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Published on 12/17/2020.

Comments/Board Business

Administer the Oath of Office: Vice President of the Board Mr. Danny Kelley administered the oath of office to Dr. Colleen Mullery, Mr. Richard Dorn, Dr. Rebecca Robertson, and Mrs. Sally Biggin. I firmly believe that we are fortunate to have such professional, intelligent, and committed trustees on our Board.  

Member Comments: Trustee Dr. Colleen Mullery commented that she assigned herself as the mentor for Trustee Dr. Robertson and Trustee Biggin as the mentor for Trustee Coppini. She also congratulated Trustee Kelley on his appointment to an important ACCT committee.

Trustee Coppini mentioned that he attended the orientation for new trustees. He thanked the administrators, managers, faculty, and staff who participated in the orientation.

Trustee Mathews noted that she attended five of the Building Bridges Workshop Series sessions.. She’s going to attend the sixth session on Friday, December 18, 2020.

Trustee Kelley commented that he attended the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission (RRDEC) meeting and was struck by the fact that Humboldt County lost approximately 200 businesses during the pandemic.

Trustee Biggin said that she attended the ACCJC professional development sessions. The link to the ACCJC Educational Series is: https://accjc.org/educational-series/

Organizational Procedures

Election of Board Officers: President, Vice President, and Clerk: President of the Board Dr. Mullery appointed an Ad Hoc committee at the October Board of Trustees meeting to propose a slate of candidates to serve as Board officers for 2021-22.  At the November Board meeting, the Ad Hoc committee recommended the following slate of candidates:

• President of the Board--Trustee Danny Kelley
• Vice President of the Board--Trustee Carol Mathews
• Clerk of the Board--Trustee Richard Dorn

I am pleased to report that the Board voted unanimously to have Trustee Kelley serve as President of the Board, Trustee Mathews as Vice President, and Trustee Dorn as Clerk for the next calendar year. We sent out a press release to local media outlets announcing the Board’s action immediately after the Board meeting adjourned. I attached a copy of the press release to this summary.

Review Code of Ethics and Trustee Protocols (BP2715/AP2715): The Board of Trustees adopted Trustee Code of Ethics and Protocols as a guide to ensure appropriate involvement of Trustees in College operations and community interactions. The Board protocols also provide guidance to Trustees to ensure efficient and effective Board meetings.  In keeping with their policy, the Trustees reviewed the Code of Ethics and Protocols for Effective Trusteeship at this meeting.

Consent Calendar Action Items

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: The Trustees took action on several personnel related items.  I am pleased to welcome Morgan Beebe and Haley Michel to our college community. Morgan will serve as the Instructional Support Specialist in CIS and Haley as a Custodian for the Eureka Campus.

I want to congratulate four of our colleagues for their change of status. Taryn Roberts will move from the Budget Technician position to the Budget and Accounting Analyst. Gary Ronne’s position will change from a Student Services Specialist II—Financial Aid to the Student Development Advisor TRiO. 

Also changed was Karen Pearson’s status as an ECE Assistant I Range 108 Step 5 to Range 108 Step 6 and Sarah Smith from Nutrition Associate Range 108 Step 5 to Range 108 Step 6 to comply with the new minimum wage law that will go into effect on January 1, 2021.

The Trustees ratified my decision to accept the resignations of Jennifer Knight and Angela Schauber. Jennifer resigned as a Student Development Advisor effective December 11 and Angela resigned as the Instructional Support Specialist III at Pelican Bay effective January 1, 2021.

Action/Discussion Items

Monthly Financial Status Report:  The Board approved the monthly financial status report that continued to show what we plan to transfer $90,000 to the Child Development Center, $50,911 to the Shively Farm, and $645,000 to OPEB from the general fund. Our report also showed a projected 2020-21 ending fund balance of 9.0%, or $2,816,676. 

Based on the current information coming out of Sacramento we still have to address $5,000,000 in state apportionment deferrals. However, the State could rescind or reverse the deferrals if the fiscal outlook improves.  Please remember that if the deferrals remain in place, although the fund balance is projected to be $2,816,676, the District will not have the cash to back it until the deferred payments are received from the State.

