditional” in the 24 and under age range. Within our district, 25 percent of students are from Roscommon County. Seven percent of summer enrollment was from Otsego County residents. Returning students make up three fourths of our student population in the summer session. Three largest program areas are health careers, transfer and personal interest/non-degree seeking. Over half of summer students take one class in the summer. Dual enrollment, at 55 students, was credited to M-TEC. With 235 enrolled in online classes, this is up 30 percent from last summer. On-line enrollment continues to increase significantly each semester. Registration type is 62 percent walk-in registrations versus 38 percent web registration.

Student Housing

Stacey Barnes provided a snapshot of student housing occupancy for the fall 2004 semester. She reported a total of 45 current residents for a 100 percent occupancy rate. Of those residents, 76 percent are male; 72 percent are 20 years-old or under; 82 percent are from out-of-district; and one-third plan to transfer. All are enrolled full-time; a third are student athletes; and there is a 30 percent return from last year. She noted that marketing has been mostly word-of-mouth.

Faculty List for Fall Semester 2004

Kathy Marsh, Dean of Instruction, presented the faculty list for fall 2004.

AQIP update

Ilene St. Onge, Director of Accounting and acting leader for the vision action project, provided an update on the AQIP process activities and time lines for creating a shared vision for the college. In order for the entire college to provide input, a Vision Day, similar to Conversation Day held previously, will be held on Friday, October 1 at Forward’s Quality Inn in West Branch from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Facilitators, Lee Whipple and Olga Holden will provide the guidance and leadership for this event. A first reading of the proposed vision is expected to be brought to the board in January 2005.

Mark Allen, Director of Auxiliary Service/Purchasing and leader of the retooling trust action project, updated the board on this provocative proposition that resulted from Conversation Day held back in January. He explained that milestones are things we are looking at doing to reach the goal to be accomplished. Another project, effective campus-wide communication, has been merged with retooling trust which will now be called retooling trust through effective communication. The reason for combining the two propositions is due to a 75 percent cross-over of things that need to be accomplished in both propositions. Two issues under consideration are a parliament and operational communications. The next step in the process is to create sub-groups to begin developing action plans that will be accountable and measurable.

Tim Scherer, Director of Institutional Services, gave an update as leader for the environmental conditions action project. He spoke of drivers as things that help move the project along and restrainers as limiters or barriers to the process, and said that there will be meetings ahead to look at milestones.

M-TEC report

Doty Latuszek, Provost, announced that the Governing Advisory Board (GAB) meeting has been rescheduled to increase attendance. There will be two GAB meetings before the next board of trustees meeting at which time she will provide meeting packets for board information. New leadership at the GAB is actively seeking more involvement with what is going on at M-TEC.

Enrollment at M-TEC is ahead of last fall but at the same place as the end of last October. During the last fall semester we picked up an additional 150 credit hours, so she anticipates being farther ahead comparably by the end of semester. She reported 40 dual enrolled students from Gaylord and northern Michigan.

Responding to questions from the board, she said that discussions are ongoing with the University Center toward an updated joint operating agreement. We are no longer doing the community General Education (GED) program due to a lack of funding. Fifteen of the dual enrolled students are taking American Sign Language while others are taking welding, carpentry, and computerized introductory core education.

ADJOURNMENT

With no further business to come before the board, Chair Galer declared the meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by

Kathy Koch, Recording Secretary