(0:00 - 0:19)
You have a quorum established. Our chair is unable to be with us tonight, and I am performing the duty as the vice chair. The second item on the agenda is the invocation and pledge to the United States flag and pledge to the Texas flag.

(0:20 - 0:31)
And Regent Gilbert Santana is going to lead us in the pledges. Well, I'm glad I made it in time. I'm sure everybody else is too.

(0:31 - 0:40)
Please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this beautiful day you've given us in Baytown, Texas. We appreciate the warmth, the heat that's been provided, and we look forward to a little cooler weather.

(0:41 - 0:51)
Father, thank you for the start of this fall semester. It was a struggle this summer. You brought some natural occurrences our way, some events, but you know, through all that, it's going to make us stronger.

(0:52 - 1:13)
We're learning from everything that we go through, and we will continue to grow this institution to be here for this community no matter what happens around us. So just thank you for the start of this semester. Thank you for the students who have signed up, and I thank you for every person on the Lee College team, every single person who's here every day for one purpose only, and that's to serve our students.

(1:13 - 1:36)
Our students are getting an opportunity to change their lives, and that's why we're here. Just thank you for that blessing of the opportunity to serve in the way that we do. Father, I thank you for this time tonight as we gather to discuss the business of Lee College, and just be with us as we deliberate, discuss, make decisions that we are making the best decisions possible, again, to serve our community and our students.

(1:36 - 1:39)
So just be with us. Give us the wisdom. Give us the patience.

(1:40 - 1:48)
Give us the energy. Give us everything we need to do it correctly the way you would have us do it. So I just thank you for the food that's been provided.

(1:48 - 2:03)
I haven't had it yet, but thank you anyway, and I just want to thank every one of my peers on this board who serve in a capacity that no one else in this community can understand. We give of our time and our service and our hearts every single day. Thank you for that opportunity.

(2:04 - 2:08)
All these prayers I lift in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Please join me in the pledge.

(2:09 - 2:25)
The United States flag. Place your hand over your heart and repeat with me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

(2:25 - 2:35)
Now the Texas flag. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

(2:36 - 2:44)
And did you get the pledge from the college? I was just seeing we have an extra flag up there. We sent it to you. Did you not? I did not get that on my agenda, but.

(2:44 - 2:56)
We'll get that to you. Would you go ahead and do it this time for us? I just feel like it wouldn't be appropriate given my role, you know, so I'm just going to let it go. Nice save.

(2:57 - 3:04)
Nice save. It's a team of ten. Wait a minute.

(3:04 - 3:08)
It's not a team of ten. A team of ten. Okay.

(3:09 - 3:41)
Well, we have all been properly welcomed and blessed by Regent Santana, and it's now time for us to move to our student spotlight. Yes, I'd like to introduce Karen Asencio, who is the Perkins Project Director, and she's going to introduce our student speaker. So unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, he was not able to join us today, but he did email me a statement regarding how grateful he was for the child care, so that's what I'll be reading right now.

(3:42 - 3:53)
Hello everyone. My name is Sergio Reyes. I am currently enrolled in the process technology program at Lee College with the expected graduation date of spring of 2026.

(3:54 - 4:15)
I plan to embark on a promising career in the chemical industrial plants. I know the chances of my gainful employment after program completion is high, as I know others with similar outcomes. The Perkins grant has assisted me with child care, which has been instrumental in my academic journey, offering the most significant support I needed.

(4:16 - 4:45)
By alleviating the financial burden of child care costs, this program has allowed me to prioritize my education while ensuring my children receive the child care they need. With the assistance, managing tuition and fees alongside child care expenses was possible. Ultimately, the program has afforded me the invaluable opportunity to gain hands-on experience in my chosen field while attending classes allowing me to focus on my studies without the constant worry of arranging child care for my students.

(4:46 - 5:07)
So, we just wanted, he was just very grateful. He had been attending for about three semesters and continues to, but he sent me this and he already told me he was sad that he was unable to attend, but thank you. Thank you very much.

(5:09 - 5:25)
Okay, the next item on the agenda is the disposition of minutes for the public hearing July 30th, 2024 and the board meeting July 30th, 2024. Do I hear a motion for approval? Second. It's been moved and seconded.

(5:26 - 5:29)
All in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye. Aye.