Remove Julia Morrison as the District Labor Negotiator with CSEA and appoint Mr. Jack Miyamoto as the District’s Negotiator with CSEA: The Board agreed with my recommendation to replace Julia Morrison with Jack Miyamoto as the District’s Chief Negotiator with CSEA. I want to thank Julia for stepping up to serve as our Chief Negotiator on a temporary basis when our former Human Resources Director left the college.  Jack’s extensive Human Resources and negotiation experience will allow me to move away from using an attorney in the CSEA negotiation process.

Academic Calendar: The Board approved the 2021-22 academic calendar that the District and CRFO negotiated.

District Compliance with the Fifty Percent Law Requirement: Usually we share a final CCFS-311Q Financial Status Report (311 Report) and 50% Law calculation with the Board at the December meeting. However, for reasons outside of our control, we have not finalized our audit nor have we certified our 311 Report.

Therefore, for discussion purposes only, we informed the Board that our initial 50% Law calculation showed that the District's 2019-20 50% Law calculation is 54.27%. We will present our final calculation when our audit is completed and the CCFS-311Q report is certified.

Resolution 772 Authorizing and approving the borrowing of funds for fiscal year 2020-21 through a TRAN: As alluded to in the monthly financial report, we anticipate a cash flow shortfall created by timing differences between our anticipated expenditures and estimated receipt of revenues, including State funding allocation deferrals. The Board of Trustees authorized us, through Resolution No. 772, to address this expected cash flow shortfall through the issuance of a tax and revenue anticipation note (TRAN).

Approve Emeritus Faculty Nomination: The Trustees approved my recommendation to grant faculty emeritus status to Professor Dan Calderwood. I want to share the narrative Professor Chris Romero, Dan’s CIS faculty colleague, wrote when he nominated Dan to the Academic Senate:

I have worked with Dan for 20 of those years and I have witnessed his profound impact on College of the Redwoods. He is one of only three faculty in those years to have served twice as Academic co-president. His second term was in support of a colleague who was unable to complete their term due to health issues.

Dan has served on just about every committee that the college has. And in his later years as an elder statesman he served on committees that mattered most to the college. He served on Academic Standards and Policy Committee, the Institutional Effectiveness Committee, Educational Master Planning, Instructional Council and others. He held leadership roles in many of these committees.

Dan was a leader in his discipline too. He expertly redesigned and streamlined a CIS curriculum that was fragmented and over-extended and competing with itself. These changes helped navigate the difficult times after the dot-com bubble burst, and during the financial and audit-challenged times of the college. Dan was the lead architect in putting together the networking program that has served our students and our community business partners over the last two decades. He has ensured its viability by constantly innovating and aligning with strategic industry partners to best serve the needs of the community.

Lastly and most importantly, Dan has been a positive influence for thousands of students that he has taught and mentored. He has had a direct hand in changing the lives of hundreds of students by connecting local business technology needs with the best students and assisting those students in their transition from an education phase to a career phase.

There are a couple of significant examples that I would like to share. First, look at our current Information Technology department for the college. Tom Cossey, Jose Ramirez, Mark Bernards, Kyle McCann, and others. These valuable employees of the district all benefitted from Dan’s education and tutelage. Dan has also been responsible for success stories in our community. Past students like Mark Chaton who went on to be an Administrative Vice President and Network Administrator for Redwood Capital Bank, and Tim Foster who founded and was president of Network Management Systems, a major information technology services company in Northern California, are just some examples of the impact that Dan has had on the lives he has touched and on our community. However, it is this last example that touches me the most and I suspect if you asked Dan, he would say so too. It was during the last time CR held a Science Night event. We were running around the classroom engaging our visitors when in walked a former student that I recognized. I found Dan and we went up to say hi. The student confessed that he had not come for our whiz-bang virtual reality demonstration but had expressly come to personally thank Dan for changing his life. At the time of his educational experience with Dan, he had not realized how important his course work would become and what a major impact it would have on his life. During his final year at CR, Dan recognized his potential and recommended him to a local firm who also saw his potential and hired him. He thrived at his new job and was promoted quickly. The experience allowed him to grow out of the awkward game-playing teenager and into a mature, productive, adult. He met a girl and started a family, which he proudly shared pictures of. And throughout this delivery, he radiated happiness and gratitude.

