1 2 3 4 SUFFOLK COMMUNITY COLLEGE 5 6 BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING 7 8 Grant Campus Captree Commons, Room 113A 9 Brentwood, New York 10 September 18, 2008 8:30 a.m. 11 12 13 BOARD MEMBERS: 14 SHIRLEY PIPPINS, Ph.D., SCC President WILLIAM D. MOORE, Chairman 15 16 JERRY KANE ERNESTO MATTACE, JR. 17 BELINDA ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN WALTER C. HAZLITT 18 DAVID OCHOA AVETTE D. WARE 19 PAUL V. PONTIERI, JR LORI CORRAR 20 FRANK C. TROTTA 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 2 (Recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance) 3 THE CHAIRMAN: Good morning. We are up to 4 Item C. We welcome everyone. Good morning. We have 5 got a special presentation. Everyone knows or sort of 6 knows that a lot of activities are planned for the 7 geographic area in which this campus is located. We had 8 a presentation back in August or July. It was suggested 9 that we might want to hear more about what is planned 10 for the neighborhood. 11 George, do you want to introduce our guests? 12 MR. GATTA: I'm sure the Board has read from 13 the account in the media; many of you may know Jerry 14 Wolkoff and his team. Heartland Center is a major 15 development. He and his son and team will discuss it 16 this morning. One of the aspects of the discuss is the 17 widening of Wicks Road, which will help access to the 18 campus as well as the entire Brentwood corridor. 19 With that, Jerry and his team can give us a 20 presentation on the project. 21 MR. D. WOLKOFF: Good morning. David 22 Wolkoff. Heartland Town Square will be the foremost 23 example of smart growth in the nation, meeting a demand 24 for affordable and housing job creation and reducing 25 traffic and use of efficient technology that is 3 1 2 essential to Long Island's future. Heartland has the 3 vision bring Long Island a project with more units of 4 affordable housing than all that had been built in 5 decades, creating more permanent jobs than any other 6 project in Suffolk history. 7 It addresses the needs that the 2008 Long 8 Island index had brought up. It will create a positive 9 social waterfall effect. It will produce nine thousand 10 new housing units, twenty-three percent of which will be 11 affordable. This will a walkable, vibrant downtown, 12 will attract our youth and empty nesters to remain on 13 the Island. That will create a strong and stable tax 14 base with over twenty thousand permanent jobs and a 15 large and diverse labor pool that will encourage 16 corporations to locate and stay on Long Island. 17 Heartland's density and close proximity to 18 public transportation will encourage its residents to 19 either drive considerably less or not need an automobile 20 at all. The development will change attitudes and 21 behaviors, but it will also have to deal with existing 22 patterns of transportation. Studies indicate that the 23 residents in a compact neighborhood drive twenty to 24 thirty percent less than residents of a neighborhood 25 half as dense. Also, a National Personal Transportation 4 1 2 survey found doubling density decreases the number of 3 miles people drive by thirty-eight percent. Given these 4 facts, extensive thought from some of the nation's 5 premier development and traffic consultants, has led to 6 a package of ideas to reduse the automobile traffic 7 impact of the project. 8 In the new paradigm offered by Heartland, 9 environmental concerns, social opportunity, job creation 10 all work together to enhance each other. Heartland's 11 ambition is not to adjust the reality on Long Island, 12 but to create and inspire a new reality. The public 13 benefits, age and income mix, recreational spaces, art, 14 transportation alternatives, are the project's most 15 salient features. 16 (Commencement of Power Point presentation) 17 Long Island has developed in a sprawl pattern 18 that had negative impacts. Our proposition is to bring 19 these four essential elements of community together. 20 As we all know, Heartland Town Square will be 21 ideally located in the center of Long Island, located in 22 the center of Long Island. Our plan, as mentioned 23 before, is to be the foremost example of smart growth in 24 the nation. We plan to take an under utilized area and 25 turn it into a thriving community that is aesthetically 5 1 2 pleasing and self-contained. 3 In a recent past cover article in the Wall 4 Street Journal, it alluded to the fact that now that gas 5 is nearly four dollars a gallon, it's important that 6 suburbia look into building higher density, smart growth 7 communities. Heartland Square will offer its residents 8 all they need and desire in a walkable distance. As far 9 as flexible zoning, it will also offer Long Island what 10 has sorely been lacking, which is a safe night life 11 experience where residents don't have to drive to 12 socialize. 13 Traffic will be dealt with on two levels; the 14 first is reducing the number of trips associated with 15 resident, visitor and employee activity. The second is 16 managing the impacts that cars associated with Heartland 17 bring. Heartland will adopt a specific policy to 18 discourage automobile ownership by its residents. 