1 2 3 SUFFOLK COMMUNITY COLLEGE 4 5 BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING 6 7 Eastern Campus Peconic Building 8 Riverhead, New York 11901 9 December 11, 2008 9:15 a.m. 10 11 12 BOARD MEMBERS: 13 SHIRLEY PIPPINS, Ph.D., SCC President WILLIAM D. MOORE, Chairman 14 JERRY KANE 15 BELINDA ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN WALTER C. HAZLITT 16 AVETTE D. WARE PAUL V. PONTIERI, JR. 17 WALTER C. HAZLITT SAUL R. FENCHEL 18 LORI CORRAR, Student Trustee 19 20 21 22 23 24 2 1 (The meeting was called to order at 9:15 a.m. 2 following the recitation of the Pledge of 3 Allegiance.) 4 THE CHAIRMAN: Good morning. Nice to have 5 you guys all here on the last meeting of the year. 6 Lousy, snotty day, but good to be together. That's an 7 East End expression. That describes foul weather. New 8 York Times crossword next Tuesday. 9 Let's hop to Item C. We're very pleased to 10 introduce to the college community the newest 11 appointment to the Board of Trustees, who is Saul 12 Fenchel. Please welcome him. 13 (Applause) 14 I hope each of us have taken the time to say 15 hello. 16 TRUSTEE FENCHEL: One way or the other. 17 DR. PIPPINS: He met with us yesterday for 18 probably about two and a half hours. Lots of good 19 questions. 20 THE CHAIRMAN: The appropriate course of 21 conduct would be to have you sworn in so we can have 22 your vote actually count. 23 (Saul Fenchel was sworn in by Deputy County 24 Clerk Christopher Como) 3 1 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you so much. 2 TRUSTEE FENCHEL: I really appreciate the 3 honor. 4 THE CHAIRMAN: Ernie called last night to say 5 that his number was picked. He's out in Riverhead 6 hoping to be chosen on a jury of his peers. Our student 7 trustee, Lori Corrar, has a presentation for us. 8 TRUSTEE CORRAR: I did. 9 THE CHAIRMAN: On Item D we have two 10 presentations. This is the Student Assembly. 11 TRUSTEE CORRAR: Come on up, girls. 12 MS. ISME: Good morning. I am Najelah, and 13 Jinny and myself attended the SUNY Student Assembly this 14 fall, and many things were discussed concerning tuition, 15 and one new thing that was discussed was our transfer, 16 and the way they're going to be changing it. 17 With the tuition, basically we touched on how 18 class sizes might be larger, the minimum amount of 19 spaces with classes available, program cutbacks, and 20 also students trying to work extra hard just to maintain 21 going to college. 22 Basically my questions for you guys is, how is 23 this going to affect Suffolk Community college as a 24 whole? Will the budget cuts that are going on, in this 4 1 economy, will it affect us; will we get harder hit? 2 What is the plan for this next semester and following 3 semester for the upcoming students. 4 With the SUNY assembly Website, they touched 5 on the fact they're trying to make it easier for 6 students to be able to transfer credits that they 7 receive at Suffolk to any other university. What we 8 they up with, the site has basically about fifty schools 9 and you can go on, let's say you're an education major 10 or you take your Education 202, Math 101, things like 11 that. You can see, if I'm going to Oneonta, I have to 12 basically look at what Oneonta accepts and if I have to 13 do any other classes to graduate and get certified to 14 become a teacher. 15 I know a lot of students had trouble, from 16 just hearing about their situation, about transferring 17 credits from here to other schools. My question to you, 18 is it possible to get a link with SUNY assembly Website 19 to allow these students to view the transfer curriculums 20 for each and every schools within the states? I know 21 we're on it because I have seen it when I saw the 22 demonstration and they showed Suffolk campus is on it. 23 Also, what basically are you guys -- what is 24 the proposal for next coming years for students better 5 1 educated and better stable financially? Are there going 2 to be more programs, such as scholarships and just extra 3 classes that are needed for us to just go on and receive 4 the higher education that we, you know, receive the 5 certificates and the stuff that we need. 6 That is basically all I have. 7 DR. PIPPINS: Do you want us to stop and try 8 and answer your questions? 9 MS. ISME: I'm sorry. 10 DR. PIPPINS: You might have to walk me back 11 through them again. As I understand the first question 12 was the financial issue and how is Suffolk going to 13 physically change that. 14 MS. ISME: Is there going to be an increase 15 in tuition and when is that going to happen and what is 16 the plan. 17 DR. PIPPINS: We're somewhat in limbo because 18 the students in the state level, in terms of reductions 19 in support to the college, have not been made, but we 20 anticipate that there will be an impact. You probably 21 will not see an impact in terms of your tuition this 22 spring, but it is very probable that you will see 23 something in the fall and next spring. 24 What you will see in the spring is limited 6 1 options in terms of classes. I suggest that you 2 register early and pay early, and do hold on to the 3 things that you want. There probably will be more 4 adjunct teaching and you probably will experience larger 5 sections. We have fewer full-time positions filled 6 because we had to freeze certain positions to make sure 7 we can balance our budget this year. 8 What we will do for the fall when we 9 anticipate that there will be an increase in tuition, we 10 will try and offer more tuition payment plans. We have 11 also reached out to the Foundation and to the community 12 to try and work upon our emergency student loan funds so 13 we can assist students that are experiencing crises. 14 Does that answer your financial questions? 15 MS. ISME: I'm on financial aid now. 16 DR. PIPPINS: There is some movement at the 17 federal level to try and increase some of the federal 18 opportunities available to students so they will have 19 more support through their financial aid packages. 20 MS. MIRANDA: I don't qualify for financial 21 aid. I don't work. My dad is paying for tuition fully. 22 That is kind of like a problem. Is there a way of 23 having corporations help us out? There are all 24 different companies. 7 1 DR. PIPPINS: We have a number of 2 scholarships, and Vice President Araneo can elaborate on 3 that. Sometimes scholarships go unused because students 4 don't apply. I can try and work with you to try and 5 come up with more extended plans for payment. By the 6 fall, we're looking at more options of five payment 7 plans. 8 MS. MIRANDA: That is like a big issue. 9 DR. PIPPINS: There are some scholarships 10 that don't have financial need connected to it. It 11 might require that you have a green sweater or black 12 pants. I suggest students start with the Advancement 13 Office in terms of looking at scholarships. You can 14 look in your community, look on national Web sites in 15 terms of opportunities for scholarships. Try the Career 16 Center in terms of finding options for employment. 17 We're very concerned about that. 18 I know many students have two or three jobs. 19 It is not my goal to have students have four or five 20 jobs. We are looking at cutting back in any every 21 possible way and working to hold the tuition increase 22 down as much as possible. At the same time, we want to 23 make sure that you have continued access to a high 24 quality education that will help you transfer to the 8 1 institution of your choice. 2 Does that answer your question? 3 MS. MIRANDA: Pretty much. Hi, I'm Jinny 4 Miranda. I'm here with the student government here on 5 campus and member of the Legal Studies Club. During the 6 conference I attended the workshop. I was part of the 7 delegating group. During the conference we had, at the 8 beginning of the conference, we had what is called full 9 spirit. A majority of the students, they were pretty 10 good. We had an opportunity to show some spirit. 11 During that -- it was very overwhelming. You 12 actually get to experience school spirit and people 13 started showing us pretty much how they probably are at 14 the school. A few issues with that because a lot of the 15 schools are pretty much under one; they're not divided 16 like us in different campuses. I think it's 17 frustrating. 18 I know everyone on campus -- I think if you 19 want to create a new image for ourselves and be 20 recognized as a whole, it would be kind of a good idea 21 to have the same companies with kind of the same quality 22 of food. On our campus, there is a competition started 23 to have a better quality of food. The prices are sky 24 high. A lot of students have health concerns. You 9 1 can't be eating fried food at ten o'clock in the 2 morning; it's ridiculous. I wanted to bring that to 3 your attention so when the contract ends, maybe you can 4 create the same thing for all the campuses. 