(0:00 - 0:12)
All this meeting to order and, uh, we do have a quorum. So. 1st, thing on the agenda is implication and pledge led by Regent Mark Hall.

(0:16 - 0:37)
Join me in prayer, please. Dear God, we thank you for what you have blessed us with for the opportunities that we have. Lord, for the great heritage of faith that we have, that we can take that and what each of us individually, what you have given us that we can come together and make this college a better place and make this community a better place.

(0:38 - 0:50)
We thank you for our faculty and their commitment to bettering lives or so we ask that all of these efforts be brought together and to achieve the purposes that we all desire in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.

(0:50 - 1:27)
Please join me in a pledge to the United States flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands 1 nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all and to the Texas flag, honor the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible. Thank you. 

Thank you. Okay. Next up is student spotlight.

(1:30 - 1:41)
Hello, Mr. Chairman from Austin. I would like to introduce. Miss Tanisha Arvey, program manager of cross credit health care.

(1:42 - 2:25)
I am here to present this almost. He is 1 of our former students that went through 1 of our health care programs in the fall of 2022. very exceptional. 

He was resilient. He was even offered a job through 1 of our clinical sites that he did his clinicals at and instead of taking that opportunity, he took the opportunity that was offered to him at Methodist hospital. Thank you Tanisha. 

I'm Osvaldo. Good evening. I want to personally 1st, thank Lee college from the bottom of my heart for giving me this honor for naming me as a student spotlight.

(2:26 - 2:45)
So, what does it mean to be a student spotlight? Well, I've seen a lot. And I was 19 when I moved to Baytown, Texas, I was homeschooled for the last month of my senior year. After that hit us all in a big way.

(2:45 - 2:56)
Therefore, then I graduated from high school. And in an expected way, I'm part of class of 2020. And sadly, we never got to walk the stage as time moved on.

(2:57 - 3:05)
I decided to get my 1st job. I feel it felt good, but weird because I was like, the rookie of the job. So it was, it was pretty cool.

(3:06 - 3:21)
As months passed, I was shocked and saddened by unexpected news that my mom was diagnosed with leukemia. By just hearing that is this variable word. I immediately thought about the word death.

(3:22 - 3:39)
I didn't immediately left my job and take care. Of my mother, I became a caregiver since day 1. And therefore, we went through a journey, a rough journey. Together, I witnessed so many disgraceful moments in my life.

(3:39 - 3:51)
And 1 of them being my mom almost dying in front of me. No one wanted to believe me because they thought it was part of chemotherapy, but they were wrong. It was an infection.

(3:51 - 4:09)
The infection was rapidly spreading across her whole body because causing her to have a strong fevers, chills, trembling and many more side effects. That was killing my mom for her low white blood cells count. Therefore, she was immediately taken to ICU.

(4:09 - 4:21)
I cried like crazy because she is my friend in my whole support system. And of course, my mom. During the cancer journey, I started to like the hospital setting.

(4:21 - 4:38)
I was obtaining medications, fluids, flushes, because at 1 point, doctors had to insert a PICC line on her. And it was a huge responsibility for me to take care of my mother. Months passed and I worked again, but it was for a reason.

(4:38 - 4:53)
I then wondered where I can begin to start learning about the medical field. That's where Lee College came across. I still remember like it was the first day when I first met Adriana in her red clothes.

(4:54 - 5:09)
I worked for us and she began to explain to me about the career and the courses. I then was interested in the course called CCMA. My mom was there present with me when I was registering for the course, which I was happy she was there.

(5:10 - 5:40)
My family and I were struggling economically and during that time and even now. My family, I didn't have sufficient funds, but luckily the staff at Lee College, workforce including Adriana Ocampo, Tanisha Harvey, Christina Natingale, Derek Lockett, and Rinaldo McFadden were people that gave me a scholarship for my entire course and helped me with my clinicals. During a class, I was really nervous but excited to start.

(5:41 - 5:59)
I was really grateful for my instructor, Ms. LaDonna White, for being an amazing instructor. So kind, bless her heart and soul. Mrs. White did explain really profoundly about CCMA, can do and what are obligations, and she put a variety of scenarios which were helpful.

(6:00 - 6:14)
She gave us a lot of resources as well. She was preparing us for one hour big exam from course to the real one. Once I passed the course, I would need it to go to clinicals and receive my CMA certificate.

(6:16 - 6:34)
I then was sent to clinicals by the help of McFadden and Tanisha. I started at a foot clinic where I met some cool people and helped me get a good understanding of the front office and back office. They would also help me with the computer system, which I found really helpful.

(6:35 - 6:52)
I believe it was maybe two or three weeks that I had to complete my hours. The office I went to was with Dr. Fateh. She was guiding me on what to bring inside with the patients while she was doing her procedures, and of course, all the responsibility I had to do as a CMA.

(6:53 - 7:07)
Weeks passed, and I received my certificate from my friend Adriana Ocampo. And I still remember her very kind note she gave me and how she was very proud of me. I then registered to take the state exam, and it took two times.