(5:29 - 5:57)
Aye, as had it. The next item on the agenda is the report of the chairman. I just want to remind everyone that we do have a September CAT board meeting which will be in Amarillo, Texas and we have an October ACCT meeting which is our national meeting of our community colleges across the United States which will be in October.

(5:58 - 6:37)
And the third and final item is that we have our gala coming up and I want to issue a pledge that we've had in the past and I know that we're all looking forward to that, that if our board could raise $10,000 amongst us in support of our gala which supports our students so and get 100% participation. So I started and I've given my envelope to David so we are ready to make our contributions. Hopefully everyone will be able to support that again this year.

(6:38 - 6:47)
Okay, great. Okay, the next item, we have our committee reports. We want to start with the building committee report.

(6:47 - 6:59)
All right, Madam Chair, I have a report and I just want to point out how young I am doing it from my phone like everyone else does. Just want to point that out. We'll see if you can read it.

(6:59 - 7:02)
Go ahead. Without doing this. Go ahead.

(7:03 - 7:09)
I've got my bifocals on. I know an eye doctor. That's where the pledge is.

(7:09 - 7:18)
My glasses are great and I have a great eye doctor. The building committee met on August 13th, sorry about that. So we had a very good meeting.

(7:19 - 7:35)
We hadn't met in a couple of months. We did discuss the cosmetology parking lot resurface at 650 West Texas Avenue, which will be an agenda item this evening. We also discussed some demolition and entrance slope work at 700 West Texas Avenue, which is in the same area.

(7:35 - 7:49)
That will be another item for approval tonight. We discussed the Tucker Hall renovations, this building we're sitting in, and we also discussed the arena locker room renovations. And so I think the building committee had some good questions.

(7:49 - 8:00)
We had some good discussion, and I think it's all going to look favorable this evening. So I look forward to those items coming up. We also discussed the ongoing cosmetology project, which is also in that facility over there.

(8:01 - 8:11)
It was a 50% design meeting update. We also got updates on our facilities master plan proposals, and we're progressing well on that. We discussed the Regis House demolition proposal.

(8:12 - 8:24)
That seems like an ongoing discussion, but we're getting very close to seeing grass there. We also discussed another building appraisal at the Executive Catering Building. We also looked at a 660 West Texas building appraisal.

(8:25 - 8:47)
It's a little piece of property that's sort of in the block that Lee College has, and we're looking at that. We also discussed opportunities with Sledge Engineering to potentially help us as we move forward with our facilities master planning, and also discussed some church properties that are contiguous to our property, and we may be looking at some of that down the road. We did get updates on the current projects.

(8:47 - 9:10)
The big ones, the ADA Phase I is very close to completion, and ADA Phase II, which is kicking off, it's about $4 million worth of work, and it's broken into a lot of ADA upgrades. There's some security and health and life components of those projects as well, and those are moving forward. And we also discussed the Student Center Elevator Modernization Project and how that's progressing.

(9:12 - 9:31)
So, other than that, we had a pretty quiet meeting, so I would entertain any questions from any of the board on my report. That's all I have. Hearing none, thank you very much, and thank you to the committee for such a busy, busy month and a busy meeting.

(9:31 - 9:37)
The next meeting report is the Policy Committee. We have not met, but we will be meeting on Tuesday. Thank you.

(9:37 - 9:51)
Thank you. Next up, Audit and Investment Committee Report. We have not met, but we will meet Tuesday, September 3rd for a meeting, and then October the 8th, on my birthday, nothing I'd better do than have a committee meeting for the quarterly report.

(9:51 - 10:02)
But everyone should have gotten, the weather interrupted our last meeting, so the quarterly report was sent out to everybody. All right. Now we're ready to hear from our president.

(10:03 - 10:20)
Thank you. Thank you very much. So, this has been an extremely busy week as we officially kicked off the fall semester with Convocation Week, and it has been just extremely packed with various professional development events and information updates to college employees.

(10:21 - 10:43)
I'm especially grateful for those who have designed and led the entire week, represented by Karen Guthmiller, Dr. Laura Lane Worley, Alex Nguyen, Nicole Tunmire, and Haley Vortman. And so, very, very grateful to that entire team who works tirelessly to make sure that that week is smooth. So thank you very much.