I know of no higher endorsement of a job well done and a right to be recognized as a Professor Emeritus of College of the Redwoods.

Approve RFQ List of Project/Construction Management Firms: The Board approved our recommendation to add the following firms to the District’s approved list of project/construction management consultants for capital projects.

• Cumming Management Group
• Critical Solutions, Inc.
• Kitchell
• Vanir Construction Management, Inc.

Informational Reports

Capital Projects Update: Steve McKenzie discussed the status of several of our capital projects including the Creative Arts Building Drop and Replace project, PE Complex drop and replace project, Utility Infrastructure Replacement (UIR) project, demolition of the Life and Physical Science buildings, and the solar energy project.

Here’s a brief outline of the information Steve discussed:

• Utility Infrastructure Replacement
  • The project is 80% complete.
  • The WWTP is scheduled for completion in February 2021.
  • We should submit Increment II water tanks to DSA in January.
  • The new 12KV system should go online in March.
  • The new transformers and main building switchgears should be completed in summer 2021.
  • If all goes according to plan, we should take down the LS/PS buildings on the Eureka Campus in the spring/summer 2021.
• Creative Arts Drop and Replace
  • We received DSA approval last month (November 2020).
  • We expect to send the bid documents and plans to Chancellor’s Office and the Department of Finance in January 2021. 
  • We expect to have final funding approval expected with authorization to bid expected in March/April with a summer 2021 construction start date.
• Physical Education/Fieldhouse Drop and Replace
  • The authorization for funding the working drawings was approved in November 2020.
  • We expect to complete the working drawings and get DSA approval in the 4^th quarter of 2021.
  • We are optimistic that construction will start in fall 2022.
• Residence Hall Replacement
  • We received proposals for architectural services and the review of the contract is in process.
  • We are finalizing the size, scope, and specific placement of the complex.
• Solar Field Project
  • The contract has been signed.
  • Forefront Power is developing interagency documents for submittal to PG&E.
  • We expect PG&E to approve the documents between May and October 2021.
  • The project design and permitting processes should be completed between November 2021 and May 2022.
  • We hope to start construction in June 2022.

Grove Program Update Dr. Kintay Johnson gave a great presentation on the work we have accomplished to address student homelessness and food insecurity.

Sabbatical Leave Report—Professor Mark Renner: Professor Renner was granted a Sabbatical Leave and despite substantial field-access challenges due to Covid-19 closures he performed all geologic field work described in his application. He provided the Trustees with a summary of the outcomes of his leave. The videos he created, with those he will created in the near future, could not have been done without the materials he gathered during his sabbatical. Below is the URL to Mark’s online presentation:

https://www.3cmediasolutions.org/privid/290653?key=a9c9d932aab664ed27c862958849df3bea598521

Organizational Reports

Academic Senate: Senate President Gary Sokolow’s written update noted that over the last several months, the Senate:

• Completed work on approving Distance education addendums for all courses taught on line at CR. Additionally, a large number of course outlines were revised by faculty, either as part of the normal five-year review process or to otherwise maintain the currency of course offerings.
• Unanimously recommended to the Board that Professor Dan Calderwood be granted Emeritus status in recognition of his many years of service to his students, the college and local community.
• Approved of revisions to District policies concerning Credit for Prior Learning
• Created a Senate Distance Education Committee, to help ensure better faculty oversight over course offerings in various distance education formats.
• Endorsed the revision of the “Pelican Bay Scholars Procedures and Practices Manual”. In so doing, the Senate recognized the many challenges that teaching in penal institutions presents to both faculty and students. It is the Senate’s hope that this manual will help faculty teaching incarcerated students continue the valuable work that they are doing.

