Business Affairs Commission Meeting Minutes
June 5 & 6, 2014 at YV Tech, Yakima
Day 1: Thursday, June 5, 2014
12:30 –1:00 p.m.
Lunch, Welcome & Introductions – Teresa Holland
Chair Teresa Holland opened the meeting. Introductions were made of those in attendance.
1:00 – 1:15 p.m.
ctcLink Project Update – Sylvia Barajas and Lisa Hjaltalin
In addition to Barbara Martin’s written report, an update was shared by FirstLink colleges. It
was noted that the FirstLink colleges, Tacoma (TCC) and Spokane (CCS), are working very hard
in efforts to meet the Go Live date of August 25, 2014. However, testing and training needs to
be completed before the Go Live date. The training schedule is yet to be released, but should
take place in the first three weeks of August.
Fiscal staffs at TCC and CCS are extremely stretched between year-end close, financial
statements and Go Live for ctcLink. The finance module of ctcLink is the most behind schedule
component of the project.
1:15 – 2:30 p.m.
BAC Academy – Allocation and Accountability – Nick Lutes, Bill Thomas
Allocation System Principles were shared and reviewed, including stability, predictability, and
understandability. There is effort being placed on finding the appropriate balance between
access/enrollment and performance/student outcomes.
While there seems to be general acceptance of the principles, there is much work left to
accomplish in areas such as looking at specific student populations, stop-loss and stop-gain
thresholds, criteria for high-cost, high-priority courses and programs, service levels, and timing
of implementation.
Ed Brewster, Allocation and Accountability Task Force Chair, will present details and next
steps at the WACTC retreat in July 2014.
2:30 p.m.
Break
BAC adjourned into break and reconvened in committee meetings.
2:45 – 4:00 p.
Committee Meetings
Committees on Information Technology, Operating Budget, Security & Safety, Operations and
Capital met.
4:15 – 5:15 p.m.
Executive Committee Meeting
Executive Committee met prior to the BAC dinner and retirement celebration, recognizing
retirees Rick Brumfield (GRCC), Nancy McKinney (SPSCC) and Debra Jones (BTC).
Day 2: Friday, June 6, 2014
8:00 – 8:15 a.m.
Call to Order – Teresa Holland
Approval of Minutes and Treasurer’s Report – Linda Schoonmaker
The BAC business meeting was called to order. April 2014 meeting minutes were not reviewed.
The BAC treasurer’s report was shared and accepted by the membership.
8:15 – 8:30 a.m.
Welcome – Craig Dwight, Principal YV Tech
Craig Dwight welcomed the BAC group and shared some interesting program initiatives and
partnerships between YVCC and the local K-12 system.
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
WACTC Report – Linda Kaminski
Yakima Valley Community College President Linda Kaminski welcomed BAC to Yakima and
shared the report from WACTC, including several WACTC committee updates.
The Allocation and Accountability Task Force agreed on two things:
1. That the formula is target-based and
2. That the formula increases the percentage of performance funding
The Legislative Committee survey resulted in a few suggestions that are being reviewed:
1. Provide district specific marketing materials.
2. Cultivate legislative champions
3. Move up budget development timeline
Education Committee has been discussing the Core to College initiative and endorsed the
agreement, which allows for other methods of placement based on their level attainment in
coursework at the high school.
SBCTC will conduct a review of the approval process of BAS degrees due to the volume of
degrees being more than originally anticipated.
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.
State Board Report – Denise Graham
Denise shared that Ed Brewster plans to meet with BAC officers before the WACTC Retreat
once recommendations from AATF are formalized.
The job announcement for the SBCTC Director for Accounting and Business Services will be
posted soon. Joann Wiszmann, who currently holds the position, plans to retire at the end of
December; until then, she will report to the new director and complete the work related to the
financial statements project and update the FAM manual to align with ctcLink.
9:30 – 10:15 a.m.
Committee, Workgroup, and Liaison Reports
Operating Budget – Mary Alice Grobins and Nick Lutes
The 2015-17 budget request was discussed. The narrative sets the stage, highlighting 10
priority investment areas for the CTC system. The request takes into account a multi-biennial
approach or plan, even though SBCTC can only request funding every two years.
There will be an effort to change the funding model for Basic Education for Adults, changing the
rate from $2,700/FTE to a similar rate used in K-12 at $5,800/FTE.
The comprehensive summary spells out the budget requests and the description for each of the
10 priority areas over a four-year period. There was some discussion regarding compensation
needing to be a high system priority. Draft decision packages will be completed during the
summer.
Surveys will be administered during the summer, including M&O survey, leases and assessment
survey, inflationary impact survey, and budget reduction survey.
The 15% budget reduction exercise would reduce the maintenance level of the budget by about
$90M. The plan would be to buy back everything in the policy level of the budget. It was noted
that about $70-$79M included in our budget represents earmarks and provisos.
Information Technology – Linda Schoonmaker
ctcLink has not yet had a clean data validation for the finance data. The project is running
about 88 days behind schedule. There is a lot of configuration work flows left to complete in the
finance module. All colleges have submitted their lists of supporting systems for ctcLink. It was
noted that textbook ordering in PeopleSoft is not as robust as some colleges’ current systems.
Security & Safety – Bill Thomas
A brief update on the SPU shootings was shared as well as a reminder of the importance of being
prepared.
OFC and SSEM held a joint meeting in Spokane in May 2014. The meeting demonstrated strong
attendance with a workshop on “video surveillance.”
SSEM is working on modulated safety preparedness and emergency management training that
colleges can use when bringing on new security staff.
10:15 a.m.
Break
BAC business meeting took short break.
10:30 – 11:15 a.m.
Committee, Workgroup, and Liaison Reports (continued)
Operations – Bruce Riveland and Joann Wiszmann
There was some discussion on decentralized textbook ordering issues. Publishers have contacted
faculty directly, undermining a centralized book ordering process.
Policy development writing proposal would provide a shared system resource for writing policy.
The RFP was written and published. Next steps include resending the RFP to all colleges and
retirees from the system that may be interested in fulfilling the work.
The supplemental budget allocation to the State Auditor’s Office (SAO) for review of funds
148/149 will be used to focus solely on UW as prescribed by the Governor.
It was announced that SAO will go back to independently-based audits likely on a 1-4 year cycle.
Individual colleges’ audit cycles are yet to be determined. Fieldwork should begin sometime in
the next fiscal year.
Daylong financial statements workshops will be held: August 13 (YVCC), August 19 (EdCC) and
August 26 (SBCTC). Colleges were encouraged to use the checklist provided, emphasizing
reconciliations as part of year-end close in preparation for financial statement development for
audit. Four sets of statements now complete and submitted for audit: Walla Wall, Peninsula,
Green River, and Tacoma.
Financial statement training will be provided to presidents and trustees.
Capital – Gail Hamburg and Wayne Doty
Colleges were encouraged to focus on investing minor works funding appropriations.
In April, the WACTC Capital Committee recommended no new competition for the remaining
three spots available for major project funding for 2017-19 and instead advance the next three
ranked projects not selected for the 2015-17 capital budget request; however, the
recommendation was not supported during the WACTC business meeting. The WACTC Capital
Committee will work on 2017-19 protocols for their next recommendation.
11:15 – 11:20 a.m.
Election of 2014-2015 Officers and Other Business
BAC membership was reminded of the commission’s committee structure, highlighting the
succession of officers, committee chairs and liaisons.
Officers were elected for the 2014-2015 fiscal year:
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Chair – Bob Williamson
Vice Chair – Linda Schoonmaker
Secretary/Treasurer – Nate Langstraat
11:20 a.m.
Business Meeting Adjournment