------------------------------------------X BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MICHAEL J. GRANT CAMPUS CAPTREE COMMONS, ROOM 114 BRENTWOOD, NEW YORK THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2010 9:00 a.m. ------------------------------------------X 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S: 3 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR. Chairman 4 WALTER C. HAZLITT 5 JERRY KANE 6 SAUL R. FENCHEL 7 CHIGOZIE ONYINANYA 8 GEORGE GATTA, JR. 9 President 10 BELINDA ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN 11 PAUL V. PONTIERI, JR. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 2 MR. MATTACE: We'll start the new year off 3 right with the pledge. 4 (Whereupon, the recitation of the pledge of 5 allegiance commenced.) 6 MR. MATTACE: We have a room full of guest 7 speakers I understand this morning. We're going 8 to make it as easy as possible. We'd like the 9 individuals who'd like to speak to please stand, 10 state your name and the group that you're from so 11 our court reporter can have all the information 12 and ask you to make your presentation within 13 three minutes. 14 Who would like to be first? 15 REVEREND PEARSON: Good afternoon, everyone. 16 My name is Reverend Roderick A. Pearson. I am 17 the President of the Islip Town NAACP and today, 18 I would, first of all, would like to thank the 19 Board Chair, members of the Board of Trustees of 20 the college, faculty and other members of the 21 college. Thanks to Miss Critzer for her 22 immediate response to us and allowing us to come 23 and to speak to this you this morning. 24 I'm representing serval organizations, the 25 Long Island Latino Teachers Association, the Long 4 1 2 Island Black Educators Association, of course the 3 NAACP of Islip, the Islamic Association of Long 4 Island, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the 5 Long Island Min Center and myself and Renee Ortiz 6 are here from the Islip NAACP. 7 Today we would like to come, first of all, 8 to get an explanation of the process for how a 9 president is selected by the college. How that 10 process goes from 30 potential candidates down to 11 three. And how that process goes from three to 12 one. We'd like clarity and understanding of that 13 process. And we come today, one of the missions 14 of the NAACP and several of the organizations I 15 represent here today. One of the missions is our 16 mission to combat injustice. And what we would 17 like to do today is give the Board on opportunity 18 to answer four, five questions so that we can 19 come to the determination ourselves whether an 20 injustice has been done. And if an injustice has 21 been done, how can we eradicate that kind of 22 situation from continuing and becoming a norm. 23 So that's our reason for being here today. 24 What we'd like to ask you, the following 25 four questions, if the Board would answer 5 1 2 honestly today. 3 MR. MATTACE: Excuse me, Reverend. 4 REVEREND PEARSON: Yes. 5 MR. MATTACE: I understand your concerns but 6 our position has been in the past that any 7 individual or group that wants to come before 8 this Board expressing their positions or their 9 opinion has the right to do that. What I will do 10 is offer to you -- 11 REVEREND PEARSON: Is this part of my 12 three minutes? 13 MR. MATTACE: No, I'll extend it as much as 14 you want because you've got more than one group 15 so we can multiply that. Is that fair enough? 16 REVEREND PEARSON: Fair enough. 17 MR. MATTACE: As a group, we're not going to 18 sit here today, to be honest with you, and answer 19 any questions. I will, at your convenience, set 20 up a meeting as soon as possible with any other 21 group that they like and sit down and hopefully 22 with my Executive Board, to be able to sit down 23 and answer the questions that we can answer. 24 REVEREND PEARSON: Fair enough. For the 25 record though, I'd like the questions stated and 6 1 2 in the minutes of this meeting. 3 MR. MATTACE: I understand. I just want you 4 to be aware that we will -- 5 REVEREND PEARSON: That's fine, we'll make 6 ourselves available for that meeting. But I just 7 want the record to show the five questions that 8 we want to ask. 9 The first one is to please briefly discuss 10 or describe the process for hiring a president of 11 the college. Please explain the steps taken to 12 narrow down a list of 30 potential candidates 13 down to three finalists. And then how the final 14 selection is accomplished. How does one become a 15 part of the final three. 16 Question two. Is it fact or fiction, if I'm 17 going too fast, let me know. Is it fact or 18 fiction that there were three finalist and that 19 two voluntarily or involuntarily disqualified. 