The Bitterroot College Program of The University of Montana
Approved Meeting Minutes: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Steering Committee of the Bitterroot College Program (BCP) of The University of Montana met on
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 from 2 – 4:10 PM at the Ravalli Entrepreneurship Center in Hamilton. The
meeting was chaired by John Robinson. In alphabetical order, attendees included: Sharon Alexander,
Tim Bronk, Victoria Clark, Chuck Jensen, Carlotta Grandstaff, Royce Engstrom, Patricia Meakin,
Kimberley Mills, Mary Moe (on conference phone), Deb Morris, Rick O’Brien, John Robinson, Bobbie
Roos, Dixie Stark, and Lynn Stocking.
Members of the public in attendance included: Brenda Jurgens, Phil Connelly, John Schneeberger, Lucy
Marose, William McDonald, Robert Bachmann, Gary Knap, and Colleen Murphy-Southwick.
Taking meeting minutes was Bruce Weide.
The meeting opened with Chairman Robinson calling the committee to order, conducting roll call, and
announcing the news that Montana had been one of five states awarded monies through the Lumina
Foundation’s Making Opportunities Affordable (MOA) grant. Chairman Robinson credited and
congratulated Steering Committee member Deputy Commissioner of 2-year Education Mary Moe for
her efforts in bringing about the successful award of the MOA grant.
Chair Robinson then introduced Brenda Jurgens to the committee. Jurgens is the Chief Information
Officer of Falcon Asset Management Group, one of the BCP’s new neighbors in the Ravalli
Entrepreneurship Center. Jurgens told the committee that Falcon is looking to outsource its training of
new staff and is hoping to find a partner in the BCP for this task.
Following Jurgens’ introduction, Chair Robinson moved to approve the meeting minutes from October
26, 2009. Royce Engstrom seconded the motion, and the minutes were approved by a committee vote.
Next on the agenda was Interim Director Victoria Clark’s report. Clark’s report began with a discussion
of operational issues. She spoke of the launching of the updated BCP website, encouraging committee
members to visit the site and provide feedback for continued improvement. She noted that the BCP
website still needed links to employment, donations, contracted training, accessibility, and other
academic opportunities (such as to Western Governors University). Clark then turned to the topic of the
BCP’s Spring 2010 offerings. She stated that the course list included 13 offerings with 53 students
enrolled to date. However, she also explained that it appeared some of the BCP enrollments were
Missoula students who hadn’t understood that the classes they had registered for were actually to be
held in Hamilton. Clark stated that these students had been indentified and would shortly be notified.
Clark went on to mention that the Registrar had now taken action to clearly identify the BCP courses
within the larger UM/UM-COT course database, so as to minimize this situation in the future. Another
issue also possible affecting BCP enrollment which Clark brought up had to do with COT students being
restricted in CyberBear (online enrollment system) from registering for certain BCP courses. Sharon
Alexander stressed that this was an important concern; and Royce Engstrom noted that this was part of
a broader issue affecting not just BCP students which did need to be addressed so that all students were
working under the same set of rules.
Other operational issues discussed by Clark included the anticipated posting of the BCP adjunct faculty
pool advertisement, the upcoming series of BCP New Student Orientations, Clark’s attendance at a PEP
The Bitterroot College Program of The University of Montana Steering Committee
UNAPPROVED Meeting Minutes: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Page 2 of 3
(Personal Employment Plan) Talk training, and the pending move of BCP operations from the Carriage
House Annex to the Ravalli Entrepreneurship Center. Rick O’Brien mentioned that he would help with
the New Student Orientation advertising by putting the information out over the Chamber of Commerce
email list. Lastly with respect to operations, Clark brought up that a BCP Fund had been set up by Karen
Sitte with The University of Montana Foundation. The new fund was a current, unrestricted fund from
which money could be made available for capital or operational expenses. Clark urged the committee
members to show their support of the BCP effort by donating to the BCP Fund. Too, Clark offered a
challenge to the committee, stating that she would make a matching donation based on the first
committee member donation to the fund. Dixie Stark asked if BCP Fund money could be used for
scholarships. Clark said she would look into this. Kimberley Mills brought up the issue of scholarships in
general, noting that many scholarships (like the local Soroptomist scholarship) require students to
attend college fulltime. Mills noted that this was unreasonable for many non-traditional students,
thereby excluding them from a number of scholarship opportunities. Colleen Murphy-Southwick, a
Soroptomist member in the audience, said that she would bring this information back to her group for
review.
