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Published on 10/3/2023.

Audit Committee Meeting

The Audit Committee met prior to the regular meeting of the Board. The committee discussed the 2022-23 Budget and Multi-Year Forecast Update and the Student Housing Grant Application and Financing status.

Multi-Year Forecast: When the 2022-23 Final Budget and Multi-Year Forecast was adopted in September, the status of our Emergency Conditions Allowance (ECA) revenue protection participation request was unknown. As a result, the Final Budget unrestricted general fund state apportionment revenue was calculated using the 2022-23 target FTES of 2,837. To date, we have met all the ECA requirements so that state apportionment revenue can be calculated using the higher 2019-20 FTES. Revenue is estimated to increase by approximately $2.28 million. The 2022-23 budget has been updated to reflect the higher revenue, as well as an adjustment to the beginning fund balance and an increase to some expenditure items.

Included in the Governor's 2023-24 January Budget proposal is a COLA of 8.13%, while the adopted forecast assumed a 3% COLA. The multi-year forecast has been updated to reflect this higher 2023-24 COLA amount. The Final Budget and Multi-Year Forecast document has been updated to reflect the adjustments. I attached a copy of the budget forecast that includes the ECA. 

Housing Grant Financing: We submitted a proposal for second round funding prior to the January 25, 2023, deadline. The overall project cost is estimated to be $53.285 million. The application asks for $28.415 million in state funding. We will need to secure financing for the remaining $24.87 million. The USDA Rural Housing Grant is still an option, and we are also looking at using a Certificate of Participation (COP). We will also need to secure financing for the community stadium upgrade project. Representatives from KNN Finance will make a brief financing update presentation to the Committee.

Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees

Comments/Board Business

Land Acknowledgement:  Vice President of the Board Dr. Robertson read the District’s formal statement recognizing our area’s Indigenous Peoples as the original stewards of the land that College of the Redwoods occupies. 

We acknowledge that the land on which we are gathered today is unceded territory of the Wiyot people who continue to live and thrive on this land today. It is surrounded by the traditional, ancestral, and present homeland of several indigenous nations including the Hupa, Karuk, Mattole, Tolowa, Wailaki, and Yurok that make up Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

Member Comments: Trustee Pedrotti mentioned that she attended the faculty and staff art exhibit. Trustees Dorn and Dr. Robertson mentioned that they attended the recent CCLC Effective Trustee conference. Trustee Dr. Mullery noted that she attended the January state webinar. Lastly, Trustee Kelley noted that he attended the CCCT board meeting last month.

Board Committee Reports: Trustee Dorn reported that the Audit Committee of the Board met prior to the regular meeting of the Board. He mentioned that the Audit Committee supports the approval of Resolution 795 and the housing application. Trustee Mathews noted that the policy committee is looking at AP 2710 (Conflict of Interest) and a few other BPs and APs. Trustee Dr. Robertson noted that the Board Evaluation Committee will meet immediately following today’s meeting.

Consent Calendar Action Items

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: By board action we welcome several classified staff to our outstanding classified service. Gustavo Vasquez joined the Del Norte staff as a Learning Technologies Specialist, Jennifer Machin began service as an Administrative Secretary II – TRIO also in Del Norte, and Seth Smith assumed the role of Academic Advisor, Special Programs – Upward Bound. Samantha Broadstock was also approved to serve as our Enrollment Services Advisor in Financial Aid.

The Board approved several employee changes of status actions. Four employees assumed new titles without a change in salary, range, or step. Amber Atkins, Sara Stolt, and Stephanie Freyermuth moved from Administrative Assistant-Confidential to Executive Assistant. Julie Gilbride moved from Assistant to the President to Senior Executive Assistant to the President—also with no change in salary, range, or step. Why was this action taken? We found out that Sara, Stephanie, and Amber were denied access to critical California community college professional development opportunities that would help them support the vice presidents because of their titles. The “senior” was added to Julie’s title to reflect the fact that she supports the President’s Office and the Board of Trustees.