(10:44 - 11:32)
Let me talk a little bit about enrollment, and I'm going to let Scott correct me if I'm wrong here, but enrollment has recovered pretty well through the remarkable efforts of, again, this amazing team. And as of last Friday, we were down 2% overall, yes, and down 4% for our regular enrollments on main campus. And again, and I think I said this last time, while it would be wonderful to say that we were experiencing, you know, our third record-breaking fall semester enrollment, I think I am more proud of the fact that despite any hurdle that has come through and hit us, we persevere, we continue to work together as a team to support our students, and I could not be more proud of those efforts.

(11:32 - 11:59)
So thank you. I'm thrilled to share that Lee College has recently received the Veterans Educational Excellence Recognition Award, or the VERA Award, for the 2022-2023 academic year. So this is an important recognition because it showcases Lee College's commitment to supporting the academic success of our veteran students, and we've done a very wonderful job in that area.

(11:59 - 12:29)
So a special thanks to Tiffany Winchester for her leadership in supporting all of these students and leading those efforts. I have a special invitation to each and every one of you, our board members. Each of you are cordially invited to an exciting volunteer opportunity to be a barbecue judge, and who doesn't like to eat barbecue, right? At the upcoming Trinity Valley Exposition Rodeo and Fair, this is a great chance to engage with the Dayton community and enjoy delicious food.

(12:29 - 13:03)
So the barbecue judging is going to take place over two days, Friday, October 4th, and Saturday, October 5th. You're welcome to participate on one or both days if you're free, and again, it's a fantastic opportunity to represent Lee College and the Lee College Foundation, network with community members, and enjoy top-notch barbecue. So if you're interested in volunteering or have any questions, please let David know, and we'll be able to provide you with more information on the judging criteria and logistics to those who sign up.

(13:03 - 13:18)
So we hope you'll consider that invitation. Finally, I want to offer a few more pieces of praise and information. First, I want to congratulate Theresa Letier for her appointment as the co-director of the Empirical Educator Center.

(13:18 - 13:29)
We know that she's going to do a phenomenal job in this role, and we're fortunate to have her. Second, I want to heap some praise to Sela Tacconi. Is Sela here? Not here, but we had her here the other day.

(13:29 - 13:51)
Under her leadership, our foundation has exceeded $20 million in revenue for the first time in the over 50 years that the foundation has been in existence. Yes, this is wonderful. And by the way, this happens to be over $3 million increase since last year, so this is just a tremendous, tremendous accomplishment.

(13:52 - 14:12)
So to Sela, we are just very thankful to her for her outstanding leadership, as well as the leadership of the foundation board members. Our students continue to benefit from all the funds that we raise through our foundation, and we're just very, very grateful. I want to thank Dr. Georgianne Ward, who is with us, for her 10 years of leadership of the honors program.

(14:13 - 14:41)
And she is transitioning to the new role as president of the faculty assembly, and I'm very grateful to work with her in that role. And thanks to Brianne Daly, who will be taking over that position of honors director, and we are going to do everything that we can to support her in that role. I also want to thank Joe Canacos for his years of leadership on the curriculum and academic affairs committee as he passes the baton to Alexa Marie Ramirez.

(14:42 - 15:12)
And I also want to recognize Dr. Janina Norris, who is beginning her first year as associate vice president of academic affairs, and to Dr. Marissa Moreno, who has been appointed as the associate vice president of transfer and educational partnerships. Both of these are going to be very demanding, actually all of the ones that I've talked about are going to be very demanding positions, but every single one of the individuals I have named will do a great job in their leadership roles, and we look forward to supporting them fully. Madam Chair, this concludes my report.

(15:13 - 15:24)
Well, that's ending on a really positive note to see our employees moving up and taking the rightful places and positions. So congratulations to each of you. Thank you, Madam President.

(15:25 - 15:42)
Information reports. First item is the report of the Lee College resignations and retirements. Dr. V? We have Mallory Daigle, Kathleen Murphy, Kelly Emerson, Chuck Gantz, and Yid Kai.

(15:44 - 15:54)
Thank you. No action is required for that. The next item is the annual college safety and security report.

(15:55 - 16:15)
Thomas Quinn, manager, emergency and safety operations, and I think Leslie is coming up to make that introduction. I just wanted to introduce you. Good evening, board, Dr. V. I'd like to take a moment to introduce Thomas Quinn, Tom Quinn, who recently joined our team as the manager of emergency and safety operations.