5 DR. PIPPINS: It's difficult to discuss the 6 food service in a public session because it is a 7 contract issue. We're in ongoing conversations about 8 what is happening with the food services. I know we 9 have been talking with students about healthier options. 10 That is a priority in our mind. Look to see the result 11 of those efforts being put in place with that area. 12 We share your concerns. In terms of school 13 spirit I'm excited that the schools are coming together 14 and unifying to have some joint activities. I was at 15 the Grant Campus and we are starting to talk about 16 activities for the 50th anniversary. Maybe a major 17 dance, homecoming queen. We got cheerleaders. We have 18 a lot of the core elements to support school spirit. 19 Maybe we can work with you to do some things. I'm 20 pushing for a fifty person marching band. 21 MS. MIRANDA: Also during the workshop I 22 watched this video. Basically I was kind of upset when 23 I watched it the first time. John Carrey actually made 24 a statement regarding that eighteen year olds should not 10 1 be allowed to vote, which I think is very wrong. My 2 generation, we want to have a word in. We want to be 3 able to have our point, basically just have a word in 4 the decision making process. We want to be able to have 5 some say in it. We want to look for our best interests 6 as well. 7 That is pretty much what I observed in the 8 workshop. We also discussed, in addition to that was 9 the global warming issue. I know Lori, last year, it 10 was, basically it was, we did a lot of fund raisers, 11 like awareness around campus. It came to eco-friendly. 12 We wanted to do it next spring. 13 Also, we're working on it right now, we 14 actually had a meeting yesterday here, we want to get 15 all the campuses involved as well, kind of start a 16 chain. 17 DR. PIPPINS: I think the students have been 18 real leaders in that area. We're listening to you and I 19 think some changes are taking place. 20 MS. MIRANDA: That is pretty much it. 21 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. 22 MR. BREEDEN: Thomas Breeden, Academic Chair 23 in Physics. Sometimes when someone tells you a course 24 doesn't transfer it's, a mistake. You should let the 11 1 academic chair know with a phone call and tell them 2 about that. Don't take no for an answer immediately. 3 DR. PIPPINS: The transfer is a SUNY issue. 4 That is something that we're concerned about as a board 5 and we're really pushing to get that straightened out. 6 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: That fifty person marching 7 band, I used to play the trumpet. 8 DR. PIPPINS: I think there is a competition 9 county-wide in that area. I think I will watch it in 10 February and then invite some of those bands to 11 participate. 12 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: If I'm eligible, you only 13 need forty-nine more. 14 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, guys. 15 MS. MIRANDA: Brentwood High School has a 16 marching band, the Green Machine in Brentwood; it's very 17 good. If you're looking for a marching band, I really 18 recommend it. 19 THE CHAIRMAN: Moving onto Item E on your 20 agenda, resolution to approve our minutes from the 21 October 16th meeting. 22 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: So move. 23 TRUSTEE KANE: Second. 24 THE CHAIRMAN: All in favor? Did you have a 12 1 chance to look at the resolutions we have before us 2 today? Any questions on any of them? 3 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Just one item. The carry 4 over that the county committee estimates to be one 5 million four hundred eighty-one thousand, is there such 6 a disparity between our estimates and theirs? 7 MR. BULLARD: We're in sync with the county 8 as far as -- one is actually the budget and balance for 9 adopted budget. That is the reserves that is required 10 in this year's budget. When I get the financial report 11 I will touch base with you. 12 DR. PIPPINS: We're working on our plans to 13 not expend reserves this year. 14 THE CHAIRMAN: Any other questions on 15 resolutions? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve 16 Resolutions point six-seven through seven-five. 17 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: So move. 18 TRUSTEE KANE: Second. 19 THE CHAIRMAN: All in favor? Now college 20 finance report. 21 MR. BULLARD: As Mr. Hazlitt made reference 22 to one point four eight one million, that is the rider 23 in the use of reserve funds this year in your budget. 24 I'm happy to report, though, the estimated revenues are 13 1 up one point three million dollars, primarily driven by 2 the increase in enrollment. 3 As the president stated a couple of minutes 4 ago, we hope not to use any reserves based on the way 5 the budget is tracking this year. Any other questions 6 anybody might have about the finances? 7 THE CHAIRMAN: That was very succinct. You 8 guys all got that? 9 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: You have two items there. 10 Resolution 2008.69, fleet services, twenty-one thousand 11 nine hundred ninety-nine dollars. Did we pay the county 12 that? 13 MR. BULLARD: That is the use of the county's 14 gas point system and any fuel that might be 15 charged. It's tracked on actual use and it's usually a 16 year behind. It's come down quite a bit because we have 17 pumps installed on campuses. MIS is really system 18 services for the payroll, use of our financial system 19 and the support they give us on those items. 20 THE CHAIRMAN: Couple of things. We had one 21 item that was kicking around on my desk for quite 22 awhile. We kept pushing it off and Ernie is not here. 23 That was something that Ernie expressed interest in to 24 us. These are project labor agreements. We thought at 14 1 some point, and I guess today is the point, Ernie here 2 or not, we're going to introduce the board to what 3 project labor agreements are. 4 You had some material given to you several 5 months ago. If you read it and remember it; if not, we 6 will give you the 101 on project labor agreements and 7 pros and cons. We don't know if we're going to use them 8 or not, but at least we will know about this as part of 9 our knowledge base. 10 MR. DeMAIO: Jon DeMaio, Administrative 11 Director of Facilities. Project labor agreements, 12 personally I don't have experience with an executed PLA, 13 but certainly the county has, so we received some 14 documents from the county. We included their guidelines 15 on the use, some information on the state as well as the 16 packets that were provided to the board, which basically 17 were independent research papers looking at the pros and 18 cons of PLA's, when they might work and might not work. 19 They were all consistent with them being evaluated, 20 their implementations. You will have time to see if 21 they provide financial benefit to the owner. 22 What it is, it's a specific collective 23 bargaining agreement between the owner of the project 24 and various building trades that might work on that the 15 1 project. It is so specific that the actual bidding 2 specifications for the project would incorporate the 3 conditions of the PLA before the project goes out to 4 public bid. Anyone out there that might want to 5 participate knows beforehand what they have to agree 6 to. 7 The reports looked at public jobs. That is 8 what we're looking at here. In terms of the guidelines, 9 projects need to be significantly complex and a 10 significant investment for you to see a benefit. The 11 county DPW has been using a threshold of three million 12 dollars on buildings. On buildings you have multiple 13 trades. On a highway job, there is not that much back 14 and forth between the trades. 15 We did put out a few feelers to the 16 consultants who actually do the evaluations. It is a 17 specific -- it's a specialty. There are really only a 18 few consultants in Suffolk County that we're aware of 19 who are qualified to evaluate various agreements on 20 specific projects. We spoke to one and basically agreed 21 with the guidelines. 22 Since you can't do as much with three million 23 dollars as you used to, they started to see something 24 along the line of eight to ten million dollars before 16 1 you can see a benefit to the owner under such an 2 agreement. The first step would be an evaluation. It 3 would be an independent consultant. It's a third party 4 consultant. The numbers that we got, again, this is a 5 range, it may vary, seem to be around ten, twenty 6 thousand dollars for evaluation itself. 7 The feasibility of the PLA, once that is done, 8 say it comes back positive, then you have to execute it. 9 That is another fee to the consultant. I'm not exactly 10 sure what they range. They are specific to the project. 