May 11, 2018 Minutes SSE Board of Directors
Minutes
Sonoma State Enterprises, Inc.
Minutes
May 11, 2018Members Present:
Mr. Yale Abrams
Ms. Grace Anderson
Ms. Madeline Cline
Dr. Kristen Ely
Ms. Christina Gamboa
Dr. Kyuho Lee
Ms. Joyce Lopes
Ms. Joanie Ly
Mr. Neil Markley, Ex-Officio
Dr. Judy K. Sakaki
Dr. Wm. Gregory Sawyer
Dr. John Urbanski
Ms. Megan Varnadore
Ms. Amanda Visser, Ex-Officio
Members Absent:
Mr. Wilson Hall
Ms. Patti Hiramoto
Dr. Lisa Vollendorf
Others Present:
Mr. Tyson Hill
Ms. Nancy Keller
Ms. Megan Konieczka
Dr. Stacy Heldman-Holguin
17.43 Call to Order Ms. Lopes
The meeting was called to order at 9:36 a.m. Ms. Lopes wished Ms. Gamboa a "Happy Birthday."
17.44 Approval of the March 16, 2018 Minutes Ms. Lopes
The March 16, 2018 minutes were distributed to the committee prior to the meeting. Ms. Gamboa moved to approve the minutes. Dr. Ely seconded the motion. None opposed. The minutes from March 16 were approved with no changes.
17.45 President’s Report Dr. Sakaki
Dr. Sakaki informed the Board, the Governor is presenting his revised budget today. There has been a lot of advocacy to provide additional resources ot the California State University system and is hopeful there will be more funding provided for next year.
The search for the Vice President of Advancement will be wrapping up soon. The search committee will be holding interviews at the end of May
Dr. Sakaki mentioned there has been interest at the state capitol to have some additional funds made available to help all of the entities affected by the October wildfires.
"No Cap of CAPs" is a movement currently happening on campus. Students are advocating for mental health services to be more available to students. Due to these efforts, more funding has been added to hire more counselors for the CAPS department on campus. Dr. Sakaki wanted students to know she hears them and she's working on additional support for CAPS.
Commencement is rapidly approaching and Dr. Sakaki wanted to be sure everyone is aware they are invited to come and participate in all of the celebrations. There are various specialized commencements currently taking place: Rainbow Graduation, Nursing Pinning Ceremony, Raza Graduation, and Black Graduation to name a few. There are three ceremonies each day and there will be three trustees in attendance as well. Yesterday Dr. Sakaki attended Toast of the Town. Toast of the Town is attended by graduating seniors to celebrate their time being here at Sonoma State University. Dr. Sakaki expressed how happy all of the seniors were and she couldn't be more proud of the graduates. Discussion ensued regarding graduation speakers and the timeline of the weekend.
17.46 Chief Academic Officer/Provost Report Dr. Vollendorf
Dr. Vollendorf couldn not attend the Board meeting but wanted to share how delighted she is the Sonoma State Strategic Plan has been launched. She is excited to work collaboratively to implement the plan across campus.
17.47 Vice President for Student Affairs Report Dr. Heldman-Holguin
Dr. Heldman-Holguin informed the Board that Dr. Sawyer, the Vice President for Student Affairs, is officially on campus. Student Affairs is wrapping up spring and focusing on reevaluating their structure going forward. They will have a retreat on May 21 where they will be planning out next year.
The National College Health Survey is currently being conducted and she is excited to see those results.
There has been much discussion about mental health. After the fires people around campus expressed that they felt unprepared. June 10-11 the "I Can Help" mental health training will be taking place on campus. About 100 people will be attending. This is an opportunity for our campus to educate themselves on how to approach mental health in a productive manner.
She attended the Children's School promotion yesterday where the kids get "promoted" to kindergarten. She said not only was it adorable, but it was wonderful to see our faculty and staff so proud of their children.