19 Residents will be provided one convenient parking spot 20 as of right. Those residents seeking a second spot will 21 be assigned to satellite spaces that will not be as 22 convenient. 23 New York State Department of Transportation 24 Council's large employers on Travel Demand Management, 25 or TDM. The policies described above reflect one of 6 1 2 their TDM recommendations. Another is for specific 3 businesses to coordinate efficient travel, such as 4 encouraging carpooling through incentives. Heartland 5 will offer concierge services similar to that found in 6 the finer hotels. They will be experts in offering 7 advice on public transport, buses, bicycle options, Zip 8 cars, and will arrange carpools for employees and 9 residents. 10 The Heartland project will be compact and 11 active. Street markets, outdoor cafes, art 12 performances, sidewalk commerce and benches will 13 encourage street life. The streetscapes will be 14 magnificent, using Belgian block and high end 15 landscaping. The town's internal economic and social 16 offerings will encourage entice residents to stay within 17 its borders. By being only three quarters of a mile 18 from end to end, makes it convenient to walk from end to 19 end. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week a 20 trolley-like electric bus service will circulate through 21 Heartland Town Square and serve as direct shuttle to the 22 Deer Park train station. It will make it easy and 23 efficient, not to mention energy efficient, for the 24 employees and employers getting to their jobs and 25 amenities on site. 7 1 2 However, Heartland will go beyond just the 3 shopping, eating and working to enhance a community 4 experience. Will offer plazas and event spaces for 5 people to congregate to watch scheduled events, or just 6 congregate. All of Heartland's offerings, as mentioned, 7 have been organized to facilitate the ease of 8 pedestrians. The nucleus of such will be the main 9 street, placating the residents' needs and desires with 10 the best shops and restaurants in an ideal setting. 11 There will also an art center to round out the complete 12 cultural experience with exhibitions and classes. 13 This active lifestyle community is designed to 14 attract the very demographic of people that are most 15 likely to use bicycles. Heartland Town Square will be 16 designed to accommodate bicycles, and security racks 17 will be provided throughout the community. A variety of 18 housing choices will be offered to those wishing to live 19 in Heartland. As mentioned, Heartland Town Square 20 itself be will be a job center with over twenty thousand 21 jobs on site. 22 Heartland is ideally situated in terms of 23 public transportation. In addition to being moments 24 from the Long Island Railroad station in Deer Park. 25 There are two public bus routes that currently run 8 1 2 directly through the property, as well as other routes 3 that are in close proximity. Between rail and bus 4 routes, virtually every major destination on Long Island 5 is accessible. Also Heartland residents will have 6 multiple job centers within a ten minute radius; 7 therefore, public transportation may be the preferred 8 way for residents to get to Hauppauge Industrial Park, 9 with an estimated fifty-five thousand jobs, Heartland 10 Business Center, with an estimated five thousand jobs, 11 county and state centers, with an estimated two thousand 12 jobs, Tanger outlets, with an estimated one thousand 13 jobs and of course Suffolk Community College Western 14 Campus, with an estimated seventy-five hundred faculty 15 and students. 16 It is time to take the steps necessary to 17 immediately implement this project to help ensure a 18 prosperous future on Long Island. We are committed and 19 excited to make sure Long Island remains vibrant and 20 continues to be one of the preeminent areas in the 21 country. Thank you. 22 MR. J. WOLKOFF: In reality, the bottom line 23 is we're losing our young people to other places. We 24 have a tremendous problem with housing and the problem 25 with our young people is that they don't have a 9 1 2 lifestyle. I mean, unfortunately, our young people from 3 the ages of twenty-two to twenty-eight that live between 4 the exits of forty-nine and fifty-eight, it's probably 5 the most boring place in the world to live. Think about 6 it. There is no place for them to do anything at 7 night. 8 The suburban life for a young person is 9 extremely boring. They want to go out at eight-thirty 10 at night on a night like tonight. Most of the 11 restaurants are closed. If you do go to them, they have 12 maybe two or four people there. There is no 13 excitement. This here would hopefully bring excitement 14 to a suburban area. People don't want to hear bring a 15 little Manhattan to a suburban area. People today are 16 different from when I was growing up, and even my son 17 David. With the Internet and computers, they demand a 18 certain lifestyle. If they do not get this, they're out 19 of here. 20 We have two segments of the population that 21 have been ignored, in a sense. One is young people. 