(7:08 - 7:27)
The first one was free, and the second was out of pocket, but we had technical difficulties during testing, and I didn't pass. The last one I was given to take free due to what happened with the computers, and I passed and received my CCMA. I was surprised because I couldn't believe that I passed.

(7:27 - 7:35)
I was excited. I gave my blood and sweat and tears for this. I said, Mom and everyone were very proud of me.

(7:36 - 8:00)
My mom was still receiving her treatments during then, and there was one point we had to gather a family fundraiser for my mom regarding about her expensive medications. From that, I can tell you that it was a success, and she was able to receive her medications. I can tell you from the spot that taking this course and being with my mom wasn't easy.

(8:00 - 8:14)
It was a huge challenge for me. Months passed, and I remember I was with a friend at the library. As many people know me, that I love music and I love singing and writing lyrics constantly.

(8:14 - 8:21)
My friend said, Hey, look at that sign over there. It says like an open mic. They having open my class this week.

(8:21 - 8:32)
I immediately signed up for it at the 8th District Baytown Town Square. During that period of time, my mom was still under care. And during those days, she started coughing constantly.

(8:33 - 8:42)
And I took her to the hospital, and she was diagnosed with pneumonia. Another shocking news. We took her to Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital.

(8:43 - 8:54)
During my hospital stay, I went to Human Resources and talked to them. If there was any possibilities that I can be part of their team. Unfortunately, no luck.

(8:55 - 9:15)
During that time, I went to HR, and they asked one last time, and nothing happened. After I got out of the office, I received a message saying, Osvaldo, are you interested in for an interview for the PCA position? And I said, immediately texted back, yes. I therefore was giving an interview.

(9:15 - 9:22)
And then hours later, I was texted saying, congrats. You have been giving an offer. And I accepted it, of course.

(9:23 - 9:33)
I was excited because I never thought I would have an offer in this. And I work at a hospital. After a few months, I then started to work.

(9:34 - 9:41)
I felt proud of myself. I really do. My goal was to work at the hospital to help people in their needs.

(9:42 - 9:54)
It was my goal to help them. And because my mom, who inspired me, she inspired me so much from the beginning to now. And I can't believe I did it.

(9:56 - 10:07)
I have reached my goal. Everything I went through till now is a core memory, but also hard work. And how good it's always with me and gave me those opportunities.

(10:08 - 10:17)
God gave me those opportunities to me, and I'm just blessed, fully blessed. Fast forwarding. So now, I'm standing here receiving this student spotlight.

(10:18 - 10:31)
I wanted to set an example to the future generations, stating that your future is really important. And the knowledge that you learned, make sure to always take that with you. Because you will grow bigger than you can ever imagine.

(10:32 - 10:56)
And these are the stories that we need to think about every day as we do our jobs in the medical field or any other. The ones that people's dream come true and is set to determine their goal to save lives in the medical field or any other career. The ones and all of you in this room stand as an example for someone else in the next generation who loves the things that we love.

(10:57 - 11:09)
Could be saving lives, teaching, or being a CEO of a company, or et cetera. So why is this important? Because we have to grow fast. We have to work this hard.

(11:10 - 11:22)
We have to prove that we deserve this. And we have to top our last achievements. Therefore, I really just feel like we need to continue to try to offer something to a younger generation of students.

(11:23 - 11:45)
Because somewhere right now, your future student spotlight is probably sitting right in front of you, not knowing it could be a person or a place. As for me, lately, I've been focusing less on doing what they say I can't do and more on doing whatever I want. Thank you for a magnificent evening.

(11:45 - 11:50)
I'm honored to be here tonight. I feel very lucky to be with you. Thank you so much.

(11:51 - 12:11)
Thank you so much. Next item is disposition of the minutes from board meeting June 15th, 2023 and board budget workshop from June 29th. We'll entertain a motion on the minutes.

(12:14 - 12:22)
Second. All right. Any discussion of the minutes? Any changes or amendments to the minutes? All in favor of accepting the minutes as presented, say aye.

(12:22 - 12:30)
Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Next, report of the chairman.

(12:30 - 12:48)
I do have a short report tonight. Um, this is the first time we've met since, uh, uh, Regent Guillory, myself and Regent Morfantino participated in the Juneteenth parade. And I just want to give a shout out and a thank you to Melissa Valencia and her team.

(12:49 - 13:03)
They always do such an outstanding job representing the college out with any community celebration. And it was extremely hot that day. They kept us well hydrated and a good time was had by all.

(13:03 - 13:18)
We had frisbees and fans to, uh, toss out to the, to the folks attending the parade. And it was a really fun event. And I just want to say thank you to her and her team for, for, uh, helping us out with that and the other many things that she helps us out with.

(13:18 - 13:32)
The other item I have is, uh, this coming Monday, uh, I hope to see many of you in this room out at the McNair Center for the ribbon cutting for the newly renovated McNair Center. Should be a great event. That'll be from 3 to 5 on Monday.

(13:35 - 13:44)
Uh, report from the Building Committee. Uh, Mr. Chair, the Building Committee has not met since our last meeting. We should have a meeting, uh, planned in, uh, August before our next board meeting.

(13:45 - 13:54)
Very good. Report from the Policy Committee. We have met and you will see one item on the agenda in relation to the sabbatical.

