Summary of the September 2, 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting
Published on Sep 2 2025This Board meeting was held on our Klamath-Trinity Instructional Site. I want to thank Misty Knight and the KT staff for making the Trustees feel welcome!
Consent Calendar Action Items
The Trustees approved the employment of two new classified staff, one confidential staff member, six tenured track faculty, and two associate faculty. Donovan Miller will serve as a Network Administrator on September 22, 2025 and Terra Thompson as begin serving as the Administrative Secretary II supporting the Academic Senate on September 8, 2025. Catherine Canepa’s service as our new Budget and Accounting Analyst in the Business Office will start immediately following the Board meeting on September 3, 2025. I am pleased to announce that Amanda Cuttler (Assistant Professor, Welding Technology), Kristen Luke (Assistant Professor, Business/Accounting), Andrew Manning (Assistant Professor, Fire Technology) and Kelly Scott (Assistant Professor, Paramedicine) will join our faculty ranks starting January 2026. Additionally, Madeleine Lopez will serve as our Assistant Professor, Forestry and Natural Resources /Geomatics and Laurrie McKendry as our Assistant Professor, Business starting August 2026. The hiring of these new tenure track faculty members represents an investment in ensuring that we continue to generate additional FTES revenue, moving key faculty positions away from soft funding, and providing high quality workforce training and education to meet the needs of our community in critical industry sectors such as healthcare, business, accounting, welding, forestry, and fire protection. I also want to welcome Leah Westbrook (General Studies) and Joseph O’Keefe (Coaching) as new associate faculty colleagues.
The Board approved a recommendation to donate two vehicles to a local high school that are no longer relevant to the curriculum and offer excess soil (2000 cy) to the Redwood Coast Mountain Bike Association that we do not need. We will also dispose of a Dell laptop and a docking station that no longer works.
Included in the Consent Calander was a recommendation to approve the Measure I Bond Project Report. As noted in the agenda item, two critical capital projects are currently slated for bond funds—the $95 million Eureka Campus Student Housing Project and the $20 million Del Norte Healthcare and Revitalization Project. If funding is available, we will move forward with the demolition of the Eureka Campus Old Administration/Forum Buildings as well as the installation of a baseball/softball field on the Eureka Campus.
Action/Discussion Agenda Items
The Trustees approved College and Career Access Pathways Partnership (CCAP) Agreements with Ferndale Unified School District, Fortuna Union High School District, Humboldt County Office of Education, NHUHSD, SHJUSD, Alder Grove Charter School, Eureka City Schools District, Del Norte Unified School District, and Del Norte County Office of Education. I want to thank Vice President Dr. Crystal Morse, Academic Senate President Bernadette Johnson, and Academic Senate Vice President Wendy Riggs for their leadership in getting these critical CCAP agreements approved. Their support was invaluable.
The Board executed a first read of a revised Board Policy 2431 President/Superintendent Selection. I expect to agendize a second read of the revised policy in the October Board meeting.
Informational Reports
As was noted in the Measure I Bond Project Status Report agenda item, we anticipate using $28.4 million in SB 169 monies to augment our Measure I bond funds to build the new student housing on the Eureka Campus. Since the SB 169 funding mechanism is uncommon, we asked Ronnie Slimp and Chris Ferguson from the Chancellor's Office Student Housing Unit to provide a high-level overview of the Statewide Lease Revenue Bond (SLRB) agreements to the Trustees at this Board meeting. I intend to recommend formal approval of the SLRB documents at the October Board meeting. Adding $28.4 million to offset the cost of the new student housing will free up enough Measure I funds for the demolition of the Eureka Campus Old Administration/Forum Buildings and the construction of a baseball/softball field on the Eureka Campus.