(16:16 - 16:41)
Tom brings a wealth of experience in managing complex safety and emergency protocols, ensuring that our operations run smoothly and securely. He has been instrumental in overseeing our recent Texas safety and security audit, which he's going to report on tonight, not to mention leading our response recently during Hurricane Beryl. Tonight Tom will be presenting the findings from our security and safety report.

(16:42 - 16:50)
So please welcome him in his first report to the board. Welcome. Thank you.

(16:53 - 17:00)
I'm going to have to read off my phone. You took the lead. Yeah, the same issue here.

(17:01 - 17:05)
So thank you. Good evening, Regents. Thank you for having me here.

(17:05 - 17:37)
My name is Tom Quinn, the new emergency and safety operations manager, and today I'm going to present to you, I'm going to provide you a summary of the Texas School Safety Center safety and security audit results. Oh, I have it on a flash drive. Hey, Romero, we've got it on the notebook.

(17:37 - 18:23)
Can you pull it up that way? And Romero, can we remove the quotes on the bottom of the dictation? Okay. So while we're bringing up the PowerPoint, I'm going to discuss some of the requirements of the Texas School Safety Center safety and security audit requirements. So according to Texas Education Code 37108, it says we have to, college districts have to conduct a safety and security audit report once every three years.

(18:23 - 18:35)
So we're in that cycle right now. It started September 1st, 2021, and it's ending next week, August 31st. So we have completed the report and ready to submit.

(18:37 - 18:54)
Also, a new requirement is to report a summary of the results to the board. So that's a new requirement for the state. There's three components of the audit, and the first one's the campus climate survey that we've been doing since 2021.

(18:54 - 19:09)
The second one is self-assessment. It's called the Public Junior College Safety Security Audit Guide, and that's just a checklist that we have to go through when we're doing facility assessments. And the third component is the actual report that we have to submit to the state.

(19:09 - 19:28)
That's called the Junior College Audit Report, JCCAR. It's a questionnaire where it just takes key components of the self-assessment, key findings, and then we report that to the state. So the first component I'll talk about is the Safety and Security Campus Climate Survey.

(19:29 - 19:55)
This is a 30-question survey with safety-related topics emailed to employees and students just to get their perceptions of various safety-related issues. These surveys were conducted from 2001 to 2024, the last one being in April. So we have four surveys that we have to look through.

(19:57 - 20:21)
Average responses were 586 responses, which is fairly good for a survey. The key areas for concern for employees and students is one of them was the insufficient campus lighting and individual safety at night. So my recommendation is to conduct an assessment of the campus lighting at nighttime and then go forward from there.

(20:22 - 20:44)
The second one was need for regular drills. My recommendation is I'm going to be creating a multiyear training and exercise plan, which includes drills over the next two or three years and kind of schedule all facilities to have one or two drills per year. And the third concern on the survey was the daily crime statistics are not made publicly available.

(20:44 - 21:15)
So I'm going to work with Chief Williams to see if we can add that log, create a daily crime log on the website. What received high ratings was our confidence in campus security. And the second component, if you can go back one.

(21:18 - 21:32)
Yes, that's one. So the second component of the audit is the actual checklist or guide that we have to follow. And this is, if you can see on the right side, there's following functions.

(21:32 - 21:50)
Each tab has a list of a checklist under that tab that we have to answer yes, no, or it does not apply to us. So I'll be focusing on the key findings for the ones we answered no to that we're not doing. So I'll start with one of the environmental design tab.

(21:52 - 22:23)
One of the items is sterile stairwells are not numbered. So we do have some temporary signs, laminated letters that we're going to be installing before we install the permanent signs on sterile stairwells. Another one. 

The next one key area for improvement is classrooms have no window shades in the event of a lockdown. And I'll work with I'll be working with facilities to see if we can find a solution. And this is for protection in that room.

(22:23 - 22:41)
If we have to lock down, shut the door, lock it, close the lights. An additional protection would be to cover those windows in interior windows and interior door windows. Another one is staff and students are not not trained in the use of fire extinguishers, first aid supplies, AEDs.

(22:41 - 23:07)
I know there's been some trainings offered for AEDs and CPRs, but definitely going to bring schedule some training for employees and for students. And we'll be coordinating with Risk Management Institute at Lee College to bring in some trainings. Under the police and security tab, one of the key areas for improvement, personnel have not completed incident command system courses.