Also approved were recommendations to the move Professor Christopher Callahan, Life Sciences Professor (Del Norte Campus) to the same position on the Eureka Campus effective August 1, 2023, and Tiffany Schmitcke from the Director of Admissions and Records to the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid as a result a reorganization effective January 4, 2023.

The recommendation to grant William Meriwether, Professor of History and Political Science at our Del Norte Campus, a leave of absence without pay and benefits effective August 1, 2023 – May 12, 2024, was also approved.

I am pleased to write that several outstanding associate faculty have chosen to join our college community this spring semester—Paula Amis (Nursing), Lyndsey Burrescia (Nursing), Winnifred Carpenter (Adult Education), Wue-I-Chet Colegrove (Social Work & Human Services), Robert Fernau (Biological Sciences), Molly Lalonde (Nursing), Keryn Lopez Perez (Adult Education), Melody Pope (Nursing), Cassandra Schmidt (Nursing), and Tressa Thompson (Jewelry).

Approve Bond Status Report: We fully expended our Measure Q funds ($40,320,000 bond proceeds plus $4,505,509 interest) with $101,400 expenditures during the month ending December 31, 2022.

Construction Management Services for the Physical Education Drop and Replace Project Request for Proposal (RFP): The Board approved the recommendation to award construction management services for the Physical Education Drop and Replace Project to Critical Solutions, Inc. Critical Solutions, Inc. (CSI) has 29 years of project and construction management experience with public sector agencies.  The team of professionals from CSI have experience and education in project management, construction management, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and architectural engineering.

Approve Alia Dunphy as Chief District Labor Negotiator: The Board approved my recommendation to appoint Alia Dunphy as the District’s chief negotiator with CRFO effective February 15, 2023. Alia replaces Dr. Jack Miyamoto who had agreed to serve as the chief negotiator on a temporary basis. Alia will meet with the CRFO and District negotiation teams in problem solving and all legally contractual agreements.

Action/Discussion Items

Approve Resolution 795 Approving Submission of Affordable Student Housing Grant Application and Committing to Fulfillment of the Project Terms and Conditions: The Legislature passed Senate Bill 169 in 2021 that provides grant funding to public colleges and universities to develop affordable student housing. Our first grant application was denied in the first round of funding. We subsequently submitted a second-round funding proposal by the January 25, 2023, deadline. I certified the application before submission to the Chancellors Office.

I submitted a resolution with the application to the Board their certification as well. A revised application cover page will be forwarded to the Chancellors Office following this Board of Trustees meeting. I attached a copy of our housing application to this blog update in case you’re interested in reading it.

Informational Reports

CR Eddy Alexander Survey Results: We have been experienced significant enrollment decline in the 24-34-year-old market segment. We’ve made a few assumptions on why students were not re-enrolling in CR in post pandemic. However, rather than continuing to make assumptions, we engaged Eddy Alexander to help us identify root causes for our drop in enrollment.

Eddy Alexander looked at areas of awareness, consideration, preference, and selection to determine where the marketing funnel (interest to application to registration) was working and where we may improve. Eddy Alexander surveyed 6,817 18–34-year-old Humboldt residents over an eight-week period. Four hundred and seven (407) people participated in the survey.

Here’s a summary of their findings:

• Enrollment pressures do seem to be related to a temporary combination of societal pandemic pressure, extraordinary pressure on split priorities for prospective students during this turbulent time, a bit of negative reputational influence, and extraordinarily high attention on other higher education paths inside the county as HSU transitions to Cal Poly Humboldt
• While general awareness of CR is high, program specific consideration and preference are lower and should be addressed
• Prospective students are reporting low awareness of financial aid, online class options, trade, and vocational programming, despite affordability and flexibility being the two factors they report they most desire in a local higher education institution
• There appears to be some friction points in the enrollment and student experience as well that is putting downward pressure on both enrollment and reputation.
• Opportunity abounds however as a large percentage of survey respondents indicate continued or renewed interest in the school, placing high value on continuing education, and believe it likely that they will enroll in the future