11 The larger the project, the more complex the negotiation 12 would be. That all takes place before you bid. 13 One interesting aspect is their effect on 14 Wicks Law, which was recently updated the past year by 15 the Governor's office. It was around for quite awhile 16 and needed updating. What it says if you have a 17 building project over a certain dollar threshold, you 18 need to award separate contracts. The new Wicks Law 19 says if you execute a PLA, you are exempt from that 20 requirement. You can award one contract to one general 21 contractor. All general trades go to them. The 22 potential finger pointing of who is responsible for 23 what, that is to a greater extent eliminated under Wicks 24 Law. 17 1 That is an update of the law originally, I 2 think, from the early sixties. That is another aspect 3 that is new. Again, before my time a PLA was evaluated 4 and executed for the construction of the Health Sports 5 Education Center. I'm told it was relatively 6 effective. I don't have specifics on the end result. 7 What actually happened on the back end I'm not entirely 8 sure. 9 That is kind of a 101 on what they are. There 10 are guidelines for their evaluation. The more complex 11 and costly a job, the bigger a possibility it may have a 12 positive impact. There is no guarantee it has to be 13 evaluated first; this is a strong recommendation. It 14 fits with the guidelines. You higher a professional, 15 they give their opinion and you use that opinion as you 16 see fit. That is that we have so far on PLA's. Any 17 questions? 18 THE CHAIRMAN: Do we have any projects not 19 yet in the pipeline or on the pipeline that may be good 20 for giving consideration to? 21 MR. DeMAIO: Definitely one, Eastern Campus. 22 We have not passed the point of no return. I expect 23 construction documents will really get close to being 24 final between March and May on our current schedule. A 18 1 lot of good momentum on the job. If we wanted to 2 evaluate the PLA, we would do it before bidding. It 3 would add something to the time line. I'm not sure. 4 But on that job the overall budget is fourteen and a 5 half million, so it's in the range of something that 6 could be considered. 7 TRUSTEE FENCHEL: I was wondering what is 8 the difference between using a PLA and a construction 9 manager? 10 MR. DeMAIO: A third party construction 11 manager that kind of overseas the construction? 12 TRUSTEE FENCHEL: A CM, construction manager, 13 comes in and they actually higher the trades with your 14 permission and under their review. 15 MR. DeMAIO: I haven't used it before on a 16 capital project here. I'm not sure, given we're a 17 public entity, the legality of it. We have to follow 18 general municipal law, which means everything has to go 19 to public bid. We have tried to get around that with 20 design bid projects and haven't been that successful. 21 I don't know if we can legally do it and we 22 have to compare it. I know PLA's are really more a 23 negotiation with the building trades that ahead of time 24 nail things down, like the number of days in a work 19 1 week, number of hours in a day, not striking through the 2 course of the projects, staffing the project 3 effectively. At least the concept of what a PLA is 4 based on is more of a negotiation. 5 TRUSTEE FENCHEL: From my experience, it's 6 pretty close. You pay the CM a certain percentage. The 7 CM is really working for you to hire each one of the 8 trades that have been approved by you with internal 9 bidding. I'm just unclear about what the difference is 10 between the two. 11 THE CHAIRMAN: Are you familiar with those 12 being used in public projects? 13 TRUSTEE FENCHEL: No. I'm referring to a lot 14 of private projects. 15 DR. PIPPINS: I think we have to speak up. 16 THE CHAIRMAN: We can look into that. I 17 think there may be a problem with the Wicks Law and the 18 break out of the responsibilities that a GC has. 19 MR. DeMAIO: The bidder need to be qualified 20 that at the end of the day the low bidder wins the job. 21 Anything that might affect that could be an issue. 22 Similarly, with a PLA, you're paying someone to do an 23 evaluation and hopefully you get that money back because 24 it has a positive result. 20 1 THE CHAIRMAN: Does it take a suggestion, 2 directive, policy? We haven't heard the down side of 3 these, by the way. What are the perceived down sides of 4 these? 5 MR. DeMAIO: Project labor agreements? When 6 you look at the independent research papers, they seem 7 to suggest that they could, depending on the environment 8 that you're working in here in New York, be exclusionary 9 to certain trades that can't meet the stipulations of 10 the PLA but could do the work. 11 Any time you have that suggestion, what you're 12 mostly interested in is competition. You don't want an 13 agreement to reduce competition; you want as many people 14 bidding as possible to get the best possible number. 15 I'm reiterating the facts from the research papers. 16 It's not my opinion. 17 The research suggests they could limit 18 competition. If you're looking for the lowest number, 19 then you have the opposite effect in that instance. I 20 would hope that the evaluation would look at those 21 effects and provide you some direction on the 22 possibility of that. 23 DR. PIPPINS: Is that your sense, that that 24 is probably what the consultant looks at? 21 1 MR. DeMAIO: Haven't gotten to that level of 2 detail at this point. I would hope they would -- 3 certainly they're going to spend a lot of time on the 4 specific union contracts, when they might expire, when 5 might a rate go up, when can you save there. They will 6 get into that detail. 7 As far as when a particular trade might not be 8 well represented as a result, I'm not sure. I have to 9 follow up on it. 10 DR. PIPPINS: Paul, have you had experience 11 with that that you might want to share with us? 12 MR. GATTA: George Gatta, Executive Vice 13 President. The county uses these on large projects on a 14 regular basis. The threshold used to be three to five 15 million. It's now higher. In the negotiations between 16 the owner and representative that negotiates with the 17 building trades, there are often certain concessions 18 that are provided as part of the labor package component 19 for a project. That is how the savings are achieved. 20 In addition, you're assured that the project 21 is delivered on time, that there is never a stoppage of 22 labor, there is no shortage of labor. I know that is 23 not an issue right now. In times when there was a 24 great deal of building activity going on, there was also 22 1 an issue can you have adequate labor on site in a 2 coordinated way to make sure the project gets done on 3 time. 4 At least from the county's experience, these 5 have been helpful on larger projects. 6 THE CHAIRMAN: If you're doing a complicated 7 project, I was envisioning maybe a nuclear power plant 8 or something difficult to design and build, to make sure 9 the people doing the work are fitted to it. It's not 10 necessarily the lowest bidder, the most qualified. 11 MR. DeMAIO: It's the lowest bidder. Let's 12 say we bid the library and the GC submitted a bid of 13 five million dollars. Then you check the 14 qualifications, how long have they been in business, do 15 they have an apprentice program to keep the staff up on 16 construction techniques. If they don't pass the test 17 based on qualifications, then you can move to the next 18 lower bidder. At the end day if they have, you cannot 19 get around General Municipal Law in that area. 20 MR. GATTA: I want to emphasize the point 21 that John made, the fact that Wicks Law changed. For 22 years, public entities have been talking the increased 23 cost for capital projects due to multiple trades. 24 Exploring doing an analysis of a project, such as the 23 1 Learning Resource Center, looking at the fact that we 2 may not need to use multiple contractors and could use 3 one contractor, that alone I think is worthy of the 4 analysis. 5 MR. BULLARD: Wicks Law is interesting. It 6 can save quite a bit when you're dealing with one 7 responsible party. 8 THE CHAIRMAN: I think for the January 9 meeting, I think you can tell us if the -- 10 MS. ARANEO: (Interposing) If you're 11 interested in pursuing an analysis going to an outside 12 consultant, then you can do an RFP for the consultants. 13 There is no cost in issuing an RFP. If you think this 14 is something you wish tell us and we will issue an RFP 15 for the consultant. Everyone -- obviously we wouldn't 16 spend money until you agree, there is no cost to issue 17 an RFP. 18 THE CHAIRMAN: Does that require a resolution 19 of the board? 20 MS. ARANEO: No. 21 DR. PIPPINS: Just the sense of your interest. 