Group C: COLLEGE ADMINISTRATION

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C-1. General Executive Directives and Limitations

C-2. College Organizational Principles

C-3. Duties and Responsibilities, College President

C-4. Internal Employee Associations

C-5. Staffing

C-6. Organizational Performance Evaluation

C-7. Legal Counsel

C-8. Resource Development

C-9. Conflicts of Interest

C-10. Purchasing

C-11. Routine Real-Estate Items

C-12. Open Communication and Information

C-13. College-Community Linkages

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C-1. GENERAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTIVES AND LIMITATIONS

[1] The President shall cause to be taken those actions which are needed to carry out the mission of the College within the limits of Board policy and directives, and shall accordingly:

[a] cause an effective instructional program to be offered implementing the college mission;

[b] develop and maintain public plans which are adequate to guide and coordinate the development of the college;

[c] maintain a reporting and analysis system which supplies appropriate information about the scope, effectiveness, and efficiency of college operations;

[d] maintain, with appropriate consultation, administrative rules and procedures sufficient for the proper operation of the college.

[2] The President shall not permit imprudent, wasteful, or unethical practices by college employees or contractors related to their ACC work, such as any practice which:

[a] is contrary to applicable laws, regulations, or Board directives;

[b] results in the mistreatment of people;

[c] wastes the resources of the students, employees, college, community, or taxpayers;

[d] provides inaccurate or misleading information about college operations.

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C-2. COLLEGE ORGANIZATIONAL PRINCIPLES

Austin Community College is a single college with multiple campuses and teaching sites, not a multi-college system. All employees, especially those with management responsibility, shall act to support the unity of the College by aligning their activities with the directives of the College's chief officers, by seeking what is best for the whole College rather than exclusively for a particular sector, and by fostering cooperation.

The President shall build a broad, unified, and diverse leadership group. As Chief Executive Officer, the President is responsible for determining and specifying in writing the staffing and powers of individual managerial positions, of institutional units, and of College-wide councils or committees. The President shall keep the chief academic officer and the chief business officer well informed about Board and Presidential issues, activities, and plans.

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C-3. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, COLLEGE PRESIDENT

Within the framework of policies adopted by the Board, the College President exercises broad authority in carrying out responsibilities of the position. The College President performs the following functions:

1. Acts as executive officer for the Board of Trustees.
2. Implements Board Policy.
3. Recommends policy to the Board.
4. Provides for the administrative organization of the College.
5. Provides the Board with a flow of information regarding the College and its needs.
6. Reports promptly the appointment of College employees.
7. Prepares and submits an annual budget to the Board and makes recommendations to the Board for budget changes; implements the College budget as approved and amended.
8. Provides leadership in the development, implementation, and periodic revision of plans for the development of the Austin Community College District.
9. Makes recommendations to the Board for the adoption of instructional programs and other educational and community services.
10. Reviews the educational program on a continuing basis and effects changes that will improve the quality and scope of services offered.
11. Represents the College, in cooperation with the Board and staff, to the community.
12. Influences the development of local, state, and national educational policies.
13. Oversees all reports required by local, state, and federal agencies.
14. Prepares agendas for board meetings and maintains a record of the proceedings.
15. Chairs and provides leadership to the College Cabinet.
16. Develops and implements procedures which are necessary for effective College operations.
17. Maintains the orderly functioning of the College and takes whatever action as may be necessary to prevent any interference with such orderly operation of the College.

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C-4. INTERNAL EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATIONS

1. Regular opportunities for comment to both the administration and Board of Trustees shall be provided to representatives of any employee associations which are recognized by the Board of Trustees as being based on the main categories of the College's personnel classification system, open to all employees in the relevant category without charge, governed by democratic means approved by a majority of their members, and willing to accept the legal and policy restrictions of being an internal College activity.
2. The administration shall consult in a timely manner with representatives of such employee associations in order to receive their comments prior to taking actions which would have a substantial effect on their members, including instituting or changing administrative rules and making administrative decisions or recommendations to the Board on compensation and working-condition issues.
3. When matters of concern to an internal employee association require a Board vote, a representative of the group shall be provided an opportunity to freely address the Board meetings at which the topic is considered. In any communication with one or more Trustees prior to such meetings, the group should strive to make any additional substantive information it supplies related to the issue made available to all Trustees and to the administration.
4. The President shall maintain administrative rules which facilitate participation of employees in recognized internal employee associations, including the budgeting of appropriate operational support and provision of information about their associations to each new employee.
5. Disputes about the interpretation of the bylaws of an internal employee association shall be resolved by the association without participation by the administration or Board.

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C-5. STAFFING

The President shall, as part of the budget process, publish a staffing table giving the planned distribution of long-term positions for the year, with identification of any changes from the previous year. This staffing table shall list positions, not the current or planned individuals in the positions.

Board approval for changes in the staffing table is not required unless the changes would increase the total number of administrative positions, increase administrative salaries or stipends, or increase the annual rate of personnel expense by more than $100,000.

Pay scales for each class of employee positions shall be recommended by the President and decided by the Board as part of the budget process. Hiring of employees, placement of individual employees on pay scales, and assignment of individuals to positions and duties shall be done by the College administration and do not require Board approval.