22 They have no apartments. A twenty-three or twenty-four 23 year old, the best they can think of is buying a house 24 or garden apartment. Who wants to buy a house at 25 twenty-three years old? And the next thing is an 10 1 2 apartment. If they get an apartment, it's a bedroom in 3 somebody's house or a garden apartment. The worst part 4 is, there is no lifestyle. When they come back from 5 work they have to get in their car to do anything. 6 This type of town we're thinking of building, 7 if you don't work there and come home, you park your car 8 and you can walk. You don't need that car any more 9 until the next day or next week. As David said, my son, 10 we have this thing called a Zip car that you rent by the 11 hour. You don't need it for the whole day. That is 12 important because in order to get into that program you 13 have to be attached to a university. A university, the 14 Zip cars get enthralled with university. In order for 15 me to have Zip cars out here, I have to sit down with 16 somebody in the university and say look, how can they 17 get this together. We are willing to pay for 18 everything, but it has to be attached to a university 19 because they're the ones, they figure the students would 20 use the cars. 21 The beauty part about this, which is 22 important, I believe, for Suffolk Community College, is 23 A, we can provide housing for students that don't have 24 housing here. B, we can provide housing for faculty 25 that has difficulty for you people to attract young 11 1 2 faculty that may not live in the area, that are single, 3 that want an apartment, they don't want to buy a house 4 and they want to have an activity when they finish work. 5 They want to be able to go to a restaurant. They want 6 to be able to see people. 7 On Long Island, suburban area, you go home, 8 you don't see anybody. You go out and take a walk, you 9 see the same guy you have seen for thirty years. Here 10 you go out, you see literally thousands of people 11 walking. It's mind boggling how the suburban areas 12 survived all these years, but it's not going to happen 13 for us. Unfortunately, on Long Island, we are a 14 dead-ended area. We have our young people leaving. We 15 have our empty nesters retiring in the next fifteen 16 years and we are going to have a tremendous gap. 17 If we don't keep our young people here, we are 18 going to have a big problem on Long Island. Hopefully, 19 this community, and I know this type of community will 20 attract our young people and hopefully our empty nester 21 that doesn't need a three or four bedroom house any 22 more, to move into an apartment. Just think of our 23 empty nester that has a three or four bedroom house, 24 doesn't need it. That house is costing over a thousand 25 dollars a month to maintain. That's twelve thousand 12 1 2 dollars a year for taxes, insurance and maintenance. He 3 can sell his house, put it into some sort of secure 4 institution -- this will blow over, I assure you -- get 5 himself a five percent return. Let's say he sells his 6 house between four and five hundred thousand. Get an 7 income of twenty-five thousand dollars, rent an 8 apartment for five hundred dollars a month. Now he can 9 enjoy his life. Make it easier, go out to eat, go on 10 vacation, you can go to Florida, wherever you want to 11 go. 12 Don't leave us. I don't want that empty 13 nester to go down to Florida and think that's the 14 panacea and have some of the children here and he 15 doesn't get to see his grandchildren. I believe this is 16 not something that should happen. I believe it's a 17 necessity for us today on Long Island. It's a must. If 18 we don't get developments like this happening, I'm 19 telling you, we're going to be having problems. 20 Fifteen years ago, I went up to Buffalo and 21 Rochester. I was invited to see the problems they were 22 starting to have there. They were losing some of their 23 manufacturers. I build business parks. And from my 24 business parks, I went up there, I said, fellas, you 25 guys are going to have a problem. You're going to lose 13 1 2 more and more. You go up to Rochester now, it's 3 desolate, it's dead. 4 I tell you now, if we don't attract our young 5 people and keep them here, we're going to have a 6 problem. Twenty years ago when we lost our defense 7 industry, what we had here was our brains. I was able 8 to go out to places like Jersey and Boston and attract 9 companies to come here. I said, listen, we have great 10 engineers, we have brains here. We have the smartest 11 people and they lost their job because defense left us. 12 Industry came to me. I took them from other places 13 because we had the smart labor force. 14 In fifteen years, we don't have that smart 15 labor force, industry is going to leave. It's important 16 for us to keep our young people here. 17 TRUSTEE OCHOA: I have a question. David, 18 you mentioned that you're going to build -- the plans 19 calls for some nine thousand new units. How many of 20 those are affordable? 21 MR. J. WOLKOFF: Twenty-three percent, over 22 two thousand. 