12000 S.W. 49th Avenue - Portland, OR 97219
Rock Creek Campus, Bldg. 9, Room 122
February 24, 2005
Board Members Present:
Dana Anderson, Norma Jean Germond, Jaime Lim, Doreen Margolin, Karen McKinney, Bob Palmer, Harold Williams
The Board of Directors convened an executive session for Employment of a Public Officer, Labor Negotiations, Real Property Transactions and Litigation in accordance with ORS 192.660 (1)(a, d, e, h) at 6:45 PM, adjourning at 7:35 PM.
Chair Anderson called the business meeting to order at 7:45 PM and asked all present to introduce themselves.
Chair Anderson exercised the Chair's prerogative and announced that long-time Board member Norma Jean Germond will be awarded the OCCA Howard Cherry Community College Advocate of the Year award next week at the OCCA convention in Salem. President Pulliams nominated her for her strong history of public service in Oregon, and especially for her active and passionate service for community college ideals in Oregon and our nation. The Chair, President, and Board members heartily congratulated Director Germond on the well-deserved award and thanked her for her many years of services to PCC.
The January 20, 2005 business meeting minutes and the January 24, 2005 work session minutes were approved as published.
Resolution 05-057 was removed from the consent agenda, and revised Resolution 05-056 retitling Dr. Nan Poppe's new position as District Vice President, Academic and Student Affairs, replaced the originally published resolution. The agenda was approved as amended.
A public hearing was convened with the PCC Board serving as the Local Contract Review Board in accordance with revised ORS 279.
Roger Cardinal, Manager, Procurement and Risk Services, gave an overview of the changes to state procurement rules that now apply to all public agencies in the state. Previously each agency had their own contracting rules, many of which were incorporated into the new rules. Director Williams asked if the new rules give the Board freedom to allow for portions of a job to be broken out to accommodate small contractors without being in conflict with the state rules. Mr. Cardinal said the College could do that if it desired, but noted that PCC has been very successful in working directly with the general contractors to have small contractors hired as subcontractors.
There being no further discussion, the public hearing was adjourned.
President Pulliams said the executive team has been working diligently on the budget and asked the Board to keep in mind that it is still a work in progress. They are continuing to take a conservative approach in planning on potential revenue and resources, and discussions are continuing with the internal Budget Advisory Committee.
Vice President McEwen said the ability to change the budget is open during the next three months, and the Cabinet is preparing a proposed budget for review in April to keep the process moving along to meet legal obligations. A final budget will be prepared for adoption in June. Additional opportunities for public participation in the process have been incorporated into the budget process.
Mr. McEwen distributed and reviewed the suggested budget assumptions for the FY06-07 biennium (which are still fluid at this point), outlined proposed new initiatives, and asked for the Board's comments on the process.
Associate Vice President Chung reviewed significant dates on the budget calendar over the next four months. Chair Anderson acknowledged the huge amount of internal work done by the staff in preparing the budget assumptions. President Pulliams said that internal work is continuing towards preparation of the budget so a proposed budget can be presented to the Board at the appropriate time. Chair Anderson asked for information showing the affect to the budget of several levels of tuition increases ($1, $2, $3 per credit hour etc.) and what those tuition increase levels will and will not "buy" us.
Director Germond asked what the PERS rate increase will be compared to what it has been in the past. Vice President McEwen replied that the rate would increase to roughly 14 percent. Last week in The Oregonian the PERS Board proposed to increase the rate by 5.5 percent, but PCC is proposing to increase payments by 8 percent and use reserves in the debt service fund to buy down the balance PCC owes PERS. Over the FY06-07 biennium about $5.9 million of the PERS reserves are projected to be used this way.
Director Margolin asked what the board policy-required ending fund balance is. Mr. Chung said that board policy requires 5 to 7 percent of the General Fund budget to be held in reserves, based on the previous year's budget He anticipates the College will have approximately $7 million in reserves for FY06, which is about 5 percent of the General Fund budget.
Director McKinney stated she also would like to see a breakout on the effects of $1, $2, and $3 per credit hour tuition increases. She also asked for a comparison between PCC and other community colleges and four-year colleges proposed tuition and fee increases. Director McKinney asked if the rationale for proposed academic program reductions would be given when the list of reductions is given to the Board. The President assured her that justifications will be given and the impact to college operations will be discussed when the list is presented in March. Director McKinney also asked for a historical background of fees charged over the past 25 years, what the proposed fee increases are, and how those increases will impact the budget. She also stated she agrees with Director Margolin's comments on keeping the ending fund balance at 7.5 percent.
Chair Anderson summarized the Board's requests for additional information to be presented at the March 17, 2005 Board meeting, using the assumptions presented today. She acknowledged that the assumptions would change between now and March 17 and thanked the staff and budget advisory committee for all their diligent work.