(23:07 - 23:43)
My recommendation is to implement a FEMA NIMS ICS training program for key response personnel. So we'll start with our full time employees taking the online classes. Most of them are online. 

And then once we get up to the leadership and decision makers, we'll bring in that after the prerequisites are completed. We're bringing that online in-person class and we'll bring that from those classes in from the Texas Division of Emergency Management. Second one is no communication interoperability with local response agencies.

(23:43 - 24:01)
My recommendation is to coordinate with local response agencies for all our campuses and develop an interoperability communication plan. And this has to do with radio communications. Whether we have to meet in the command posts, share radios, whatever it is, we have to have a plan to go forward for incidents.

(24:04 - 24:44)
Next tab is the emergency management tab. A key area for improvement here. We have no hazard mitigation plan. 

We answer no, but we are currently participating in the Harris County update, the 2025 Harris County update. So we're one of 44 volunteer participants of the jurisdictions in the county participating. So there's other cities and there's other school districts that are participating, which is good because if we we're going to work with our campus community for some input on some mitigation projects, and we will be eligible for mitigation grants as soon as FEMA approves the plan, the county plan.

(24:46 - 25:06)
So right now we're just in the planning process for that. Another key area for improvement is no bleeding control stations. I would like to purchase stop the bleed kits and put in every AED station and then have maybe another stash for the performing arts center and the arena where we have large crowds.

(25:08 - 25:18)
Next one is the facilities tabs. No risk assessments for the sports arena. We will be conducting a facility threat assessments for performing arts center and for the arena.

(25:19 - 25:42)
There is no event action plans utilizing incident command system to manage larger events. And my recommendation is to create those event action plans or incident action plans and work with the coordinate with other school districts when they bring in those basketball tournaments or other events like at graduations. So we will be standing up probably a command center or EOC for those events.

(25:42 - 26:03)
Also, under the business continuity tab recommendation is to develop continuity of operation plans for each department. So this is important for each department to have a plan. So just in case their facility is destroyed in the disaster, you have an alternate location so you can continue services.

(26:03 - 26:23)
So these plans are important. Under the policies tabs, again, we're going to create a policy for training and exercises in that multiyear plan for students and staff. Next one is no policy for notification next to kin.

(26:23 - 26:45)
This is in case there's a death on campus or if there is a missing person. There's no policy for that. So we're going to create a policy and also for larger incidents where we have multiple patients or casualties, we need to have a family assistance center plan so we can help families reconnect and get information.

(26:49 - 27:07)
And then no policy in place regarding media relations. We do have procedures in our emergency response plans for media relations, but I like to create a policy and work with marketing and public affairs to create a crisis communication plan. The third component is the section that we have to submit to the state.

(27:08 - 27:20)
The junior college audit report consists of sections of the self-assessment. We have already completed that. It's due September 13th, and we're going to submit that tomorrow, actually.

(27:22 - 27:52)
I'm required to print out the report, submit it to the state, have President Villanueva sign it, and then keep it on file for record. So the same results for the junior college audit report that we mentioned before, not all key response are trained in incident command system. We're going to bring in that training, and then the safety and security drills are not conducted in all facilities, and we're going to schedule drills for all facilities.

(27:53 - 28:10)
Key accomplishments in this report is we do have an operation plan developed and in place, which is required by 86 legislature. So we do have that plan. It's updated every year and submitted to the state, and they give us the okay.

(28:10 - 28:36)
It's good to go. Another one is the safety committee participation in this audit. So the safety committee members, before I came to the college, they did a lot of work for this assessment, and I'd like to thank Amanda Summers and Woody Crawford for getting the team together and completing all the facility assessments and getting everything ready for this report to be submitted.

(28:37 - 28:54)
And then my last slide is just an update of current projects that we have in progress. So the exterior building number signs should be able to finish by this week. We have a company to come finish the building numbers, the exterior building numbers.

(28:55 - 29:14)
Evacuation chairs, we have 11 chairs in our buildings with more than one floor. And I spoke to the city of Baytown fire marshal, and he says you have one for every floor in your multistory buildings, and he says that is great. He gave us kudos for that.

(29:14 - 29:32)
He says that's more than what he usually sees. So that's really good, but we still would like to get more for the ATC and the arena because just of the distance of the stairways, we'd like to get a couple more. Building evacuation maps, that project is almost completed for all our facilities.