23 TRUSTEE OCHOA: You mentioned something that 24 interested me. You said fully developed you might have 25 the potential of having some twenty thousand jobs on 14 1 2 site or within the perimeter. Do you have any idea of 3 the areas that one would draw, what kind of jobs? 4 MR. J. WOLKOFF: Perfect for your school. We 5 have three million square feet of office space. In this 6 office space, because it's a town, so you need office 7 space, you need entertainment. If you take three 8 million, three feet rule of thumb, between four and five 9 to one per square feet. It's fifteen thousand people 10 are going to work there. That is how you have to 11 provide for parking. So anywhere from twelve to fifteen 12 thousand people, just not office space. You have 13 secretaries, management, which is perfect for the 14 college kids. It's perfect for your area. I mean, 15 we're in an area, which is Brentwood, it's a depressed 16 area. It's important to provide jobs for our young 17 people in the Brentwood area. 18 We don't have enough of this industry, meaning 19 office space, for our young people to be able to get 20 jobs. This is perfect for us in the Brentwood area, so 21 our young people have can see a future of them getting 22 better jobs, better places. 23 TRUSTEE OCHOA: Right now you have, in the 24 Heartland complex, a lot of jobs that are indexed to 25 industry, and I guess my hope would be that the jobs 15 1 2 that are indexed to this project might be something much 3 higher. 4 MR. J. WOLKOFF: It is when you go to office 5 space, it's different than warehouse. I have over four 6 million square feet now in the business park, over four 7 million square feet in the Hauppauge park. This is 8 warehousing and some office. Here you have office and 9 also a million square feet of retail, so you have the 10 empty nester that will have part-time jobs, salesmen, 11 cashiers that are going to be working. This is a town 12 that has a perfect fit for everybody. 13 As I said earlier, I believe it's a necessity, 14 it's a must that we build something like this. 15 MR. D. WOLKOFF: The Long Island Index, which 16 we had nothing do with, it really speaks to this 17 project. If you go through their list, they break -- 18 it's a very thick book, but they break out some major 19 points to attest to what my father was saying. From 20 1990 to 2006, the number of twenty-five to thirty-four 21 year olds declined on Long Island by thirty-four percent 22 compared to eight percent nationally. Eighty-eight 23 percent of Long Islanders consider the lack of 24 affordable housing a serious problem. 25 DR. PIPPINS: How would you define affordable 16 1 2 housing? 3 MR. J. WOLKOFF: A family of four cannot earn 4 more than eighty thousand dollars. It's an index. That 5 is -- odds are we're not going to get a family of four, 6 we are going to have one and two bedrooms. It's mostly 7 geared for our empty nester. Three segments of our 8 population, our young people, empty nester and we have a 9 tremendous amount of divorcees that have no place to go 10 or meet people. What does that mean? Efficiency 11 apartments, one bedroom and no more than two bedroom. 12 If somebody wants more than two bedroom, to put two 13 apartments together, they have to be close to my age, we 14 would give them a ten year lease and make it a little 15 larger. The reason we have two and some three bedrooms 16 is that the grandparents would like to have their 17 children visit them and stay over and things like that. 18 To get back to your question again on that, 19 we're trying to raise the bar, from the eighty-four 20 thousand up to a hundred twenty thousand because there 21 are single people, people that can earn thirty-five, 22 forty thousand and still haven't got enough money to 23 take a nice apartment. If we can raise that bar, get 24 the municipality to agree to this, I say then somebody 25 making thirty-five to forty thousand can qualify for an 17 1 2 affordable house. 3 Let me make this perfectly clear to everybody 4 so you understand this. Affordability to us, you will 5 not know the difference. We will not segment an 6 affordable apartment different than a regular 7 apartment. Whatever regular apartment will have, an 8 affordable apartment will have. As long as I'm building 9 this apartment, nobody will ever know. I grew up poor, 10 so I understand being segmented out and having to have a 11 card to show I couldn't afford lunch when I was in high 12 school. As long as my son and I build it, every 13 apartment will be the same. Nobody will know what 14 somebody earns, nobody will go into a building and say 15 there is affordable in it. You will not know one 16 apartment from the other. I want to make that perfectly 17 clear. 18 The reason why I went to twenty-three percent, 19 because there is a balance. I don't know what that 20 balance is, but the balance is that the people that we 21 consider somewhat affordable, this will not be any 22 Section 8. Somebody has to work, earn a living but 23 can't afford to get into that thirty-five or forty 24 thousand dollar class range. We want this to be what we 25 consider looking upscale, yet everybody can afford to 18 1 2 live there. When you go over a certain percentage, that 3 may -- I hate to use this thing, it's not going to be 4 what we consider Lefrak City. That can topple. Do 5 something where it creates a bad thing. 