20 That therefore, there was only one candidate left 21 of the three. Fact or fiction, was that 22 candidate offered the job and if not, why not. 23 Question number three. Has the Board made a 24 decision to commence a new search for the 25 president's position. If so, when was that 7 1 2 decision made and why was it made. 3 Question four. According to the contract 4 with the executive search consultant, this type 5 of search can cost tax payers $60,000 plus 6 expenses. Will this new search, if there is a 7 new search, will this new search result in an 8 additional cost to tax payers of $60,000 plus 9 expenses. 10 Those are the questions that we would like 11 answered, those four questions. It is not our 12 intent, we are here on our own voluntary, no one 13 has asked us to be here. We're not here on 14 behalf of one individual. But we are here on 15 behalf of questions that the community has 16 concerning this process. 17 And so then when it does come to Shawn 18 MacKay, we would like to know if he was a part of 19 the three, if he was good enough to be a 20 finalist, why isn't he good enough to be 21 president of this organization. So those are our 22 concerns, those are why we're here today. 23 Thank you for listening to us. We will 24 await the meeting date that we can have a 25 subsequent conversation. 8 1 2 MR. MATTACE: Before you leave here today 3 and I leave here today, we will have a date. 4 REVEREND PEARSON: Great. Thank you so 5 much. Thanks for listening. 6 MR. MONTANO: Can I sit or stand? 7 MR. MATTACE: Whatever you want. 8 MR. MONTANO: Good morning, everyone. Thank 9 you. 10 I'm legislature Rick Montano. I represent 11 the 9th Legislative District. And all though I 12 think it's known that the college is not 13 technically in my district because my district 14 starts on Wicks Road across the street, I have 15 been a strong supporter of the college and in 16 essence, has adopted the college as part of my 17 district because of the number of students that 18 come from my community that attend here. 19 I'd like to, I don't want to reiterate what 20 Reverend Pearson said. He said all the things 21 that I had planned to say but I would like to 22 make a couple of comments. 23 Number one. I'm looking at this Newsday 24 article that came out yesterday and it says that 25 lawmakers expected to plea. No, I didn't come 9 1 2 here plea. And it says that you would allow 3 protesters to speak and I do not consider myself 4 a protester. I'm actually a friend of the 5 college. But, I do have some very serious 6 concerns about what I have heard from my 7 constituents with respect to the search process. 8 Now, the facts, as I know them, there was a 9 search commenced, candidates applied from the job 10 and at the final process, three candidates were 11 selected to be a finalist. Two candidates, one 12 chose to withdraw. One was offered the position, 13 chose not to accept it and now we are down to the 14 final selection. And we do have some concerns 15 about a process that puts three people out of a 16 pool, a process that was initiated by the college 17 and rules were set, people complied with the 18 rules. You, whatever process you decided, 19 whatever conclusion you came to, you decided that 20 three people were to be finalists for this 21 position. Two people are no longer here. The 22 third finalist remains standing. And we see no 23 reason, I've looked at the minutes. I see 24 nothing in the minutes that talk about a new 25 search other than a comment in the minutes of the 10 1 2 December 10th meeting. It says Chairman Ernesto 3 Mattace reported that the Board will discuss the 4 presidential search and decide how to proceed 5 from this point forward but there's no discussion 6 in the minutes as to what transpired. I don't 7 even know if there was a vote taken to commence a 8 new search. And if it was, I don't think it was 9 done in open session. It may have been done in 10 executive session and I have some concerns about 11 executive session and whether or not a vote taken 12 in executive session would suffice legally and be 13 in compliance with the open meetings law. And I 14 think what we need to do is look at that. I've 15 asked for a copy of the verbatim minutes. But 16 the process is real straight forward as we see 17 it. 18 Without being harsh, it seems from the 19 comments that I have heard from members of my 20 community, when there's a process and we go 21 through the process and we get to the door, for 22 some reason, either the process changes or the 23 door is closed. And we're here to open that 24 door. We want the process to be followed. We 25 think it was an appropriate process. We did not 11 1 2 interfere in who the finalists were. We did not 3 make recommendations, that's simply the role of 4 the Board of Trustees. And now that your process 5 is complete and I was discussing this with 6 Rafaela last night and she said to me, you know, 7 I find it very strange because when we select 8 Miss America and we have the first runner up and 9 the second runner up and first runner up is 10 disqualified, we go to the second runner up. We 11 don't have a new contest until next year. So 12 you're in the same process. 