MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
OF NEWTON-McDONALD COUNTIES, MISSOURI
December 3, 2018
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 10:01 a.m. on Monday, December 3, 2018, in the Buffalo Room of Tatum Hall at the McDonald County campus.
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:
Tom Burke, Interim President
Martha Nimmo, Administrative Assistant to the President
Kali Bard, Business Division Chair/Instructor
Cindy Brown, Director of Public Information
Glenn Coltharp, Vice President of Academic Affairs
Christina Cullers, Controller
Jim Cullumber, Director of Institutional Advancement
Chett Daniel, Director of Institutional Research
JP Dickey, Director of Admissions
Aaron Divine, Director, McDonald County Instructional Center
Karen Fink, Agriculture Administrative Assistant
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
Amy Rand, Vice President of Finance
Angela Seymour, Director, Cassville Instructional Center
Tiffany Slinkard, Vice President of Student Affairs
Melissa Smith, Director, Concurrent Enrollment & Joplin Advanced Training & Tech. Center
Sandra Wilson, Director of Nursing/Division Chair
Phillip Witt, Associate Vice President of Career and Technical Education
Keith Zoromski, Title III Curriculum Specialist/Social Sciences Division Chair
Jordan Larimore, The Joplin Globe
A few moments of silence were observed to prepare for the meeting.
Minutes of Previous Meetings
Minutes of the October 22 regular meeting and closed session, the four closed sessions with the presidential candidates, and the November 26 closed session were approved as written and previously distributed.
Financial Reports
Mr. Wood noted the monthly cash flow statement with the anticipated bank balance as of Nov. 30, 2018. He said there are two sets of checks for approval for October 9-31 and November 1-9. Checks in the amount of $1,555,575.21 were approved ON MOTION by Mrs. Andris, seconded by Mr. Butler, and unanimously carried. Mrs. Barnes asked about the payments to Paragon Architecture. Ms. Rand said they are for the design and development for the Cassville Instructional Center, and at this point the project is paid one hundred percent by the state. The rest of the fund balances and agency accounts were reviewed along with the various centers and accounts. Mr. Wood asked about the current revenue at the Behavior Support Center, and Ms. Rand said there is one large school district that is often two months late in payments. There were no further questions.
Personnel
Dr. Burke recommended approval of the following two resignations: Joel Lamson, Sustainable Energy Instructor, and LeeAnn Mazur, Accounts Receivable Specialist/Cashier. Mr. Wood noted that both have been with the College for nine years. A MOTION to accept their resignations with thanks was made by Dr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Vancuren and unanimously carried.
Dr. Burke recommended approval of the following ten employments: Samantha Garman, Registered Behavior Technician and Ellen Thieme, Behavior Technician, both at the Maddox Hill Behavior Support Center; Connie ‘CJ’ Estes, SkillUP Grant Case Manager; Tana Burkhart, Upward Bound Administrative Assistant; Linda ‘Lin’ Tracy, Grants Specialist; Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Hale, Talent Search Advisor; Crystal Rhodes, IT Help Desk Assistant; Kong Lee, Upward Bound Academic Coordinator; Timothy Pierce, Computer Technician, IT, and Tamara Spaulding, Concurrent Enrollment Administrative Assistant (PT). A MOTION to accept all ten employments as recommended was made by Mrs. Barnes, seconded by Mr. Butler, and unanimously carried.
Budget Modifications
Vice President Rand reviewed the Budget Summary showing the modified budget as of December 2018, what had been approved in May 2018, the previous 2017-2018 fiscal year budget, and a column showing the difference between the May and December budgets along with comments as to why the changes are needed. Ms. Rand said most of the budget increases and decreases are all due to changes in grants. She said federal TRIO grants operate on a different fiscal year than Crowder with some of them ending in August and some ending in September so those amounts are not known at the time we develop the budget in April. Ms. Rand reviewed the breakdown of revenues and expenditures, noting a new MORAP grant and an increase in all of the federal TRIO grants including their indirect funds. She said nothing changed in auxiliary or local taxes. She said there are also new grants for Fire Safety and SkillUp, a new Workforce grant, that were awarded after the budget was developed. Perkins funding went up from what had been projected. She reviewed the expenditure changes, saying overall we are increasing the budget by about $1.4M. Ms. Rand included pie charts showing what percentages of the budget are for what area for both revenues and expenses, saying this is often helpful when answering questions from the community. A MOTION to approve the modified 2018-2019 Budget as presented was made by Mr. Vancuren, seconded by Mr. Butler and unanimously carried.
