Executive Council Minutes
October 14, 2009
Present: Alan Scheibmeir, Giles Brown, Jeanie Hardin, Stanley Henderson,
Gary Paikowski, and Wendell Williams.
Absent: Roy Renfro
Recorder: Shelle Cassell
Agenda Items
Board Agenda Items for October Meeting
Dr. Scheibmeir asked members to share potential agenda items for the upcoming Board
of Trustees meeting. He said the Work Session speaker was Sonny Cruz, Bonham ISD
Superintendent and that Keri Harvey was scheduled to make a presentation on our
Education program.
Action/Motion: No action necessary.
Weather Notification Announcement
Dr. Scheibmeir shared the updated weather announcement memo to gather feedback. A
new radio station was added, and members briefly discussed the benefits/costs for using
the Power Call system for notification. General consensus was that word of a weatherrelated closing appears to be reaching a large majority of the students and employees
through the usual delivery methods (website, local TV, local radio). Future consideration
may be made to use the Power Call system for employees. The updated memo will be
distributed by the President’s office.
Action/Motion: No action necessary.
Use of Social Security Numbers
Gary Paikowski reported that progress is being made on a new software package that will
substitute social security numbers. Installation will require POISE and Campus Connect
being down over a full weekend, which will likely occur in November. Members urged
Gary to confirm the weekend with them to ensure there were no conflicts with work
projects.
Action/Motion: No action necessary.
Faculty Parking
Dr. Scheibmeir and Stanley Henderson shared a request from the faculty to increase the
hours for restricted parking in lot P-11. Dr. Scheibmeir’s office has asked campus police
1 of 3
for stronger enforcement of that lot. Wendell Williams suggested two ways to better
secure that lot: add additional campus police staffing or install a controlled access gate
that could be activated with a valid identification card.
Action/Motion: Wendell Williams made the motion to extend the restricted parking
hours to 24 hours in lot P-11. Gary Paikowski seconded the motion, which passed
unanimously.
VPSS Search Assistance
Dr. Scheibmeir invited council members and other available staff to help label and stuff
envelopes for the Vice President for Student Services search mailing. The 4000 piece
mailing is directed to community colleges and universities’ human resource offices and
others in several surrounding states.
Action/Motion: No action necessary.
QEP Interim Director & SACS Leadership Team
Members continued the discussion of appointing an interim QEP director to facilitate the
topic selection process. A detailed position description was presented. The timeline
allows up to six months for topic identification and up to 12 months to develop the plan.
Action/Motion: The Council unanimously supported the motion by Giles Brown, second
be Wendell Williams, to appoint Jean Sorensen as the Interim QEP Director. Jeanie
Hardin will finalize a class load release time agreement with Jean and hire adjunct
professor(s) to replace classroom time lost.
In a related discussion, Debbie Plyler provided SACS Leadership Team members
notebooks with basic reference materials. She recommended that the SACS Leadership
Team organizational chart be updated to include Communications and Public Relations.
Monthly meeting calendar was adjusted to accommodate faculty representation. Meetings
will be held on Thursdays at 8:30 a.m. The next meeting will be October 29.
Action/Motion: Dr. Scheibmeir appointed Shelle Cassell to serve in the
Communications and Public Relations role on the SACS Leadership Team.
SPOL Demonstration
Wendell Williams shared the planning calendar and activities for his division. He
distributed examples from his SPOL planning pages that illustrated an objective that has
continuing tasks from year to year and one with student learning outcomes.
Action/Motion: No action necessary.
State Budget Information
Giles Brown shared information received from a recent TACC meeting. He described
four basic state-wide strategic planning topics that are directly tied to budget ratios. Based
on this new measure of accountability the college may need to update its reserves policy.
2 of 3
He reported that state officials are already predicting a challenging budget cycle for the
next biennium. They are forecasting a budget deficit of approximately $14 billion. TACC
leaders asked the business officers to begin early preparations for a possible shortfall.
Action/Motion: No action necessary.
3 of 3