1 1 2 SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 3 ------------------------------------------X 4 SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 5 BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING ------------------------------------------X 6 April 20, 2006 7 8:30 A.M. 8 Suffolk County Community College, Ammerman Campus, 9 Alumni Room - Gymnasium Building 10 Selden, New York 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S: 3 4 WILLIAM D. MOORE, Trustee/Chair 5 WALTER C. HAZLITT, Trustee/ Vice Chair 6 JERRY KANE, Trustee/Secretary 7 FRANK C. TROTTA, Trustee 8 DAVID OCHOA, Trustee 9 JOHN L. KOMINICKI, Trustee 10 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR., Trustee 11 DENNIS McCARTHY, Trustee 12 BELINDA ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN, Trustee 13 AVETTE D. WARE, Student Trustee 14 DR. SHIRLEY PIPPINS, President, SCCC 15 TERI KOPP, President's Office 16 MARY LOU ARANEO, V.P. for Institutional 17 Advancement 18 CHUCK STEIN, V.P. Business & Fin. Affairs 19 DR. JAMES CANNIFF, V.P. Academic & Student 20 Affairs 21 GEORGE GATTA, V.P. for Workforce & Econ. Dev. 22 JOANNE BRAXTON, Assoc. V.P. for Campus Affairs 23 ILENE KREITZER, Executive Director of Legal 24 Affairs 25 ET AL 3 1 2 MR. MOORE: We begin our 3 meeting at 8:35. Let's take 4 things a little out of order just 5 in case technology fails us. 6 Let's go to Item D. And we have 7 resolutions 2006.23 to 2006.30, 8 and we're going to hold the last 9 one -- table that one for some 10 more work, not quite ready for 11 prime time. So that being said, 12 we don't want to do a single 13 resolution for all or do we? 14 MR. KANE: Fine. 15 MR. MOORE: We're not going 16 in the budget that's in this 17 packet. Is there any discussion 18 on these resolutions? Put it that 19 way. 20 MR. TROTTA: I would ask 21 for a motion for a resolution for 22 items 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. 23 MR. MOORE: Second. All in 24 favor of that motion? 25 (Whereupon, all those in 4 1 2 favor respond "aye.") 3 MR. MOORE: That leaves us 4 with resolution 2006.24. 5 Any discussion on 6 resolution 2006.24? I want to 7 thank everyone, though it's a 8 statement of this Board and the 9 institution of its goal and 10 commitment of excellence -- what 11 it is, we're investing in 12 education; we can't go backward. 13 I'll entertain a motion for 14 2006.24. 15 MR. HAZLITT: So moved. 16 MR. TROTTA: Second. 17 MR. MOORE: All in favor. 18 (Whereupon, all those in 19 favor respond "aye.") 20 MR. MOORE: Very good. 21 I'll entertain a motion for the 22 minutes of the Board. 23 MR. HAZLITT: So moved. 24 MR. TROTTA: Second. 25 MR. MOORE: All in favor. 5 1 2 (Whereupon, all those in 3 favor respond "aye.") 4 MR. MOORE: Okay. And I'll 5 entertain a motion to recess our 6 trustees' meeting and convene the 7 directors' meeting of the 8 Association. 9 MR. HAZLITT: So moved. 10 MR. TROTTA: Second. 11 MR. MOORE: All in favor? 12 (Whereupon, all those in 13 favor respond "aye.") 14 MR. MOORE: And entertain a 15 motion to approve the minutes of 16 the March 30th Board of Directors' 17 meeting. 18 MR. HAZLITT: So moved. 19 MR. TROTTA: Second. 20 MR. MOORE: All in favor? 21 (Whereupon, all those in 22 favor respond "aye.") 23 MR. MOORE: Okay. We 24 received in our packet the 25 association's finance report. Any 6 1 2 questions on that or any 3 information we need to know? Or 4 does this necessitate a motion of 5 accepting it or is it -- no? 6 Okay. 7 Moving right along. I'll 8 entertain a motion to adjourn our 9 Director's meeting and reconvene 10 our Trustee's meeting. 11 MR. HAZLITT: So moved. 12 MR. TROTTA: Second. 13 MR. MOORE: All in favor? 14 (Whereupon, all those in 15 favor respond "aye.") 16 MR. MOORE: Okay. Thank 17 you. 18 Okay. College finance 19 report. You're up, Chuck. 20 MR. STEIN: Just wanted to 21 take a moment to talk about the 22 County Executive's capitol program 23 that was released. Couple of 24 things that you should be aware 25 of. The capitol program did not 7 1 2 include the gymnasium and health 3 fitness center at Eastern campus. 4 As you know, we have to -- we 5 worked very diligently with the 6 legislators last year to have that 7 included in there. It has now 8 been removed from the capitol 9 program. We also requested 10 equipment for the culinary arts 11 building in Riverhead, and the 12 County Executive did not include 13 that. 14 MR. MOORE: Do you think 15 that's an oversight? 16 MR. STEIN: I'm not sure, 17 but I'm sure we'll be working with 18 legislators to see if that can be 19 corrected. 