(29:33 - 29:46)
It should be completed by the end of the month. The exterior door identification labels, that one should also be completed by the end of the month. And every door is labeled for first responders, for security.

(29:47 - 30:01)
It has the building number and a dash and the actual number of the door. It starts in the front and goes clockwise all the way around. Our surveillance camera system, we had our consultants conduct an assessment of our current system.

(30:01 - 30:23)
It needs an upgrade. The good thing is we can use many of our PTC cameras, and they can be repurposed and reprogrammed, so we don't have to purchase new cameras there. We do have to purchase additional cameras so we can cover some blind spots, and I know Chief Williams is interested in purchasing the radar and the license plate readers also.

(30:25 - 30:57)
DNA fusion door locks, still working on that project. IT is in charge of that project, and that's for exterior threats, for security, to press that button to close all and lock all of our facilities all at once. Our bullet-resistant glass film, we've completed two phases of this project, and these are highly visible areas with a lot of traffic, and what this does is it just gives people that extra time that they need before law enforcement comes and arrives.

(30:58 - 31:31)
So that student center, Rundell Hall, places inside the building where there's no exit, another exit, and you're trapped. So we're going to continue with this project and with phase three and other facilities. The Narcan kits, those have been placed above all AEDs, and that's important now because the rise of, especially the fentanyl overdoses, this will definitely assist with rescuing those individuals who overdose on that and painkillers.

(31:33 - 31:46)
And so we have that in place, and we're going to implement some training there too. And then of course, last one, our emergency response plan flyers, we have them distributed all across campus. We're working on trying to create some cards also.

(31:47 - 32:05)
It's just a quick guide of all our procedures, emergency procedures, and what we do for each hazard. And that's my report. Thank you. 

Any questions? Any questions? No, but very thorough, and thank you very much. Yeah, that's great. Very thorough. 

That was great. Thank you. Yeah, thank you.

(32:05 - 32:32)
I do have a question if we have, no one else has one. Are you feeling that you're sufficiently funded to complete the initiatives that you've recommended? I know it's not only your department, but it looks like a couple of other departments are involved. Right, so a lot of the training and exercises, that's going to be just my time in the training, so that's not going to be any cost.

(32:33 - 33:27)
A lot of the other building number signs, or the stairwell number signs, that might be some cost facilities. Of course, the camera, we're getting our proposals next week for the camera system, but we try to do everything as cost-efficiently as possible, and whatever trainings that we have, it should be low cost on that. And the other question was, and it may not be a question that you can answer immediately, but if we are required to report this every three years, do we have any items that were left over from the last report that are incorporated into this report, so that there's a seamless transition between the two assessments over the six years? I believe that was the first report.

(33:27 - 33:36)
This is the first? Yes. Okay. Hopefully, by the next time we have to report, we'll have a lot of these issues covered, and we can see the improvements.

(33:37 - 33:44)
Thank you so very much. You're welcome. And welcome to Lake College.

(33:44 - 33:53)
Within a month of being here, what happens? We give them a hurricane barrel. Full baptism by fire. Okay.

(33:53 - 34:25)
Well, we are now ready for our financial report. Annette Ferguson, our Vice President of Finance and Administration. Okay.

(34:26 - 34:39)
Thank you. Board, the financial results that we'll be looking at tonight are through July 31st. This is the 11th month of our fiscal year.

(34:39 - 34:53)
We're almost done. Cash remains strong. We are able to sufficiently fund our operations, and so that remains very strong.

(34:53 - 35:32)
And in answer to your question, Regent Fontenot, we do take safety very serious in putting together our budget, and so if there is a safety need that for whatever reason was not included in our budget, we will certainly work to find the funds to make sure that it happens. Thank you. Looking at revenue, tuition, and fees, we've been talking about this for a while, so it does look like we're going to be a little bit below what we had budgeted, but we have other overages that take care of that, so we're not overly concerned.

(35:32 - 35:56)
State appropriations, when they tell me what the number is, I can usually budget it pretty accurately, so we're good there. Our taxes, we are over what we had initially budgeted. About half of the $2 million is coming from revenue and loan tax, and the other amount is coming from our M&O tax amounts.