Next Clark turned to Educational Planning issues. Clark stated that data analysis had been initiated with
raw data coming from the Montana University System, but with community college numbers still
needing to be solicited. Mary Moe wondered about local high school data on what students were
interested in. Tim Bronk said that currently the BCP was not even on the local high schools’ radar,
however, as the new year progressed this was likely to change. Dixie Stark mentioned that involving the
high schools in PEP Talks seemed a good idea. Mary Moe noted the Student Assistance Foundation’s
(SAF) connection with PEP Talks and how the SAF have staff ready for outreach to high schools. The
educational planning discussion then moved to the efforts of the Community Conversations Task Force.
Clark summarized that the first meeting of the Task Force had been an effective brainstorming session,
with the group deciding that conversations needed to take place both in communities and within certain
economic/organizational sectors. Too, the Task Force members (including Patti Furniss, Julie Foster,
Kathleen Driscoll, Carlotta Grandstaff, Bobbie Roos, and Lynn Stocking) had stressed the importance of
letting the groups from which information was desired in having a say in how to best listen to them, as
communities and organizations operate differently, so consequently different approaches were needed
for getting input. The Task Force’s next meetings would be dedicated to streamlining the conversations’
approach and organizing the conversation effort.
Chair Robinson then steered the committee to Unfinished Business, with a short break taken while Dan
Rosenberg of Maas Companies, Inc was connected via conference call. The single Unfinished Business
item on the agenda involved a scope of work proposal prepared by Maas Companies, Inc in
consideration of data analysis work pertaining to the BCP’s educational planning phase. The Maas scope
of work proposal discussion began with Rosenberg providing an overview of Maas’ 23-years of
experience in educational planning, the company’s particularly relevant planning project in a rural
California community of 40,000 residents (with duly noted similarities to Ravalli County), and Maas
expertise in the type of data gathering and analysis needed by the BCP. The committee and the public
then proceeded to ask Rosenberg a number of questions about the data points to be examined, the lack
of specifics in the scope of work, contract details in terms of costs, deliverables, and turn around, and
the validity of an online survey in a community where online access is not widespread. After much
dialogue, followed by assent from Carlotta Grandstaff, Rick O’Brien, Tim Bronk, and Royce Engstrom,
Engstrom moved to go forward with Maas’ proposal. Grandstaff seconded the motion. The motion
carried.
The Bitterroot College Program of The University of Montana Steering Committee
UNAPPROVED Meeting Minutes: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Page 3 of 3
Chair Robinson next turned to New Business. It was generally decided that Clark should move forward
with establishing a programming partnership with UM Western for providing Early Childhood Education
offerings. Regarding purchasing furniture for the BCP’s new offices and classrooms at the Ravalli
Entrepreneurship Center, the consensus was that Office Solutions of Missoula initial estimates were too
high and that Clark needed to look for better pricing both via Office Solutions and other suppliers.
Patricia Meakin, Carlotta Grandstaff, and Chuck Jensen all voiced that there were less expensive options
which needed to be pursued. Dixie Stark suggested that Clark be empowered to move forward with
considering other furniture options with Meakin and Jensen volunteering to assist in pricing out
furniture from additional dealers. With Chair Robinson in agreement, the committee as a whole
assented to Stark’s suggestion.
With the meeting time now exceeding two hours, Chair Robinson with Clark concurring decided to delay
discussion on the last item of New Business – hiring part-time assistance for Clark – until the next
Steering Committee meeting on December 17.
Chair Robinson called for public comment. None was offered.
Chair Robinson then moved to adjourn the meeting, and all agreed. The meeting was adjourned at 4:10
PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Bruce Weide (with Victoria Clark summarizing)