13 You, as a board, decided on three candidates 14 that met all of the criteria. Two are no longer 15 with you. We are asking that you complete your 16 process. That you complete it appropriately. 17 And I do believe the only appropriate manner to 18 do it is to select the last standing finalist and 19 that would be Dr. MacKay. 20 And it's not that I have personal interest 21 in his selection. I have personal interest as a 22 legislature in the process that was utilized and 23 in the outcome of that process. And if you are 24 going to change the process, then we demand to 25 know why, how, what reasons are out there and why 12 1 2 you would allow someone to become a finalist and 3 then say, the other two aren't there so we didn't 4 really want you. Was this a, the suspicion among 5 people I've spoken to is was this for show. I 6 mean, what is going on here. And those are the 7 questions I think we need answers on. 8 I would like a copy of the verbatim minutes. 9 I would like to counsel about the appropriateness 10 of the actions taken by the Board. I would like 11 to request that you request a decision from the 12 committee in open government, Robert Freedman is 13 the executive director, as to the propriety of 14 whether or not an executive session vote is 15 sufficient to do what I have heard and I'm not 16 saying that you did it, what I've heard you 17 intend to do. 18 So those are the issues I wanted to bring 19 before you. I look forward to being part of that 20 meeting. Thank you very much. Any questions. 21 MR. MATTACE: No. I will make a statement 22 though. 23 MR. MONTANO: Thank you. Thank you for 24 letting me sit. 25 MR. MATTACE: I want to make something clear 13 1 2 in your mind and everybody else in this room, no 3 vote was taken. There's no vote needed to be 4 taken. There was no vote made when we decided to 5 do the search committee. We're extending it and 6 the process will continue. That's it. 7 MR. MONTANO: Just like that? Who decided 8 to extend it? 9 MR. MATTACE: Legislature Montano, I just 10 listened to you and I just made my statement. I 11 don't want to have a confrontation. 12 MR. MONTANO: Neither do I. 13 MR. MATTACE: We'll have a discussion. 14 MR. MONTANO: That's what I'm asking. I'd 15 like to be part of that discussion. 16 MR. MATTACE: I invited everybody here to 17 sit in a room and I will answer the questions 18 that I can answer. 19 MR. MONTANO: But you also indicated that 20 you will have a meeting with the group; am I 21 correct? 22 MR. MATTACE: Excuse me. 23 MR. MONTANO: You indicated earlier and I 24 don't mean to be confrontational but you 25 indicated earlier that you would have a meeting 14 1 2 with the group to answer the questions that were 3 laid on the table. 4 MR. MATTACE: The ones that I can answer. 5 MR. MONTANO: But this question you are 6 saying to me you cannot answer? I would prefer 7 to do this in private. 8 MR. MATTACE: So would I. But like I said, 9 we made a statement, you made your statement. I 10 made a statement as far as the Board is concerned 11 and let's leave it at that and continue here. 12 MR. MONTANO: But we will have a follow up 13 meeting? 14 MR. MATTACE: Before we leave, we'll find a 15 time and a date. I promise you that. 16 MR. MONTANO: Thank you. 17 MR. MATTACE: Thank you. We're looking at 18 approval of the minutes from December 3rd. 19 MR. EPSTEIN: Excuse me, Board. Other 20 people want to speak. 21 MR. MATTACE: Okay. Sorry. 22 MR. EPSTEIN: My name is Steve Epstein. I'm 23 a faculty member here at the Grant Campus. I'm 24 also the Coordinator of the Early College 25 Program. I worked for this industry before 15 1 2 returning to full-time college teaching. 3 It always amazed me that when a major 4 corporation needs new leadership, they look 5 inside first, when colleges always seek to do a 6 nationwide search. They do this even when a 7 superb candidate is already on staff. The 8 candidates from within already know the territory 9 and already know the players. When promoted, 10 they do not need to spend many months learning 11 the issues and who the key people are to best 12 solve the issues. But there are times when 13 corporations bring in outside CEOs, when they are 14 in crisis. Suffolk Community College has its 15 challenges but we are not in crisis, like the 16 auto industries or the banking industries have 17 been needing new blood. 