1 2 BOARD OF TRUSTEES SPECIAL MEETING 3 SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 4 533 College Road Selden, New York 5 6 January 15, 2009 9:00 a.m. 7 8 9 10 11 12 BEFORE: 13 WILLIAM D. MOORE, Trustee/Chair 14 15 16 17 18 REPORTED BY: 19 THERESA PAPE, Court Reporter/Notary Public 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 2 2 T R U S T E E S: 3 JERRY KANE, Trustee/Secretary 4 ERNESTO MATTACE, Trustee 5 BELINDA ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN, Trustee 6 DAVID OCHOA, Trustee 7 PAUL V. PONTIERI, JR., Trustee 8 SAUL R. FENCHEL, Trustee 9 AVETTE D. WARE, Trustee 10 11 A B S E N T T R U S T E E S: 12 13 WALTER C. HAZLITT, Trustee/Vice Chair 14 LORI CORRAR, Student Trustee 15 16 A L S O P R E S E N T: 17 MARY LOU ARANEO, Vice President for 18 Institutional Advancement 19 GEORGE GATTA, Vice President for Workforce and Economic Development 20 JAMES CANNIFF, Vice President for Academic and 21 Student Affairs 22 CHARLES STEIN, Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs 23 ILENE KREITZER, Executive Director of 24 Legal Affairs 25 1 SCCC Board of Trustees Special Meeting 3 2 (WHEREUPON, this meeting convened 3 at 9:00 a.m. Off-the-record discussions 4 ensued, after which the following 5 transpired:) 6 (Time noted: 9:19 a.m.) 7 CHAIRMAN MOORE: Let's all rise for 8 the Pledge. Good morning. Thank you 9 for tolerating my tardiness, or not. 10 (WHEREUPON, the Pledge of 11 Allegiance was recited.) 12 CHAIRMAN MOORE: Thank you. 13 As you know, this is a special 14 meeting of the Board for a particular 15 purpose which necessitates our 16 conversation in Executive Session. It's 17 a personnel matter, and we do anticipate 18 taking action after Executive Session. 19 I cannot say that we'll be ten minutes, 20 20 minutes, or an hour. So I do 21 apologize for that, but we will be 22 taking -- I anticipate that we'll be 23 taking action when we come out of 24 Executive Session. 25 I will entertain a motion to go 1 SCCC Board of Trustees Special Meeting 4 2 into Executive Session for personnel 3 matters and possible litigation as well. 4 TRUSTEE MATTACE: So moved. 5 SECRETARY KANE: Second. 6 CHAIRMAN MOORE: All in favor? 7 ALL: "Aye." 8 CHAIRMAN MOORE: Thank you. 9 Thanks, folks. 10 (WHEREUPON, Executive Session 11 commenced, after which the following 12 transpired:) 13 (Time noted: 10:02 a.m.) 14 CHAIRMAN MOORE: Okay. The Board 15 has a Resolution, 2009.5, Appointing an 16 Administrator in Charge/Interim 17 President; those are the official SUNY 18 terminologies that we use. 19 And I'll ask Paul Pontieri to read 20 the Resolution. 21 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: In the form of a 22 motion: 23 "Whereas, the Board of Trustees, 24 Suffolk Community College has selected 25 George Gatta to serve as Interim 1 SCCC Board of Trustees Special Meeting 5 2 President during the College's 3 presidential search, and 4 "Whereas, a brief waiting period 5 may occur between Mr. Gatta's start date 6 and the date of the anticipated approval 7 by the SUNY Board of Trustees, be it 8 therefore 9 "Resolved, that the Board of 10 Trustees appoints George Gatta as 11 Interim President, effective 12 February 20th, 2009, at an annual salary 13 of" -- 14 CHAIRMAN MOORE: Where did she go? 15 TRUSTEE MATTACE: 200. 