LPN Program at Nevada
Dr. Phil Witt said as the former director of the Nevada Regional Technical Center (NRTC), the value of moving this LPN program to under Crowder College has been seen for at least the past five years. He said Crowder has the resources and personnel to provide an opportunity for students who want training beyond the CNA program, but are not ready to pursue an RN degree. He said the NRTC Bowman Building where this has been operating is directly across from the Crowder Nevada site. It has been operating as a clock hour program which would be converted to a 56 credit hour program at Crowder. He said there is still a good demand in the area for LPNs, and it would remain affordable at Crowder’s out-of-district rate as compared to other technical schools. He showed costs of similar programs at several area technical schools. Dr. Witt said the program is currently still operating as a technical program for the Nevada R-V school district, but they are willing to negotiate rental of the facility ‘at cost’ and pass the program to Crowder. When asked, he said the 56 credit hours would be a one-year program running fall, spring, and summer. He said these high school graduates would be eligible for federal PELL support, one-hundred percent funded if they qualify. Dr. Burke said a similar shift was made when he worked in Kansas City, and it was very successful in adding students to the college as well as fostering the bridge from the LPN to the RN program. He said projections are that over the next ten years, twenty percent of the entire workforce will be in medically related fields. Mr. Wood asked what the difference in pay is between a CNA and an LPN. Mrs. Sandy Wilson said there is about an eight dollars per hour difference which is significant. When asked, Dr. Witt said we would be acquiring three instructors from their program although we would need to provide supervision and advisors. He said although there are not LPN programs at other Crowder campuses, this would be a great way to explore having other LPN programs. Dr. Coltharp said Arkansas has a great need for LPNs so the McDonald County site would also be a great place for this type of program. He said moving it from a clock hour to a credit hour program helps the students to more easily transition into the bridge RN program. The Board thanked Dr. Witt for the great information.
Business Division Program Review
Dr. Kali Bard reviewed the faculty and staff of the Business Division noting that the number of adjunct faculty have decreased due to stiffer degree requirements for dual credit instructors as well as declining enrollment. She said they have a very active Advisory Board that meets every fall with members from many area companies, and they often help with business contests or serve as classroom speakers. Dr. Bard said there are two main business degree options with an AA in Business Administration and an AAS degree in Accounting or Management. She said the AAS degrees for Administrative Assistant and Medical Administrative Assistant was deactivated last year due to lack of numbers. She reported there are 247 business majors this Fall 2018 with eighty percent in the AA Business Administration program. She reviewed their graduates over the past three years noting there were 77 graduates in May 2018, saying their numbers for AA graduates have remained stable over the past several years. She provided data from the Business TSA exam results saying it does not accurately reflect their student body because of low participants. Brief discussion took place, and Mr. Chett Daniel said it is a requirement for performance data for the Perkins grant although it does not affect funding. Dr. Bard said we now include the TSA exam in the ACCT 202 curriculum with points attached to passing it. She showed data of the total numbers of students enrolled each semester in business courses with 937 in Fall 2018 saying these numbers correlate with the general enrollment trend. She noted their student retention from fall to spring is very good. Dr. Bard said we are actively recruiting at area high school business classes and FBLA clubs, and we will host a fall Junior/Senior Day in 2019 to showcase the Business Division and Crowder. She said we award one to three Business scholarships to high school seniors who major in Business, and they are renewable each semester for up to $2,000. The annual High School Business Contest is hosted on the Neosho campus the last Wednesday in March each year. In 2018, twenty-five high schools attended with 478 students participating in ten different contests. Dr. Bard said PBL (Phi Beta Lambda) is the collegiate equivalent to FBLA, and we allow one credit hour for participation in PBL by bringing in outside speakers and taking trips to various industries. She said PBL students compete statewide with universities as well as two-year schools, and in 2018, six students finished in the top five in the state with three of them qualifying for National competitions. Dr. Bard responded to questions, and the Board thanked her for the good report.
MCCA 54th Annual Convention
Mrs. Barnes reported the MCCA Convention was wonderful, and there was great discussion among the trustees and presidents about community colleges becoming a unified group with our story. As a result, she said MCCA will be adding more to their budget for community college marketing next year in an effort to make it more visible statewide. She said there was also discussion encouraging community colleges to do an economic impact study to get a clearer picture of what our strengths and weaknesses are and how we impact our area. Mrs. Andris said OTC reported that currently their students are about fifty percent transfer students and fifty percent in technical fields; they expect in five years to have seventy-five percent in technical fields with only twenty-five percent in transfer degrees. She said it was reported that several community colleges in the state had PELL audits done in which they received hefty fines, and all colleges should expect to have a federal Title IV audit done at some point. Dr. Coltharp said the change we made last year to become an ‘attendance taking school’ was made in an effort to better meet federal stipulations. Mrs. Rand said our auditors do review our federal funding and grants in their overall audit. Mrs. Andris said it sounded like the state is in better financial shape this year so no budget withholds are expected at this time. She said MCCA membership numbers are going up. Mrs. Karen Fink said there are five colleges paying their entire employee membership dues which has helped the numbers to increase. Mrs. Andris said the best presentation she attended was by Keith Zoromski about the cohort effort that we are undertaking. Mr. Zoromski said that is part of our Title III project. Mr. Vancuren said he attended a presentation on campus safety, and it was pointed out that there are some simple things that can be done on campuses that can help prepare students and faculty for incidents. He said our security personnel should be updated and trained for these types of events. Mr. Vancuren said the keynote speaker was very compelling this year as well. Mr. Wood said the world of community colleges nationwide is going to change significantly in the next few years to greatly emphasize technical education and workforce development. He said where the funding is going to come from to get us there is going to be very challenging.