17.48 Associated Students Report Mr. Hall
Ms. Cline reported that the Associated Student elections were successful with decent voter turn out. She also reported that Associated Students is looking to organizationally restructure going into the next fiscal year. They are discussing splitting up the positions and dividing responsibilities so that students can focus and specialize in certain areas better.
Ms. Cline also touched on mental health. She believes that our current CAPS program is not being utilized or ran to its potential. Students have been advocating for CAPS to be better funded. Students are wearing yellow pins to show their support and a banner has been hung outside Dr. Sakaki's office to voice their concerns.
AS is also advocating for a winter graduation ceremony. There are over 600 students on campus that have non-traditional timelines and AS feels that by not having a winter graduation ceremony they are being neglected. For many of the students it is not practical for them to return in the summer to walk. Cabinet is currently looking into this and there will be further conversations regarding this topic.
17.49 Report from SSU Vice President for Administration and Finance/Chief Financial Officer and Chair of SSE Board of Directors Ms. Lopes
Ms. Lopes began her report by giving an update on the multiple recruitments currently taking place:
- Facilities Manager: An offier has been made to the finalist
- Chief of Police: Recruitment is underway
- Title IX Compliance Officer: Hoping to have someone hired for next year
- CIO: Candidates will be coming for their in-person interviews in the next few weeks
The Facilities Department recently completed a programmatic assessment. Mr. Willem Van Der Pol, Interim AVP for Facilities Services, has been very helpful and has made changes based off the recommendations from the assessment report. Classroom cleanliness has been a main focus for him. Ms. Lopes is proud to announce there have been promotions in various positions in facilities. She also reported that they are still ironing out the details of the work order system and Faciliites' main focuses this summer will be preventative maintenance, deep cleaning, and an overall landscaping plan. There will be an adviosry group put together to review our warehouse and inventory system.
The Stevenson Hall renovation is in its planning stages. Many of our staff and faculty will have to relocate during the renovation. Ms. Lopes has been in discussions with the Technology High School about relocating off-campus. An agreement has been reached and they will be moving which will open up space for additional SSU classrooms. The library will also house classrooms and offices during the renovation. The School of Extended Education will be housed at the Sonoma Mountain Village along with our Chancellor's Office partners. The CAPS and Title IX departments will be housed in modular buildiiing that will be brought to campus. In 2022/2023 all administration will stay in Salazar and only the schools will move back to Stevenson.
Ms. Lopes also reported on Commencement. Hundreds of people will be coming to campus to participate in the celebrations and she wants to thank everyone for their hard work behind the scenes.
Lastly, she discussed how the EOC is reviewing how they can make improvements. They are focusing on the trees around campus in regards to how they affect campus safety.
17.50 Chief Operating Officer’s Report Mr. Markley
Mr. Markley wanted to first thank his team for all of their efforts this year. Culinary Services has been in a transitional year and despite all of the challenges they have made a lot of progress. He reported that Alex Purroy, our Executive Chef, has decided to leave the campus for another job opportunity. Ms. Keller hired Don Cortez to serve as the Interim Executive Chef beginning this summer.
He also reported the beverage RFP is running smoothly. Companies were on campus last week for a tour of the venues and bids will be placed very soon. He has asked the various companies to focus on sustainability, financial return and overall service. They will be asked to provide two proposals, one with bottled water and one without bottled water in order to align with our sustainability efforts.
There will be a Culinary Services Advisory Committee starting in the Fall. The committee will be made up of at least half students in an effort to clearly represent the students' food wants and needs in the Kitchens and other venues.
Charlie Brown's Cafe renovation has reached a milestone. The last bid for an architect has been submitted and he expects design work to being this summer. Dr. Lee asked we look into our baked goods suppliers to find some more authentic baked goods in Charlie Brown's Cafe. Ms. Keller informed him that she would address this with the Culinary Services Advisory Committee in the Fall.