16 TRUSTEE PONTIERI: -- "$200,000 and 17 subject to the terms and conditions of a 18 contract satisfactory to both parties, 19 until such time as a permanent President 20 is appointed by the College Board of 21 Trustees, approved by the SUNY Board of 22 Trustees and commences employment at the 23 College, and be it further 24 "Resolved, in the event that the 25 SUNY Board of Trustees has not yet 1 SCCC Board of Trustees Special Meeting 6 2 affirmed his appointment by 3 February 20th, 2009, George Gatta shall 4 serve as Administrator-in-Charge from 5 that date, at the same salary, until the 6 SUNY Board of Trustees affirms his 7 appointment as Interim President of 8 Suffolk County Community College, and be 9 it further 10 "Resolved, that George Gatta shall 11 not apply for or be a candidate for the 12 permanent position of College 13 President." This is the form of a 14 motion. 15 TRUSTEE OCHOA: Second. 16 CHAIRMAN MOORE: All in favor? 17 ALL: "Aye." 18 CHAIRMAN MOORE: All right. 19 Congratulations, George, and thank you 20 for stepping up. 21 (Applause) 22 TRUSTEE MATTACE: Now, clean that 23 parking lot. 24 (Laughter) 25 TRUSTEE OCHOA: Fix my parking 1 SCCC Board of Trustees Special Meeting 7 2 ticket, will ya? 3 (Laughter) 4 CHAIRMAN MOORE: George, the Board 5 has every confidence. You've shown your 6 skills and your dedication to this 7 institution, and we thank you for that. 8 And we thank you for stepping up and 9 being willing to accept this 10 appointment, and we look forward to your 11 guidance -- 12 MR. GATTA: All right. 13 CHAIRMAN MOORE: -- through this 14 set of really tough times. 15 MR. GATTA: Well, first, I thank 16 the Board for that vote of confidence. 17 This is a great college. We've done 18 collectively, under the Board's 19 guidance, I believe, great things during 20 Dr. Pippin's tenure, and I was happy to 21 be part of that. We have a very strong 22 faculty and very fine administrators, 23 and we've got plans in place so that we 24 can move forward in an orderly way. 25 CHAIRMAN MOORE: Good. 1 SCCC Board of Trustees Special Meeting 8 2 MR. GATTA: I will use all my 3 energies to work with all my colleagues 4 to continue the fine work that we're 5 doing here at the college, to address 6 the challenges that we face this year, 7 in particular, and do anything I can to 8 assist with the Presidential search as 9 the Board directs. 10 So we've got a lot of work to do, I 11 look forward to that challenge. Again, 12 I thank you for your vote of confidence 13 and the opportunity to continue to serve 14 the college on an Interim basis as 15 President. Thank you. 16 CHAIRMAN MOORE: Thank you, George. 17 Okay. I don't feel there's any 18 more business before us today, I'll 19 entertain a motion to adjourn. 20 TRUSTEE OCHOA: So moved. 21 TRUSTEE MATTACE: Second. 22 CHAIRMAN MOORE: All in favor? 23 ALL: "Aye." 24 CHAIRMAN MOORE: Thank you all for 25 traveling out on a wonderfully, 1 SCCC Board of Trustees Special Meeting 9 2 beautifully winter day (sic). 3 Travel safely. 4 (WHEREUPON, this Special Meeting of 5 the Suffolk County Community College 6 Board of Trustees was adjourned at 7 10:06 a.m.) 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 SCCC Board of Trustees Special Meeting 10 2 3 4 5 C E R T I F I C A T E 6 7 I, THERESA PAPE, a Shorthand Reporter and 8 Notary Public of the State of New York, do hereby 9 certify: 10 That the foregoing is a true and accurate 11 transcription of the stenographic notes taken 12 herein. 13 I further certify that I am not related to 14 any of the parties to this action by blood or 15 marriage; and that I am in no way interested in the 16 outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my 18 hand this 15th day of January, 2009. 19 20 21 22 ___________________________________ THERESA PAPE 23 24 25