(13:54 - 14:02)
Which we are now calling the development leave. But it still serves the same purpose. And it will be an item for action later on in the agenda.

(14:03 - 14:06)
Very good. And the Audit and Investment Committee. We have not met.

(14:06 - 14:20)
We figure that Annette and her team are pretty busy as it is right now. But once we get through the budget process, um, we would like to meet and talk about, um, audits. Now that we're have an auditor, we need to do some audits now.

(14:22 - 14:26)
And report of the President. Madam President. Hello.

(14:26 - 14:31)
Can you hear me? We can. Wonderful. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

(14:32 - 14:49)
Um, I want to start off by giving you a brief update on enrollment. We are currently 6%, um, up overall as compared to our enrollment at this time last year. And I'm pleased with this increase as we were considerably up at the same time last year.

(14:49 - 15:07)
So we are setting a new bar for performance. When we look at age and enrollment, we are up for those who are between the ages of 18 and 39. And I tell you this because in the past few years, our enrollment for students age 25 to 39 has been declining.

(15:07 - 15:23)
So this is good news that we are up in all of those those age groups. The other area that is really growing is our is in our Huntsville Center. So we are currently up 322% compared to this time last year.

(15:23 - 15:43)
But I would just say that we have a few weeks left, and I hope to share more good news, but I'll continue to keep all of you updated. Next, I want to talk about a new HVAC program, which had ceased and is now back online. So that is being led by Mr. Chris Averett.

(15:44 - 16:06)
And he spoke to the board a while back. But as you might remember, he is a proudly college alumnus who built and grew a very successful HVAC business and is now going to grow future successful HVAC technicians. So the state-of-the-art HVAC lab at the McNair Center was recently completed and will welcome its first students in August.

(16:07 - 16:27)
And as Chairman Fontenot just mentioned, we are holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the McNair Center on Monday, July 24th. And we will be celebrating both the new contract training facilities and the HVAC lab. So we do hope that you will be able to make it and take a tour of these amazing facilities.

(16:28 - 16:54)
I am also pleased to announce that ExxonMobil is donating a complete standalone control system to our instrumentation program. And Contech Engineering will donate some of the labor that is needed for proper installation in the TB2 building. The control system is the same one that is used by many of the plants in our region, which will give our students knowledge and skills that can be directly transferred to the workplace.

(16:55 - 17:21)
If the college had to purchase the equipment and installation services by itself, by ourselves, it would cost well over $700,000. So this is a very significant gift. And we are very grateful to our partners, ExxonMobil and to Contech Engineering for helping us keep up with the constantly changing technology that our students need to learn on and to be competitive and successful in their careers.

(17:22 - 17:33)
Next, I want to talk about the Kids at College program. It is roaring back from two years ago when it was closed due to the pandemic. Last year, we had a total enrollment of 171.

(17:34 - 17:45)
And this year, our enrollment is 270, with one week of camp still to go. Our pre-pandemic enrollment was about 390. So we're not fully back to pre-pandemic levels, but we're getting there.

(17:46 - 18:02)
We offered some camps at the Liberty Center for the very first time. We lowered the cost of the non-sports camps to just $55 to make them more affordable. And we kept the cost of our sports camps at $100, the same as that cost during the pre-pandemic levels.

(18:03 - 18:26)
I also wanted to note and thank the Foundation for contributing $5,000 to provide scholarships to 40 students, which was greatly, greatly appreciated. But a special thanks goes out to Jordan Smith, who did an outstanding job leading the Kids at College program and to the Foundation for supporting families in our community. Next, I want to talk about Second Chance Pell.

(18:26 - 19:05)
Lee College, as you know, was in the first cohort of colleges to provide Pell grants to incarcerated students as part of the Second Chance Pell experiment way back in 2016. The experiment ended last month on June 30th. Lee College has been approved for the revised Second Chance Pell experiment, which is a transition program that will allow us to continue providing Pell grants to our Huntsville students for the next two years while we go through the process of applying for the new prison education program, which will provide Pell grants to incarcerated students on a permanent basis instead of an experimental basis.

(19:06 - 19:33)
Many thanks goes to Dr. Walsers, to Donna Zuniga, and her whole team for their successful efforts. Huntsville students account for almost 25% of our regular, which is non-dual credit enrollment, and 90% of them receive Pell grants. And we have collected data showing that the recidivism for Lee College alumni is close to 6% compared to 20% for those who do not receive a college education while incarcerated.

(19:34 - 19:58)
The Rand Corporation estimates that every dollar spent on college and prison programs saves taxpayers $5 in reincarceration costs. So we know that this is a great program for the students and the taxpayers. Next, I want to talk about an opportunity that I had to host representatives of a company called ASAP, which stands for Analytical Solutions and Products.

(19:59 - 20:40)
We met to discuss how we could partner with one another to support their emerging technology software that provides predictive maintenance and analyzer data collection for our own instrumentation and analyzer technology students and trainees. We were extremely pleased to have Megan Wooster, a Lee College instrumentation technology student with us, who has been offered an internship with ASAP, and they are going to be hosting her in Amsterdam at their headquarters there. So she, as you might guess, is very excited, but we are just absolutely thrilled for her and looking forward to the development of this new partnership.