Eddy Alexander recommends that we:

• Prioritize segmentation of promotional campaigns focusing marketing outreach efforts on microtargeted communication (based on career path indicators) with a focus on funnel conversion
• Work to map customer experience journeys for each program -with an eye toward enhancing the student support experience
• Look for ways to build pride into the CR experience
• Develop a campaign to actively demonstrate CR alumni success on a larger scale leveraging the brand equity of trusted community partners to extend reach and impact which keeping costs manageable and messaging authentic

Inventing CR's Police Department: We created a hybrid community-oriented police department that is made up of sworn and public safety (non-sworn) officers under the leadership of Chief of Police Mike Perkins and Sergeant Corrie Watson. They will oversee the implementation of new initiatives that will better protect and serve the college community and ensure accountability from the officers and the department. Some of the new initiatives will include:

• requiring campus police and security officers to adhere to community policing principles
• developing a public document that establishes requirements for the delivery of public safety services
• reshaping the Life Safety Committee into a body that will make recommendations related to district policies governing campus safety services
• requiring campus police and security officers to participate in regular training related to the conduct and methods of community policing, anti-bias, cultural responsibility, restorative justice, and conflict avoidance and de-escalation
• providing routine mental health services for campus police and public safety officers
• requiring campus police and security officers demonstrate a commitment to a “guardian” rather than “warrior” policing mindset
• requiring campus police and security officers to interact with campus stakeholders in an informal social setting
• forming a police oversight committee comprised of faculty, classified staff, managers, and students
• reviewing law enforcement officer and first responder training and curriculum
• hosting regular open dialogues to discuss campus climate
• working with the police department oversight committee (comprised of faculty, staff, students and community members) and the administration to align policy and regulations related to on-campus policing with best practices, increasing transparency of campus reporting on campus policing data and incidents to students and the public, developing policy on recruitment and hiring to promote diversity among campus police and safety officers, and developing policy for the removal of police officers found to be unsuitable for on-campus employment.

On a related note, I want to share a press release we sent out yesterday, Monday February 6, 2023, that talked about the open forum we held last week to discuss the establishment of our new police department. Thank you to Molly Blakemore and Jesse Wiedel for disseminating the press release.

College of the Redwoods Presents Open Forum on Police and the Establishment of the CR Police Department

In light of recent events, including the killing of Tyre Nichols, and in an effort to foster open and transparent dialogue, on February 2, College of the Redwoods hosted the first of a series of open forums to discuss the ongoing development of a campus police department. The forums will provide a platform for students, faculty, staff, and community members to express their thoughts, concerns, and suggestions.

Attendees engaged in a lively and productive dialogue, exchanging ideas and opinions on how to work together to create a safer and more just community and addressed student concerns regarding over-policing and police misconduct. Police Chief Michael Perkins ensured the audience that he is committed to ensuring that both his officers and the cadets at the CR Police Academy are held to the highest standards of professionalism and accountability.

It was also an opportunity to meet CR’s new Police Sergeant Corrie Watson, who was open and forthcoming about her own sadness regarding the tragic events surrounding the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of officers who were sworn to serve and protect. Both she and Chief Perkins invited students to get to know them, to think of them as allies and to come to them with any concerns.

The event was moderated by CR’s Student Trustee Marabeth Madsen and Dr. Kintay D. Johnson, Director of Student Equity and the Multicultural & Equity Center. The hope is that these open forums will provide a time for healing, open discussion, and an opportunity to co-create a police department that will ensure that our campus remains safe, while also respecting the rights of all individuals.

Future events and initiatives will be announced in the coming weeks.