(35:58 - 36:41)
Other revenue, we may be a little bit short in the other, but again, our interest income is well above what we had originally planned, and so overall we will be fine. Our restricted funds, this shows we have about $800,000 that we need to pull down, and we will do that before the end of the fiscal year to balance out all of these grants. Looking at revenue versus our projected actual, again, we are projecting that we'll be a little bit below on tuition and fees.

(36:41 - 37:11)
We will be a little bit above on taxes and then a little bit above on other as well. Our projected net revenue, right now we're projecting that we will have an operating surplus. Our expenses were about 92% of our fiscal year, and so when you look at the breakdown, we are right in line with our budget.

(37:11 - 37:27)
Salaries are a little bit higher and operating expenses a little bit lower. The reason for the change in the percentage is not that salaries and benefits are above what we had budgeted. It's just the mix of everything.

(37:30 - 37:53)
Monthly, debt service looks a little whoppy, but that will even out in August. The payment got posted in July, but it was actually budgeted to happen in August, so that's the reason that that looks out of whack. Operating costs, salary and benefits are lower than what we had budgeted for the month.

(37:56 - 38:26)
Looking year-to-date, again, the reason debt service looks to be over is just a timing issue, and that will even out in August. Operating costs and salary and benefits, we are still under budget. And then, again, looking out to year-to-date projections, we are showing to be under on salary and benefits and operating costs compared to our budget.

(38:26 - 38:52)
And that is it in a nutshell, unless you all have any specific questions for me. Ned, do we have any update on our delinquent tax reporting? Yes. He has submitted a report, and he's included some new reports that I think make a lot of sense.

(38:52 - 39:10)
And my plan is to invite him to the September board meeting and just allow him to present to you guys. Thank you very much. Gilbert, did you have a question? Did I say something? No.

(39:11 - 39:17)
I thought you were about to. All right. Thank you, Annette.

(39:17 - 39:33)
We really do appreciate your report, and we appreciate the good news, more importantly. Okay. The next item is presentation and discussion of proposed 2025 tax levy.

(39:35 - 40:16)
So that would be me again. So, you know, we adopted the budget in July, and when we adopted that budget, it was based on information we had at the time and keeping the rate at the 2101. Since that time, we have received certified values from Chambers County, and we have received updated estimates from Harris County.

(40:16 - 40:41)
We still do not have certified values from Harris County, and typically we get those around the end of August. Sometimes it's the first of September. So all of these numbers are based on the latest estimate that we have from Harris County and the certified values that we have from Chambers County.

(40:43 - 41:17)
When we look at what our rate has done on here, we just left it at 2101 as our proposed rate. Looking at the comparison of how we match with other community colleges and how we match with other schools in the Gulf Coast, nothing's really changed. We're still number seven out of nine.

(41:23 - 41:36)
When you say seven out of nine, we're on the high side, right? Okay, I see it. Right here, yep. Yeah, but we'd have to make a significant adjustment to even get to number six.

(41:36 - 41:49)
So we're going to be there for a while. And number eight is going to have to make some adjustments to get down to knock us out. Not going to happen.

(41:49 - 41:56)
We're firmly in seventh place. We're a solid seven on this. Solid seven, that's it.

(41:57 - 42:17)
Okay, so looking at our tax valuations, again, as I said, the valuations that we have from Harris County are still estimated. They are updated estimated, but they're still estimated. And then Chambers, we have certified.

(42:17 - 42:52)
When we put together our initial budget, the original estimates that we had from both Harris County and Chambers County were about $856 million less than what those values are today. So you can see the majority of that change came from Chambers County, and there was very little change in Harris County based on the two estimates. We're still waiting on certified.

(42:54 - 44:04)
If we look at the rates based on the estimated values that we have, we've estimated the no new revenue rate to be 20.48. We know our current rate is 21.01, and the rate that would require voter approval would be 21.84. So our current rate is above the no new revenue rate but below the voter approval rate. If you look at what that means to a homeowner, staying with our current rate, if your home is valued at $100,000, your tax would be $210. If we were to lower the rate to the no new revenue rate, your tax would be $204 a year, which would be a reduction of $5.30 a year.

(44:05 - 44:58)
And if we were to lower our tax rate by a penny, that would lower your tax to $200.10, which would be a $10 reduction for the year. And so that would be $10 for every $100,000 of your home valuation. If we look at what we've done with our tax rate in the past years, you can see for the last 10 years we've made adjustments, and overall we've reduced our rate by 19.41%. And if you look at what we've done in the last five years, we've reduced our rate 8.69% in the last five years.