(20:42 - 21:10)
I'm pleased to also announce that two of our Learning Frameworks faculty have proposals accepted to present at the 2023 Learning Frameworks Course Leaders at the Texas Community Colleges Symposium. They have nine breakout sessions, and three of them will be presented by Lee College. Chanel Cook, Division Chair for Learning Frameworks, will be presenting two sessions, and Dr. Shamika Phipps, faculty, will be presenting our third session.

(21:10 - 21:28)
So kudos to them. I'm also delighted to announce the appointment of our own Kelly Ford Spears to the Board of Directors for United Way. Kelly's work in addressing unmet basic needs and her commitment to all students will serve her very well, and we're so very proud of her.

(21:28 - 21:58)
Finally, I wanted to highlight our own Dr. Marissa Moreno, who yesterday presented in a national webinar with Community College Research Center in partnership with a colleague from Goose Creek CISD, to highlight our best practices as partners. It's always wonderful for Lee College to be in the national spotlight, and they both did a wonderful job. And when the link for the webinar becomes available, I look forward to sharing it with you so you can see the presentation for yourselves.

(21:59 - 22:06)
That concludes my report, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Now we'll move into informational reports.

(22:06 - 22:21)
Report of Lee College resignations and or retirements. Dr. V? Yes, I have one to report. Sadly, that is Coach Rob, Carlos Robinson, who has been our assistant men's basketball coach.

(22:21 - 22:33)
But we are very happy for him as he has accepted an assistant coach position at Texas A&M Kingsville. So I know that you all join me in wishing him well. And that's all.

(22:33 - 22:48)
Thank you. Next, financial report from Annette Ferguson, Madam CFO. Thank you, Chairman Fontenot.

(22:48 - 23:05)
I'm going to share my screen with you. And we'll take a look at our financials for the month of June. So this is our 10th month.

(23:06 - 23:21)
We're 83% through our physical year operating expenses. Cash still remains extremely strong. We have about $18 million in operating funds.

(23:22 - 23:45)
And then, of course, we have our reserve and other funds as well. Tuition and fees, we've talked about this before, but our performance has been above what we had budgeted right now. We're tracking to be about 7% over our original budget for tuition and fees.

(23:50 - 24:05)
What happened? Oh, sorry. Revenue from the state, of course, we know what that is. And so we are right on track with that.

(24:07 - 24:33)
Our taxes, right now, we are tracking to collect a little bit more than what we had originally budgeted. Most of that is coming, of course, in our revenue in lieu of tax. Other revenue, our other revenue itself is pretty much right on target for our budget.

(24:33 - 24:46)
And then our interest income is well above what we had budgeted for a number of reasons. Number one, we had more money to invest. Number two, we actually invested it rather than leaving it in the pool.

(24:47 - 25:06)
So we're very happy with those results. Our restricted funds, we have about $479,000 in grants that would be available for us to pull down. And, of course, we will pull those down as soon as those funds are made accessible.

(25:06 - 25:25)
And so by our end of year, all of those will be zero. Projecting out our revenue, we are projecting that we will be above what we had budgeted. So that's always a good thing.

(25:27 - 25:53)
Our total projected net revenue right now, we're projecting an operating surplus of about $4.6 million. About $2 million or almost $3 million of that actually is coming from increased revenues. And our expenses were about $1.6 million under what we had budgeted, which most of that is coming from our contingency, which is $1 million.

(25:53 - 26:14)
And we have not had a need to tap into that. And then we've also have our insurance that we set aside each year as well. Looking at our expenses, we're pretty much right on track.

(26:14 - 26:39)
Our salary and benefits are tracking a little bit higher as a percent of total expenses. But once we make our debt payment in August, those percentages will come back into align with our budget. Our monthly budget versus actual, again, we're right on track with our budget.

(26:39 - 27:00)
Operating expenses are a little bit less than what we had budgeted. But our salary and debt service is right in line with the budget. Year-to-date, we are well within our budget on our operating expenses as well.

(27:03 - 27:20)
And when we project out on year-to-date actual, our salary and benefits will be very close. Our operating costs will be very close. And our debt service will actually come back into alignment when we make that August payment.

(27:23 - 27:32)
And that is my report, sir. And but I would entertain any questions that you might have. Yes, I have.

(27:32 - 28:16)
Last month, it seemed like we were headed towards year-end surplus of about $5 million. And am I correct with that? And now it's dropped to about $4.3. And just quickly looking through, is there an explanation of why that shifted to that degree? And is that something that's going to plague us in the future? Is there a new expense that is extraordinary that we didn't know about a few months ago? Well, keep in mind whenever we're projecting out that all of those are estimates. And so there could have been a large expense that came in.

(28:16 - 28:40)
And I would just have to go back and look at that detail. But I'm not aware of any unusual large expense that will continue to be recorded on our financials that would interfere with the college's operations or the reporting of the results. Thank you.

(28:41 - 28:56)
Any other questions? Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Okay, next on our agenda is Vision 2028 Strategic Plan Update presented by Dr. Douglas Walzers.