20 MR. MOORE: Okay. 21 MR. STEIN: We requested a 22 capitol program for repairs to our 23 athletic fields, and you had a 24 presentation on that, as a matter 25 of fact, by Shaun McKay -- 8 1 2 MR. MOORE: And that was 3 cool. 4 MR. STEIN: -- for all 5 campuses, and that was not 6 included. We also asked for 7 additional reconstruction funds 8 for Veteran's Plaza. Anyone who's 9 been at Veteran's Plaza can see 10 it's moving along very well, but 11 as we pointed out, the bids came 12 in at a level that would not allow 13 us to fully complete it, so we'd 14 requested the additional funds 15 that was not included in the 16 capitol program. We also asked 17 that the funds for the science 18 technology in the general 19 classroom building be advanced 20 from 2009 to 2007 for design, and 21 that would allow us to then move 22 up the timetable for Craline Hall, 23 which can't be done until the new 24 science building is there. That 25 was not included. 9 1 2 In the budget message that 3 was released, the County Executive 4 stated that he is supporting the 5 library -- the learning resource 6 center at the Eastern campus 7 contingent upon State aid. I 8 think there must have been some 9 miscommunication there because 10 we've had State aid for that 11 project for three years. So I 12 don't know what happened, but I'm 13 happy that he's supporting it, and 14 now that I've made it public that 15 we've had State aid for three 16 years, perhaps we can get the 17 project moving. 18 Moving along, we'll be 19 working diligently with our 20 legislators to see if we can get 21 these projects placed back in. As 22 far as the current operating 23 budget is concerned, you received 24 the information in your packets on 25 -- the revenue is still off by 10 1 2 about $49,000. However, the 3 appropriations side is positive by 4 about $750,000, which includes an 5 adjustment that was made with 6 respect to health insurance 7 groups. If you recall, in 8 January, we received health 9 insurance rates, and when we 10 applied them to our personnel and 11 retirees we found that it would 12 have placed us in a significant 13 budget hole, and we contacted the 14 County Executive budget office and 15 the budget review office of the 16 legislators immediately, and they 17 agreed. They said there's 18 something that's just not right. 19 On April 7th, late in the 20 day I received a fax from someone 21 from the budget office who 22 outlined the situation, and the 23 situation was that the County is 24 not changing the rates that we 25 received in January, but instead 11 1 2 is providing us with credits for 3 this year. And the credits come 4 from two sources. When the County 5 adopted its own budget for 2006, 6 it included a $10 million -- what 7 was called a $10 million 8 retirement reserve fund. And the 9 budget office determined the 10 percentage that would be 11 applicable toward the college, 12 which was 7.81 percent. So the 13 discussion centered around a 14 credit of $781,000 that would be 15 applied to our bills this year, 16 which we haven't paid, as you 17 know, since the December bill. We 18 will be getting them now, and we 19 will apply the credits to it. 20 Additionally, we pay our 21 own Medicare reimbursement for 22 retirees, and we make that known 23 every year to the County. The 24 County determined that we deserve 25 a credit for that, and we are 12 1 2 getting a $42,774.50 credit per 3 month from January 2006 until 4 December 2006. So it actually 5 covers two of our fiscal years. 6 The bottom line is, it provided 7 some leeway in our appropriations 8 for this year, and that's why in 9 your finance documents that you 10 have in front of you, you see our 11 appropriation showing us about 12 750,000 to the good. And that 13 explains that situation. And I'm 14 sure we'll be talking more with 15 respect to the health insurance as 16 we proceed. 17 Any questions? 18 DR. KANIFF: Just an 19 interesting observation. This has 20 been done a few times. You're 21 talking about the athletic field 22 and that there have been injuries 23 on it, and if they're not fixed, 24 there probably will be more 25 injuries. And I'm thinking to 13 1 2 myself, what kind of an exposure 3 is that for the college if you're 4 already admitting that you're 5 having people playing on fields 6 that aren't safe? That have 7 already caused injuries? 8 MR. STEIN: We're not using 9 them. That's the problem. 