18 We do not need to look outside. We do not 19 need to engage in another lengthy search for a 20 president. We have on our staff a leader who has 21 participated in this nationwide search and who 22 has immerged as one of the top three candidates, 23 as was noted. Two of the candidates are no 24 longer available. One of them is and Dr. MacKay 25 can step into the position immediately. If he 16 1 2 had not served as interim executive vice 3 president for the past eight months, there might 4 be some doubts about his ability to handle the 5 job of president. But those who have seen him 6 function on a day-to-day basis have no doubt. 7 In less than one-half year, he has put and 8 placed such programs as renewable energy issues, 9 major banner enhancements, enrollment management 10 plans, workforce development in many well-paid 11 local industries and the Title 3 grant proposal 12 that's been undertaken with broad based faculty. 13 And as board members, I'm sure that each of you 14 know of other major enhancements that he's 15 brought to the table to move our college forward. 16 One can only imagine what he will do as president 17 in the year 2010 and beyond. If the national, 18 State and County fiscal problems did not get any 19 better, we need a manager like Dr. MacKay who 20 knows how to plan a budget and knows how to make 21 hard choices. 22 So I encourage you to meet in executive 23 session and reconsider your decision to conduct a 24 new search. If some of you have any doubts about 25 one issue or another, hold a meeting with Dr. 17 1 2 MacKay and allow him to address those specific 3 issues that are directed. If you decide to offer 4 the position to him, the college, the community 5 and most importantly, the students of this 6 college will be well served by your collective 7 wisdom. Thank you. 8 MR. MATTACE: Thank you. Is there anybody 9 else? 10 MS. SANDERS: I'm Teresa Sanders, President 11 of the Urban League of Long Island. I didn't 12 have a lot of details and facts and I've been 13 trying to follow the public piece of this 14 process. 15 But I must express some additional concerns 16 after sitting here because its become apparent 17 that the transparency of the process is not here 18 and it should be amongst the team of Board. And 19 to then hear there's got to be a meeting after 20 this meeting to discuss privately what took 21 place, I may not be at the meeting and a lot of 22 people may not be at that meeting and I think we 23 owe it to the public, we owe it to the students. 24 This is an educational institution. We're 25 teaching not only academic excellence, we're 18 1 2 teaching ethics, morals, values. What kind of 3 citizens are we creating. As an educational 4 institution, when we say it's because we said so, 5 I mean, I'm really concerned now. And I hope 6 that when the Board gets together that you 7 challenge each other. You challenge each other 8 to do the right thing. Thank you. 9 MR. MATTACE: Thank you. Yes. 10 MR. WEAR: Good morning. My name is Lucius 11 Wear, President of the Eastern Long Island NAACP, 12 those five eastern towns that some of you 13 sometimes forgot or don't even know exist. 14 However, there are a number of people, 15 students faculty, tax payers, etcetera, etcetera, 16 that should have some input to this table and I 17 see have very little of it. And I want to say 18 very pointedly that in this day and time, in the 19 year 2010 that there are many people that I come 20 in contact with on a daily basis, across the 21 broad spectrum of people that are stunned by your 22 decision or lack of decision. And we think that 23 it is an example of continuing institutional 24 blatant racism. Thank you. 25 MR. MATTACE: Thank you. Anyone else? 19 1 2 MR. MARTINEZ: My name is Ray Martinez and 3 I'm an assistant professor here at the Grant 4 Campus and I'm also an advisor to the Early 5 College Program on the campus. 6 When Dean MacKay came to the Grant Campus, 7 we had recently established our early college 8 partnership between the school district and the 9 college. Under this program, precocious juniors 10 were allowed to come to the college one day a 11 week to take classes with traditional-aged 12 college students. In the first year, we enrolled 13 only honor students with exceptional grades and 14 placement test scores. When Dean MacKay saw how 15 well the students did, he encouraged us to 16 include honor students to take non-honor classes 17 at the college as well. This program was 18 different from AP classes at the high school or 19 even college classes taught at the high school by 20 our high school faculty. There were real college 21 classes on a real college campus and students 22 kept up with the traditional-aged students. This 23 was a real introduction to college. 