Creston— The Southwestern Community College (SWCC) board of directors met on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at 8:30 a.m., in the college’s Administration Center, for their regular board meeting.
During the consideration of consent agenda items, the board approved annual dues for the Higher Learning Commission.
Lindsay Stoaks, SWCC president, presented the proposed revision of the college’s Purpose Statement. The Purpose Statement was discussed during the June 2024 regular board meeting. Stoaks said the suggestions from the board were integrated into the policy and the revised statement reflected those changes. She explained the review of the Purpose Statement is essentially the first step in driving forward the new strategic planning process, which will kick-off at the August all-staff meeting.
Following the conversation regarding the revamped Purpose Statement, the board approved the revised statement as presented.
Dr. John Franklin, SWCC vice president of instruction, spoke to the board regarding the renewal of Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) software for the college’s nursing program. Franklin said the renewal costs for the upcoming year were higher than $100,000 this year; therefore, the renewal was required to come before the board. The college has utilized the ATI software since the 2018-19 academic year.
The board approved the ATI renewal as presented.
In personnel, the board approved the resignation of Susannah Miller, agriculture instructor, effective July 9, 2024. Following the approval of Miller’s resignation for her position as ag instructor, the board approved the employment of Miller as assistant vice president of instruction, effective July 10, 2024. Miller has been employed by SWCC as an ag instructor since 2016. Franklin said her experience in career and technical education will be a great asset for the instructional division and will complement his experience in the arts and sciences areas.
The board approved the employment of Joe Nenneman of Red Oak as carpentry and building trades instructor at Red Oak. Nenneman has been a self-employed contractor in Red Oak since 2019. Franklin said the college is looking forward to re-launching the high school carpentry and building trades program in Red Oak.
During the president’s report, Brandi Shay, SWCC chief financial officer, and Devon Leith, Tyler Insurance Services, talked to the board about changes related to the college’s insurance policies for the upcoming year.
Leith said the insurance industry is facing extreme challenges following inflationary pressures and repeated catastrophic weather occurrences. Due to the turmoil, Leith said the insurance group is trying to get schools to accept more responsibility for some of the smaller losses. She said these changes—i.e. insurance changing replacement cost on policies and excluding damage for cosmetic losses—are happening across the board in the industry. Leith said these are all ways the industry is transferring a portion of the risks to the policy holders. Leith said after going through the process of raising deductibles, applying individual deductibles to buildings, and transferring a portion of the coverage from EMC Insurance to Lloyd’s, the SWCC plan and coverage were finalized for the upcoming year. Leith said there was a modest increase in the liability portion of the policy due to the claims history of the safety group.
Lana Bartmess, SWCC human resources director, talked to the board regarding changes in the Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act as of July 1, 2024. The new federal regulations require employees to be paid at a salaried rate of $844 per week or $43,888 per year to be classified as exempt. According to Bartmess, with the current changes, SWCC had 22 employees who moved from exempt to non-exempt status. Bartmess said there are more changes, in the regulations, being proposed for Jan. 1, 2025, that could have an additional financial impact on the college.
Sue Stearns, SWCC board member and Community Colleges for Iowa representative, gave the board a brief summary of the recent state meeting. She reminded the board the state conference is Wednesday through Friday in Waterloo.
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