10 Because of the conditions, we're 11 not using the fields, and I think 12 that's what Dr. McKay pointed out 13 during the presentation that 14 instead, we're renting fields. 15 And I think that's somewhat of an 16 embarrassment for the County, but, 17 you know, these are things we'll 18 be talking to legislators about. 19 Thank you. 20 MR. MOORE: Thank you, 21 Chuck. 22 All right. We're hopping, 23 skipping and jumping right down to 24 my report. In your packets -- I'm 25 not sure you've had a chance to 14 1 2 review it, but I had some 3 materials provided for you on 4 Board self-assessment, and there's 5 more in this packet of stuff than 6 we need to use, but Board 7 assessment and self-assessment is 8 a valuable tool to consider -- do 9 you have this, Belinda? 10 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: Is 11 it in here? 12 MR. MOORE: It's not in 13 today's package, it was mailed out 14 to you. Pull it off the Web sites 15 of -- the sites that you had 16 helped. It's in your packet that 17 went home. 18 I just wanted to bring the 19 Board's attention to it. It's a 20 worthy thing for us to do, you 21 know. We've worked on 22 accountability, we put a formal 23 evaluation process in for our 24 president, which is useful 25 institutionally. It's helpful to 15 1 2 Board members, I think. When you 3 first get on here, you walk around 4 saying, What in the world's going 5 on? Poor students I see sit there 6 in one year's time, just as she's 7 beginning to figure out what's 8 going on, it's time to leave. The 9 rest of us much older players take 10 three or four years to figure out 11 what's going on, which is pretty 12 pathetic, but maybe that's why 13 it's a seven- or nine-year term is 14 so maybe you can learn it by the 15 time you've got to leave. 16 But it's a process that can 17 make us a better Board from what 18 our real roles are and our 19 responsibilities and how to do a 20 better job of it. So with that in 21 mind, I'd like to see if I can get 22 some volunteers to help on a 23 little committee to go over this 24 material -- like I said, there's 25 more here than we need to tailor a 16 1 2 Board self-assessment process that 3 we could utilize. If you're of a 4 mind to do that. 5 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: I 6 don't mind doing that. 7 MR. MOORE: Really. That's 8 because Belinda's already 9 graciously been our Board liaison 10 and participates on the Middle 11 States accreditation, which was a 12 tremendous. 13 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: In 14 fact, we're meeting again 15 tomorrow. 16 MR. TROTTA: Can we review 17 this material, go to the Web site, 18 and then come back to the next 19 meeting? 20 MR. MOORE: Sure. Oh, 21 yeah. I'm not asking you to -- 22 MR. TROTTA: Why don't we 23 look at it and have a meeting 24 immediately afterward. 25 MR. MOORE: You want to do 17 1 2 it that way? 3 MR TROTTA: I don't want to 4 -- yeah. 5 MR. MOORE: You don't want 6 to -- 7 MR. TROTTA: I'd like to 8 get involved, but I want to go 9 look -- I'd like to read it and -- 10 MR. MOORE: Okay. Possible 11 interested players. That's good. 12 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: 13 Well, we also have a few more 14 here. 15 MR. MOORE: Oh, we do? 16 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: 17 Uh-huh. 18 MR. MOORE: Okay. Well, 19 just to advance this a little 20 further if you don't mind, let me 21 just suggest that we create this 22 committee, have a chance to review 23 the material and come back to the 24 Board with some recommendations. 25 MR. TROTTA: Sure. 18 1 2 MR. MOORE: One, should we 3 do this? Because we are a unique 4 kind of Board as opposed to other 5 -- this is more generic as applies 6 to colleges across the country, 7 but I think there's material in 8 here that would be very worthwhile 9 for us to be, one, aware of, and 10 two, to go through a process 11 that's just to see we're doing the 12 best we can. So if you guys want 13 to gather up and report back at 14 some point. 15 MR. TROTTA: And is that 16 Ernie, you were saying, as well, 17 is interested? 18 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: Yes, 19 Ernie is interested. 20 MR. MOORE: Okay. 21 Excellent. 