March 12, 2008

Trustees Present: Della Brandenburger, William S. Clifford, Merilyn Douglass,

Ron Schwartz, Steve Sterling, Terri Worf

Others Present: Carol E. Ballantyne, President

Darla Daniels, Deputy Clerk

Beth Tedrow, Dean of Student Services

Dee Wigner, Dean of Administrative Services

Kevin Brungardt, Dean of Academics

Judy Crymble, Dean of Technical Education

Steve Quakenbush, Director of Information Services & Publications

Ryan Ruda, Director of Counseling/Advising Center

Cathy McKinley, Director of Human Resources

Deanna Mann, Director of Institutional Effectiveness

Linda Hill, IT Department

Winsom Lamb, Faculty Senate

Natasha Duncan, SGA President

Chip Marcy, Economics Instructor

Deb Parker, One Stop

Lesa Gilbert, Admissions Representative

Wayne Daise-Burgess, Jared Wilkes, Ben Bell, Devin Carpenter, Eldred J. King,

JR Bryant, DeMarcus Roberson, Randin Ulmer, Branden Lyons, Kirt Nichols Jr.,

Jaboa Dixon, Ryan Reid, Students representing Black Student Union

Reynaldo Mesa, Mayor of Garden City

Emily Behlmann, Garden City Telegram

5:30 p.m. Some of the group went through the cafeteria line for dinner

5:50: p.m. Regular meeting in the Broncbuster Room

5:50: p.m. and made the following comments:

funded program would let the college train up to 300 construction personnel, including carpenters, electricians, welders, plumbers, pipefitters, millwrights, boilermakers, and structural ironworkers. Over 400 applications were received, with GCCC and Fort Scott Community College being the only two from Kansas to be awarded a grant. Chair Douglass also thanked Trustees Schwartz and Worf for their lobbying efforts in Washington, DC, regarding this grant.

OPEN COMMENTS FROM PUBLIC. Chair Douglass stated that Mayor Reynaldo Mesa had requested time on the agenda to discuss the Tri-Cities group (Liberal, Dodge City, Garden City), and she turned the floor over to him. Mr. Mesa emphasized the need for the public entities in western Kansas to work together to organize lobbying efforts jointly rather than individually. He also emphasized the need for the elected officials in Garden City/Finney County to get together on a regular basis, in addition to the CEOs’ monthly meetings. He noted that the City, the County, and the College had all recently held planning retreats, and he thought it would be beneficial if everyone shared those goals and visions for the future with each other. To that end, he said Trustees would be receiving an invitation to meet with other elected officials on April 17^th.

REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION. SGA President Natasha Duncan shared highlights, as follows:

Upcoming events include: March 27: Student Universal April 1: Casino Night with a “Dress to Impress” theme April 10: Graduation speaker tryouts April 14: Kick Butts Day April 17: End-of-year picnic, ribbon cutting for recycling project
This year’s beautification project will include BBQ grills, landscaping, a flagstone garden, etc., near the Beth Tedrow Student Center

Trustees thanked Natasha and her fellow SGA officers for their tremendous work and enthusiasm!

REPORT FROM STUDENTS WHO ATTENDED THE BIG XII ACADEMIC CONFERENCE. Black Student Union President Ben Bell and Vice President Jared Wilkes explained the keynote presentations, networking, and other conference activities they participated in. One of the breakout sessions discussed the advantages and disadvantages of My Space and Facebook websites. They said they learned lessons about leadership on campus, in the classroom, and in life, and believe that as they implement these things that it will have a positive influence on other students on campus. They also noted that BSU raised funds to attend by washing cars, conducting drawings, doing yard work, and putting up Christmas lights for downtown merchants. President Ballantyne thanked the students for representing GCCC in a great fashion and thanked Lesa Gilbert for her leadership of the BSU organization!

UPDATE ON BI-ANNUAL ECONOMIC SYMPOSIUM.

Chip Marcy invited Trustees to attend the bi-annual Economic Symposium to be held April 11 and 12 on campus. This year’s theme is “The Economics of Immigration,” and the keynote speakers are Dr. James Ragan Jr. (KSU), Dr. Heather Luea (Tennessee State University) and Dolores Mesa-Lopez (lifelong resident of Finney County).

CONSENT AGENDA

Chair Douglass asked if Trustees wished to pull any items on the Consent Agenda for the purpose of discussion; no one did, so she asked for a motion approving the Consent Agenda.

***MOTION:* *Clifford moved, seconded by Worf, that the Consent Agenda items be approved as presented. Motion carried 6-0.***

Approved actions follow: APPROVED MINUTES of previous meeting, February 20, 2008, as written. SUBMITTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION TO THE AUDITOR, as presented. APPROVED PERSONNEL ACTIONS, as presented -see attached lists.

APPROVED ATM LEASE WITH COMMERCE BANK, as presented (copy of lease included in the electronic Board packet)

APPROVED PURCHASE ORDER OVER $20,000, as presented

United Power and Battery

$23,686

Power supply/line conditioning for server room

POLICY REVIEW MONITORING REPORTS and ENDS REPORT

Trustees indicated that they had received and reviewed the monitoring reports (monthly report, annual report, and the five semi-annual ENDS reports). General comments were made surrounding the questions of: Are we doing OK? and Do we need to do more? regarding the college’s five key objectives of providing Essential Skills, Academic Advancement, Work Preparedness, Personal Enrichment and Workforce Development. The answers were: Yes and Yes!