6 Well, working with the unions to make this 7 somewhat where the average person, even when you're not 8 affordable, to be able to live here. Even if you're not 9 an affordable thing, the average -- 10 MR. D. WOLKOFF: (Interposing) We're looking 11 for an ideal social mix. I don't think anybody can 12 create Shangri La, but we're trying and envisioning a 13 really good group mix. 14 DR. PIPPINS: What would be the price be? 15 MR. J. WOLKOFF: I'm laughing. I'll tell you 16 why. Three years ago, it was a whole lot cheaper than 17 now. If they let me build it three years ago, it would 18 be a whole lot cheaper. Who knows what the financing 19 will be tomorrow? Hopefully, it will be in the range. 20 The idea is we build it right there. The whole idea is 21 to keep our young people here. 22 DR. PIPPINS: The population that you're 23 talking, about we're losing in terms of students, are 24 there any condominiums there? 25 MR. J. WOLKOFF: Ninety percent will be 19 1 2 rentals. That is what we're lacking. Ten percent will 3 be sales. The reason we made ten percent sales, so my 4 children and my grandchildren, the ones that own, they 5 will complain to make sure everything is made good 6 forever. 7 DR. PIPPINS: Affordable housing for faculty 8 is a real issue. I don't know if you were going to have 9 homes. 10 MR. J. WOLKOFF: Basically apartments. 11 TRUSTEE MATTACE: The Zip cars you were 12 talking about, you said you have to be affiliated with a 13 university. 14 MR. J. WOLKOFF: As we sit here now, yes. 15 TRUSTEE MATTACE: Are they restricted to your 16 area or can students use them back and forth? 17 MR. J. WOLKOFF: I'll give you a brief 18 synopsis of it. The Zip car is, you make no money on 19 it. What they do is charge you fifteen hundred dollars 20 a month perfect car. Now we would charge the people 21 that live within our development, which they do 22 generally, nine dollars an hour to lease it. This is 23 normal. That is going to be as of now. That includes 24 gas, insurance and everything, so the person, for nine 25 dollars an hour, doesn't have to put in gas. 20 1 2 What happened in the past year, if you go to 3 the university with the Zip cars, that is normal, like 4 if you went into the city, they may be twelve or 5 thirteen dollars an hour. We garage it and keep it. 6 They work it out with the university. They charge the 7 fifteen an hour. By the nine dollars an hour, hopefully 8 you will you bring in the fifteen hundred dollars a 9 month. If you don't, you're out two or three hundred 10 dollars. If you happen to bring in eighteen hundred 11 dollars a month for that car, the university or I get 12 nothing; we get that car for free. For fifteen hundred 13 dollars it was offered and covered and they get the 14 three hundred dollars. 15 It is not a profit making thing, it's a 16 convenience. It's important, because I believe that we 17 are going to have a lot of young people, like in 18 Manhattan two of them will rent an apartment together. 19 What you have, a person, I believe coming to this 20 development at the beginning will have a car. You will 21 have two coming together, two will have a car. Within a 22 year they will find you don't need a car because you 23 walk everywhere. Either one will keep a car and/or they 24 will go into the Zip car and rent it when they need it. 25 We will have twenty-six -- over twenty 21 1 2 thousand, my economic studies show we will have 3 twenty-six thousand people working there full-time. I 4 figure we will have any where between fifteen and 5 eighteen thousand people living there. With that, we 6 will have a tremendous amount of people working and 7 living and walking up and back. So, the need of a car 8 won't be a necessity like it is today. 9 It's mind boggling. David grew up in New 10 York. If I ask anybody probably here or somebody how 11 important a car is, if I said, "you have your choice, 12 you can't drive any more or you can drive all you want 13 but you have to give up your right leg;" no brainer, you 14 can have my right leg. I got to drive. I said that to 15 my son he said "what, are you nuts." It's going to -- 16 it's silly, it's going to take time to educate our young 17 people that you can use mass transportation. 18 Smart growth works if you have public 19 transportation. It doesn't work as well or very little 20 unless you have public transportation. You go to 21 Washington, they will let you densify as much as you 22 want as long as you're near a train. Here we have the 23 Deer Park station that takes you less than an hour to 24 get into New York. We have buses coming through Pilgrim 25 State today. If we can educate our young people to 22 1 2 start using the public transportation more often, that 3 you can get somewhere and hopefully the public 4 transportation with the bus system will get a little 5 better as they see ridership being used. There is no 6 question in my mind that they will start using it. You 7 can take a bus in Pilgrim State almost anywhere in 8 Suffolk County, to 110, the courthouse. 9 Nobody is going to use a bus when you come out 10 of your house and there is a car sitting on your 11 driveway. We are not going to make it convenient. 