24 In many classes, the college faculty 25 reported that the students that we sent were as 20 1 2 good or better than the traditional-aged 3 students. Many of the honor students were sent 4 under the program would never have considered 5 matriculating at a community college. They were 6 bound for such schools as Albany, Boston or 7 Cornell. But as the ad says, they got their 8 start at Suffolk. So the college found another 9 way to serve the students of the college to reach 10 their educational goals. But several of our 11 honor students each year do choose to matriculate 12 at Suffolk after high school. The current 13 president of the Student Government Association 14 is a Deer Park ECP alumni who first came to Grant 15 via the program and will graduate with an honor's 16 diploma in May. 17 This program has now grown in large part due 18 to Dr. MacKay's involvement in meetings to spread 19 the word to other school district officials. As 20 the result of his visionary leadership, the 21 program now enrolls over 50 students annually 22 from a multitude of high schools in the Western 23 Suffolk area. In addition, as a sign of his 24 continued support, since my retirement in 2007, I 25 have served as a part-time advisor for early 21 1 2 college students. These students continue to 3 thrive in our classes and with a good head start 4 on their college careers. Thank you. 5 MR. MATTACE: Is there anyone else? 6 MS. REYNA: Hi. My name is Cindy Reyna. 7 I'm the faculty advisor for the Grant Campus. 8 I'm also the elected factually rep. Many of my 9 faculty who called me at home who could not be 10 here, I'm speaking on their behalf, as well as 11 myself. 12 I have worked with Dr. MacKay for the past 13 four, five years and I have seen his leadership 14 and how he approaches and works with other 15 people. I think many of what I wanted to say 16 Steve mentioned and Ray mentioned but what I want 17 you to think about is that, Board Members, please 18 reconsider. This isn't about us anymore. This 19 is about future. The future of the community, 20 about the future of our students and the 21 generation we have to serve. Thank you. 22 MR. MATTACE: Anyone else? 23 (No response given.) 24 MR. MATTACE: Thank you, everybody. 25 Continuing with our agenda. We need approval of 22 1 2 the minutes of December 3rd and December 10th 3 Board of Trustees meetings. 4 MR. KANE: So moved. 5 MR. MATTACE: Second. 6 MR. PONTIERI: Second. 7 MR. MATTACE: All those in favor. 8 THE BOARD: (In unison) Aye. 9 THE COURT: Opposed. 10 (No response given.) 11 MR. MATTACE: Abstentions. 12 (No response given.) 13 MR. MATTACE: So passed. 14 Next, we're going to the approval of the 15 college resolutions, which are attached. The 16 resolutions are 2010-1 through 2010-4. Is there 17 a motion. 18 MR. KANE: So moved. 19 MR. MATTACE: Second. 20 MR. PONTIERI: Second. 21 MR. MATTACE: All those in favor. 22 THE BOARD: (In unison) Aye. 23 MR. MATTACE: Opposed. 24 (No response given.) 25 MR. MATTACE: Abstentions. 23 1 2 (No response given.) 3 MR. MATTACE: So passed. 4 We'll now have the college finance report. 5 MS. STIER: Morning, everybody. Two of the 6 finance reports, if you look at it, it has 7 changed significantly from the last time that we 8 all met. And that's because the first time we 9 elected the state budget, state aid budget 10 reduction that were approved just before the 11 holiday by the legislature. 12 So if you look at the reconciliation sheet, 13 you can see here that there is very little 14 estimate above budget is now $2.9 million. A 15 month ago, that was about 4.8 million. Now, the 16 higher revenue reports because enrollment has 17 gone up. But we've now lost about $1.9 million 18 in state aid, which brings that number down. 19 We're still estimating what the expenses through 20 the year will be but the expenses shown about 21 $200,000 better than budget for a net of 22 $3.1 million projected better than the budget. 23 But, as you know, we have adopted carryover from 24 the prior year of $1.7 million. So we're really 25 about 1.4 million ahead right now. That is not a 24 1 2 lot of leeway. It's not much of a push in case 3 something goes wrong. 