I.     Call to Order

1. Mr. Bullard will give the invocation

2. Recognize guests

3. Introduction of the men's soccer team and men and women basketball teams

II.    Public comments: 3-minute limit per person on agenda and non-agenda items

III.   Routine Matters

1. Recommended Action

   1. Consideration of approval of September 12, 2022 board minutes

   2. Consideration of approval of September 2022 financial information
      

2. New Business

   1. Consideration of approval to use restricted funds for SIS/ERP (Student Information System/Enterprise Resource Planning)  (Ms. Claxton)

   2. Consideration of approval of awarding vendor for SIS/ERP (Dr. Beebe)

   3. Consideration of approval of awarding vendor for asphalt (Ms. Claxton)

IV.    Information and Discussion

1. RFP for apartment renovations (Ms. Claxton)

2. RFP for implementation services (Dr. Beebe)

3. CEO report under TEC, Section 51.253(c) (Dr. Beebe)

4. TACC talking points on Commission (Dr. Beebe)

5. Personnel update (Dr. Beebe)

6. December board meeting (Dr. Beebe)

7. Title V DHIS Project: Guided Pathways to Success (Mr. Canada)

8. Athletic report (Ms. Davis)

9. Complimentary letter regarding the Golf and Sports Turf Management Program (Mr. Fonville)

10. Tax Abatement PowerPoint for Cross Trails Energy Storage (Dr. Beebe) 

EXECUTIVE SESSION: The Board will go into executive session. The executive session will be held under the provisions of Texas Government Code, Chapter 551, including but not limited to, Section 551.071, Section 551.072, Section 551.074, Section 551.076, Section 551.082(a), and Section 551.083.

1. Consultation with Legal Counsel

2. Deliberation regarding appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of personnel

At the conclusion of the executive session, the Board will announce whether any action needs to be taken as a result of the executive session.

V.     Date of next Board meeting - November 14, 2022

The Board of Trustees of Western Texas College met in a regular board meeting at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, September 12, 2022, in the boardroom.

Present:           Mr. Eddie Peterson, Mr. Jason West, Mr. Drew Bullard, Dr. Jay Kidd, , Mr. Tim Riggan, Ms. Amy Hargrove, Mr. Mike McWilliams

Absent:           

Staff Present:  Dr. Barbara Beebe, Ms. Patricia Claxton, Ms. Melanie Schwertner, Mr. Ralph Ramon, Mr. Shawn Fonville, Mr. Britt Canada, Emily Powell, Ms. Stephanie Ducheneaux, Ms. Molli Fleming, Mr. Jeffrey Martin, Ms. Christylee DeBlieck, Ms. Tammy Davis

Others Present: Mr. Chad Goebel, Snyder News

Mr. Peterson, board president, called the meeting to order and Mr. Riggan gave the invocation.

The volleyball, cross country, and track teams were introduced. 

No one from the public made any comments.

Motion by Dr. Kidd, seconded by Mr. West to approve the August 8, 2022, August 15, 2022, and August 29, 2022, board minutes.  Motion carried unanimously. 

Motion by Mr. West, seconded by Mr. Bullard to approve the August 2022 financial information. Motion carried unanimously. 

Motion by Mr. Bullard, seconded by Dr. Kidd to approve the revised 2022 – 2023 resolution. Motion carried unanimously. 

Motion by Mr. Riggan, seconded by Dr. Kidd to approve the small class report.  Motion carried unanimously. 

Mr. Canada presented the enrollment report.  Our headcount is 1,392 compared to 1,430 last year. Contact hours are down a little over 3,000.  Full-time students are about the same as last year at 522. Part-time students are 870 compared to 910 last year. Female and male students are about the same.  Dual credit is 45.7% of our students.  Hispanic students make up 38.5% of our students which we need to qualify for Title V grants.  TDCJ numbers are about the same as last year at 56.  Our 17 or under age group is down 110 students.  Continuing education headcount is 317 compared to 87 last year.  Contact hours are 20,986 compared to 7,762 last year.  Total students served is 1,709 compared to 1,517 last year, and total contact hours are 261,738 compared to 251,154 last year.  Two hundred students took advantage of the Opportunity Waiver saving their parents $159,116. 