12 Imagine what happened in this day and age. I can see by 13 the people sitting here now when you leave your house 14 today you're lucky if you don't have to move two or 15 three cars to get to your car. Either your kids are 16 behind you because they came in late and you don't know 17 where they left the key, and you have to move cars to 18 get to your car. It's insane. As David alluded 19 earlier, if you have two cars, we're only giving you one 20 car per apartment. If you have two cars in an apartment 21 you're going to have to walk to the other side. If you 22 live here you have to walk down here to get to your car, 23 you're going to have to walk four or five blocks to get 24 to it. It will be an inconvenience. Hopefully you will 25 start thinking twice before you get to that second car. 23 1 2 THE CHAIRMAN: The passion is great. It's a 3 great idea. I visited a self-contained community in 4 Baltimore. That didn't work out so great. 5 MR. J. WOLKOFF: You're talking about ten 6 thousand acres. You need a car to get around that 7 thing. 8 THE CHAIRMAN: This is exactly what Long 9 Island needs. I share your passion to the smart growth 10 idea. To round it out, any more questions from the 11 Board? Thank you for coming in. 12 Entertain a motion to go into executive 13 session. 14 TRUSTEE KANE: Move. 15 TRUSTEE MATTACE: Second. 16 (The Board went into executive session at 9:15 17 a.m. The meeting resumed at 10:00 a.m.) 18 THE CHAIRMAN: We are wearing hats as 19 directors of the association. I'll entertain a motion 20 to approve the minutes of the August 21st Board of 21 Directors meeting. 22 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: So move. 23 TRUSTEE MATTACE: Second. 24 THE CHAIRMAN: We have a resolution 25 reappointing two trustees of this year. Entertain a 24 1 2 motion to approve that resolution. 3 TRUSTEE KANE: Move. 4 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Second. 5 THE CHAIRMAN: Motion to adjourn our 6 directors meeting. 7 TRUSTEE MATTACE: So move. 8 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Second. 9 THE CHAIRMAN: Reopen the trustees meeting. 10 Motion to approve the minutes of the August 21st Board 11 of Trustees meeting. 12 TRUSTEE MATTACE: So move. 13 TRUSTEE WARE: Second. 14 THE CHAIRMAN: All approved. Board of 15 Trustees Resolutions 2008.54 through 60, inclusive. 16 I'll drew your attention to Item 7. There is one change 17 that is in your packet related to the spotlights. I 18 will shed light on that for you. Ha, ha, ha. 19 Other than that piece of data, are there any 20 other comments, questions? Are we prepared to act on 21 these resolutions? 22 TRUSTEE OCHOA: Move to approve Resolution 23 2008.54 through 60 as amended on Item 7. 24 TRUSTEE KANE: Second. 25 THE CHAIRMAN: All in favor? Approved. 25 1 2 College finance report. 3 MR. STEIN: In your packet there is a finance 4 report with the estimates for the year ending August 5 31st '08. We're still closing the books, but the 6 estimate is in a positive range of about four hundred 7 ninety-three thousand dollars. That is beyond the carry 8 over that we had taken into consideration at the 9 beginning of the year. 10 As far as the new year, we are still in the 11 first month, so I don't have a report for you for the 12 new year. That will come next month. As a further 13 comment finance situation, it's no secret as to what is 14 going on on Wall Street and the concern of the State of 15 New York is having with respect to where it stands. And 16 there is a good possibility that beyond actions that 17 have already been taken there will probably be 18 additional State actions which, in fact, may open the 19 current year that we're in. 20 We have planned for that. We have taken 21 steps. We are holding back on expenditures pending 22 activity from the State so that we can deal with the 23 situation. I just wanted to advise the Board of that. 24 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Enrollment. 25 MR. STEIN: At the moment, enrollment is up. 26 1 2 In comparison to last year at this time, it's over four 3 percent. We have to wait for the census data to see 4 where that finally comes out. Students do drop out. We 5 will see where that comes out. 6 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Is that putting stress on 7 the system, the increase? 8 MR. STEIN: The campuses have done miraculous 9 work in the enrollment process and placement of students 10 in classes. I think they are, all three campuses are to 11 be congratulated. 12 TRUSTEE KANE: When you say over four 13 percent, you're talking over five hundred students. 14 MR. STEIN: Well over five hundred. It's 15 been quite a task, especially in light of the trials and 16 tribulations that we're facing by putting in a brand new 17 system. The banner system, it's no secret it's having 18 its debugging problems, it's causing dilemmas. The 19 staff, with all the frustration and aggravation and 20 anger, has pulled through and they are to be 21 congratulated and it's not over yet. 22 THE CHAIRMAN: They can still change courses 23 at this point? There is a lot more banner work to be 24 done. 25 MR. STEIN: It's the implementation process. 