Minutes provided for Crowder College Board of Trustees meeting

There being a quorum present, the meeting of the Crowder College Board of Trustees of the Community College District of Newton-McDonald Counties, Missouri, was called to order by Board Chair, Mr. Andy Wood, at 10:05 a.m. on Monday, January 22, 2018, in the Crowder College Student Center Fireside Room following the earlier Work Session.

Members present for the meeting were:

Andy Wood, Chair
Diane Andris, Member
Vickie Barnes, Treasurer
Rick Butler, Vice Chair
Al Chapman, Secretary
Larry Vancuren, Member

Also attending the meeting were:

Jennifer Methvin, President
Martha Nimmo, Administrative Assistant to the President
TJ Angel, Director of Physical Plant
Mark Aubuchon, Campus Life Director
Cindy Brown, Director of Public Information
Kathy Parker-Collier, Grants Director
Glenn Coltharp, Vice President of Academic Affairs
Mitch Cordray, Director of Information Services
Christina Cullers, Controller
Chett Daniel, Director of Institutional Research
Curtis Daniels, Division Chair, CTE/Computer Networking Instructor
JP Dickey, Director of Admissions
Aaron Divine, Director, McDonald County Instructional Center
Kristi Enloe, Accounts Payable Accountant
Mark Fitch, Director, Webb City Instructional Center
Mickie Mahan, Associate Vice President of Information Services
Adam Morris, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs
Melissa Oates, Director of MARET Center
Monte Padgett, Director, Nevada Instructional Center
Michelle Paul, Director of Human Resources
Darrin Pfeifly, Director of Transport Training
Jeri Phillips, Director, Crowder Training and Development Solutions
Amy Rand, Vice President of Finance
Haley Reardon, Assistant Director of Resource Development & Alumni Relations
Angela Seymour, Director, Cassville Instructional Center
Tif Slinkard, Vice President of Student Affairs
Kristin Spencer, Program Director, Emergency Medical Services
Matt Wallace, CPA, Supervisor – Audit Services, KPM CPAs, PC
Ines Kagubare, The Joplin Globe

A few moments of silence were observed to prepare for the meeting. The following new employees were introduced and welcomed: Gary Lowe, Jr., Interim Assistant Basketball Coach; Mike DeWitt and Raymond George, Transport Training Instructors, and TJ Angel, Director of Physical Plant.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

Minutes of the December 4, 2017, meeting were approved as written and previously distributed.

Financial Reports

Mr. Wood noted the monthly cash flow statement for January 8, 2018, and asked if we received the estimated county taxes of 2.6 million dollars. Ms. Rand said we have about half of it and should receive the remainder as expected. Dr. Methvin noted she has already responded to a few questions regarding the checks. Mr. Wood said there are three sets of checks this month for November 13-30, December 1-31, 2017, and January 1-8, 2018. Without further discussion, checks in the amount of $2,885,238.95 were approved ON MOTION by Mrs. Andris, seconded by Mr. Vancuren, and unanimously carried. The rest of the fund balances and agency accounts were reviewed. Mr. Wood said the Current Fund Balance looks good compared to the previous year. He said although refunds caused Transport Training revenues to drop some, they are coming back from the few slower weeks that they had. Dr. Methvin noted a lot of outstanding receivables in the Maddox Hill Behavior Support Center, but they will come in. The rest of the Centers were reviewed as well as the Revenue and Expenditure Accounts. Dr. Methvin said there is nothing unanticipated this month.

Personnel

Dr. Methvin recommended approval of the retirement of Kathryn McCann, Computer Technology Instructor, who has been with Crowder for 21 years. She thanked her for her support of the Joplin ATTC last year and for her many years of dedicated service. A MOTION to accept her retirement as requested was made by Mr. Butler, seconded by Mrs. Barnes and unanimously carried.

Dr. Methvin recommended approval of the resignation of Brian Larsen, Welding Instructor. A MOTION to accept his resignation as requested was made by Mrs. Andris, seconded by Mrs. Barnes and unanimously carried.