22 MR. TROTTA: He's very 23 excited. I can see it. 24 MR. MOORE: Well, 25 hopefully, if nothing else comes 19 1 2 out of it, new Trustees can get a 3 better -- I think one of the best 4 things we could do would be to 5 have an indoctrination, or 6 whatever you want to call it, for 7 new Trustees, student and 8 government-appointed Trustees, as 9 far as what their role is and what 10 expectations are and what we can 11 be doing. Okay? 12 The only other thing I'll 13 report back on is several of us 14 attended the NYCCP annual meeting 15 up in Saratoga Springs about a 16 month ago -- I think it was about 17 a month ago; it seems like a long 18 time -- and I have become a 19 director of that not-for-profit 20 corporation, having been nominated 21 and elected at that meeting. 22 (Applause.) 23 MR. MOORE: Thank you. 24 That organization is designed to 25 keep an eye out for and lobby for 20 1 2 and participate in, upon a 3 statewide basis, addressing the 4 concerns of a college from the 5 perspective of the Board of 6 Trustees and -- so we'll be 7 working -- and being in more 8 regular participation with that by 9 having myself as a member of that. 10 We've done it before. They've run 11 Trustees to -- for education and 12 for training. So anyway, we've 13 more formally connected ourselves 14 to the organization with that. 15 And that's all I've got at the 16 moment. 17 One other thing. We did 18 have a presenter from our college 19 on a panel up at that, and so we 20 congratulate Mary Lou Lanio for a 21 very informative presentation on 22 fundraising and the pyramid of how 23 you go about strengthening a 24 foundation and going forward, so I 25 thought that was well-received by 21 1 2 those who were there. 3 Congratulations, Mary Lou. 4 MS. ARANEO: Thank you. 5 MR. MOORE: That wraps me 6 up. Round table will start right 7 up with Belinda, who's going to 8 report up on the status of Middle 9 State's accreditation process. 10 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: 11 Well, as I mentioned before that 12 we're meeting again tomorrow at 13 the Grant campus. I was also told 14 that the team visit to -- they're 15 coming on March 7th, 2007. And I 16 believe the Chair is coming on 17 October 30th or 31st. All of you 18 that could be available to try and 19 be available. 20 MR. TROTTA: When is it? 21 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: 22 October 30th and 31st. And then I 23 think what happened, that date 24 March 4th or the 7th -- March 4th 25 to the 7th will be the actual team 22 1 2 if you could try to be as 3 available as possible. 4 Just basically, once again, 5 to get back to the people who were 6 involved in that. I was told all 7 of the drafts, all the 8 subcommittees have and working 9 committees that they'll be -- I 10 think they're due in June. 11 Everyone is working very hard. 12 I'm very proud of them. 13 MR. MOORE: Okay. Thank 14 you, Belinda. That's a great 15 amount of effort that Belinda puts 16 into that, so on behalf of the 17 Board, we do thank you for having 18 volunteered so graciously. 19 MS. ALVAREZ-GRONEMAN: 20 Thank you very much. 21 MR. MOORE: Absolutely. 22 Any other topics you care 23 to share as we go around the 24 table? Walter? 25 MR. HAZLITT: Yes. In view 23 1 2 of the County Executive's capitol 3 program that seems to jeopardize 4 the equipment for the Eastern 5 culinary arts campus, and in 6 addition to my generous 7 contribution, which was done so 8 graciously, I'd like to make 9 another contribution. Would you 10 pass this down to the gentleman 11 over there? 12 (Laughter.) 13 MS. ARANEO: I'm liking you 14 in the spirit, Walter. 15 DR. PIPPINS: I mean, it's 16 got to be worth something, Mary 17 Lou, because it's on the 18 foundation's books. 19 (Laughter.) 20 MR. MOORE: I'll have to 21 hang that on the wall there. The 22 first donation to Britain. 23 MR. TROTTA: You've outdone 24 yourself, Walter. 25 MR. HAZLITT: Yes. Well, 24 1 2 that carried me through World War 3 II and it's very close to my heart 4 and, you know, as I approach the 5 -- you know, life, I'm divesting 6 myself of all my treasures. 7 DR. PIPPINS: I'll put it 8 in my office, and we'll pass it 9 down to presidential. 10 MR. MOORE: Very good. 11 Thank you. 12 Any other burning topics 13 and issues that we need to address 14 here at the table? 15 (No response.) 16 MR. MOORE: No? Okay. Dr. 17 Pippins. 18 DR. PIPPINS: Just a few 19 things. I wanted to say thank you 20 to Ed Bends and the maintenance 21 people of this campus. I don't 22 know who's here today, but they 23 did such a wonderful job of 24 preparing the campus and the 25 grounds, and everything just looks 25 1 2 so beautiful, and I'm just so 3 appreciative of the work that the 4 men and women on this campus do, 5 and I want to say a thank you for 6 that fine work. Thank you very 7 much. 8 (Applause.) 