4 We're also very concerned because of the 5 financial situation of the State, as you all 6 know, is not very good. And there are two issues 7 with that. The first is that our final state aid 8 payment for this year is actually in the next 9 state fiscal year. So it's quite possible we 10 will get an additional budget reduction when that 11 budget is adopted. And second, next year's 12 budget from the state level is likely to have 13 additional cuts. So we want to be cautious and 14 we want to be prudent. And we are, indeed, 15 looking and implementing some budget reductions 16 for this year. We've been talking to the 17 campuses to get some proposals. We'll be 18 finalizing those over the next couple of weeks to 19 try to cut the budget by about the reduction of 20 the state aid which is $1.9 million. We're 21 looking to be prudent and to maintain the 22 facility of the college funds. 23 Are there any questions? 24 (No response given.) 25 MS. STIER: Okay, thank you. 25 1 2 MR. MATTACE: Thank you. It's time for my 3 report. 4 There will be a meeting of the search 5 committee this afternoon. It will begin the 6 continuation of the process to bring some 7 openness to as far as one of the questions. 8 Academic search will continue working with us on 9 the search at original cost, to let everybody 10 know, except for any expenses. So we are not 11 starting all over again, as far as the cost goes. 12 And that is part of the information that people 13 requested and that's been put on the table. 14 Other than that, the process will move along and 15 that's basically it at this point. 16 The dates will be addressed today on each 17 step of the process. I will tell you though, 18 based on when the process began, a lot of the 19 initial paperwork has been put together, will be 20 continued, some adjustments will be made and 21 we'll make the presentation. The first couple of 22 months we were involved with in the beginning 23 will not have to be repeated and we'll move 24 forward from there. We'll move forward in every 25 aspect. I will state that we will be procuring 26 1 2 the assistance of other individuals to help us, 3 to be honest, with reference checks and anything 4 else that has to be done. And this will be made 5 public, as far as what can be and what can't be 6 put on the table. Basically, at this point, 7 we're just going to move forward and continue the 8 search. I thank you. 9 Round table. Jerry. 10 MR. KANE: Oh, I don't know. 11 REVEREND PEARSON: Is that the contention of 12 all of you? Do all of you agree with that? 13 MR. MATTACE: Agree with what? 14 REVEREND PEARSON: What was just stated 15 about continuing the process. 16 MR. MATTACE: Absolutely. 17 REVEREND PEARSON: I'd like a hand vote. 18 MR. MATTACE: Excuse me. 19 REVEREND PEARSON: I'm sorry. 20 MR. MATTACE: I respect you. 21 REVEREND PETERSON: I'm sorry. 22 MR. MATTACE: You're welcome to be here. 23 Jerry, did you say what you wanted to say? 24 MR. KANE: No, I'm good. 25 MR. MATTACE: Saul? 27 1 2 MR. KANE: Suggestion, I think Saul has a 3 suggestion. I assume we'll be going into 4 executive session. 5 MR. FENCHEL: I would like to -- 6 MR. MATTACE: If it's a personnel or any 7 area thereof, it has to be done in executive 8 session. 9 MR. FENCHEL: I think it would be 10 appropriate to go into executive session right 11 now and keep the public here and then come back. 12 MR. MATTACE: That's fine with me. 13 MR. MONTANO: About what? Executive session 14 about what? 15 MR. FENCHEL: Our usual procedure is to go 16 into executive session and basically indicate to 17 the public, the people who have come here that 18 there's really going to be no business conducted 19 after. I think we should go into executive 20 session right now and come back. 21 MR. MONTANO: On what basis? 22 MR. MATTACE: Excuse me, excuse me, excuse 23 me. Please, no questions, Rick. After you can 24 ask people what you like, not during our meeting, 25 please. 28 1 2 MR. FENCHEL: Then to consider answering 3 some other concerns with the public. 4 MR. MATTACE: Chigozie. 5 MR. ONYINANYA: I agree. 6 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: I'm ready to go into 7 executive session. 8 MR. MATTACE: Paul. 9 MR. PONTIERI: Yes. 10 MR. MATTACE: I will call for executive 11 session for personnel and litigation. 12 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: We need a motion. 13 MR. MATTACE: I need a motion. 14 MR. KANE: So moved. 15 MR. MATTACE: Second. 16 MR. PONTIERI: Second. 17 MR. MATTACE: All those in favor. 18 THE BOARD: (In unison) Aye. 19 MR. MATTACE: Opposed. 20 (No response given.) 21 MR. MATTACE: Abstentions. 22 (No response given.) 23 MR. MATTACE: We will return afterwards to 24 continue with our meeting. 25 (Whereupon, executive session took place.) 29 1 2 MR. MATTACE: I need a motion to resume, to 3 come out of executive session. 4 MR. FENCHEL: Motion to resume. 