Neither the staffing table nor appointment to a staffing table position is a contract between the College and any particular employee. Employment contracts may be issued only when specifically approved by the Board.

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C-6. ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The President shall ensure that each significant function, sector, and process of the College is periodically evaluated (including feedback from the people dependent on it) for effectiveness, efficiency, and policy compliance. The administration shall consider suggestions from students, employees, and others as to evaluation format and content. For each such evaluation, the administration shall publish a report summarizing its analysis of current performance, any improvements it plans, and the feedback it received. The administration shall also provide the Board summaries of the status of activities designed to address any weaknesses previously identified by either this system or by the external auditors.

The Board shall engage external auditors to conduct the annual financial audit and to perform such other services as may be deemed appropriate by the Board or the Board Secretary in furtherance of Policy B-6, Monitoring Policy Compliance. Such auditors shall have complete access to any institutional records or information they deem needed for their work. The auditors shall report to the Board any significant inappropriate practices they detect in College activities.

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C-7. LEGAL COUNSEL

The Board of Trustees shall designate an attorney(s) to serve in the capacity of legal counsel for the Austin Community College District and to represent and advise the Board in all legal matters affecting or potentially affecting the Board or the College District.

The attorneys shall be reasonably compensated and shall serve at the pleasure of the Board. The attorneys shall be available to handle all legal matters for the Board and administration of the College District, and shall be responsible to the Board.

The attorneys shall attend Board meetings when requested by the Board or by the College President and shall be available for consultation with members of the Board, the College President, and individual staff members designated by the College President, and shall undertake to represent the Board and the College in all matters referred by the Board and the College President. When a request for a legal opinion comes from a trustee, the attorneys shall inform all Trustees of the request.

The College President, in coordination with the College legal counsel, shall cause to be maintained and distributed a College Legal Manual which explains the important legal provisions covering College operations.

The Austin Community College Board of Trustees adopted this policy on June 2, 1997, and generalized it on October 4, 1999. There is also a Memorandum of Understanding between ACC and the ACC Foundation.

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The College shall maintain an effective, multi-faceted system of resource development in support of its mission. Resource-development agreements require Board approval if they require substantial supporting resources from College funds, are conditional on a specific benefit to the donor, or would limit a section of the College to an exclusive vendor.

The Austin Community College Foundation is recognized as a private organization that exists to further the mission of the College. The best interests of the College are thus served by providing appropriate resources and cooperation to the Foundation, on the condition that the activities of the Foundation are conducted in accord with the terms of its Memorandum of Agreement with the College, with its resources used solely to benefit the College and its students. Changes in the Memorandum of Agreement require the approval of both Boards.

An annual report shall be provided to the Board on the nature and results of College resource-development activities. This report shall include comparisons to the performance of other institutions and shall set targets for following years.

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C-9. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The College President shall establish and enforce rules to keep college resources from being inappropriately used for personal gain. The rules shall forbid, in addition to activities forbidden by law, at least these activities:

1. the acceptance of personal gifts from College vendors.
2. participation of authors in decisions about use of their textbooks by the College.
3. employment of a person under the supervisory jurisdiction of a close relative.
4. the provision of college business to College managers or Trustees, or to their immediate family members. Provision of College business to firms in which such people have a substantial interest (as defined by Chapter 171 of the Texas Local Government Code) shall also be forbidden except when the President finds a compelling benefit for the College and the manager or Trustee publicly recuses themselves from the decision.
5. significant use of College facilities, resources, or duty time for activities for which an employee is paid by anyone other than the College, except when such activities have been approved in writing by an authorized supervisor and appropriate compensation is made to the College.

The rules shall also establish procedures by which College officers, and other employees when designated by the President, shall report any outside employment or paid consulting work.

The Austin Community College Board of Trustees adopted this policy on March 4, 1996 and amended it on September 9, 1996, March 3, 1997, and January 5, 1998. Before September 1996, a policy on the same subject was numbered III-20.

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C-10. PURCHASING

A. General Objectives

1. To support the instructional mission of the College by procuring in a timely manner the specific equipment and materials that the staff and faculty need.
2. To secure work and materials at the best value for the College.
3. To provide opportunities for individual vendors, contractors, historically underutilized businesses, and small/local businesses to compete for College purchases/contracts in a fair and competitive environment, and to create an open process for procurement through competition.

B. Board Approval:

The requirement for specific Board approval of vendor and price for purchasing, consulting, or contracting expenditures or commitments for related groups of items depends on the cost and on the extent of prior Board review.

1. Expenditures costing less than $25,000 never require such approval.
2. Expenditures costing over $100,000 always require such approval.
3. Expenditures costing between $25,000 and $100,000 require such approval unless either:

1. the Board has previously approved, after a public review period of a month or more, a budget or other written plan listing the items and their approximate cost, or
2. the expenditure is primarily to repair or replace an existing capability which has been unexpectedly lost, or
3. the expenditure is necessary to meet an emergency and is reported to the Board at its next meeting.