Dr. Methvin recommended approval of the following eight employments: Keith Zoromski, Title III Coordinator/Social Sciences Division Chair; Darleen Moore, Nursing Instructor, Nevada; Jim Cullumber, Director of Institutional Advancement; Robert Mellen, Title III Computer Technician; Steven Harrison, Soccer Coach/PE Instructor; Luis Cecenas, Drug Free Communities Program Coordinator; Jorge Davila, Veteran Services Coordinator (HT), and Michael Ebbs, Maintenance (PT), Webb City. A MOTION to accept all eight employments as recommended was made by Mr. Vancuren, seconded by Dr. Chapman and unanimously carried.

Annual Audit Report for FY ending 06/30/2017

Mr. Matt Wallace introduced himself saying he has been providing the Independent Auditor’s Report for the College for about five years now, and he congratulated the College for receiving an unmodified, clean opinion again this year (p. 4). 

He pointed out the Management’s Discussion and Analysis (p. 8) which gives an overview of 2016-2017 by Crowder administration. 

Mr. Wallace noted the Combined Statement of Net Position (p. 14) which reflects assets, liabilities, deferred inflows and outflows of resources and net position of the College, the Facilities Corporation, and the Foundation at June 30, 2017. He said the pages of notes following give a more detailed breakdown and explanation of those numbers. He moved on to the Combining Statement of Net Position (p. 53) saying the College ended the year with $51.4M in total assets, up from the prior year. He said total liabilities were at $27.8M, and this is the third year of including the retirement liability. 

He said the Total Net Position ended at $31.4M, down some from prior year, and overall debt was down from the previous year. Mr. Wallace said cash reserves averaged 13% in 2017 which was up from last year’s 7-8% as the College works toward the recommended range of 15-20%. He reported total assets in the Foundation were a little over $7M with a total net position of about $6.7M, up about $750,000 from the prior year. 

Mr. Wallace said the total combined net position came to $40.5M which is an overall increase from the prior year. He continued reviewing the data on the Revenues, Expenses, and Changes in Net Position page (p. 54). Mr. Wallace said in addition to the College’s overall unmodified opinion, an audit of the College’s federal programs was also conducted where an unmodified opinion was also received (p. 66). He said although there were no material weakness found that would possibly change the opinion, there were two significant deficiencies related to enrollment reporting and the TRIO Talent Search program. 

He said about half the colleges in Missouri have had the reporting issue since the federal government changed the requirement to update changes in student enrollment status in a timely manner. Dr. Methvin said although this is a repeat finding, the reasons for it were different last year. VP Slinkard said there was an issue this year in Jenzabar in which three-quarter time students were being reported as half-time students, but it has been corrected. 

Mr. Wallace said this has no bearing on the financial audit so it is not considered a material weakness. He said the TRIO finding was due to the establishment of a new Talent Search grant which began in October 2016 and had not yet met the required number of participants at the time of the audit. Dr. Methvin said this should not be a problem in the coming year. Mr. Wallace drew attention to the letter of recommendations that includes five items saying the first item indicates that with the College making the decision to become an Attendance Taking school for Title IV purposes, some practices will need to change to ensure compliance. 

He said item two is regarding the self-insurance loss that has been an issue for several years, and we know the College has taken steps to reduce the deficit. He said item three on capital asset tracking has also been listed previously, and we recommend that the College obtain a capital asset tracking software which we know you have been considering. 

Mr. Wallace said items four and five are relating to new GASB Statements that will begin in the future. He said health insurance liability will be reported as an actuarial calculation for this year, and the Foundation will need to report Irrevocable Split-Interest Agreements (Trusts) as an additional asset line item in the future. 

Mr. Wallace thanked VP Rand and all employees involved for helping to make the audit such a smooth process. Mr. Wood said with the added listing of liabilities related to retirement and health insurance costs, the audit becomes less important every year as an actual financial picture of where we stand. He asked about the change in the College’s cash balance. 

Mr. Wallace said the College’s cash balance this year was about $5.6M which was an increase of $2.5M from last year. Mr. Wood asked about how the trust reporting will work and Mr. Wallace responded saying we will report based only on what trusts the Foundation has knowledge of. Dr. Methvin thanked Mr. Wallace and his staff for the great job they do for us each year.

Room and Board Rates Proposal

Mr. Aubuchon reviewed the Proposed Room and Board Rates for 2018-2019 saying we are already receiving applications for August, and we propose a 3% across-the-board increase for next year which includes the Brown Complex, Roughrider Village and all meal rates. He showed how Crowder’s rates compare to other schools in the area saying State Fair Community College is the only school that is slightly lower than our proposed rates. 