22 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: There is no down side, 23 then. 24 THE CHAIRMAN: We haven't hired anybody. I'm 24 1 one step ahead of myself. Is that something that the 2 board -- let's get a sense of the board's interest in 3 that now. Your feeling one way or the other. 4 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Can't hurt. 5 TRUSTEE FENCHEL: I guess that is the best 6 way to put it, it can't hurt. 7 THE CHAIRMAN: Information is not dangerous. 8 I think we have a sense that the board is interested in 9 pursuing that first step. 10 MS. ARANEO: Okay. 11 THE CHAIRMAN: Lori, it's your opportunity to 12 share with us going green. 13 TRUSTEE CORRAR: I had two challenges ahead 14 for me, one of them being I am pregnant, so the brain 15 cells are diminishing quickly. Two, this is my second 16 Power Point presentation, so I have to ask you to bear 17 with me. 18 I love the topic on green. I will probably 19 speak extensively. If you start to fall asleep, try to 20 stay awake and try to take the challenge back to your 21 house. 22 Pigs. Throughout the 1830's the streets of 23 American cities were covered with hog tracks. Pigs, 24 also known as hogs or swine, have dramatically increased 25 1 in numbers in recent years, varying in color, shape and 2 size. They have a nose, two ears and two eyes. Yet the 3 pig I am going to speak of has no tail and lacks 4 insight. It is the human litterer. 5 Why is there is there so much garbage on the 6 sides of our streets and highways and gardens? Keep 7 America beautiful, the national campaign, feels there 8 are three reasons: No sense of ownership. Those who 9 litter believe someone else, a park maintenance worker 10 or highway worker, will pick up after them, and the main 11 reason, litter has already accumulated, leaving people 12 to feel it's okay to drop a wrapper. 13 No matter where it starts, it moves. From 14 streets to highways, parks to waterways, wind and 15 weather move litter around the community, placing it in 16 gardens, alleyways and parking areas. In one study, 17 research found eighteen percent of all items end up with 18 waterways as pollution. 19 Although we and might not always see the 20 effects of littering, the facts are there and can cause 21 a great deal of problems. On one level, it reduces the 22 aesthetic appeal of public places, our streets, parks 23 and waterways. It causes drains to become blocked, 24 increasing the chance for flooding, which ultimately 26 1 causes money. People have stepped on glass and broken 2 needles. Fires have started on roadways because of a 3 flicked cigarette butt. Aquatic life suffered directly 4 through choking and indirectly through the impact on 5 water quality. Garbage causes a decrease in oxygen 6 levels when it decays in water. 7 Littering costs the community money to clean 8 up our neighborhoods. In 2007, Long Island spent two 9 point two million dollars in taxes to clean our 10 roadways. 11 Litter takes years to decay. When it's put 12 into perspective, the amount of time it takes for 13 decomposing is a long process. Tin cans take one 14 hundred years to decompose. Aluminum cans can take two 15 hundred to four hundred years. A banana peel can take a 16 minimum of six weeks and paper more than six weeks. 17 Tires, glass, plastic and milk bottles take more than 18 five hundred years, and as indicated by the Women's 19 Environmental Network, disposable diapers can take two 20 hundred fifty to five hundred years. 21 Of course, Styrofoam never decomposes. 22 Cigarette butts are the most commonly littered items on 23 beaches, roadways and parks. They cause eyesores. 24 Furthermore, they possess chemicals capable of leaching 27 1 into surrounding water, so they can harm aquatic life. 2 There are many organizations that are taking 3 the initiatives to promote a healthy and picturesque 4 country. Keep American Beautiful, for instance, has 5 many programs. One is the Great America Clean. Each 6 year from March 1st to May 31st, groups sign up to 7 clean up parks, streets and other beautiful places. 8 Last year, two hundred twenty eight million pounds of 9 litter and debris was collected. Of that, more than two 10 point five million scrap tires were collected as well 11 as thirty seven million plastic bottles. 12 Over ten thousand illegal dump sites were 13 cleaned and thirty eight point five million pounds of 14 aluminum and steel was recycled. America's volunteers 15 planted over five point five million bulbs, flowers, 16 trees and cleaned six thousand miles of rivers, lakes 17 and shorelines. 18 We are facing a massive problem if we continue 19 to litter our land. Our habitat has deteriorated at a 20 much faster rate than that of the litter surrounding 21 them. Today, once again, the streets of our cities and 22 towns are covered with garbage. Some folks are trying 23 to figure out if they should send the four legged pigs 24 to clean up the pigs' nest. 28 1 The presentation that I have just provided for 2 you was an Intro to Communications project that I 3 completed several years ago. After completing this 4 class, I became passionate in regards to the issues of 5 our environment and sustainability. I want to thank 6 you, Suffolk, for my commitment for going green. 7 Last year, with the collaboration of the 8 seniors and staff at the Grant Campus, we achieved our 9 goal of an environmental week. We organized events, 10 such as a week-long campus cleanup, provided an 11 education at the Kid's Cottage, had a guided tour of the 12 nature preserve as well as many other events. It was a 13 success in our eyes. 14 This year, the program is being extended to 15 Ammerman and East to create a unified Suffolk. Many 16 efforts have already taken place. We have met with a 17 nationwide company, PSC, an environmental waste 18 management business. This is a company that wishes for 19 SCC to be their site for a large scale one day 20 e-recycling initiative of e-waste during Earth Week. It 21 will be called Recycle Now Electronic Waste Collection 22 Event. The main site will be on the Grant Campus as 23 their main building is in Bay Shore. 24 All excess proceeds will be contributed to 29 1 initiate a WeCycle program at each university. WeCycle 2 is a program that provides new bicycles, helmets and 3 locks. They are choosing eight to ten college campuses 4 across the nation. It will be a great PR piece for 5 Suffolk. We, the college, would like to be responsible 6 for gathering many volunteers at each campus to market 7 the program. 8 This program as of no cost to Suffolk, as the 9 program is being sponsored by major companies such as 10 Home Depot. It will be great event if we chose to 11 accept it. The company will be contacting me this week 12 to finalize whether our college will be part of their 13 effort. 14 In October, I was provided the opportunity to 15 travel to Syracuse to attend Earth Summit 2008. We were 16 given the option to attend various workshops. Can 17 anybody tell me what is the best way for a college or 18 school to go green? 19 THE FLOOR: Recycling program. 20 MS. CORRAR: I have a recyclable pencil, if 21 you would like one. 22 THE CHAIRMAN: Recycle your paper. 23 TRUSTEE CORRAR: Do you like money or do you 24 like denim? All presentations agreed if a school wants 30 1 to go green, they must start with recycling. It's a 2 simple behavior change. Once people get into a 3 recycling habit, the next phase is "what else can we 4 do." That is where change happens and a domino effect 5 takes place, this is how the Greener Grant Initiative 6 began last year. 7 Recycling bins are placed in all three 8 campuses. I have noticed that the college community has 9 not embraced the recycling habit. Why? We have not 10 been educated on waste. Do you know it takes longer for 11 waste to be decomposed in landfills than it takes litter 12 to decay? Paper takes six weeks. For example, paper 13 that is placed in the garbage does not receive the 14 oxygen to decompose naturally. As more garbage is 15 placed on top of that, paper that is not properly 16 recycled can be in a landfill for years. 17 Once the college community gets into the 18 routine of recycling, we will be more successful in 19 initiating other green solutions. There is one catch. 20 We need more recycling bins strategically placed 21 throughout the campus so we have no choice but to 22 recycle. They are expensive. As a result of this, 23 Brianne from Ammerman SGA and I are working on a 24 recycling grant from the Pepsi Company and Coca-Cola 31 1 Company. 