For items which require Board approval below $50,000 which are not design-build contracts, the administration shall provide a summary and evaluative judgements of vendor responses with a recommendation of a single vendor. Such items should be submitted to the Board early enough that it does not have to make its final decision at its first consideration of the item if it has unresolved questions or decides not to accept the administration's recommendation at the first meeting the item is on the agenda. In cases where the administration's recommendaiton is not accepted, consideration of alternatives shall occur at a subsequent meeting.

For items in excess of $500,000 and for all design-build contracts, a limited number of well-qualified vendors shall make presentations to the Board. The administration shall provide the Board with appropriate evaluative criteria or questions for use by the Board in the review process. The administration shall provide a summary of the proposals and provide evaluative judgment concerning strengths and weaknesses of these well-qualified vendors.

The Board shall generally assess the administration's recommendation by whether it and the process leading to it are in accord with Board policy and the General Objectives set forth in Section A of this policy, giving due deference to the administration's. expert judgment on whether a recommendation will meet General Objectives [1] and [2].

C. Reports: The Purchasing Department shall provide monthly reports with cumulative totals on a quarterly basis and annual summaries on purchasing activities. Such reports shall include:

1. purchase orders and contracts awarded to HUBs;
2. purchase orders and contracts awarded to local vendors;
3. state contract and state catalog purchases made;
4. all contracts over $10,000; and
5. an explanation of consulting fees in excess of $5,000 to a single vendor in a fiscal year.

D. Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs)

In all purchasing and contracting decisions, employees shall make diligent efforts to include HUB vendors and shall, where practicable, avoid practices that tend to exclude HUB vendors. ACC shall develop, maintain, and enhance the participation of minority-owned and women-owned firms in all phases of its procurement processes, supporting their efforts to compete for College business.

The College shall encourage all vendors, suppliers, contractors, and professionals with whom it does business to support the common goal of equal opportunity and economic participation for all citizens. In expenditure of College funds, neither the College nor its contractors and suppliers shall discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, age, or sexual orientation, or on the basis of disabilities which do not significantly effect the quality of work.

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C-11. ROUTINE REAL-ESTATE ITEMS

The President of the College is authorized to approve and sign on behalf of the College, easements, covenants, restrictions, and other agreements regarding real property owned or leased by the College. This authorization does not extend to the purchase or sale of fee simple interest in real property. The president of the College shall report annually to the Board of Trustees the nature of the agreements entered into on behalf of the college.

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C-12. OPEN COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION

College decision-makers need the high-quality information and discussion which can come only from fully-informed critical analysis of issues from many levels of the organization and from many points of view. Accordingly:

[1] Decision makers at all levels of the College shall encourage and make use of free exploration and expression of different ideas, viewpoints, and analyses on College issues.

[2] College decision-making and consultation processes shall be open except in unusual cases which clearly meet confidentiality criteria established by the President (which shall include any privacy protections required by law). This openness includes access to data being used in deliberations and to the decision options being considered; such information should be made openly available as early in the discussion/decision process as possible.

[3] Employees with information which they feel would improve the accuracy of decision-related data should make it available to all decision makers and at all stages and levels of decision making. Information which would aid the Board and President in assessing the compliance of the operation of the College with Board policies and directives should also be made available to them.

[4] Everyone participating in College discussions and decision-making processes should strive to express his or her opinions in a constructive, complete, and accurate manner. While dealing honestly with any perceived problems, people should strive to interact in a manner which creates and sustains mutual respect.

[5] College management directives, decisions, guidelines, and standard procedures shall be made generally accessible through an electronic system (with appropriate print-based support) which shall also indicate who issued each item and if anyone is authorized to waive its provisions.

[6] Employees may use College premises to distribute clearly-attributed materials related to education or employment to other employees; this permission does not imply College endorsement or recognition of views or organizations referred to in the materials.

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C-13. COLLEGE-COMMUNITY LINKAGES

It is important that the College create and maintain strong community linkages at many levels. Such linkages should be part of coordinated plans based on principles and priorities adopted by the Board or President. Accordingly:

A. Communication Linkages:

[1] Staff-community linkages: The President shall ensure that the College maintains a system to receive external information and advice on how the College can best serve its community, especially from sectors which directly deal with the College's entrants or graduates. This system shall be structured so as to promote productive College-community interaction. The President shall also ensure that the College has appropriate representation in relevant community organizations and events.

[2] Board-community linkages: In addition to the activities individual Trustees choose to undertake as elected officials, the Board shall have an organized program of interaction with the community. The Vice-Chair of the Board shall coordinate this program, aligning it with a priority list adopted annually by the Board.

B. Operational Linkages:

The College shall respond to community needs by creating appropriate partnerships or contractor-client relationships with community organizations. Negotiation of such agreements is the responsibility of the President, subject to Board approval if they are multi-year agreements or involve expenditures in excess of the approval limits established in policy C-10, Purchasing. Proposals for partnership agreements should include an economic analysis, and should ensure that each party bears an appropriate share of the costs.

C. Reports to the Board:

The President shall report annually to the Board on the nature and extent of linkage activities, on the financial terms and operational results of community partnerships, and on any plans or recommendations for changes in this area.

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Comments, suggestions? Last updated on May 3, 2000.