(28:57 - 29:02)
Welcome, sir. Can you hear me? We can. Okay, wonderful.

(29:02 - 29:34)
I will share my screen. And I believe you all have either hard copies or electronic copies because there are probably too many numbers to really read on the projector. So, the strategic plan, Vision 2028, was approved by the board about 7 months ago in December.

(29:35 - 30:03)
And in that plan, we have a number of very specific and measurable goals. And this report is our first annual progress report where we are providing the data to show where we are on each of those goals. And obviously, the target where we want to be by December 31st of 2028 at the end of this current strategic plan.

(30:05 - 30:30)
This is 20 pages of data, and I am not going to go through all 20 pages of it. But I do want to go through a number of the student success goals just so that you get a flavor for how the goals are being presented. And also say that next month, we'll bring this back for the board's approval.

(30:30 - 30:52)
I just wanted to make sure everybody had a month to read it, understand it, and ask any questions that you needed to in case there was confusion or you needed to clear something up. So, let's see if I can make this page down. So, obviously, our first goal is student success.

(30:52 - 31:16)
And within student success, we have 15 specific goals covering enrollment retention and graduation rates. And our first goal is to increase enrollment of regularly admitted students by 3%. And whenever we talk about an increase, we have to do it relative to some baseline.

(31:17 - 31:35)
In this case, we're using the baseline that is the enrollment of the previous three years from 2019 to the fall of 2021. And you can see the baselines for our regular students our dual credit students and our Huntsville students. Those would be our three goals.

(31:36 - 31:57)
And you can see at the far right column, the targets which represent a 3% or a 5% increase from our baseline. So, this is obviously, you know, the first year of the annual report. And we will be using this to track our progress going into the future.

(31:58 - 32:21)
The next goal deals with the percentage of high school graduates who enroll at Lee College right after graduation. And it is our goal to increase that number by 3 percentage points. And you can see we've got our school districts listed on the left.

(32:22 - 32:43)
Once again, we have a baseline that is the average of the three previous years. And then in the far right, we have the target. We do not yet have data from the class of 2022 because the THACB lags a little over a year in getting that data out.

(32:43 - 32:55)
But you will probably see it next year when we do this again. Well, one quick question. Will those numbers include the three? Enrolling students is great.

(32:56 - 33:04)
Retaining them is even better. And so we have two goals. One is the fall-to-fall retention for full and part-time students.

(33:04 - 33:22)
And the other is fall-to-fall retention for full and part-time students in our Huntsville Center. And you can see that we don't have an increase as a target. In this case, we just have an absolute number.

(33:23 - 33:46)
We would like our full-time students to be retained at 60% on the main campus and at 80% at the Huntsville Center. We want our part-time students to be retained at 45% on the main campus and 65% at the Huntsville campus. And you can obviously see the data from the past three years.

(33:46 - 33:57)
And again, we're going to continue tracking this so that you can see our progress. And continuing on the theme, right? Enrolling them is great. Retaining them is great.

(33:57 - 34:18)
Graduating them, that's the best of all. And once again, we're looking at graduation rates for full and part-time students, both on our main campus and at Huntsville. You can see the percentages for the past couple of years, which clearly were impacted by COVID.

(34:19 - 34:31)
You can see the targets on the far right. And again, we will be tracking that. And moving on, goal number nine.

(34:32 - 35:06)
Excuse me. Goal number nine is data from our SENSE, which is the Survey of Entering Students for Community Colleges. And our goal is to have a score, a raw score, that is three points higher than our peer institutions on a particular dimension, that being students having a clear academic plan and pathway, something that we've been working on very intensely for at least the past three years, if not previous to that.

(35:09 - 35:37)
Finally, not finally, sorry, we're just continuing here. Goal number 10 focuses on our, excuse me, our cross-credit students, where we divide them into our health care and allied health programs on the one side and our industrial technology program on the other side. We have a target for enrollment in those areas, and we will have data next year.

(35:38 - 36:12)
Both of those sides were essentially shut down during the pandemic, and they're just now restarting. Trying to get this to, okay. And then we have a goal for our contract training, where we want, and of course, on Monday, we have the ribbon-cutting ceremony for McNair, where we have our brand new contract training facility, which is already attracting lots of attention from customers.

(36:13 - 36:51)
Our target is to have gross revenue of $600,000, and we're actually already approaching that this year, in large part due to that renovated facility. And the last two goals under student success are dealing with the Small Business Development Center, where the goal is to reach at least 150 clients per year and to have the total amount of new capital generated to be at least $3 million a year. You can see the results for the past three years.

(36:51 - 37:24)
You can clearly see the impact of COVID and the fact that we are really coming back very strong out of the COVID period. So these are our student success goals. And I think it's worth remembering that our students certainly include our regular students on the main campus, our Huntsville students, our cross-credit students, our students who come to us from our employers seeking advanced training, and the business owners who come to us to help grow their businesses.

(37:24 - 37:38)
Those are all our students. And when we talk about student success, we take a very comprehensive view of our students and the success that they need. So those are a broad set of goals.

(37:38 - 37:49)
After the goal measurement, there's a section that talks about revisions to goals. I'm not going to go into that. That's getting a little bit too far into the weeds.