9 DR. PIPPINS: His tie is 10 impressive, too. 11 I wanted to say thank you 12 to everyone for participating in 13 the legislative appreciation days. 14 They were extremely well-attended. 15 Special thanks to Vice 16 President Gavin and Vice President 17 Emmanuelle for their leadership in 18 those classes. All of you in this 19 room have attended and been there 20 and been part of that. I wanted 21 to give special recognition to 22 Lisa from the AME for providing 23 the luncheon for those operating 24 budget, for other people, but I 25 appreciate you stepping up and 26 1 2 becoming part of that. 3 (Applause.) 4 DR. PIPPINS: Thanks again 5 in advance to all our 6 representatives. We will 7 certainly need to make this master 8 plan that we have in place working 9 with us in the past, and I truly 10 think that I'll have your support 11 moving forward. I asked George 12 Gatta if he could say a few words 13 with the Board. 14 MR. GATTA: As Dr. Pippins 15 just mentioned, we had three very 16 successful events at each of the 17 campuses, starting Monday. We had 18 good representation from the Board 19 under the circumstances joining us 20 out east campus our students 21 attended a number of the events 22 with us. We had -- at the Eastern 23 event, we had five legislators or 24 representatives, and two 25 representatives for Legislator 27 1 2 Kate Browning, one of which is an 3 alumna of the institution and is a 4 month away from receiving her 5 master's in social work in Stony 6 Brook, Rosalyn Saint Rose. We 7 were very pleased to have one of 8 our very successful graduates 9 moving on and taking a leadership 10 position in County government and 11 coming back to be with us on that 12 day. 13 Also from the State 14 Assembly and Assemblyman Alexi, 15 who's worked closely with us on 16 state funding for our culinary 17 project out east. At Grant, we 18 had, again, very good 19 representation from both the Board 20 and from our legislators, and we 21 had Legislator Montano, Alden 22 Dumorrow. Representatives from 23 Legislator Stern's office. At 24 Ammerman, we had Legislators Wadro 25 and Kennedy. Senator Flanagan was 28 1 2 with us. He's taken a better 3 leadership role in securing 4 funding for the new science 5 building that we are hoping to 6 have the design phase moved up so 7 that we can proceed with that in a 8 more timely fashion. And, also, 9 Assemblyman Fitzpatrick. 10 So all in all, it was a 11 great three events. Thank our 12 legislators for their support to 13 let them see what our students are 14 doing. The students were very 15 involved in each of these 16 programs, and I think they had a 17 good view of both the programs, 18 the students and what we're doing 19 to be good stewards of the 20 resources that they've addressed 21 to us. 22 DR. PIPPINS: That 23 concludes the president's report. 24 MR. MOORE: Okay. Next 25 item on our agenda is executive 29 1 2 session for a few items. I don't 3 anticipate we'll take any action 4 coming out of there. Sort of 5 normal practice that we go into 6 executive session, we go room to 7 room. We'll come back out, and 8 we'll just let you know when the 9 meeting is open publicly and then 10 closed. Okay? 11 DR. PIPPINS: And just to 12 remind everybody in the room, at 13 10:45 we have a press conference 14 to hear what the water community 15 budget proposal is to support the 16 college case for requesting that 17 the County match the 70.44 percent 18 that the State has provided. So 19 we invite you to stay and 20 participate in that. 21 MR. MOORE: I entertain a 22 motion to enter executive session 23 for purpose of discussing 24 litigation and collective 25 bargaining. 30 1 2 MR. HAZLITT: So moved. 3 MR. TROTTA: Second. 4 MR. MOORE: All in favor. 5 (Whereupon, all those in 6 favor respond "aye.") 7 MR. MOORE: Thank you. 8 (Whereupon, proceedings 9 concluded at 9:30 a.m.) 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 31 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T E 3 4 I, MICHELLE SCOTTI, a Notary Public in 5 and for the State of New York, do hereby 6 certify: 7 THAT the witness whose testimony is 8 hereinbefore set forth, was duly sworn by me; 9 and 10 THAT the within transcript is a true 11 record of the testimony given by said witness. 12 I further certify that I am not related, 13 either by blood or marriage, to any of the 14 parties in this action; and 15 THAT I am in no way interested in the 16 outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set 18 my hand this 20th day of April, 2006. 19 20 21 22 MICHELLE SCOTTI 23 24 25