MINUTES

Monthly Work Session - Board of Trustees

September 18, 2000

 

In accordance with the terms and provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551 of Texas Government Code, the Board of Trustees of the Austin Community College District convened in public session at a monthly Work Session on Monday, September 18, 2000, at 6:00 p.m. in the Commons of the Cypress Creek Campus of Austin Community College located at 1555 Cypress Creek Road, Cedar Park, Texas, with the following members present: Lillian Davis Chair/Presiding Officer; Beverly Silas, Vice Chair; John Worley, Secretary [arrived at 7:10 p.m.], Allen Kaplan; Barbara Mink; Carol Nasworthy and Rafael Quintanilla [arrived at 6:20 p.m.].  Trustees Beverly Watts Davis and Della May Moore were absent. Also in attendance for the Work Session were:  Richard Fonte, College President; Elva Allie, Executive Vice President; Ron Brey, ACC Associate Vice President; Donetta Goodall, ACC Associate Vice President; Alan Rasco, ACC Associate Vice President; Tyra Duncan-Hall, ACC Provost; Cecile Sanders, ACC Dean; Myrna Villanueva, ACC Director; Luanne Allen, ACC Director; David Swincher, Junior Achievement of Central Texas; Jerome Hurt, Austin ISD; Gerry Ellmore, Manor ISD; John Fitzpatrick, Capital Area Training Foundation and Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce;  Dale McCollough, Tech-Prep Consortium; Floyd Bevers, Del Valle; Sharyl Kincaid, Round Rock ISD; Gary Madsen, Round Rock ISD; Mary Hensley, Round Rock ISD; Bernard Blanchard, Del Valle ISD; Randy Willbanks, Pflugerville ISD; Randy Strickland, Pflugerville ISD; Tom Glenn, Leander ISD; Glenn Scott, AFL-CIO; and Vanessa Martin, City of Austin.

 

It is further found and determined that in accordance with the policies and orders of this Board, the notice of this meeting has been posted and return thereof made pursuant to the terms and provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code, and there has been full compliance with the terms and provisions of said act, including the timely posting of the subjects of this meeting.

 

Agenda Item 7278

Adoption of FY 2001 Tax Rate (Setting 2000 Property Tax Rate)

Chair Davis introduced the item. 

 

Allen Kaplan moved and Beverly Silas seconded that:

MOTION: The Board of Trustees set the tax rate at five cents (.0500) per $100 appraised value subject to the homestead elderly/disabled tax exemptions and approved historical landmark properties.

VOTE:  The motion passed unanimously by a vote of 5-0.

For:  Lillian Davis, Beverly Silas, Allen Kaplan, Barbara Mink, and Carol Nasworthy

Absent:  John Worley, Beverly Watts Davis, Della May Moore, and Rafael Quintanilla

 

Agenda Item 7279

Discussion of Partnerships with Independent School Districts

Chair Davis introduced the item and College President Richard Fonte stated that Austin Community College is very interested in strengthening its relationship and outreach activities with area independent school districts and other community organizations.  John Fitzpatrick, Vice Chair of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Capital Area Training Foundation, facilitated discussion in which participants provided input regarding activities currently in place, challenges, and future directions needed in the areas of Early College Start (dual credit, co-enrollment, credit-in-escrow), Tech-Prep, community organizations, student recruitment/outreach efforts, and publicity/awareness.

 

Participants reaffirmed their interest in working cooperatively to address regional education and workforce development issues and expressed appreciation to the ACC Board of Trustees for hosting the dialogue session.

 

Agenda Item 7280

Trustee Involvement/Community Outreach Plan

Chair Davis introduced the item and Vice Chair Beverly Silas provided information concerning the survey of Trustees to determine current linkages within the community and linkages that are needed.  She stated that a list would be developed of community groups/organizations in which Trustees could work collaboratively on outreach activities.  Ms. Silas stated that information received from the survey and the proposed list would be discussed at the next Board meeting.

 

Agenda Item 7281

Board Response to the Faculty Senate's Vote of No Confidence Dated September 15, 2000

Chair Davis introduced the item and asked President Fonte to describe the actions that he and the College administration had taken regarding the September 15, 2000, vote of no confidence by the Faculty Senate.  He distributed and discussed the following information:

 

TO:                         Board of Trustees

 

FROM:                   Richard W. Fonté

 

DATE:                    September 28, 2000

 

SUBJECT:             Administrative Plan of Action

 

 

Topic:  Payroll and Benefits

 

Recent/Proposed Actions

 

1.                   The College will consolidate all payroll functions into the Human Resources Office to establish clearer accountability for the processing of a payroll.  This recommendation has been made by our outside process consultant.  The division of this function had long been the practice at ACC.

 

2.                   The College has begun to advertise for a new professional for this consolidated office.  The previous incumbent was terminated because she failed to follow the established guidelines for payroll periods that were to be used.  If the established guidelines had been followed there would not have been a problem.  This was not an intrinsic Datatel issue, but system enhancements, such as a monthly payroll comparison report will be added to provide a method to catch any payroll problems in advance, such as differences from the prior pay period that might indicate a potential problem.

 

3.                   The IT area has been charged with placing any supplemental enhancements for Human Resources as the highest priority.

 

4.                   Administrative Rules are being written to establish the authorities and guidelines concerning the establishment of the payroll schedule and any change in the payroll process.  The AVP’s of Information Technology and Human Resources along with the VP for Business Services will be required to jointly concur over a proposed schedule and must also concur with any change in the payroll process or system.  This will establish payroll accountability at the senior administrator level.