(37:50 - 38:21)
Then there's a section talking about the strategies that we've completed this year that we will be taking out of the strategic plan because they're done. And then a section on new strategies, new measurable objectives that we are planning to insert into the strategic plan because this is a living document. And as we do things over the years, we find new initiatives to help advance our goals.

(38:22 - 38:37)
So student success is the biggest part of the strategic plan. You've seen it has 15 goals with lots of different numbers. There are the remaining sections of the strategic plan.

(38:38 - 39:39)
And I think the message I want to provide is that we tried to establish goals that would give the board a detailed, comprehensive and high-level view of the progress of Lee College so that you could refer to this document when asking questions about, you know, what is our direction? How are we doing on our path? And where are our successes? So I'm not planning to go through the rest of the document, but I do want to open the floor for questions if anybody has thoughts. And then I hope that you will spend some time reading through the goals and the numbers and hopefully satisfying yourself that this does in fact, give you that high-level view to really evaluate the college's performance. So I'm open.

(39:39 - 39:48)
Thank you. I believe Regent Himsel had a question. I believe it was back on goal number one.

(39:49 - 40:00)
Hearing none. Do you hear us? Dr. Walzers, can you hear us? I hope they heard everything. They can't hear us.

(40:00 - 40:14)
I don't think you can hear us, Romero. Dr. Walzers, can you hear us? Turn your volume up. Dr. Walzers.

(40:14 - 40:23)
Chairman Fontenot, I'm sorry. I think we were muted. You think we're muted? No, I'm sorry.

(40:24 - 40:31)
Our volume was down, so we couldn't hear you. Okay. So Dr. Walzers, can you hear me now? Yes.

(40:32 - 40:39)
Okay, great. Regent Himsel had a question. I was looking at goal number one, I believe.

(40:39 - 40:52)
Will those numbers include the students that are getting the free tuition? Yes. You're talking about the enrollment numbers. Yes.

(40:54 - 41:01)
Yes. So they will include the students who are in the first-time free LEAD program. Okay.

(41:01 - 41:12)
So that ought to be fairly easy to achieve, then, if it includes those, the free ones. Okay, thank you. You're welcome.

(41:13 - 41:32)
Dr. Walzers, in order to establish the baseline, you just use the three years rolling from 19, 20, and 21? That's correct. I just took a straight average of the previous three years. Okay, thank you.

(41:35 - 41:42)
Regent Fontenot, this is Regent Moore-Fontenot. I have a question regarding goal 15. Go ahead.

(41:42 - 41:47)
Goal 15. Okay, perfect. Goal 15 is on page four.

(41:48 - 42:06)
It says new capital generated by SBDC will be at least $3 million per year, but when we look at the target, it has $3,000 for capital. Yeah, $3 million per year, right? It's $3 million. The K is meaning to add another three zeros.

(42:07 - 42:12)
It's shorthand for $3 million. Oh, okay. All right, perfect.

(42:12 - 42:16)
Thank you for that. Thank you. That answers my question, then.

(42:17 - 42:23)
Okay. Anyone else? All right. Thank you, Dr. Walzers.

(42:24 - 42:36)
Thank you very much. Okay, next on the agenda is public comment. Do we have anyone signed up to speak? No one signed up to speak, Mr. Chairman.

(42:37 - 42:44)
Moving right along. Items of action. We have, let me open it here, consent agenda.

(42:44 - 42:57)
Let me make it where I can read it. Okay. The administration recommends that the board approve the new hires as presented below.

(43:02 - 43:09)
I move to approve. Second. We have a motion by Regent Santana.

(43:10 - 43:17)
We have a second by Regent Guillory. Any discussion on this item? All in favor, say aye. Aye.

(43:18 - 43:39)
Any opposed? Aye. Okay. Okay, next is new business.

(43:39 - 44:00)
Consideration of adoption of board policy DEC local. Board policy committee and administration recommend that the board adopt the modifications to DEC local. Do I have a motion? Second.

(44:02 - 44:24)
I've got a motion by Regent Geralds and a second by Regent Guillory. Any discussion on this item? So, the main changes, we were going to go to three year, or three years, now we're back to five on the requirements and we're changing the name of it. That's just the two main changes.

(44:30 - 44:37)
I had a hard time, I had to get a magnifying glass to try to read that bit. It's too small for you? Well, it'll be bigger next time. Yeah.

(44:37 - 44:51)
Okay. Any other comments regarding the policy? Okay, hearing no further discussion, all in favor, say aye. Aye.

(44:51 - 45:14)
Any opposed? Okay. It is adopted. Okay, next agenda item.

(45:14 - 45:46)
Consideration of approval of prevailing wage rates under government code 2258 for the ADA campus modifications and elevator upgrades project CSP 230410-01. The administration recommends that the board authorize the president or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve the prevailing rate wage rate schedule for the ADA campus modifications and elevator upgrades project CSP 230410-01. As presented in the architect's project spec CSP 230410-01.

(45:46 - 45:55)
We have a motion. So moved. Okay, I've got a motion by Regent Geralds and a second by Regent Cotton.