5 MR. KANE: Second. 6 MR. MATTACE: All those in favor. 7 THE BOARD: (In unison) Aye. 8 MR. MATTACE: Opposed. 9 (No response given.) 10 MR. MATTACE: Abstentions. 11 (No response given.) 12 MR. MATTACE: What I'd like to do is make a 13 statement. 14 We appreciate all the comments made today. 15 The Board has discussed them amongst ourselves 16 and in that discussion, have decided to meet 17 again with Dr. MacKay. After our meeting with 18 Dr. MacKay, I will be in touch with all of you 19 who requested a meeting to arrange a meeting and 20 after the meeting, please leave your contact 21 information with Mrs. Kopp at the end of the 22 table. Please raise your hand. 23 MS. KOPP: (Complies.) 24 MR. MATTACE: Thank you. President's 25 report. 30 1 2 MR. GATTA: Due to the length of the 3 executive session and in the interest of time, we 4 will not make the full presentations on both the 5 information and security report or the SUNY 6 Capital Reinvestment Study. We will postpone 7 those and deliver those at next month's meeting. 8 I have a few items I want to update the 9 Board on. First, as the Board knows and most of 10 the college community knows, we are in the mist 11 of a middle state monitoring visit. They're here 12 today. They're meeting with several 13 constituencies both within the college and some 14 of our external constituencies as well, including 15 elected and appointed officials in the county. 16 They will be concluding their visit tomorrow 17 morning with an exit report at 10:30. That will 18 be delivered in the Alumni Room at the Ammerman 19 Campus, again, at 10:30 in the morning. We 20 believe we made significant progress in 21 addressing all the issues in terms of both 22 accreditation standards and accreditation 23 eligibility requirements. As you know, we've 24 submitted a formal monitoring report August 1st 25 of this year and also an update on December 1st. 31 1 2 So with that, we believe we are in very good 3 shape to address their concerns regarding 4 accreditation. 5 Second, with regard to enrollment, the Board 6 is aware of what transpired in the fall with 7 record enrollments. Winter session, which we're 8 currently in right now, is up approximately the 9 same number, about almost 10 percent. Spring 10 enrollment is also very strong. Approximately 11 20 percent at this point. However, we anticipate 12 that number will ease down. At this point, we're 13 planning on about the same growth that we 14 experienced in the fall and the spring, about 15 10 percent. Which again, is very significant. 16 We're planning for that number and we believe we 17 can accommodate all those students. Within the 18 budget projections that were reported by Vice 19 President Stier to the Board this morning. 20 The Eastern Campus library is poised to 21 begin. We anticipate awarding a construction 22 contract within the next several days. We're 23 ready to begin that. We went through a process 24 for the construction of that and the Board will 25 be approving that contract within days. 32 1 2 We had a press conference this past Monday 3 at this campus over in the Work Force Building 4 with Congressman Israel wherein he announced 5 $200,000 for a green technology work force 6 training program working in strong partnership 7 with the local community, with several community 8 organizations. I thank the Chairman and Trustee 9 Groneman for being with us that day. Trustee 10 Groneman was there on a dual capacity as a 11 trustee of the Board and as new President of 12 Pronto. 13 When I mention the community groups, we will 14 work very closely with Pronto, with Atalante and 15 with the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 16 because the focus of this training will be to 17 help members of that community, that growing and 18 emerging community within our community to expose 19 them and give them training in emerging green 20 force work force jobs in that area. The 21 curriculum will be delivered in Spanish, I'm 22 happy to say. It allows us to build and leverage 23 existing programs within the college. For years 24 we've offered an entrepreneurial assistance 25 problem through our corporate training center. 33 1 2 This will be another incarnation of that with 3 also working closely with LIPA and some folks 4 from BNL. In addition to that training, we will 5 run a summer camp for high school students. 6 Again, to expose them to careers in green 7 technology. 