 

5.                   An outside process consultant with computer systems expertise will review the current process and revise any written guidelines with a special emphasis on the interconnection between the benefits and payroll process and suggest any further IT enhancements affecting this area.

 

6.                   The outside process consultant will also conduct "focus group" meetings with every employee group to determine any special issues in the payroll process that need to be addressed.

 

Past Actions

 

 

 

1.                   The independent financial auditor reviewed every full-time faculty member's benefits and retirement record for accuracy.  Changes in the records suggested by the outside auditor were made.

 

Financial Records 

 

Past/Continuing Actions

 

 

1.                   An Independent public auditor reviewed and certified the accuracy of all FY 1998-99 financial records and appropriateness of expenditures under state guidelines and federal reporting. This report was provided the Board in January.

 

2.                   The newly appointed outside public auditor is now reviewing financial records for the fiscal year that just ended on August 31, 2000.  This audit will be available in January 2001.

 

Academic Organization  

 

Recent Actions

 

 

1.                   Clear academic accountability has been established through full-time Deans  Assistant Task Force Chairs were added to some Task Forces.  Academic administrative changes were implemented this fall following a five-month period of consultation and refinement of the new accountability structure.  Meetings were held with all impacted faculty members including those that were losing "released time" and returning to the classroom.

 

2.                   Additional clerical/administrative support has been provided to Task Forces.

 

3.                   An academic administration procedure manual has been developed, available on-line and in print format that provides clear and consistent information.

 

Proposed Actions

 

 

1.                   The Executive Vice President will evaluate the effectiveness of changes made in the organization through further consultation with the academic leadership.

 

Implementation of Datatel

 

Recent/Proposed Actions

 

 

 

1.                   A guideline has been established to govern the installation of system upgrades. Essentially, the system will be shut down to any user except the software upgrade installer.  If this procedure had been in place the "temporary data corruption" that occurred on Labor Day Weekend would have been avoided.

 

2.                   Over Labor Day weekend staff worked to restore two days of data lost when the installation was attempted.  They completed most of this work over the weekend, but also worked overtime through the next week to absolutely be assured of the accuracy of the data.  As a result the second version of the faculty student lists were delayed a week. The official student lists, however, will be created on schedule with no delay.

 

3.                   The Datatel Implementation committee will continue to closely supervise the full installation of the system and review/adjust priorities, if necessary.  Regular informational reports are available on an established web-site.  Despite the software installation  "data corruption problem," the registration system itself worked accurately and efficiently.

 

4.                   The degree audit features and automatic pre-requisite checking should be available either in the Spring or Summer Term.  The Datatel Corporation will be asked to provide specialized support as we implement these features.

 

Other Related Actions

 

Past Action—Satisfaction Survey

 

 

1.                   The college conducted its first regular employee satisfaction of college services by every employee group for every function.  The results have been placed on the web and have been provided to each employee group.  The Board will formally discuss the results at the October meeting.  The leadership of any function that is highly used (which received a rating indicating high levels of dissatisfaction) has been asked to develop an action plan to address the concerns.

 

Proposed Action-SACS Self-Study

 

2.             The college has named Carrie Sowell, Faculty member as the Director of the SACS Self-Study and Steering Committee Chair.  One element of the self-study will involve a general review of operations."

 

 

Dr. Fonte stated that the Administration believes these actions will address the issues. He apologized and stated that he is committed to running the most efficient operation possible and is open to other suggestions.

 

Beverly Silas moved and Allen Kaplan seconded that:

MOTION:  The Board of Trustees approve the Resolution.

FRIENDLY AMENDMENT:  Trustee Barbara Mink requested that "at large" be included in the first paragraph of the "…both the community at large and College employees."  The Friendly Amendment was accepted by Beverly Silas and Allen Kaplan.

VOTE:  The motion to approve the Resolution, with the Friendly Amendment, passed unanimously on a vote of 6-0.

For:  Lillian Davis, Beverly Silas, John Worley, Allen Kaplan, Barbara Mink, Carol Nasworthy and Rafael Quintanilla

Absent:  Beverly Watts Davis and Della May Moore

 

Resolution

Board of Trustees

 

The Board of Trustees of Austin Community College commends the Administration's plan to address the needs of both the community at large and College employees. These plans are a response to the initiatives which the Board has assigned the President, and we fully expect them to improve the quality management of the College, especially the payroll function.

We join President Fonte in calling on everyone who wishes the College well to work together to implement these plans successfully, and to contribute to making the College an outstanding place to learn and work.

Trustees discussed customer service provided by various departments of the College; staffing needs; and timelines and process consultant information in the President's action plan.

 

Current Meeting - Quick Evaluation

Trustees provided comments regarding the meeting and rated the work session as "good" to "very well".

 

Announcements

·        Dr. Fonte distributed draft copies of the revised College Master Plan and asked for feedback prior to the October 2 Board meeting.

·        Trustee Carol Nasworthy noted that the Austin Community College received an award from the Rural Capital Area Workforce Board and she commended the work of Dr. Sue Pardue, Dean of Continuing Education.

 

Adjournment

Having no motion before the Board, the September 18, 2000, monthly Work Session of the Austin Community College Board of Trustees was adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

 

Approved By                                               

John B. Worley, Secretary