27 1 2 That is where we're at. 3 THE CHAIRMAN: Any other questions for Chuck 4 at this point? Couple of items on my report, one of 5 which is which we let some time to go by. June is the 6 time of year in which the Board is to elect its 7 officers. We didn't do it in June and we didn't meet in 8 July and we had a shortened agenda and attendance in 9 August. Here we are in September. It's the time to 10 consider elections. We can do it today or next month, 11 if you wish. Officers to the Board, what is your 12 pleasure? 13 TRUSTEE MATTACE: I would like to move to 14 nominate the current slate to continue their service. 15 THE CHAIRMAN: Any other names to put up? 16 TRUSTEE TROTTA: I would like to second 17 that. 18 THE CHAIRMAN: No other names? Very well, entertain a 19 motion to elect the officers of the current slate. Such 20 a motion exists. 21 TRUSTEE MATTACE: I made it already. 22 TRUSTEE WARE: Second. 23 THE CHAIRMAN: All in favor? Aye. In your 24 packet is the revised 2009 Board of Trustees meeting 25 schedule. The only change from what you have seen 28 1 2 before is the February meeting was bumped from a 3 Thursday to a Wednesday. I said that is going to get us 4 all irregular and out of sorts, but there was a good 5 reason given, but right now I don't remember what it 6 was, but I said go ahead and print it out that way. 7 THE FLOOR: The 11th is a holiday. 8 THE CHAIRMAN: That's right, February 12th is 9 President's Day. We want everyone who wants to be at 10 the meetings to be at the meetings. 11 TRUSTEE KANE: Do we have a retreat coming 12 up? 13 THE CHAIRMAN: We do, it's in November 20th. 14 That is for next year. More information will come out 15 on this year's retreat soon because the calendars were 16 rolling by very fast. 17 This board has talked about committees in the 18 past. In your packet are some committee mission 19 statements. My recollection is, I didn't bring the 20 sheet with me, I'll advise you, all our current bylaws 21 give your board chair the authority to name people to 22 those committees. I will go through a process of 23 discernment and thought, if you want. 24 TRUSTEE KANE: Can we vote again on the 25 Chair? (Laughter) 29 1 2 THE CHAIRMAN: From what people expressed 3 their interest and concerns about in the past, we will 4 put together the recommendations. If you have a real 5 hard time, when I get hold of you, you can complain and 6 I'll listen. No promises. We will see how this works 7 and how the committees I think can function 8 telephonically, if that is how they want to do it. They 9 can meet before board meetings. We will figure out how 10 to make this work. It's not something we have done on 11 an ad hoc basis in the past. We will try and structure 12 it more formally. I will get in touch with you very 13 shortly to let you know. 14 TRUSTEE KANE: Can we volunteer for 15 committees? 16 THE CHAIRMAN: You already did, actually. I 17 have that list from way back. I will send out my 18 recommendations to you. You can fire back to me and say 19 I don't think so. We will do it that way. 20 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: The committee being 21 separate from regular the Board meeting, are we entitled 22 to -- 23 THE CHAIRMAN: (Interposing) It's a formal 24 committee recognized by our bylaws, so you are. 25 TRUSTEE MATTACE: Reimbursement for your telephone 30 1 2 call as well? 3 THE CHAIRMAN: Anything else from around the 4 table here? 5 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Entitled to the fifty-nine 6 -- 7 THE CHAIRMAN: Anything else from the Board? 8 TRUSTEE OCHOA: Mary Lou is not here. Make 9 sure that today in the New York Times there is an 10 article on student honors. It's an important article 11 that we should share with the trustees. I neglected to 12 download it and make copies, but it would be helpful. A 13 down economy significantly impacts enrollment in 14 colleges, institutions of higher learning. 15 Significantly in a prior conversation this 16 morning with Walter, we were talking about the state of 17 the economy and from his perspective how things were 18 becoming tougher. This is the toughest he's seen since 19 the depression, so one predicts that a year from now or 20 two years from now there is going to be a significant 21 change in the economy because the situation is so 22 desperate. The Pell grants in particular are under 23 funded today and projection is that the level is six 24 billion dollars. 25 It may be important for this board to 31 1 2 understand that, and your colleagues to understand that 3 in the field, in the classroom, it might be important 4 for us to weigh in on the Congressional hearing as a 5 board and the associations that you are active in on our 6 behalf to make this an important issue. The demands on 7 student aid at this college are going to increase by 8 geometric proportions, so this whole initiative of the 9 capital campaign and initiative of fund raising, 10 especially for scholarships, will impact not only new 11 students but on retention. No one is topping the tank, 12 we're all shopping for gasoline, as consumers. 13 When I saw this article in morning, it 14 completely blew me away because the biggest barrier for 15 admission and retention is money. I think it's 16 something that we need to look at. The funding patterns 17 nationwide for student aid is broke. It needs to be 18 expanded to the level of six billion. I imagine what it 19 would mean to single heads of families. One of the big 20 reasons why there has been an unprecedented demand on 21 student aid is, that will blow us away, is the returning 22 adult that is to say the market share for financial aid 23 traditionally had been for traditional students. 