Mr. Markley discussed the University Store Student Survey that was conducted by Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble took a sample of 400 students and reported that 82% were satisfied with the bookstore. However, they also discovered that only 27% of students had their materials on the first day while the national average is 52%. After many discussions, Mr. Markley has found this is primarily caused by the bookstore not receiving timely textbook adoptions. He will work with our bookstore manager to address this in the fall. Noting the small survey return rate, Dr. Urbanski asked that the survey be readministered for a larger student response. Dr. Ely asked that our manager have discussion with the faculty as well.
Mr. Markley distributed the Campus Contribution Report. He thanked Dr. Ely for leading this group. The report focuses on Sonoma State Enterprises various contributions to articulate how SSE supports the campus. Ms. Ly asked if this could be distributed at Student Orientation. Dr. Heldman-Holguin thought it would be a great document to provide to the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Markley wanted to point out that this report focuses on student development and we want to focus on that even more going into the next year. He then showed a clip from the Netflix doucmentary Chef's Table in which world renowned Chef Nancy Silverton credited the "Dining Hall" at Sonoma State University for giving her start in the culinary world.
17.51 Chief Financial Officer’s Report Ms. Visser
Ms. Visser informed the board that the audit committee met about a month ago to discuss and prepare for the upcoming audit. She also announced the CSU auditors will be on campus in the Fall. They are reinstating their three year rotation and will return in September. They will be focusing mostly on operations, inventory, and cash control.
Ms. Visser then distributed and discussed the Statement of Activity. She pointed out that sales are low due to the fires. She reminded the board that revenues will decrease during the summer as there will not be as many students on campus. She then distrubuted and discussed the Net Position. She pointed out there is a big swing between this year and last year and its merely due to timing of cash flow.
17.52 ACTION ITEM: Approval of the 2018/19 Budget Ms. Markley
Mr. Markley distributed and discussed the 2018/2019 budget. This is the first time the following year's budget has been presented to the board this early. The 2018/2019 budget was unanimously approved by the Finance Committee. Going forward the budget will be projected out for two years. Discussion ensued regarding how the budget is created. Dr. Lee suggested that we engage a professor to look specifically into our operations to see if we are doing well or not. Mr. Markley acknowledged that operations have become a lot more complex over the last 5 years and it is important, now more than ever, to ensure we are receiving the data we need. He discussed the retention of Fessell International to review our operations and provide analysis and feedback. Dr. Heldman-Holguin asked if the new food policy has affected sales in any way. Mr. Markley responded by letting the Board know there was a decrease of $50,000 in catering but he is not sure what will happen after our first full year under this new policy. Dr. Ey moved to approve the 2018/2019 budget. Ms. Lee seconded the motion. Dr. Urbanski abstained. None opposed. The 2018/2019 budget passed.
17.53 ACTION ITEM: Bylaw Revision Mr. Markley
Mr. Markley distributed the proposed bylaw revisions to the Board. He pointed out that the staff members on the board were "recommended" instead of "appointed" by the president to the Board. He proposed that we bring the appointment verbiage in-line with the other appointments to the Board. Dr. Ely moved to approve the Bylaw changes. Dr. Heldman-Holguin seconded the motion. None opposed. The bylaw revisions were approved.
17.54 Other Non-Action Items Ms. Lopes
Dr. Urbanski asked that we review the Investment Policy to ensure SSE is investing to the best of its capabilities.
Dr. Heldman-Holguin wanted to thank SSE for their support of the Basic Needs initiative.
Ms. Lopes suggested that SSE look at the Fall agenda and how to best orient the Board to the strategic plan. She thanked Ms. Cline for her hard work this year. She thanked Dr. Ely for her support over the past three years as a board member.
Ms. Cline thanked the Finance Committee for being so welcoming and for all of their hard work over the year.
The meeting adjourned at 11:31 a.m.
Mr. Neil Markley, COO/Secretary
Ms. Megan Konieczka, Recording Secretary