Mr. Aubuchon said we are trying to keep our rates reasonable for students while continuing to cover all expenses. He said we were at nearly one hundred percent occupancy in the fall, and we hope to continue that trend. 

When asked how they came up with the 3%, he said last year we raised 4% and much larger the previous year, and we do not want to make large raises each year. He said we have not had any major expenses this year although we had roof damage from the tornado and siding replaced on the Brown Complex which was a wonderful upgrade. He said this is essentially a cost of living increase. 

Dr. Methvin said we could not charge enough to cover the indebtedness of Roughrider Village. When asked, Ms. Rand said we have had Roughrider Village since February 2013. Dr. Methvin said there had not been any significant increases for many years prior to 2014, and our housing choices at Crowder are exceptionally good housing options. 

Mr. Aubuchon agreed saying students in campus housing also receive a free YMCA membership as part of their overall fee. Ms. Rand said the revenue we receive from these rates will cover all operating expenses, but it will not cover the payments on the debt. Mr. Wood said we have never viewed housing as a revenue source, but simply try to break even. Ms. Rand agreed. Mr. Aubuchon said we always focus on trying to keep students in the spring semester when we often drop below capacity so our revenue declines. When asked, Ms. Rand said Roughrider Village will be paid off in 2030. Mr. Wood asked if there were any objections to passing the proposed rates to next month for Board action, and there were none.

Paramedic and EMT Program Review

Ms. Kristin Spencer reported there are normally three full-time faculty members in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Program during the academic year with one in the summer (herself) since she is the only faculty on a 12-month contract. 

She said most adjunct faculty teach the EMT courses, and there are one to four adjuncts depending on the student need. She said it is not unusual for full-time faculty to teach over 20 credit hours per semester. 

Ms. Spencer said we want to increase the number of associate level graduates, and we are working hard to change the culture to encourage degree completions that will strengthen these EMS professionals. 

However, she said most EMS students see no value in a degree because promotions and compensation are based on experience, longevity and job performance. She said from 2014 to 2017, there were 13 associate level graduates while there were 68 certificate level completers in Paramedic. She said the EMT Certificate was removed a few years ago. 

Ms. Spencer said regarding licensure pass rates, the rates were lower in 2014-15 because that was during the Public Safety Project (PSP) grant and there was not a vetting process prior to acceptance in the program. She said this shows how important the vetting process is which includes work and character references, background checks, transcript reports and interviews. She said pass rates in 2015-16 for both EMT and Paramedic were above the national pass rate. In 2016-2017, the EMT pass rate is currently 70% while the national pass rate is 76% although it may still go up as more students test. 

The Paramedic pass rate is 77% while the national pass rate is 73%. Ms. Spencer said we are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Emergency Medical Services Programs (CoAEMSP); they have set the minimum first-attempt test threshold at 70%, and we have consistently exceeded that requirement. She continued reviewing the student enrollment data saying for EMT, we have had sections at various Crowder locations, and there was a slight drop in Fall 2017 enrollment. 

She noted the 18-credit hour EMTP course blocks were discontinued in Fall 2017 and were broken down into five smaller 9-credit hour blocks in eight-week courses in an effort to improve student success. She explained that students enroll in either the hybrid or traditional program saying students in the hybrid program take the first three semester in completely online courses then finish the fourth and fifth semesters on the Neosho campus doing clinical rotations along with some online coursework. 

Ms. Spencer said students come from all over the world to take the hybrid program and complete here so most in the hybrid program are international students. She said the national registry standard EMS training done here is considered the gold star standard training worldwide, and those students take that knowledge back to their home countries where their countries’ EMS systems are antiquated or absent. She said normally those students take the licensure exam here although a few countries do have qualified testing centers. 

Ms. Spencer said enrollment in the Paramedic program is growing, and the number of hybrid students is about twice that of traditional students. She said between Spring 2015 and Fall 2017, the department graduated 185 EMT students and 103 paramedic students. 

She said it is difficult to find an EMT job in this area while we have a one hundred percent hire-rate for paramedic students who receive higher pay. She said the CEO from the CoAEMSP accrediting body came here last fall to see how the hybrid program works, and in January we were reaccredited for another five years. 