2 Colleges and university nationwide have 3 established sustainable campuses, through many 4 practices, all of which include recycling. Campuses 5 have launched bicycle share programs for students and 6 staff to utilize as an alternate mode of transportation 7 from one building to another, which decreases the 8 overall traffic congestion and emissions. Also, 9 campuses are composting cafeteria waste. LEED certified 10 buildings, green roofing, installing solar panels, wind 11 turbines, energy efficient lighting as well as 12 integrating project and education into the K through 5 13 system. Students across the nation are electing to have 14 additional tuition fees, from three to ten dollars a 15 semester in their tuition costs so that the campus can 16 become a green school. In doing so, some colleges have 17 implemented a sustainability committee where students 18 and staff submit proposals for green initiatives. 19 Students write proposals, the committee reviews it and 20 if accepted, then the student implements their proposal 21 on campus. They ranged from recycling bins to bicycle 22 programs to water filtration systems to solar paneling 23 to electric/hybrid cars. This allows the college to 24 create a living laboratory. 32 1 The list goes on. Can anybody tell me of an 2 upcoming living laboratory that would be on Suffolk? 3 THE FLOOR: Workforce Development Technology 4 Center. 5 TRUSTEE CORRAR: For the schools that 6 students have not instituted additional fees, colleges 7 have adapted to the culture of beg, borrow and steal by 8 contacting local and national vendors and organizations 9 to seek grants and awards. 10 Going green is much more than bettering our 11 health and the environment. Going green also means 12 financial prosperity as well as educating a new 13 generation of green. In the United States, there are 14 fifty-five million students and five million faculty. 15 That equals five percent of our population. If all 16 schools were to go green today, thirty-six billion 17 dollars could be saved in ten years, how so? Thirty 18 percent less energy. 19 Can anybody tell me what LEED stands for? 20 THE FLOOR: Leadership in energy in 21 environmental design, something like that. 22 TRUSTEE CORRAR: On average, green certified 23 buildings cost one hundred fifteen dollars a square foot 24 to build. That is thirty-eight percent less than 33 1 average in construction cost, totaling approximately 2 forty-seven thousand dollars a year in energy savings. 3 To truly become a sustainable 4 Suffolk, then the college must take action. 5 Suffolk has yet to sign the American College and 6 University Presidents Climate Commitment. To this 7 date, six hundred and five colleges and 8 universities, of which forty-five are in New York, 9 have signed this commitment. We believe it's time 10 for Suffolk to join these schools and take on the 11 challenge and commitment to become climate 12 neutral. We are ready for this challenge. 13 I'm finished. I'm glad to see 14 nobody fell asleep. Thank you. 15 THE CHAIRMAN: Has the Colleges Commitment 16 for Climate Commitment been presented for action? 17 TRUSTEE CORRAR: It was today. 18 THE CHAIRMAN: We will need to know more. 19 It sounds good. 20 Item I, that is the time for anyone around 21 the table to share concerns or observations or 22 experiences they have had since our last meeting. I 23 open it up to all the trustees. 24 TRUSTEE KANE: I was listening to two 34 1 students make be the presentations on the increase in 2 tuition, and didn't hear anything from the board, but I 3 have to tell you, in all honesty, and check with Lori 4 with this, we have had quite a long passionate 5 discussion on that and we are very concerned. 6 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Jerry. Anyone 7 else? Belinda, what are you up to? You're always doing 8 something for the college. 9 TRUSTEE ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: I attended Friday 10 evening's faculty Christmas party, and it was 11 wonderful. I do have -- we have a couple of events that 12 are coming up shortly in regards to Pronto of Long 13 Island. If the Board is interested in adopting a family 14 for Christmastime, I have information here. 15 TRUSTEE WARE: As a director on the CHDHU 16 Committee; we met this week, actually on Monday. The 17 committee is actually preparing now to present a press 18 release of some type a statement in regards to what has 19 been happening in Patchogue Village with the -- 20 THE CHAIRMAN: (Interposing) Remind everyone 21 here what that stands for. 22 TRUSTEE WARE: Center for Human Diversity -- 23 Center on the Holocaust, Diversity and Human 24 Understanding. Anyway, the gentlemen who was killed in 35 1 Patchogue Village, they actually are having some events 2 taking place this Friday, tomorrow. There are a series 3 of events, and actually what the committee is preparing 4 to do is just promote more unity within the school 5 systems. 6 They have some ideas. I will have to bring 7 every one up-to-date once the systems are put more in 8 place. They have some great ideas to get the students 9 involved, K through 12 in particular, in Suffolk County 10 on how they can understand the importance of tolerance 11 even at that level. Once the programs are put in place, 12 I will have more information to impart. At least they 13 are doing something proactive. 14 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: I bought two pies. They 15 were wonderful. That's all I have done over the last 16 couple of weeks. 17 THE CHAIRMAN: I know that you have been at 18 Ground Zero. 19 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: It's been rough. Just 20 trying to put your hand around it and bring the 21 community to where it's supposed to be. I thought the 22 job was about plowing streets and building parks. There 23 is a little more to it. 24 Just as an aside to this. If they would let 36 1 us work as a community without all the outside 2 distractions coming in, we could bring it together a lot 3 quicker. You have to deal with these forces that want a 4 piece of it or want a public piece of it; I don't know. 5 THE CHAIRMAN: That can motivate, but outside 6 sources can also bring good change to places that want 7 to be closed communities. Think about the South. 8 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: Absolutely. What I'm 9 saying, I don't know if it's the public side or press 10 side of it, and all these other pieces. You think 11 you're getting it reeled in a little bit, and all of a 12 sudden (gesturing). I was asked in an interview where 13 I expected this to go. I said my expectations a year 14 from now, you will call me up on the same day and ask 15 me. I can't tell you where it's going to go, but I do 16 know that the community, as a community, I think, has a 17 sense of direction and it will come together. It's been 18 a little wearing, to say the least. 19 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: The part that makes it so 20 difficult, the people that participated in this thing do 21 not come from the village. You can get your hand on the 22 problem, but it is a lot bigger than the Village of 23 Patchogue. There is a series of events. 24 TRUSTEE WARE: Yes. 37 1 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: What time are they hanging 2 the mayor in effigy? 3 TRUSTEE WARE: He's doing a great job, I have 4 to say. I am a village resident as well. He's doing an 5 amazing job, considering. 6 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: I'm trying to get 7 everyone to understand there is a direction we have to 8 go. The whole thing with the Guardian Angels, they roll 9 into town. You find out forty-five minutes ahead of 10 time. They don't ask you what you need. If we needed 11 help, I needed it at two o'clock in the morning, not 12 eleven o'clock in the morning when the sun is out. 13 They're standing on the corners. I said, "guys, nobody 14 is going to have a problem standing here. You're 15 standing under the brightest light in town." I said, 16 "walk to the parking lots." "Oh;" they wandered away. 17 THE CHAIRMAN: My thoughts are with you and 18 the village. 19 TRUSTEE ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: Our prayers are 20 with you. 21 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: The bottom line is the pies 22 are tax deductible. 23 THE CHAIRMAN: They're culinary school pies. 24 Moving on. 38 1 TRUSTEE ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: He thought you 2 were making them. 3 MS. SCHUMAKER: Ellen Schumaker, President of 4 the Faculty Association. I just wanted to pick up on 5 the comments that were made by Yvette and by Trustee 6 Pontieri. The Center on the Holocaust, Diversity and 7 Human Understanding was kind of a dream of one of the 8 trustees at the college, Dr. Vicky Waxman, and the 9 purpose was to provide education in those areas of 10 tension that we find in our community. 