24 The article said the reason for the 25 significant expansion is returning adults to the 32 1 2 classroom that has made an unprecedented demand on 3 growth to the existing levels of financial aid. It 4 sounds a little esoteric, but this institution, it's not 5 because we're the largest institution in the state in 6 the system in terms of student enrollment. Chuck 7 reports forty-five percent increase in population. I 8 bet Chuck will report in four months guess what, there 9 wasn't the decline that we expected the second semester, 10 spring semester, it would be an increase. I think we 11 need to be made aware of this issue as an important 12 one. So it's an issue that the Board can weigh in on. 13 THE CHAIRMAN: We go down to Washington; on 14 Legislative Day this spring we sat with Congressman 15 Bishop talking about these points. It's great to be a 16 member of another organization, the ACCT, which has a 17 strong organization and a very assertive lobbying group 18 that makes sure that higher education issues are being 19 heard on Capitol Hill. If we start tightening our 20 belts, not participating in ACCT, those would be real 21 bad choices to step away from. You speak with the clout 22 of, across the country of community colleges on issues 23 such as this. Tim has offices right here, and we can 24 hit them with the cost of a forty-two sent stamp and a 25 phone call as well. 33 1 2 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Monday I had the privilege 3 of going to College Day. College Day, everyone was 4 extolling the virtues of what we enjoy as far as a 5 community college as it is today. Outside of the 6 acknowledgement of the great contribution of Ernie to 7 the organization, he received a thing that probably cost 8 us about twenty bucks. 9 TRUSTEE MATTACE: Why is everything dollars 10 and cents, Walter? I thought it was fifteen 11 ninety-five. 12 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Plus tax. One of the 13 aspects of it was the acknowledgment of individuals who 14 had twenty, thirty, forty years service to this 15 college. And again, I think in my mind that one of the 16 reasons that the college is what it is today because of 17 these people who developed a foundation in this 18 organization and we were able to build on it. They 19 certainly deserved the acknowledgment of the service to 20 this organization. And I would like to personally 21 extend my congratulations to those individuals who have 22 given their lifetime to this organization. We enjoy the 23 fruits of their efforts today. 24 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. 25 TRUSTEE MATTACE: I'd like to thank the 34 1 2 college for the honor that I was given at College Day. 3 As Walter said, I came here a long time ago and I never 4 left and it's part of me. I enjoy just being able to 5 give back. We also have some honorees in this room, 6 George, and I thank you for all the work that you have 7 done. 8 THE CHAIRMAN: I see that our resident 9 comedian -- 10 TRUSTEE OCHOA: Ouch. 11 THE CHAIRMAN: That is a compliment. He 12 brings humor to the great Bob Cooper. 13 MR. COOPER: The Long Island Power Authority 14 issued a request for proposal from energy service 15 companies to supply and install solar power, which they 16 will sell back to LIPA. We would like to participate in 17 that by being a location or site where these panels are 18 installed, so we would like to issue a request for 19 proposal to whichever companies are successful in their 20 proposal to LIPA, so possibly we could host some of 21 these solar generated facilities. It could be as simple 22 as they're renting a roof from us and we get money for 23 it. Can be more complex, they put up a megawatt that 24 they sell to LIPA and put up an extra kilowatt which we 25 get to use. Hopefully we will be able to bring a 35 1 2 contract before the Board. 3 TRUSTEE MATTACE: Will that be more than one 4 company? 5 MR. COOPER: It's a request for proposal. I 6 guess it would be all three. 7 THE CHAIRMAN: Any more business for the 8 Board? Hearing none, thank you all and entertain a 9 motion to adjourn. 10 TRUSTEE MATTACE: So move. 11 TRUSTEE WARE: Second. 12 THE CHAIRMAN: All in favor? 13 (TIME NOTED: 10:30 A.M.) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 36 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 37 1 2 CERTIFICATION 3 4 STATE OF NEW YORK) 5 ) ss: 6 COUNTY OF SUFFOLK) 7 8 I, JUDI GALLOP, a Stenotype Reporter and 9 Notary Public for the State of New York, do hereby 10 certify: 11 THAT this is a true and accurate transcription 12 of the Suffolk Community College Board of Trustees 13 meeting held on May 15, 2008. 14 I further certify that I am not related, 15 either by blood or marriage, to any of the parties 16 in this action; and 17 I am in no way interested in the outcome of 18 this matter. 19 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my 20 hand this 17th day of June, 2008. 21 22 ________________________ JUDI GALLOP 23 24 25