Ms. Spencer responded to various questions from the Board saying over half of the 53 students in the Fall 2017 Paramedic program were in the hybrid program. Mr. Wood thanked her for the very thorough report.

Pre-apprenticeship Program Overview

Dr. Methvin said keeping in mind that we do a lot of non-credit training, Jeri Phillips will report on a pre-apprenticeship program that has been developed through a unique partnership. Ms. Phillips reported the Training and Development Solutions (TDS) department has a great relationship with the Workforce Innovation Board (WIB), and as a result, we currently have ten participants receiving training at the Joplin ATTC. She said we have partnered with the National Building Trades Union, the local Building Trades Council, Catholic Charities, and the Department of Workforce Development. 

She said we met with the WIB last summer who wanted to develop a pre-apprenticeship career readiness program, and the Multi Craft Core Curriculum (MC3) was selected. She said once approval was granted from the Building Trades Council, we were able to send Terry Clarkson to a ‘train the trainer’ program in Boston in December. 

Mr. Clarkson has since trained twelve instructors. Ms. Phillips said student participants will be trained in OSHA 10, CPR and First Aid, basic math, blueprint reading, tools and materials, forklift operation, diversity and women in the workforce. She said the participants will then be better equipped to enter into a registered apprenticeship, a union apprenticeship, or directly into the workforce. 

Ms. Phillips said training began last week, and participants are being bussed from Carthage to Joplin to receive 120 hours of training with TDS before entering into a six-week, hands-on, supervised internship work experience program for a total of thirteen weeks of training. She said the WIB is providing tools and boots, Catholic Charities is providing meals and supervision, and the Missouri Career Center helped participants develop their resumes. 

Ms. Phillips said this is an exciting cooperative effort, and we are exploring other fields in which we could do these types of programs. She said participants only require a willingness to learn and some lack English skills as well, which was overcome by the use of a translator provided by the WIB. The program will be offered two times a year. 

Dr. Methvin said this is fully funded through the WIB and the Department of Workforce Development without which the students would not be able to participate. Ms. Phillips said we look forward to tracking the success of these participants. Mr. Wood thanked her saying the Board will look forward to a future update.

President’s Update

Dr. Methvin announced we received a very good report recently from the Higher Learning Commission as a result of a visit that took place in November at the McDonald County and Nevada sites. She said the purpose of the visit was to make sure we are meeting the accrediting criteria at every campus and that processes and standards are equal across campuses. She thanked Dr. Adam Morris, Aaron Divine, and Monte Padgett for handling the visit, and although there were a few suggestions, there is no further follow up required.

She reported we had a particularly good All Staff Day in January where Servant Leadership Cohort 4 provided an activity. She said from the beginning, Cohort 4 has wanted to better apply servant leadership to student success, and the activity was called a ‘privilege walk’ where employees took steps forward or back depending on life circumstances. She said it provided a lot of thoughtful discussion about how the privileges you receive can affect your life and what lack of privileges may be affecting students’ lives. She thanked the custodial team for their help setting up and cleaning up the Gym that day. Dr. Methvin said there will be a couple more professional development dates provided by Cohort 4 later this spring.

Dr. Methvin said in December she attended the presentation of two Crowder students into the National Adult Education Honor Society which was a reward for their hard work and dedication.

Dr. Methvin played the Crowder ad for the ATTC from our Pandora campaign saying it has been particularly successful reaching over 46,000 unique visitors and resulting in 103 individuals going directly to the Crowder website. Cindy Brown said Pandora has been successful in the past, and this time we targeted a wide net of adults ages 16 to 54. Dr. Methvin said this is an effort to inform the public of the variety of training we are doing at the Joplin Training Center.

Dr. Methvin announced we recently took possession of a free three-year lease on a 2018 Honda Accord as the president’s vehicle from Jon Wessel of Don Wessel Honda. She said this is a wonderful unique gift investment in Crowder that we are very grateful for, and we appreciate them taking care of the Crowder College wording on the vehicle as well.

She invited Board members and anyone interested to attend four free movies in February in honor of Black History Month. Dr. Methvin noted the dome on the Bell Tower has suffered some damage so it has been taken down for repair and will be returned at a later date.

Adjournment

The next regularly scheduled meeting is set for February 26, and the meeting adjourned to lunch at about 11:35 a.m.