(45:56 - 46:09)
And any discussion on this item? Just, I just had a question. I don't know that we've ever done something about prevailing wage typically means union wage to me. I was curious as to what.

(46:10 - 46:13)
What drove this change or whatever. I had the same question. So.

(46:21 - 46:36)
And the specs are those wages came right out of our project manual and specs, but he wanted the board to approve that part. So, and I. These wages are already in place. They're already in place in the project specifications.

(46:36 - 46:40)
He just wanted. Oh, okay. Help me understand.

(46:41 - 46:51)
So we're, we're bidding projects, but we're requiring the contractor to use prevailing wage or. Yes, they require their contract. And it's, it's, this comes from the Harris County government.

(46:52 - 47:02)
Website, I believe, and the architects put it into the project manual. And I believe it's a requirement. So nothing about that is new other than bringing it to us to just follow.

(47:02 - 47:10)
The attorney just asked to see is doing the contract that the board would approve these. They've been using it. Yes, for a while, an extension of a formality.

(47:11 - 47:23)
We already have in place, right? Yeah, I asked the question that it's in the project specs. It's been approved, but still our project specs that they're writing or. Dictating that we, yes, there it's already in the book.

(47:23 - 47:36)
It's in here and it's the only time we've run into this was several years back on the McNair project where we had to do something similar and escalated the cost. About a million dollars down there. I asked the access project manager.

(47:37 - 47:45)
He said that that's no problem. They've already got it in and they put it in for the bid and everything's good. Is it is it.

(47:46 - 48:01)
So, we did we prior to that on the McNair project, we were not doing it. I'm just wondering if we're escalating our cost. And the reason that we're doing it, why are we saying you must pay prevailing? I, it's, I believe it's mandated by, you know.

(48:01 - 48:13)
Government mandate, so we were doing public bringing it to us to approve it. And federally funded, or the reason on the other was a federal funding. This was not, you know, it's something with that.

(48:13 - 48:21)
I think it's just the requirement that we pay those prevailing wages as a government agency. So. Firing us to do that.

(48:21 - 48:27)
That was in the. I don't know if it's federal or state or what, but yeah. I'm not sure.

(48:28 - 48:41)
So, state law, I believe so. State law. Okay, that's that's basically, it's basically saying that wherever the work's taking place around the state, there are different wage rates.

(48:41 - 48:53)
And so if they're working down to South Texas could be different than working in Houston or Harris County. And so basically, we wanted to use the rates that are applicable to our area. So that they're the competing bids are all.

(48:54 - 49:02)
On the same wage rate. Okay. Prevailing weight is established for our area by union by the union.

(49:04 - 49:11)
That's always been my understanding. What prevailing wage? I think it was a vacant act. If it's a federal law, it's under Davis.

(49:11 - 49:23)
So, I think we're talking about doing work for government for tax and taxing entities, right? And there's all kinds of rules around just like what we pay for stuff. It's all set. Right? I mean, we, we can't just go spend money on stuff.

(49:23 - 49:28)
We want to spend money on. We're sort of guided as well. So, I think this is kind of the same thing.

(49:29 - 49:43)
Texas.gov. I read the document. Nothing in it referred to union at all. Well, I know that that's generally how do you establish the prevailing wage? Well, there are you take a, you take a survey of the wages in the county.

(49:43 - 49:50)
Okay. I just, I've never heard us doing that before. I didn't know if this was a new requirement from.

(49:50 - 49:56)
I don't believe it's it was already in the project manual. Old requirements is 1st time. They're including us in it.

(49:57 - 50:08)
I know on the McNair project. We were apparently not and it escalated the cost because we were using federal funds. To different different requirement, I guess.

(50:08 - 50:22)
Yeah, it may be a different prevailing way wage above. The Harris County wage. Okay, there is there are like Gulf Coast construction index numbers that are used, you know, again, Gulf Coast different than.

(50:23 - 50:34)
Up north and so I know on bond projects that I've been involved in that. Those ranges are used when projects are bid. Because it establishes a consistency and the bidding process.

(50:35 - 50:47)
And I'm aware there's different agencies and companies, even companies. That sounds like there's 1 that takes government minutes. And it's already included in the document.

(50:48 - 50:51)
It's right here. Yeah, it was in there. Then so nothing new.

(50:52 - 51:00)
Any further discussion on this matter. All in favor say, aye. Any opposed.

(51:00 - 51:34)
Okay, moving right along next agenda item consideration of HBAC web control systems contract with automatic automated logic fiscal year 23. Through 26 administration recommends that the board authorize the president or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve the 3 year agreement totaling $233,189 with automated logic to maintain the HBAC web control systems. Do I have a motion? I move.

(51:34 - 51:41)
Second. I have a motion by region gallery and a 2nd by region. Gerald's discussion on this item.

(51:42 - 51:50)
Is this the same function we used to use Johnson controls for? Johnson controls does our HBAC chillers. That's coming up next. They're like the killer.

(51:51 - 51:55)
I mean, this is the building automation system. That's all the control. Johnson has never done this.

(51:55 - 51:59)
No, no. This is kind of like Chevy the Chevy. This is automated logic.