11 Up to this point, it's been -- they have had 12 showcases in terms of a lot of these issues, and they 13 have gone out to various high schools for education, but 14 I think now is a real opportunity to see how the 15 original mission of that center can really work in an 16 area where there really is tension and conflict. It's 17 not resolved yet. 18 I think that we should not miss this 19 opportunity to make sure that one of our kind of 20 showcase areas at the institution is able to get 21 involved in this particular case, and other areas on 22 Long Island. But it's unique among all of the 23 institutions. I think we have something here that can 24 really help in the communities. 39 1 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Good point. 2 DR. PIPPINS: The college will be partnering 3 with the county legislators and at least some 4 representatives from the state to have a facilitated 5 conversation on how we can improve the quality of life 6 in Suffolk County, and delaying growth of racism, which 7 I believe the result will be positive. Thank you for 8 the suggestion, Ellen. 9 We have a couple of dates, February 26th, 27th 10 and March 6th are the dates. We're trying to nail down 11 some key people. We have some key business leadership, 12 we're looking for some civic leadership and from the 13 county executives level. People come together and have 14 a conversation and make recommendations to the 15 legislature as to what we can do as a community to 16 improve the environment. We will play a leadership role 17 in the process and we will invite many of you to be part 18 of the conversation. 19 Yvette and I were both at the meeting. The 20 Center on the Holocaust, Diversity and Human 21 Understanding is talking about having members of the 22 immigrant community create a photographic representation 23 of their experience here, what it feels like, looks 24 like, from their perspective. It was going to be a 40 1 traveling exhibit. The conversation focused on having 2 the exhibit featuring for this particular event. We're 3 talking about a three hour event one day and maybe 4 another three hour event a month later. The farm 5 workers, the whole range of people that would be 6 involved. 7 It is a broad conversation that happened to be 8 highlighted in one locality and we're looking at it as a 9 community. 10 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: If you look at the 11 college, twenty-three thousand students, it really is a 12 microcosm of the county in terms of social, financial 13 levels. I think the college, putting it together, the 14 fact that we're talking about that we're three campuses, 15 with three distinct personalities. Putting it together 16 through that network will make it truly much more based 17 than a specific organization does. I think we are that 18 venue where it happens, if you can get a college 19 community involved in it. 20 These kids come from various high schools with 21 various levels of wealth to disenfranchised. It really 22 is an opportunity. The photographic exhibit, the 23 Ecuadorian community in Patchogue has a very strong art 24 community, very quietly developed. They had a 41 1 presentations the other day. If we do something, I 2 would like to grab a hold of them, and that group. 3 There is a fellow, just as an aside, does clay figures. 4 They're of this community. That is discussion for 5 another time. I think the college does the right thing. 6 DR. PIPPINS: We approached Wayne Horsley and 7 DuWayne Gregory to play a leadership role in this 8 process and we're in the process of putting something 9 together. Mary Lou and I were in a meeting together 10 with some business leaders. They were making a point 11 that Suffolk is a representation of a global design. I 12 was struck by that when I came here from the south, that 13 you got everybody here. 14 If we could change our image towards being a 15 representation of all of us working together, living 16 together, which is where we want to go, if the college 17 can play a role in that process, that is the kind of 18 thing we should be doing. We welcome that 19 opportunity. 20 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: As tragic as this incident 21 was, it's not the only one. You have Farmingville with 22 a very serious problem, you have Huntington Station. I 23 don't mean to be facetious about it because it is tragic 24 what happens. 42 1 DR. PIPPINS: I think it's appropriate that 2 we play a leadership role in having that conversation. 3 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: As I said to you earlier, 4 the leadership that we all sit with, it's how we frame 5 our conversations. When we talk about these things, we 6 keep talking about programs for high school kids and 7 elementary school kids. I really think that it should 8 be programs for leadership and how we frame our 9 discussions from everything about our borders to school 10 budgets. If you have ESL programs that cost eight 11 hundred thousand dollars, and how school districts frame 12 their budget requests, are you comparing apples and 13 apples? How, in my position, do I talk about housing. 14 I think part of the discussion that day has 15 to be adult leadership. Everybody says "parents." 16 Parents take their cues from what government and school 17 districts and TV says. Kids get it from when they're 18 watching television. When the nine year old kid is 19 sitting with his dad talking about putting up walls to 20 keep out the illegal aliens coming in, to the ten year 21 old they're bad people, they're aliens. I think part of 22 the discussion really has to be that we, the adult 23 leadership, how do we frame our conversations to the 24 public, how do we frame them in the press. 43 1 I've been in the middle of this thing. I'm 2 living it. You can tell me to stop talking because I 3 could just babble on. I think it's exciting because the 4 college is a microcosm. 5 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you for sharing that. I 6 hope we can play that kind of a role. That is why we 7 are the community's college. As trustees, we speak to 8 represent the people in the college, not the 9 institution, but the great people of the community who 10 support this. 11 TRUSTEE ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: We're going to be 12 using the word "undocumented" as opposed to "aliens." 13 We received an e-mail on it. 14 THE CHAIRMAN: Dr. Pippins, you're up. 15 DR. PIPPINS: Clements Group report on the 16 feasibility study. 17 MS. ARANEO: Good morning. Mary Lou Araneo, 18 Vice President for Institutional Advancement. I'd like 19 to, you may recall at a prior board meeting -- we had 20 actually two board meetings -- we discussed the 21 feasibility study through the Clements Group. About a 22 year ago, I made a presentation to share with you work 23 that had been conducted across all of our campuses to 24 pull together project proposals that we would like to 44 1 present to the internal community for considering as 2 part of the college's first major gifts effort. The 3 work groups across our various campuses completed their 4 work to come up with not only proposal ideas, but basic 5 information about budget requirements to complete what 6 they envisioned were the needs across all of our 7 campuses. That effort is reflected in this document 8 which I believe you have in your packets. It's the 9 draft case for support for the college. 10 As a group, we also looked at a listing that 11 was prepared in advance that indicated three hundred 12 individuals that were defined as having influence or 13 affluence in the Long Island community. The purpose for 14 pulling that list together was to present it to this 15 board as well as to the board of the foundation. Those 16 two boards reviewed the lists and basically completed 17 what I will call a ballot. They looked at the three 18 hundred names and we asked you to give us who you 19 considered to be the top eighty people on that list. We 20 took those top eighty names from all of you and came up 21 with a list of about a hundred, and from that list of 22 one hundred, we then proceeded to make or attempt to 23 make appointments to discuss this draft case for support 24 with those individuals as a way for us to gauge reaction 45 1 in the external community. Would there be support for 2 the various proposals that had come up through the 3 college. 4 So today I'm going to show you a few of the 5 results of those conversations with those individuals. 6 The purpose, of course, is to help us take a look at the 7 people of influence and affluence and determine if any 8 of those would be recommendations to prepare and carry 9 out the goals. It also lets us know if, as an 10 institution, we are ready to conduct a major gifts 11 campaign. Do we have sufficient awareness in the 12 external community. Are the proposals that we drafted 13 of sufficient appeal that there would be community 14 support of a broad nature that would enable us to have a 15 successful campaign. Do we have the internal and 16 external leadership in place to be successful, and a 17 good working goal that has a favorable reaction from the 18 public. 