Mr. Canada also presented the Title V Project report.  The Title V Project began October 1, 2017 and ends September 30, 2022. The Project award was around $3 million with around half of that spent at the college farm.  There were five objectives. 1) To train STEM faculty in effective implementation of Project-Based Learning (PBL) course redesign processes for improved student outcomes. 2) To revitalize the Agriculture Science program by offering new career avenues for underrepresented students and expanding educational access for our students. 3) To create a fully functional Agriculture Experimental Lab to support the development and implementation of new and revised agriculture courses and degree programs.  4) To expand and improve STEM tutoring which will support new and revised STEM courses. 5) To develop collaboration among WTC and articulation partner faculty and administrators to ensure curricular alignment and facilitate student transfer from WTC into baccalaureate programs. (Our primary articulation partner is Texas Tech.)

Mr. Jeffrey Martin, project coordinator, and Ms. Christylee DeBlieck, administrative assistant, were a vital part of the grant.  Through the grant, we were able to build an Agriculture Science Complex at the college farm which includes a classroom with bathrooms, a farrowing house, extend the cover on the sow pens, a cover for the trailers and other equipment was built, the cover over the juvenile pig feeding facility was extended, a sheep shed was added, a feed storage area was added, an artificial insemination facility was built, another well was dug, replaced the windmill with a solar-powered pump, and built fencing.

Equipment purchased includes a stock trailer, equipment trailer, a Gator, no till drill, livestock popper with gate, rotary tiller, box blade, slurry trailer, two row planter, shredder, and a used chisel plow.  Donated equipment includes a round bailer, stock trailer, tandem disc plow, fencing material, construction pipe, carport, and metal roofing.  We leased two tractors a larger 155 hp and a smaller 75 hp.

As part of the project, we have attempted to establish some bee colonies.  

We implemented a Farm and Ranch Management Program. Mr. Jay Waller and Dr. Charles Church are the instructors.   

University level soil research with Dr. Siebecker has produced some great results.  WTC students presented posters at Texas Tech’s Plant and Soil Student Research Symposium.  We will continue our research opportunities with Dr. Siebecker and CASFER. 

Some future projects include fixing the roads in the west pasture, terrace maintenance, fencing maintenance, restore pasture, the abandoned oil site needs to be cleaned up.

On the main campus, the existing agriculture classroom facilities were renovated including a walk-in cooler. 

Tutoring was held every Tuesday for all students, and the total number of tutoring hours for spring 2021 was 3,566 and 3,862 for fall 2021

Dr. Beebe handed out information from the Texas Commission on Community College Finance and three primary sources of revenue for community colleges.  The Commission met today, but the final meeting is next month.  Dr. Beebe is not thrilled with it. Dr. Beebe sat in for Eddie in the Board of Trustee Commission meting and it was a lot more interesting than the presidents.  They are talking about shared services for the smaller colleges.  That’s the first steps to a merger. They say you don’t have to participate in it, but it is probably tied to funding.  We do more with less.  The Commission can’t answer anyone’s questions.  It looks like the “Robin Hood” that the ISDs do.  Dr. Beebe is nervous on how it will affect us.  She will send the board the URL for the Commission meeting. 

All community colleges are funded differently.  There are three primary sources of operating revenue, and they are state, taxes, and tuition, and each community college gets different percentages of each.  Each community college also has a service area.  We are not allowed to recruit in another college’s service area. We would have to go to the legislature to get our service area changed, and the chances are very slim.  On the 87th Legislative Appropriations Synopsis it shows the state appropriations for each community college and the gain or loss.  Thirteen colleges received $1 million, and we were one of them.  Several colleges that received the $1 million were in the black.  Several who were in the red did not receive the extra money.  There is no rhyme or reason on what the Legislation did.  Mackenzie Scott gave eight colleges grants for a total of $110 million.  All of the schools were part of Achieving the Dream.  There were no strings attached to the funds.  They can spend it on whatever they want to.  The handouts are a good overview of how community colleges are funded. 

The scheduled executive session was cancelled.

Motion by Mr. West, seconded by Mr. McWilliams to adjourn the meeting.  Motion carried unanimously. 

Date of next board meeting October 10,  2022

Financials September 2022

Check Register September 2022 

Ms. Claxton will discuss using restricted funds for the SIS/ERP.

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Asphalt 

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Dr. Beebe will discuss the vendor for the SIS/ERP during Monday's meeting.

Ms. Claxton will discuss the RFP for apartment renovations.

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Dr. Beebe will discuss the RFP for implementation services.

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CEO Report under TEC, Section 51.253 (c)

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TACC Talking Points on Commission

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Dr. Beebe will give a personnel update

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We would like to move the December board meeting to December 8th.

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Title V DHIS Project: Guided Pathways to Success

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Complimentary Letter

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The board will watch a very short PowerPoint presentation for the Cross Trails Energy Storage Project.