Pyuwa Bommelyn provided a presentation on the Live your Language Alliance (LYLA) and the College of the Redwoods Indigenous Language Institute (CRILI). CRILI is a new initiative aimed at meeting the needs of local language communities and increasing language resources through curriculum development and teaching methods. Here is a link to the LYLA poster: (20+) Facebook
In the recognition report, I highlighted Wendy Butler’s impressive work in producing and hosting an interview program called Art Attitude, Jessica Howard’s outstanding leadership in getting our EMT program approved to offer classes in Del Norte, Leslie Marshall’s satisfactory completion of all the requirements necessary for a CCFC Facilities Leadership Institute certificate, and Sally Urban’s Letter to the Editor speaking about the kindness of others in our community. I also noted the passage of the nineteenth amendment that legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Here is a link to a YouTube story about the nineteenth amendment: The Nineteenth Amendment | Journey to American Democracy
Organizational and Administrative Reports
In her report, Academic Senate President Bernadette Johnson extended congratulations to Faculty of the Year, Jon Pace and Associate Faculty of the Year, Shannon Mondor. She acknowledged Dr. Deone Zell for her convocation presentation on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Future and noted two important conversations held during convocation. Bernadette also thanked the faculty of the Academic Senate for meeting at 4 pm the Friday before classes began to approve a final draft of the CCAP template. CRFO President Michelle Haggerty noted that the contract negotiations went quickly and that the CRFO officers met with the district negotiators to review work to be completed through the SARTCo process. Management Council President Leigh Dooley wrote that the Management Council (MC) deployed a Needs Assessment survey. According to the survey results, the MC is most interested in ensuring that any concerns that come up are heard by leadership, that professional development and training opportunities are available, and that presentations on pertinent topics are shared. Accordingly, the MC leadership team is planning some in-house professional development and support opportunities, lining up presentations for MC meetings, and continuing to serve as a conduit for communication.
In my administrative report I noted that I signed a MOU with Cal Poly Humboldt that supports our Associate of Degree in Police Science recipients’ transition directly into Cal Poly’s Leadership Studies Bachelors program. I also wrote that College of the Redwoods rodeo coaches Kelly O’Day and Gianna O’Day made a presentation to the Ferndale Fairgrounds to propose holding a collegiate invitational rodeo event in the Fairgrounds arena during next year’s fair. The O’Day’s “The Royal of the North” met with some support from the Fairgrounds board. Julia Morrison noted that she agreed with the District’s audit team from CWDL to move the final audit visit to the week of October 20. Even with the delay, we will still have the audit report ready for approval and acceptance at the December Board meeting. Julia also wrote that she and Leslie Marshall met with the Student Trustee Dalila Shelton-Vandegrift to discuss her Student-Centered Building proposal that was provided to the Board at the August 2025 meeting. They reviewed the current designs of the Student Housing and PE Gymnasium facilities to provide some background on planned student serving spaces. The Student Housing facility will include a designated student wellness space that can have a neurodivergent focus for all students to access. Leslie provided an overview of the State Capital outlay program, including the recent project proposals that we submitted to the State for funding and how space utilization impacts what types of buildings and spaces State funding can support. Crystal Morse thanked the convocation presenters and the planning team of Leigh Dooley, Christina Morse, Morgan Solem, Stephanie Freyermuth, Julie Gilbride, Kayla Hanson, Sara Stolt, and Arlene Wynn. Marty Coelho thanked the people who contributed to making the CR Dinner and Auction successful: Auction coordinators Jennifer Johnston and Suzette Younker; Ryan Bisio, Bob Brown and Athletic Department staff and student athletes for soliciting donations and partnering on this event; Tom Cossey, Mark Bernards and Amador Renteria for technical support; maintenance and janitorial crews for set-up and clean-up; the Check In & Check Out crew members Amy Miller, Edith Ramirez, Amber Cavanaugh, Gussie Solem, Michelle Sandborn, Shereen Cockrum and Emily Ramirez; the Dutch Auction crew - Stephanie Freyermuth and Rebecca Gwin; Jonthan Webster for excellent graphic work; Morrigan Burke for printing thousands of documents and interviewing the honorees; and the CR's Police Department and the Academy cadets for ensuring security at the event.