19 So we were able to bring internal interviews 20 with administration, faculty and staff as well as just 21 other interviews with external constituents. 22 Overwhelmingly, the respondents were positive and 23 favorable about the college. They felt we are the gem, 24 hidden jewel. We heard that often and that we were 46 1 vital to the community and communities success. Many 2 major strengths, of course, we were happy to see that 3 our mission perspective came back to us from those 4 internal constituents. 5 They did say that they viewed us as accessible 6 and affordable as well as a high quality alternative for 7 students entering college. They were also supportive 8 and positive about our academics, and felt that we had 9 good leadership at the institution. Naturally, there 10 were challenges that came through as a result of these 11 conversations. Everybody knows that sources of funding 12 are challenged. The economy did come up. We conducted 13 these interviews in the middle to end of October, which 14 was just as we were all becoming aware of how 15 challenging the economy truly is. But it already was 16 coming out loud and clear in the results. 17 One of the general parts of the conversation, 18 they were shown a list of the administration of the 19 college, a list of names they were asked specifically, 20 do you know any of these individuals. How many of them 21 do you know. Do you think they are effective as 22 leaders. A majority of the respondents did say there 23 were individuals that they knew that were very aware of, 24 Dr. Pippins, and felt they had seen her, as they should 47 1 see a leader in the activities that occur across the 2 county as well as in her capacity as president of the 3 institution. 4 The faculty, they weren't shown a list of the 5 full faculty because that would be quite an extensive 6 list. They were asked, do you know members of the 7 faculty. For the most part, the faculty was not 8 extensively well known, but for individuals that were 9 familiar with the institution and may or may not know 10 specific faculty members, the feedback was extremely 11 positive insofar as they knew that we always advocated 12 for our students and they had such top level credentials 13 and we had a faculty in place that was strong and 14 delivering a good quality education to our students. 15 When it came to the board of trustees and 16 board of the foundation, in both cases the individuals 17 were shown a list, and the feedback was that the board 18 of trustees, as the policy making board, is a strong 19 board, but that in the case of a fund raising initiative 20 there might be work that could be done to strength en 21 their support for that initiative. We had a 22 conversation about fund raising before that. It really 23 is a board driven event to hold a major gifts campaign. 24 And the board members, both the Board of Trustees and of 48 1 the foundation, will play a critical role in making 2 those connections for us as we go out and solicit funds 3 in support of the institution. We had similar positive 4 feedback for the Foundation Board. 5 And I was happy to see this because I think 6 that this gives you and the board the additional 7 confidence to work on this project as we go forward. We 8 had some specific questions about interaction with the 9 college. The Clements Group shared with us that it was 10 a category or section of questions that they don't 11 generally ask, but they were so pleased with the results 12 they think they're going to incorporate that into their 13 model going forward. We asked individuals if they could 14 speak to their interaction with the college, do you 15 utilize our graduates, have you or anyone in your family 16 attended or graduated from Suffolk, have you utilized 17 workforce training programs, have you ever hired 18 graduates. The reactions are quite strong and it shows 19 that we are truly integrated into the community, we are 20 touching lives across the county. 21 Then we started to look at the various project 22 proposals that are in the draft case for support. 23 Interestingly, the top priorities did not change very 24 much, whether you were an internal participant or 49 1 external participant. The nursing initiative that has 2 to do with the virtual hospital experience was the 3 number one priority of the five that were presented in 4 conversation by the external community. Number two was 5 the workforce development and Career Center and number 6 three was in support of scholarships for students. 7 If you looked at the internal community, the 8 only difference in the rating of the top three was which 9 was number one and which was number two. In the case of 10 the internal community, those individuals felt the 11 workforce development project was the top priority, with 12 the nursing coming in second overall. All five of these 13 project initiatives garnered favorable response with 14 three quarters or more thinking that they had good 15 potential for support from the external community for 16 fund raising purposes. So all of the proposals and all 17 of that work that those committees did to generate plans 18 that had a broad appeal I think was successful. 19 We then talked about is there anything that 20 the college should be doing to get a better pulse on the 21 community as a whole in a way that we can then translate 22 that feedback to making sure we are and continue to be a 23 responsive institution. The feedback was that it would 24 be a really good idea, let's take a look at maybe 50 1 industries that are declining or areas where jobs are 2 being created that we could consider to be growth areas 3 and have to coordinate a conversation within our 4 community to discuss those growth areas for us. 5 We then asked if they felt there was good 6 potential for the college to go forth with a major gifts 7 campaign. You can see we like that high green bar, it's 8 quite high. The college is worthy of support externally 9 and that did come back loud and clear through this 10 feasibility conversation. We talked about the 11 schedule. That is where we did hear feedback about the 12 economic situation. There was good positive feedback 13 but the thought was that perhaps the college might 14 benefit by having a more protracted time frame then 15 normally would be considered for a major gifts effort, 16 and a lot of that had to do with the economic climate. 17 Typically you would see the quiet phase of 18 such a campaign be in the eighteen month zone, maybe two 19 years, but the feedback from the community was while we 20 know something about the college and what we know we are 21 favorable about, there are still areas where you, 22 Suffolk County Community College, could do a better job 23 educating all of us about what it is you are doing and 24 the benefits in the community. That feedback started to 51 1 impact what they saw for the support of the campaign as 2 far as scheduling. Their comment was take a little more 3 time in the front end to educate the community at large 4 a little more broadly about what the college is doing. 5 Then we asked them if they were willing to 6 participate in the planning of the campaign. This is an 7 important question, but in our region and truly across 8 the country to ask someone to give up their time is a 9 big commitment. We did get some favorable response as 10 well. In this case you should really look at the first 11 two blocks with the "yes" category and "maybe" category; 12 that is a strong support of willingness to participate. 13 Then we asked would you be willing to contribute. We 14 got, as you can see, a better response, not so across 15 the board, a little bit more firmly in the "yes" column 16 that people would be willing to contribute to the 17 various project proposals that we discussed with them. 18 Then we asked them to look at all their 19 philanthropic priorities across everything they 20 contribute to and we asked them if support for the 21 college would merit your consideration. It fell in 22 category either "high" or "medium." That support would 23 be something they would consider if approached to make a 24 gift. Again this goes back, I already alluded to the 52 1 slide where interviewees were giving us feedback with 2 things they felt they felt we should do to better 3 enhance our gift as far as educating the community. In 4 essence, the recommendation from Clements is that we 5 prepare to launch our major gifts effort with a working 6 goal of five million dollars and look to go stretch that 7 out from the beginning date to a three to five year 8 payment on pledges. This is a the time frame that 9 Clements Group feels is reasonable, based on their 10 experience, as well as the feedback from the external 11 community. Look to start now, but spend your time and 12 dedicate your effort in the pre-work. Get the 13 relationships firmed up. Start to talk about an 14 educational way, not soliciting gifts at the outset, but 15 getting people to know us well and learn more about our 16 institution. And continue on with the actual conducting 17 of the campaign. 