CRFO: CRFO President Michelle Haggerty commented that the faculty have been working hard to retain students. She also gave a shout out to the Curriculum Committee for the outstanding curriculum review/approval work they have accomplished.

CSEA: CSEA President Tami Engman apprised the Board on the results of the CSEA officer election.

Administrative Reports

President/Superintendent's Report: My written report touched on several topics. Here is a brief snapshot of what I wrote: 

• I congratulated Vice President of the Board Trustee Danny Kelley for his appointment to the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) Governance and Bylaws Committee and to the Advisory Committee on Legislation for the Community College League of California (CCLC). 
• I failed the search for the Director of Human Resources (HR) since the search process did not identify an appropriate candidate fill the position. We hired Dr. Jack Miyamoto, a retired community college administrator with thirty-three years of HR experience, on a five-month short-term contract to help lead our HR department.  Dr. Miyamoto’s background in perfect for this engagement. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado, a Master’s Degree from San Jose State University, and a Doctorate in Educational Administration from United States International University. He has served the last 18 years of his career as an Interim Chancellor, Vice Chancellor or Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Negotiator for three different community college districts. His Human Resources experience includes participation in a number of classification and compensation studies, long-range staffing plans, accreditation reports, writing human resource policies and administrative procedures, and mentoring new Human Resources professionals. I will ask Jack to accomplish several tasks including: Leading the day-to-day function of the HR office; providing an analysis on current HR processes and policies, providing recommendations for establishing diversity, equity, and inclusion across the District; providing recommendations for Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) across the District; and leading Title IX coordination. I will also ask Jack to serve as the District’s chief negotiator with California School Employees Association (CSEA). This will allow me to reduce our reliance on using an attorney in the CSEA negotiations.
• I entered into a contract with Plexuss to help us build a pool of prospective international students from which we can recruit. The initial list of outreach targets included potential students from Southeast Asia, India, Norway, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. I see our initiative to recruit international students as another opportunity to collaborate with Humboldt State University (HSU).  Ms. Molly Blakemore, Ms. Megan Schroeder, and I will meet with Dr. Tom Jackson, Dr. Jason Meriwether, Dr. Lisa Bond-Maupin, and Mr. Pedro Martinez from HSU on January 6, 2021 to discuss a collaborative recruitment strategy and outreach plan. 
• Because the outlook for gaining control over the COVID-19 virus is positive with the expected rollout of two vaccines, I made the decision to begin developing a fall 2021 class schedule that significantly increases the number of face-to-face classes we will offer.
• We held a new trustee orientation on December 2, 2020 for Trustees Coppini and Robertson. I want to thank Cynthia Petrusha for providing logistical support and Angelina Hill, Marty Coehlo, Trustee Kelley, Paul Chown, Gary Sokolow, Michelle Haggerty, Erik Kramer, Tami Engman, Mark Bernards, and Jordan Hamill for participating in the orientation.

In my verbal comments, I provided a brief snapshot of our current spring enrollment. I noted that we are down about 33% over this same period last year.  In comparison, Siskyous is -40%, Butte is -20%, Shasta is -15%, Sierra is -15%, Santa Barbara is -25%, Cuesta is -54%, College of the Desert is -50%, Cabrillo is -40% and State Center is -24%. I know that Angelina Hill, Alia Dunphy, and Molly Blakemore are working hard to boost spring enrollment numbers.

Vice President of Instruction Report: Angelina’s written report spoke to the following:

• Student Services is promoting the new Virtual Welcome Center as a way of serving students for all of their needs. The Center is featured on the Student Services tab on the College's homepage and can be visited here: https://www.redwoods.edu/student-services/Home/VWC
• At the spring 2021 FLEX Professional Development week in January, the College will be hosting a panel of CR students and alumni. CR alumni are helping arrange the panel with the students. The goal of the panel is for students to share with faculty and staff their successes in online classes, and what the college has done to elicit success.
• The College is transitioning the Instructional Technology Task Force to play a broader role in faculty and staff professional development. This is being done as so much of the demand for professional development from faculty and staff have been related to understanding new and existing technologies.
• On December 9th, Angelina presented to the Defensive Languages Institute in Monterey, California. That institute is also accredited by the ACCJC. The virtual summit consisted of participants from officer schools associated with the Navy, Army, and Air Force. Participants asked questions about CR's shared governance process, how we evaluate the effectiveness of online instruction, and what tools we use to evaluate educational effectiveness. She was proud to represent CR and tell them about the effective strategies we have in place.