Mrs Fink thanked the Board for supporting her as she chaired the MCCA Board, and also for reporting out each year about the Convention. She said there were 543 attendees at this important event this year. She thanked those from Crowder who provided presentations including Keith Zoromski, Christina Cullers and Joseph Brenner. Mrs. Fink said Keith Zoromski received the Excellence in Teaching Award for 2017-18 and Jay Wilkins received the Senior Service Award. She reported that Abby Tribble will be the vice chair of the Professional Staff department for the next three years. Mrs. Fink will remain on the MCCA Board as past chair. She said the 2019 MCCA Convention is scheduled for November 6-9 in Kansas City. She thanked the Board again for supporting her over the past twelve years that she has been active in MCCA which has been a great experience. Mr. Wood thanked her for serving and for providing a great Convention.
President’s Update
Dr. Burke said MCCA will need to take the lead in marketing community colleges in the future, and it is clear that career and technical education is becoming more central to our mission. He invited members to attend a check presentation event on December 4 at 10:00 a.m. at the Joplin ATTC. Mr. Cullumber said we will be receiving $17,500 from the Arvest Foundation to support hiring an additional part-time welding instructor for the spring semester in Joplin. Dr. Burke said this is due to the increased demand, and these students will be able to start jobs at about $50,000 per year. He said also tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. will be the LEED Platinum Celebration at the MARET Center, and the Foundation Board will meet on December 10 at 4:00 p.m. in the Newton Hall Conference Room. Dr. Burke reported the Cassville Nurses Pinning ceremony will take place in Cassville on December 14 at 6:00 p.m., and the Neosho Nurses Pinning will be held in the Sneller Gym on December 15 at 1:00 p.m. He said our nursing students often receive four or more job offers when they graduate. Dr. Burke said the employee Holiday Buffet will take place on December 10 at 5:30 p.m. in the Wright Center, and Graduation will be held on December 15 at 10:00 a.m. in the Sneller Gym. Mr. Wood and the Board thanked Dr. Burke for his service as Interim President over the past few months saying the experience he brought to Crowder has been invaluable. Attendees applauded in appreciation.
Selection of Next President of Crowder College
Mr. Wood said the president selection process started last spring with getting Interim President Dr. Burke on board followed by getting the Search Committee set up with over twenty people including Board members, faculty, staff, and community members. He thanked Gale Marsh, Presidential Search Coordinator, and Michelle Paul, HR Director, for their assistance directing the Committee that first met in May, and applications were received through the end of September. He said the applications were filtered to about thirty total that were reviewed by the Search Committee in October, and four outstanding finalists were selected to interview. He said the candidates were Dr. Julie Murray-Jenson from Oregon, Dr. Harold Arnett from Kansas, Dr. Glenn Coltharp from Crowder College, and Dr. Beatriz Joseph from San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Wood said all four candidates came to campus for interviews and also presented public forums. He said the Board met in closed session on November 26 to consider who would be the next president. He said we reviewed what Crowder was looking for in a president as was listed on the Crowder website under ‘Challenges and Opportunities’ for an individual to: have an understanding and commitment to Crowder’s mission, vision and values; the concept of servant leadership and the Crowder Family; to pursue service to increase numbers of people with high quality educational and cultural offerings; to be able to balance the growth, worth and dignity of all people at Crowder College with the continuous pursuit of technological and educational advancement and skills; to be able to create and manage a highly effective communication network within the college service area and at each site; and to lead in understanding the role of education relative to the business community through a belief in entrepreneurship, expansion of the services of the MARET Center, and the advancement of servant leadership. Mr. Wood said the Board came to a consensus fairly quickly that there was one candidate who can take us into the future at Crowder College. He called for a motion to offer a contract to the next president of Crowder College. Dr. Chapman MOVED that we offer the position of President of Crowder College to Dr. Glenn Coltharp; Mr. Vancuren seconded the motion, and it was unanimously carried. There was enthusiastic applause for Dr. Coltharp and the Board’s decision.
Closed Session and Adjournment
Mr. Wood called for a motion to go into closed session with Dr. Tom Burke and Dr. Glenn Coltharp. At 11:23 a.m., a MOTION to go into closed session in accordance with RSMo 610.021 to discuss personnel was made by Mr. Butler, seconded by Dr. Chapman and passed unanimously on the following roll call vote:
Butler: Yes Barnes: Yes Chapman: Yes
Vancuren: Yes Andris: Yes Wood: Yes
The closed session was held in the Cornerstone Bank Conference Room where discussion took place with Dr. Burke and Dr. Coltharp. Following discussion, a MOTION was made by Mr. Butler to approve a contract to hire Dr. Glenn Coltharp as Crowder College President, pursuant to formal approval of terms of the contract; the motion was seconded by Mrs. Andris, and unanimously carried. At 12:14 p.m., a MOTION to adjourn the closed session was made by Dr. Chapman, seconded by Mrs. Barnes and unanimously carried on the following roll call vote:
Wood: Yes Butler: Yes Chapman: Yes
Barnes: Yes Andris: Yes Vancuren: Yes
With no further action, the meeting adjourned to lunch in the Buffalo Room.
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