18 If you look at this, it turns out to be 19 normally would be a two year effort is more of a three 20 year effort. In essence, the feedback is really 21 encouraging from the feasibility study. You think you 22 know what people will tell you, but you never know until 23 you go out to conduct the work and get the feedback. 24 The Foundation Board has seen this presentation. They 53 1 are in agreement with the conclusions that have been 2 presented through Clements and we will continue to move 3 this initiative forward with the design that is proposed 4 and talking about a time line that extends it by about 5 six months to a year to get better outreach to the 6 community. 7 I'm happy to entertain any questions, or I 8 could walk just walk around with a hat. 9 THE CHAIRMAN: That is not what you said you 10 were doing. 11 DR. PIPPINS: Thank you, Vice President 12 Araneo, and to the Foundation Board for providing the 13 funding for the feasibility study. 14 THE CHAIRMAN: Next is? 15 DR. PIPPINS: We will move with the support 16 of the foundation. We will move into the first phase of 17 the project which focuses more on community education 18 and relationship building. The next part of the report 19 is a budget summary, a statement on the budget 20 challenges from Executive Vice President Gatta. 21 MR. GATTA: We have had a number of 22 conversations, including meeting last month with the 23 challenge that we're facing both in the current budget, 24 and as we approached planning for next year's budget. 54 1 We knew early on this was going to be a challenging 2 year. We suspect, given the county's fiscal challenges, 3 there would be no increase in fiscal support this year, 4 which is, in fact, what happened. Also, we learned in 5 late June, early July, we opposed using reserves, which 6 we did think was prudent from a fiscal standpoint, and 7 we're managing the budget in a way that will allow us 8 not to use those reserves. In fact, we're managing it 9 very tightly and giving very strong enrollment growth 10 this fall, almost double what we anticipate. So we will 11 avoid using the one point five million dollars in 12 reserves. 13 Early on in the academic year this fiscal 14 year, we were aware that the governor was considering a 15 six percent cut in aid to community colleges. The 16 governor put forth a different proposal. Our cut would 17 have been about eleven percent in base aid, which would 18 be about five point two million. Those cuts have not 19 been addressed when the legislature convened in 20 September. The governor will put forth his recommended 21 budget next Tuesday so we will have a better idea. 22 Initially, we were locking at a six percent cut, which 23 equated to six point two million dollars. We took 24 immediate action to slow down certain purchases, certain 55 1 strategic investments. 2 We had a five year plan to replace outmoded 3 the equipment. That has been slowed down. We cut back 4 on overtime. We took a hard look at vacancies and only 5 filled those strategic positions. At this point, we 6 don't know if there is going to be any cuts in this 7 current fiscal year from the state, which runs through 8 the end of March. There is a public hearing this 9 morning in Brookhaven that Senator-elect Foley is 10 conducting to talk about the budget challenges, and we 11 have a representative there this morning to talk about 12 what we're doing to manage the college. 13 There is one hopeful sign. Earlier this week 14 on Tuesday, when the governor was here on Long Island 15 addressing the Long Island Association, it is the Long 16 Island business news article that came out on Wednesday, 17 the governor said that the entire state should expect 18 cuts. One area that needs to be saved is higher 19 education. Higher education could be used as a way to 20 foster economic stimulus in the future and cutting 21 funding will not help. With what we hope when he 22 releases his budget on Tuesday we will not see cuts or 23 at least the level of cuts that had been proposed 24 earlier. 56 1 We are in a position if there aren't cuts this 2 fiscal year or next, we are in a position to address 3 next year's challenges, which will be significant. We 4 know the county sales tax is down. We don't know what 5 the possibility for any increase from our local sponsors 6 will be next year. I think the best case is that there 7 is no cut at the state level. That means two legs of 8 the stool at best would be where we are now. We need to 9 do everything we can to build reserves this year to 10 address next year's challenges. If we do nothing except 11 pay contractual increases, it would be around seven, 12 seven and a half million dollars. Just to continue 13 where we are, we're working very hard to manage the 14 budget as closely as we can without impacting 15 enrollment. We want to maintain open access and 16 maintain the quality of our programs. 17 That is where we stand at this point. By next 18 week we will have a better idea of how we're going to 19 fare in the budget that they will adopt next fiscal 20 year, which begins April 1st. 21 THE CHAIRMAN: Any questions? 22 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: I was thinking about the 23 Middle States and their concern about the reserve. I 24 think they're addressing their problem. 57 1 DR. PIPPINS: January 6th, 7th and 8th. 2 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: At least that will be one 3 of their concerns that we don't have to worry about. 4 DR. PIPPINS: They will be want to go see a 5 number of board members during their visit. If you can 6 keep your calendar. Free especially on the 7th of 7 January. 8 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Going back to the previous 9 discussion by Mary Lou, you have got organizations, I 10 would cite one in Setauket that the guy just gave twenty 11 six-million dollars to the State University at Stony 12 Brook, and has done a lot of philanthropic contributions 13 throughout the year. I don't know him, but his 14 organization, he would be one to that the proper person 15 could approach. Off the record. 16 (DISCUSSION OFF THE RECORD) 17 DR. PIPPINS: We will keep that in mind. 18 One of the challenges they want to meet with at least 19 four key county officials, so we are trying to leave the 20 day open to try and accommodate their schedules and fit 21 everyone else in around those appointments. If you 22 could be flexible, that would help us that day. 23 THE CHAIRMAN: Any questions on the budget? 24 Okay. I do believe we have litigation issues to 58 1 discuss. 2 DR. PIPPINS: One last thing, we probably 3 should have done this at the beginning to some way 4 recognize the fact that we lost the founding president 5 this week. The funeral was on Monday. He was a great 6 leader and laid a tremendous foundation for the 7 organization. I'm really pleased that I had the 8 opportunity to know him and talk to him. We shared 9 dreams. Some of his unfinished dreams are my unfinished 10 dreams. At least one of those were in the process; that 11 is the Eastern Resource Center. He wanted to see a 12 pool. Let's see what happened to that. 13 He agreed to be the honorary chair of the 50th 14 birthday celebration. We will remember him in that 15 process. I didn't want to let this meet pass without 16 commenting about that on the record. 17 THE CHAIRMAN: I'll entertain a motion to go 18 into executive session. The purpose is to discuss 19 current and pending imminent litigation and a personnel 20 issue, entertain a motion. 21 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: Motion. 22 TRUSTEE HAZLITT: Second. 23 (Time noted: 10:40 a.m.) 24 59 1 CERTIFICATION 2 3 STATE OF NEW YORK) 4 ) ss: 5 COUNTY OF SUFFOLK) 6 7 I, JUDI GALLOP, a Stenotype Reporter 8 and Notary Public for the State of New 9 York, do hereby certify: 10 THAT this is a true and accurate transcription 11 of the Suffolk Community College Board of Trustees 12 meeting held on December 11, 2008. 13 I further certify that I am not 14 related, either by blood or marriage, to 15 any of the parties in this action; and 16 I am in no way interested in the 17 outcome of this matter. 18 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my 19 hand this 2nd day of January, 2009. 20 21 ________________________ JUDI GALLOP 22 23 24