Organizational Reports

Academic Senate: Academic Senate President noted that the Senate is discussing issues related to Area E and ChatGPT. Here’s a link to the February 6 DE Newsletter that discusses ChatGPT

Implications of ChatGPT (smore.com).

CRFO: President Haggerty related that faculty are busy and enrollment appears to have increased. She also mentioned that CRFO and the District reached a Tentative Agreement on the contract.

Classified: President Engman thanked the Chief Perkins and Sergeant Watson for their presentation.

Management Council: President Sorenson mentioned the following:

Title IX: A request went out for volunteers to serve in the role of Title IX Advisor. The Title IX team will be meeting in February with trainings scheduled.

Staff Equipment: Erik asked managers to ensure that essential workers in their departments had ability to move their work area to the LRC in the event of a long-term Campus power outage.

CSEA BBQ: We are starting to discuss this year’s CSEA Appreciation BBQ. CSEA appreciation week is May 21-27. We had a successful event last year and we hope to do so again this year. KT is happy to come to Eureka for the event. We are planning a separate event for the Del Norte campus.

Department Reports

Business Office: Spring training scheduled for March. Will focus on year end, new travel forms, etc.

Mike Perkins: New CR PD Sargent, Corrie Watson, begins on January 30.

MEC: Irene wanted to send out a thank you to IT, Facilities, and Communications for their assistance with the extension of the center.

Student Trustee: Student Trustee Madsen’s written report included the following information:

• ASCR is working with the Student Housing department to determine who may have been affected by the earthquakes in terms of refrigerated food and possibly appliance damage or losses.  
• ASCR approved $1500 to sponsor CR student’s participation in the next Skyline National Cyber League Competition.
• ASCR thanked Police Chief Michael Perkins for speaking to ASCR at one of their January meetings. They had a robust discussion including student concerns about police misconduct nationwide and how CR plans to train and support their hired officers to reduce the likelihood of police abuse of power on our campus. Chief Perkins assured ASCR that he has the campus community’s best interests at heart and has continuing education trainings planned to support excellence in policing at CR 
• Marty Coelho spoke to ASCR about options to endow some ASCR funded scholarships and possibly a separate student emergency fund.
• ASCR is planning to table at Arts Alive in Eureka on March 4th from 5pm-8pm.

Administrative Reports

President/Superintendent's Report: In my written report I wrote that CR has met all the requirements to become a Home College on the CVC Exchange, Interim Deputy Chancellor Dr. Lizette Navarette has accepted my invitation to attend our virtual March 31 “Fifth Friday” meeting with faculty and staff, and we hired Paul Castillo as our new volleyball coach.

In my verbal comments, I mentioned that while June is Pride Month, colleges and universities celebrate Campus Pride Month in April since students and faculty leave campus during the summer months.  We will celebrate campus pride month in April with several events sponsored by our MEC. Additionally, I offered our Eureka Campus as a site for the Drag Show fundraiser on April 29. I made this decision for two reasons. First, it dovetails with our Education Master Plan that calls on CR to create, sustain, and support ongoing opportunities for learning, dialogue, engagement, and community-building, in partnership with students, to identify barriers to equity, learn together, collaboratively problem-solve, and revise and to engage in ongoing commitments, made visible through our words and systemic efforts, to eliminate barriers to equity.  Second, and in my mind more importantly, it is the right thing to do as a high-quality higher education institution.

I also mentioned that Cal Poly Humboldt President Dr. Tom Jackson and I signed a MOU recently that established an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) concurrent enrollment collaborate program. The purpose of this collaborative program is to offer a streamlined, efficient, and seamless pathway for CR’s ADN students to transfer to the Cal Poly Humboldt nursing program to complete a BSN degree. I attached the fully executed MOU to this blog article for your information.

Vice President of Instruction Report:  In Lisa’s inaugural administrative report, she wrote that she is excited to serve as our VPI and is looking forward to joining the outstanding CR faculty and staff working to maintain and further develop excellent educational opportunities for the students at College of the Redwoods. Lisa mentioned how excited she is to serve as our VPI.

Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia’s written report included a summary of Governor Newsom January State Budget Proposal. The proposed budget is based off an estimated deficit of $22.5 billion. She noted that the budget proposal includes $223.6 billion in General Fund spending, which is a decrease of approximately $10 billion from the enacted 2022-23 budget. The proposal also includes an increase of Proposition 98 funding over the prior year for ongoing spending initiatives. To balance the budget, the Governor has proposed funding delays, shifts, and reductions. Some important budget proposal adjustments that relate to Community Colleges include:

• An 8.13% COLA for the Student-Centered Funding Formula, as well as for certain categorical programs;
• $200 million in ongoing funds to support retention and enrollment strategies;
• $14 million in ongoing funds for Workforce Training Grants;
• A reduction of $213 million to 2022-23 deferred maintenance funds; and
• A deferral of 250 million in Affordable Student Housing funding from 2023-24 to 2024-25.

I attached a joint analysis to this blog article.

In her verbal comments, Julia thanked the Trustees for approving Resolution 795 and their continued support of our capital projects.

Interim Vice President of Student Services Report:  Crystal’s written report noted that the CR 2022-23 SEM Team traveled to Burlingame, CA on January 20, 2023, for the statewide Mid-Point Convening. Key activities of CR's project include applying immediate essential improvements to the existing student orientation experience, developing, implementing a long-term plan for more improvements to the student online orientation, and evaluating data-informed scheduling options based on student enrollment patterns. Crystal’s report also provided a summary of the degrees and certificates awarded for fall 2022.

Petition to Graduate	ADT	18			Auto-Award	ADT	3
	AA/AS Degree	136				AA/AS Degree	58
	Certificate of Achievement	39				Certificate of Achievement	30
Total Awards fall 2022	ADT	21
	AA/AS Degree	194
	Certificate of Achievement	69

In her verbal comments, Crystal mentioned she and her team are discussing ways to move our auto awarding initiative forward without jeopardizing student financial aid.

Executive Director of College Advancement and the Foundation: Marty’s written report conveyed the following information:

• The Foundation Board held a special meeting on February 1 to consider adding two new members to the Board of Directors.
• The President's Innovation Grants Committee met on January 31 and awarded an economic innovation grant of $50,000 to CR's Nursing Program to expand their program by developing a 2024 summer cohort for nursing students. 
• The Innovation Grants Committee also awarded up to $15,000 in Presidential Economic Funds to Trevor Hartman (Computer Information Systems) and Matthew Cendejas (Business) to develop a pipeline of CR students who are e-commerce entrepreneurial thinkers and possess the skills to build new, innovative, and environmentally responsible businesses from the ground up. 
• A $10,000 scholarship was established by Hiouchi Community Fellowship in Crescent City to support Del Norte County single parents who are majoring in nursing or enrolled in the EMT/Paramedic Program.
• The second call for Presidential Innovation Grants applications will open between February – March. The Foundation is adding an additional grant opportunity for CR staff who have potentially innovative projects which align with the District’s Education Master Plan. Grants will range up to $5,000.
• The 2023 College of the Redwoods' Employee Giving Campaign was launched. Employee giving increased by 64% in 2022.
• The Foundation received a $30,000 check from the Sustainable Futures Fund to support the College's Agricultural Program.

In his verbal comments, Marty mentioned that the Foundation added two new members to the board of directors: Traci Coppini and Lupe Gutierrez. Lupe Gutierrez is a retired teacher and administrator from California’s public school system, including Del Norte, Mendocino, and Lake Counties. She currently resides in Del Norte County.

Traci Coppini’s background includes 22 years on the CR Board of Trustees, 2 years on the Foundation Board – serving on the Foundation’s audit committee both of those years, and 39 years as a self-employed fourth generation dairy farmer.