Sylvia Welch, Director, Affirmative Action, reviewed the results of PCC's hiring practices in the past year in nine job group categories, for full-time, part-time and casual employees in several types of funding categories. Data is broken down by gender and ethnicity. Ms. Welch reviewed job groups where women and minorities are under represented and outlined activities planned to increase representation in these categories. An External Diversity Committee has been formed that includes local businesspersons and college staff, and has been charged with working on diversity issues and conveying PCC's commitment to the community to improve staff diversity. An internal Diversity Committee has been formed that will deal with internal diversity issues not dealt with by the External Diversity Committee and design structures that will facilitate hiring a more diverse workforce. Both Committees have received their charge and will bring recommendations to the President by June 2005.
The Human Resources, Staff Development, and Affirmative Action departments are working together to plan Summer Institute 2005 to increase cultural competence and communication within the college. Follow-up meetings for the 40 employees who have already attended are in the planning stage. Ms. Welch is considering partnering with city, state and county organizations to hold a diversity conference at PCC. Before next September there will be a workshop for management leadership on issues around diversity hiring and cultural competence.
In January Ms. Welch and Maureen Judge-Morris, Manager, Staff Employment in Human Resources, attended three job fairs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago and found a lot of interest among potential employees. Mr. Donnelly attended the monthly Oregon Community College Human Resources directors meeting in February and there was much discussion around diversity issues and what could be done to improve diversity hiring practices. The possibility of creating a statewide job registry similar to the registry in California that advertises all higher education job openings statewide was discussed. In the past the Oregon Educators Fair was limited to K-12 schools, but the chair in charge of organizing that fair recently contacted community college's to determine if there is interest in being included in the future.
Mr. Donnelly said that Clark Community College very successfully recruited at the California job fairs by arranging in advance with a retired community college administrator who recruited and invited pre-identified candidates in advance to meet with college administrators in their hospitality suite at the job fair. This approach had terrific results, which enforces the idea that PCC needs to go out and find candidates instead of waiting for them to come to us. Ms. Welch reported that she and Ms. Judge-Morris personally followed up with all persons who expressed interest in PCC at the job fairs. Another idea from Lane Community College is the trailing spouse program, which is an exchange program between public entities to find employment for spouses of recruits. Another idea is to work with various minority chambers of commerce to provide applicants and spouses with a flavor of what life in Portland would be like. Mr. Donnelly will be working with technical consultants to improve PCC's online application system to expand the ability to open pools for direct part-time faculty recruitment.
President Pulliams has noticed a real positive attitude in the past several months in the organization towards this change. David Goldberg, Director, Institutional Advancement, reported that a strong statement by President Pulliams was added to the PCC job website declaring the president's commitment to the policy of a diverse workplace. It included an offer by the President to answer any questions applicants may have and address obstacles encountered. The President has already had several letters from interested applicants asking for assistance. Most requests have been of a technical nature, which is also good to know so processes can be improved.
Director Germond said she is very upbeat about these changes and the Chair asked for a future report on the outcomes. The President said he would prepare a review in six months since several new initiatives should show some results within that timeframe.
Director Williams asked how many staff of color are paid with soft money and how many are funded out of the General Fund, and if layoffs occur how those on soft money will be impacted. Ms. Welch said the two Diversity Committees would address this issue and make some recommendations. Mr. Donnelly said there are a greater number of minorities funded from the General Fund than from soft money in the professional non-faculty employee group.
Director Lim asked how this year's data compares to last year's. Ms. Welch said that the comparison is not equal this year because of changes in data gathering; next year will be the telling year to see any results. Director Williams asked to have statistics showing how many of each ethnic group are in each job category and what was done to recruit in those communities as the College moves forward in making demographic changes. PCC does not have a "trust account" or significant relationships in some cultural communities and needs to prove its desire to meet the needs of those communities. The President said the issue of how PCC appears to the community is one issue the external Diversity Committee will be addressing. The Committee will give a true assessment and recommend actions that can be taken to correct that perception.
Frank Goulard, Math faculty at the Sylvania Campus, urged President Pulliams to lead the Budget Advisory Committee in embarking on the construction of a variable matrix that will reflect changes to budget assumptions as they become known. He feels that this would help keep negative rumors to a minimum and increase employee morale.
Michael Dembrow, President of the Faculty Federation, said he feels it would be important to look at reductions in a prioritized manner. Reductions will most likely be extreme this year and funding will be uncertain until June or July. If there is a prioritized list, items can be added back into the budget according to the prioritized list if additional funds become available. This method will preserve the morale of staff. Mr. Dembrow predicts the March Board meeting will be a difficult meeting. Many staff will be attending to discuss these serious reductions with the Board.