8 One other item. We're building in our 9 success of Delimitations of Banner, Banner 10 Student and then Banner Finance on September 1st. 11 We have implemented our banner payroll position 12 control system effective the first of this year. 13 As a matter of fact, today faculty guild will 14 receive the first checks that have been cut from 15 their longevity payments. I see Associate Dean 16 Stier nodding her head. I assume those checks 17 have been received. I cannot speak more proudly 18 of the work that has been done by the Banner 19 Delimitation team, both in payroll, in IT, our 20 computer center and the folks that have led the 21 entire effort. So our thanks go out to them for 22 that. Next week will be the first regular 23 paycheck for faculty, guild and exempt within 24 that system. Unfortunately, we are not able to 25 reach an agreement with the Association of the 34 1 2 Admissible Employees and their payroll will 3 continue to be processed by the County for a 4 one-year period. I expect that I will have a 5 resolution from the Board to approve an amendment 6 to our sponsor service agreement. The reason 7 that I don't have it for you today is we're still 8 awaiting the calculation for the cost that we'll 9 be charged by the County for that service. We've 10 been in constant discussions with both the 11 Executive's office and the Controller's office. 12 They've both have been cooperative in this 13 transition, so I want to thank them for that. 14 If I could, just lastly, I would like to 15 touch on the Capital Reinvestment Study, not in 16 great detail but to let you know that as we 17 prepare our capital budget request to the County, 18 which is due the beginning of February, we'll 19 focus on the needs to refurbish infrastructure 20 and major systems within the college, both roads, 21 parking, mechanical, electrical systems, 22 etcetera. 23 We have a number of new projects that are 24 ongoing. The library at Eastern will be in 25 construction soon. The planning and the design 35 1 2 for the science building at Ammerman will unfold 3 this year. The funding is fully in place for 4 that project. And we also have planning funds 5 approved for the library at this campus in 2010. 6 With those major construction projects underway, 7 we now need to focus on rebuilding this 8 infrastructure that was largely built in the '60s 9 and '70s and much of it is aging out. So at next 10 month's meeting, we'll share with you the full 11 depth of the analysis that's been done on 12 infrastructure college wide and that's just not 13 the roads and the parking and the mechanical 14 systems but it's the buildings themselves, which 15 are now approaching 40 years plus in age. 16 So that concludes my report and I'd be glad 17 to respond to any of The Board's questions. 18 MR. MATTACE: As far as I'm concerned, thank 19 you for the presentation. I do have one question 20 though. In reference to reception over at the 21 Ammerman Campus, the cell phones. I couldn't 22 figure out a rhyme or reason. I'm at the top of 23 the hill at Effrin Square and all of a sudden I 24 lose reception. Is that happening a lot on the 25 campus? 36 1 2 MR. GATTA: Not to my knowledge. The campus 3 where we had challenges was the Eastern Campus 4 because of the lack of cell towers and that's 5 been addressed. At Ammerman, I'm not aware of 6 any. 7 MR. MATTACE: I just wanted to make sure. 8 Maybe the battery went dead. 9 MR. HAZLITT: May I? 10 MR. MATTACE: Sure. 11 MR. HAZLITT: Do you think that failure to 12 reach an agreement with the County and AME will 13 have any effect on the report that's being 14 submitted tomorrow by the group? 15 MR. GATTA: No. It's not an accreditation 16 issue. This is really, it's a payroll processing 17 issue. It doesn't impact the standards or the 18 eligibility requirements. In fact, the County 19 has been very cooperative with us in this. I 20 think demonstrates their commitment to work with 21 us on these issue. So, no I didn't think it will 22 have an impact. 23 MR. HAZLITT: Thank you. 24 MR. MATTACE: Any other questions? 25 (No response given.) 37 1 2 MR. MATTACE: Thank you. At this point, we 3 concluded our business for today. I need a 4 motion to adjourn. 5 MR. KANE: So moved. 6 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: Second. 7 MR. MATTACE: All those in favor. 8 THE BOARD: (In unison) Aye. 9 MR. MATTACE: Opposed. 10 (No response given.) 11 MR. MATTACE: Abstentions. 12 (No response given.) 13 MR. MATTACE: Thank you. 14 (Time noted: 10:58 a.m.) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 38 1 2 3 CERTIFICATION 4 5 6 I, NICOLE LIMONCELLI, a Notary Public in and 7 for the State of New York, do hereby certify: 8 THAT the foregoing is a true and accurate 9 transcript of my stenographic notes. 10 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my 11 hand this day of , 2010. 12 13 14 15 NICOLE LIMONCELLI 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25