December 11, 2020 Minutes SONOMA STATE ENTERPRISES, INC.
Minutes
Board of Directors Minutes
December 11, 2020MEMBERS PRESENT:
Ms. Ashley Blaylock
Mr. Jonathan Juarez Dominguez
Ms. Melissa Kadar
Dr. John Kunat
Dr. Kyuho Lee
Ms. Joyce Lopes
Mr. Neil Markley, Ex-Officio
Mr. Robert Martinez
Dr. Karen Moranski
Dr. Mario Perez
Ms. Emily Lusk Porter
Dr. John Urbanski
Ms. Amanda Visser, Ex-Officio
Mr. Fred Vaske
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Dr. Gregory Sawyer
OTHERS PRESENT:
Ms. Jill Crenshaw
Dr. Jerlena Griffin-Desta
Dr. Laura Monje-Paulson
Ms. Jessica Way
20.15 Call to Order
Ms. Lopes called the meeting to order at 11:12am.
20.16 Approval of the September 25, 2020 Minutes
The minutes from September 25, 2020 were provided to the Board via email prior to the meeting. The minutes were approved unanimously with no changes.
20.17 President’s Report
Dr. Griffin-Desta presented the President’s report on behalf of Dr. Judy K. Sakaki. She shared that the Chancellor’s Office announced that Fall 2021 instruction will primarily be in-person. She also noted that the new SSU Chief of Police, Nader Oweis, was sworn in. Additionally, CalNotify, the free contact-tracing software is a helpful tool for tracking your movement.
20.18 University Report
Dr. Moranski discussed the announcement that CSU instruction in Fall 2021 will be primarily in-person. She is chairing the group a group for the repopulation of campus.
She also discussed enrollment: system-wide, COVID-19 is having an impact on students’ decision whether or not to attend college. Admission has been sending information to potential freshmen about the in-person structure for Fall 2021. Furthermore, the CSU has extended the application date for Fall 2021 to December 15, 2020 and will likely extend it further, allowing students more time to consider applying.
Currently, SSU has been receiving more transfer applications than first-time applicants and recruitment for Spring 2021 has surpassed expectations.
20.19 Vice President of Student Affairs Report
Dr. Monje-Paulson presented the Student Affairs report on behalf of Dr. Sawyer. She shared that CAPS has increased their capacity for finals week. She also shared that REACH will be providing housing for former foster youth and housing-insecure students during the holiday break. Additionally, they are estimating an increase in students living on campus in Spring 2021.
20.20 Associated Students Report
Ms. Melissa Kadar shared that the Associated Students had a productive term. They registered 400 students to vote prior to election day and JUMP is launching a virtual tutoring program for elementary school students. They are looking to replicate a number of successful, socially distanced events that took place in Fall 2020 in Spring 2021.
20.21 Report from SSU Vice President for Administration and Finance/Chief Financial Officer and Chair of SSE Board of Directors
Ms. Lopes thanked all the staff and faculty for their hard work and support during this difficult time.
The recent Sonoma County stay-at-home order will temporarily reduce the number of on-campus workers. Furthermore, the COVID-19 prevention measures put in place have helped keep positive test numbers on campus low. The campus is working with the county to secure vaccines.
CCAA competition has been cancelled for Spring 2021, but our athletes will continue to practice and participate in training.
Ms. Lopes also shared that SSU housed 450 students in Fall 2020 and is anticipating more students living on campus in Spring 2021.
20.22 Chief Operating Officer’s Report
Mr. Markley reported that the campus has been able to place a number of employees impacted by COVID-19 related job actions, 10 staff and 2 managers, in temporary positions.
Bookstore sales and textbook adoptions are slow. Communication with faculty to ensure textbooks are adopted in a timely manner for 2021 coursework is underway. The Senate Diversity Committee had concerns regarding how the availability of low-cost and free course materials are publicized. Currently, the Barnes and Noble website does not identify which materials as low-cost or free. We are working with the bookstore manager to remedy this. The bookstore has also set up a socially-distanced textbook drop-off station for students who are unable to return their materials via the mail.
Mr. Markley concluded by thanking everyone for their hard work in this unprecedented time, especially the support from University leadership.
20.23 Chief Financial Officer’s Report
Ms. Visser reviewed the Statement of Activity as well as the November 30, 2020 Statement of Net Position. The Student Center rent has not been accrued. Expenses currently seem high as we had some contractual services contribute to the statement at the beginning of the semester.
Culinary goods will be donated to the Lobos Pantry when possible. Additionally, we will see the wine sales made in conjunction with the Green Music Center hit the December statements.
20.24 2020/2021 Budget Update and 2021/2022 Planning
Mr. Markley stated that our cash position is tight, but luckily our payroll expenses have gone down so we will not be drawing as much money from reserves as we were the first few months of the year.
We are looking at a number of options to improve our financial standing, such as additional federal or state funding, the sale or leasing of the Petaluma Hill parcels, and reducing the rent payments SSE owes the University. The Cabinet is reviewing the University’s land holdings and will advise SSE on the direction they would like to proceed with the Petaluma Hill land. A portion of housing’s debt service has been reduced through refinancing, totaling about $800,000 in savings in future rent for SSE. We will need at least $1 million in capital to restart operations. We are hoping to be able to resume operations in Fall 2021.
In regards to the 2021/2022 budget, Dr. Moranski and others have reported on the state of enrollment. We are budgeting based on 900 to 1200 students. Budget planning has begun and we are reviewing operating models.
Our hope is to wrap up these items prior to our next board meeting so we have enough time to consult with the campus and the SSE Board of Directors.
20.25 Other Non-Action Items
None.
Meeting was adjourned at 12:47pm.