(51:59 - 52:07)
That's who own who all the parts are and everything. It's for the computer controls for the all the air handlers. All everything it runs.

(52:07 - 52:19)
It's like the brain that runs everything and all the set points, all the temperatures. Does this mean you'll have an app on your phone? If it's cold in here, you can. I can, I have it on my computer.

(52:19 - 52:27)
I can, I can get my laptop. Well, it's not if it's cold in here. It's always cold in here.

(52:28 - 52:38)
I can tell him to raise that. This is a 3 year contract and the years are identified. They're 75, 77 and 80, a natural escalation.

(52:38 - 52:55)
So we're looking at a 3 year agreement like we've done before. So probably next year, you come back and just get your 2nd year, right? Any other comment on or questions on this item? Okay, all in favor say, aye. Aye.

(52:56 - 53:14)
Any opposed? Aye. Okay, next item. Consideration of approval of HVAC preventative maintenance agreement, renewable option for year 2 fiscal year 2023 to 2024 with Johnson controls.

(53:15 - 53:30)
The administration recommends that the board authorize the president or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve the renewable option for year 2 of the agreement with Johnson controls Inc. for $325,204. Do I have a motion? So moved.

(53:31 - 53:40)
Second. I have a motion by Regent Santana and a 2nd by Regent Guillory discussion on this item. Last time we completely rebid this.

(53:42 - 53:55)
You've done this for at least 15 years. I believe I was talking with them. We don't rebid it because we've used this company and they have a very good working relationship with the HVAC techs who are both of our experienced techs are leaving at the end of August.

(53:56 - 54:13)
So they came in and do the quarterly maintenance and yearly maintenance and also anything that breaks is with us. So like the previous one, this is just year 2 of the 3 year we approved a year ago. Right.

(54:13 - 54:24)
We're just agreeing to the 2nd year that we approved a year ago. I have a question. Did we sign a 3 year contract? Sign, let me look at the.

(54:31 - 54:34)
It automatically renews. You can, you can, you can stop it. It's a 90 day.

(54:34 - 54:36)
Okay. It's a 90 day. So we have the option to cut it off.

(54:37 - 54:39)
We have the option to give them a 90 day. Yeah. Okay.

(54:39 - 54:43)
So it's not a move. It's an annual renewal. Okay.

(54:43 - 54:46)
Automatic renewal. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to look at it. Well, I would think.

(54:46 - 54:56)
Yes, that's right. You bring it to us well before the 90 days. This 1 was it's I, we'd have to let them know this 1 was not before the 90 days.

(54:56 - 55:11)
So we, but we thought, but we will do that. Yes. Any other discussion on this item? And I didn't study this.

(55:12 - 55:20)
Is this a, is this an escalation in cost? Or is it the same? It is it goes up each year. It's an escalating cost each year. But it's what we approved last.

(55:20 - 55:23)
Yes, it's what we approved last year. Okay. Okay.

(55:25 - 55:36)
Okay, the quote was in the detail. No further discussion. All in favor say aye.

(55:36 - 55:41)
Aye. Any opposed. Okay, item approved.

(56:00 - 56:19)
Consideration of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 2023 2024 contract. The administration recommends that the board authorize the president or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve the contract between Lee College and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Do I have a motion? 2nd.

(56:19 - 56:31)
All right. A, a motion by region and a 2nd by region hall. Any discussion on this item? Not specific to this item, but an issue a question did come up about.

(56:32 - 56:49)
We each at 8 units and I know this is a state question. Have we ever opened a discussion about teaching in one of the female units? I think there's 1 in Dayton. Is there any particular reason? And Dr. V, we can't hear you.

(56:49 - 56:59)
I see you talking. I was just going to say that we, we do have, we do teach in 9 units currently. And we do have 1 that is a women's facility.

(56:59 - 57:01)
We already do. Oh, okay. Okay.

(57:01 - 57:18)
I know they mentioned at this past graduation that we attended that I believe next year we would have our 1st graduation from the Dayton unit. No, we've already had graduation. Next year would be the 1st 1. That we attend.

(57:18 - 57:20)
That we attend. Right. That we attend.

(57:20 - 57:31)
Okay. Correct. And, you know, I would also say that we would certainly love to expand more into female units, but that's not that's not really up to us.

(57:32 - 58:01)
That is more of a TDCJ issue and we would need permission from them. But we are certainly interested in that because it is it is well known nationally, but also bears out in Texas that female incarcerated are highly underserved in regards to education. I don't know if that answers the question.

(58:02 - 58:12)
I didn't know that answers the question. Any other discussion on this item? Hearing none, all in favor say, aye. Aye.

(58:13 - 58:39)
Opposed? Okay, it is approved. Next item, executive session, the meeting of the Lee College Board of Regents on above listed date after proper posting and in accordance with Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code for the specific for the specific purposes provided will recess from open meeting to close meeting. No action will be taken while the board is recessed in executive session.

(58:41 - 58:56)
Okay, the closed meeting is adjourned and we are reconvened into open session. Next agenda item, matters of concern for future agendas. Do I hear any? Okay, motion to adjourn.

(58:56 - 58:57)
Vote with your feet. Move to adjourn.