Mr. Dembrow would once again like to urge the Board to consider holding a work session on the budget so employees can come to understand the process and ask questions. Faculty are concerned with equity and how cuts will be made if there are a large number of lay-offs. He feels that the largest number of layoffs in the past were to the faculty ranks.
Director Williams moved to approve Resolutions 05-052 through 05-056 and 05-058 through 05-061 by consent agenda and it passed unanimously.
Lucia Barnett, President of the Classified Federation, shared a letter she wrote to the Board regarding her feeling of betrayal last year on salary funding. She felt that the facts had been presented to her, but the action taken by the Board was other than what she understood would happen. Ms. Barnett hopes that the Interest Based Bargaining process will be successful for both the College and the Classified Federation.
Michael Dembrow, President of the Faculty Federation, said the Federations primary goal this year is to increase the state funding profile. The two federations are working together to create advocacy action teams to form ongoing relationships with legislators in the College's districts and plan to involve students in these activities.
Mr. Dembrow said the Federation is very excited about the appointment of Dr. Nan Poppe as District Vice President for Academic and Student Services. He thanked Dr. Sievert for all he did to improve curriculum assessment, and to encourage district-wide thinking regarding curriculum planning.
Ms. Barnett also thanked Dr. Sievert for his efforts in improving student services and welcomed Dr. Poppe.
Ms. Barnett reported that negotiations have started with the Classified Federation. Both teams have been receiving training from a facilitator on Interest Based Bargaining, which is a new process to PCC. The Classified Federation is working to contact all legislators in the PCC district to gain support for better state funding.
Chair Anderson reported that on PCC's legislative day in Salem (February 24) many students filled the House and Senate chambers and met with legislators individually. It was a day well spent with students, friends, business partners, and PCC Foundation board members. Andrea Henderson, Executive Director of OCCA, said PCC's legislative day was the largest and best organized. The Chair thanked Jan Coulton, David Goldberg, and Susan Hereford and all the students for their work and for taking the time to support PCC's interests.
Director Palmer heard positive comments from the legislators on the work of PCC in the community and the state. He feels that this is the type of pressure that needs to be exerted consistently on the legislature to make changes. Legislators expressed positive support, but are very reluctant to make financial commitments.
Director Germond said OHSU's testimony to the Ways and Means Committee was very impressive; heartbreaking stories such as they told will be difficult to compete with when asking for funding.
President Pulliams thanked all the team members that worked so hard to make PCC's legislative day such a success. Plans need to continue to be developed to keep our needs before the legislature. We are starting to see an impact because legislators are acknowledging our needs when they see us.
Bill Christopher, Campus President, Rock Creek, reported on one of Rock Creek's professional technical programs. Caterpillar and Halton Corporation have asked PCC to submit a request to be their corporate training provider. Negotiations are continuing for PCC to train employees from five dealerships in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. If PCC is selected, a resolution will be brought to the Board to consider eliminating out-of-state tuition rates for students coming from non-border states.
President Pulliams asked Kristin Watkins, Manager, Grants Office, to report on lobbying efforts during the recent ACCT Legislative Summit in Washington D.C. Ms. Watkins reported that the President and Board members met with Representatives Blumenauer and Wu, and Senator Smith, to review PCC's legislative priorities. She highlighted President Bush's plans to eliminate several programs of benefit to community colleges, and noted that bills to reauthorize these programs are under way. Thanks to Director Margolin, Representative Wu has agreed to fully support the needs of community colleges on the committee he serves on.
President Pulliams congratulated Dr. Nan Poppe on accepting the position of District Vice President, Academic & Student Services. The President is planning to restructure the role of that position. The President expressed his enjoyment in working with Dr. Sievert during the past 8 months. Dr. Sievert's real forte lies in curriculum and academic development and the President acknowledged his contributions to PCC in these areas.
Dr. Algie Gatewood reminded Board members that the African Film Festival in going on now. The films have all been fantastic and the festival is in its 15th year. He thanked the Grants Office for their assistance in getting grants and donations from other community partners. There have been about 1,000 people attending each week.
Dr. Sievert said that he could not have spent a better final 7 years to cap off his 38-year career in higher education. He thanked Dr. Mildred Ollee for the opportunity she gave him at PCC. Chair Anderson thanked Dr. Sievert for the great job he has done in leading the Accreditation Team through that process.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:42 PM.
The next meeting of the Portland Community College Board of Directors will be held on March 17, 2005 at 7:30 PM in Conference Rooms A and B at the Sylvania Campus.
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Chair Anderson President Pulliams
Prepared by:
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Judy Schwartz
Assistant to Board of Directors
Minutes approved on March 17, 2005