Trustee Clifford asked that, next time, the reports address the new statement in the Essential Skills END regarding “students will have essential computer skills.”

After discussion, Douglass stated that the monitoring reports were accepted as presented.

OWNERSHIP LINKAGE

The Board packet contained one piece of correspondence: thank you note from Greg Thomas expressing appreciation for the plant he received from President Ballantyne and the Trustees upon the death of his mother.

Trustee Worf stated that she had been approached by an owner asking if the college would sponsor a golf tournament for LULAC. After brief discussion, consensus was that we shouldn’t get involved in activities such as this.

BOARD PROCESS AND POLICY GOVERNANCE REVIEW CONTINUED DISCUSSION ON STRATEGIC PLANNING AND COMMUNITY FOCUS GROUP.

Douglass stated that she had continued to synthesize the notes that had been taken during the January 12^th meeting with owners. She had previously given the Trustees a handout which organized the discussion in categories such as: business and industry, attracting youth to business and industry, current business leaders, image and marketing, education, recruitment, access to community colleges, strengthening board working relationships with other area boards, and more (copy included in electronic Board packet).

Discussion was held on tying all of that information to the Board’s goals and priorities without getting into the “means.” A big part of the discussion centered on the importance of connecting the area high school youth to GCCC and making the cost affordable. Another key point was the fact that at the January 12^th meeting, the owners were basically saying “train the GCCC students and keep them here” vs “create students who are going to transfer as a junior to the four-year university.” Discussion continued, with Chair Douglass summarizing three key points that perhaps could be “wordsmithed” into Policy Governance format so the president and her staff could see the Board’s vision and priorities. Those three key points were:

Attract the youth to business and industry
Provide more opportunities to bring younger students and parents to campus
Improve accessibility to public points of contact—Fine Arts, Athletics

After discussion, the Trustees noted that another Retreat should probably be held to discuss the Policy Governance document, perhaps sometime in June. Chair Douglass and President Ballantyne will look at possible dates and report back.

REPORTS

PRESIDENT CAROL E. BALLANTYNE noted that Trustees had received numerous informational reports. A complete report is filed in the electronic Board packet.

Incidental Information – highlighted recent campus happenings.
HB 2237 (deferred maintenance, tax credits) - Administration continued to study HB 2237 in an attempt to understand the definitions of deferred maintenance, the proposed bonding program, and tax credits. The bonds would be let as 8-year bonds with a cap of $15 million per institution; projects will need to be reviewed and approved by the Kansas Board of Regents.
Scholarship offers to 2007 GCHS graduates – $159,783 offered; $111,985 accepted.

Concurrent/Dual Credit Enrollment Report – GCCC serves approximately 38 percent of the 713 juniors and seniors at GCHS; about 50% of GCHS college-bound students enroll at GCCC after high school graduation. Students taking dual or concurrent credit classes from GCCC pay the same fees as other college students; however, they are not eligible for federal college financial aid, nor are there any specially designated scholarships to assist them.
Discussion was held regarding the importance of trying to offer these students some financial help; perhaps even waiving or reducing charges if the students committed to later attending GCCC and staying in the Finney County area. Ballantyne indicated that initiatives are being studied to address the situation, such as foundations. No decisions were made, but Ballantyne said administration would continue studying this concept.

Academic All Americans – The display case honoring our Academic All Americans is “full,” and plans are being made to install another board in the Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex.
Annual Vehicle Report
Fall 2007 Scholarship Report from Endowment Association – For Fall 2007, scholarships in the amount of $208,447.50 were given to 622 students!
Evaluation of Simulation Lab – So far, nursing faculty and students have indicated that the use of the simulation mannequins has been “adequate”; the simulation experience will continue to be evaluated each semester as a part of the nursing course evaluation.

REPORT FROM FINNEY COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP.

Trustee Schwartz reported the following:

o Meetings are being held in Colorado regarding dairy processing
o Eric Depperschmidt was working with Kalvesta Implement on an expansion project
o FCEDC was receiving positive comments regarding the signs they have been putting up around the city about “progress being made for economic development”
o Differing opinions regarding the proposed Sunflower plants were still “out there”; the Governor is expected to veto this bill

UPCOMING CALENDAR DATES. Chair Douglass reviewed the following: --March 30: Open house of Southwest Kansas Fire Training Center --April 4: Annual Endowment Association Auction

Discussion was held regarding the date for the regular meeting in April. Trustee Clifford would not be able to attend the meeting on the usual second Wednesday (April 9) because of a previously scheduled out-of-town meeting. Consensus was to hold the April meeting one day earlier, i.e., Tuesday, April 8, so all Trustees could be present.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the Board, Chair Douglass adjourned the meeting at 8:15 p.m.

______________________	________________________	________________________
Darla J. Daniels	Carol E. Ballantyne, Ph.D.	Merilyn Douglass
Deputy Clerk	Secretary	Chair of the Board