In her verbal comments, Angelina thanked the many staff and faculty who have worked so hard for our students this semester.

Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia’s written report noted that:

• On November 18, 2020, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) issued two promising reports on the state of the California budget and economy, The 2021-22 Budget: California’s Fiscal Outlook and The Fiscal Outlook for Schools and Community Colleges. The LAO estimates that the Proposition 98 minimum guarantee will be up by $13.1 billion over the June Budget Act level for FY 2020-21 due to stronger-than-anticipated tax revenues.  This could mean that a portion or all of the planned apportionment deferrals may be rescinded.

It should be noted that, while the outlook is positive, the LAO expects the state to face operating deficits beginning in FY 21-22 due to slow anticipated revenue growth compared to estimated state spending levels.

• Cal OSHA has issued some emergency COVID-19 regulations, requiring employers to create a written COVID-19 Prevention Program (CPP) that includes the following elements:
  • Communication to employees about the COVID-19 prevention procedures
  • Identifying, evaluating, and correcting workplace COVID-19 hazards
  • Implementing effective policies and procedures to correct unsafe and unhealthy conditions
  • Providing and ensuring workers wear face coverings
  • Physical distancing of at least six feet
  • Use of face coverings
  • Use of controls and PPE to reduce transmission risk
  • Procedures to investigate and respond to COVID-19 cases
  • Provide COVID-19 training to employees
  • Provide testing to exposed employees
  • Excluding employees who test positive
  • Maintaining records of COVID-19 cases and reporting cases to Cal/OSHA and the local health department

Steve McKenzie is working with our Life Safety Committee to finalize a CPP for the District.  Once ready, the CPP will be sent to all employees and posted on the website.

Executive Director of Foundation Report: Marty’s report noted that:

• He applied for a grant from the County’s Small Business Restart and Recovery (SBRR) funds which were made available to 501(c)(3)s for reimbursement of COVID expenses and secured $30,000 in emergency aid funds for CR students from the Humboldt Area Foundation.
• He worked with Vice President Angelina Hill, and Dean Rianne Connor to secure a $128,000 California Community College Foundation grant to encourage student degree and certificate completion. The funds will be distributed to students as emergency financial aid. 
• He met with the steering committee for Humboldt’s Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) to discuss the next steps in College of the Redwoods taking a leadership role in hosting the COAD coordinator position and moving the project into its development phase.
• The Foundation’s Del Norte Committee met on December 8^th  for its monthly meeting. The conversation included the progress made on the Tolowa Sign project, Wild Rivers Foundation and the Humboldt Area Foundation partnership opportunities, the timeline for printing/distributing planned giving materials, offering the Latinx Wear a Mask campaign materials to Smith River Elementary School which serves a large Hispanic population, the potential for a Wear a Mask campaign in Del Norte targeting mask resisters, the potential of launching a series of CR alumni career presentations at Del Norte High in fall of 2021 to encourage education after high school, and the possibility of installing benches and picnic tables on campus grounds.

Professor Shannon Sullivan updated the Board on the Morris Graves Museum - Out in the World: Creative Practice by CR Alumni exhibition. This exhibition was to be on display from November 14 through January 3, 2021; however, the show ended early due to the closing of the Morris Graves Museum. Here is a link to the art catalog:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c3JBEYJm9GodHOUUKRJj0dY9LvWU_7-K/view?usp=sharing

Future Agenda Items, Reports, Requests for Information

Approve a Trustee Request to Place an Item on a Future Agenda or Direct Staff to Give a Regular Report: The Board agreed to place ACCJC training for Trustees and Student Uncollected Debt on a future agenda.