(45:02 - 46:00)
So what does all this mean? Well, when we put together our budget, again based on the numbers that we had, we estimated tax revenue to be $42,290,000. If we were to leave our rate at $21.01, based on the new valuations that we have, it would generate an additional $1.8 million above what we already have in the budget. If we were to adopt the no new revenue rate, which is 20.48, it would generate an additional $688,000 in tax revenue above what we have in the current budget.

(46:03 - 46:42)
If we were to lower the rate, let's say by a penny, we would need to reduce our budget by $300,000. So when we look at that side-by-side, initially we just made the change on repairs and maintenance. So the first column, column B, that was the budget that we adopted in July.

(46:45 - 47:21)
So if we go with the current rate, then that would increase our budget, as I said, by about $1.8 million. If we lower the rate by a penny, then we would have to decrease our overall budget by about $300,000. And if we were to adopt the no new revenue rate, then that would increase our budget again by about $668,000.

(47:27 - 47:53)
And so that is the numbers. Annette's looking at me, and she's now inserting that I speak, and I will do so. So first, I would like to say that the administration is grateful to the board for being wonderful stewards of the community's tax monies.

(47:54 - 48:17)
We would respectfully ask that the board consider keeping the tax rate flat this year. What we are looking at is, with the $1.8 million that would be left over, is looking at improving safety and emergency operations as well as electrical infrastructure. It's very timely that Tom is here with us.

(48:17 - 48:39)
It's very timely that Hurricane Beryl hit us. And so we are looking at things like wanting to rewire from the substation level down so that we are centralizing how power comes into the college altogether. We have a number of generators, and we'd like to present the building committee with all of the specs on those generators.

(48:39 - 48:58)
Those are going to be very costly, and we have a need to purchase a number of new generators. And finally, we'd like to adequately fund our self-insurance fund by adding an extra half a million there so we can be level. So that is our proposal for the $1.8 million and our request to keep the tax rate flat.

(49:05 - 49:21)
Comments? I have some. Yeah, of course. We presented a balanced budget last year and the year before and the year before for the last five or six years, and each one of those budgets has had a substantial surplus.

(49:23 - 49:56)
And this year is $9.7 million, which by quick calculation is over four cents on the tax rate. Now that tells me as a businessman that we have structurally built in surpluses so that if we kept our no new tax revenue rate, we still have a substantial surplus built into the budget. Now, we've lived in a time past where we had structural deficits, and we saw where that got us, and I don't want to go there.

(49:57 - 50:39)
But to see these types of surpluses year after year, when at the beginning of the year we're saying we can't cut the tax rate or we can only do this or do that, and then we end up with a substantial surplus for the last five, maybe six consecutive years, I step back and say maybe we are taxing too much. And I think this year is an indicator. We didn't change the tax, well, we only changed it a small amount last year.

(50:39 - 51:01)
And my position is with this substantial, what would the tax, if we took the surplus this year and divided by, what are we collecting per penny, 2.1 million, 2.2? Roughly. Which one, 2.2? 2.1, whatever. That's about four and a half cents.

(51:04 - 51:36)
I cannot support leaving the tax rate this high when we continually have surpluses, and we've justified the use of that with extra spending. And even with all of that extra spending that we've done, we still have a $9.7 million surplus just this year, which would completely inadequately cover, I would guess, a lot of the infrastructure things that you just mentioned. We, I cannot support continually overtaxing.

(51:36 - 51:40)
I'm not saying we would misspend anything. We've saved it. We've used it efficiently.

(51:41 - 51:55)
But I think we're overtaxing our citizens. It seems like a deja vu conversation every year. And I was right last year.

(51:55 - 52:13)
I believe what we talked about is that the five or six years you talk about are what put $25 million into our cash reserve. Couldn't have done it without excess revenue. It also has put over $20 million into our facilities, which we've not had a GO bond election for 11 years.

(52:13 - 52:29)
So without that excess revenue, we would not have been able to take care of the facilities the way we have the last five or six years. So as you stated about overtaxing, I agree what it looks like. But what I've always said is the taxpayer's money is being put to good use.

(52:30 - 52:43)
It's not funding the general fund. It's funding very specific needs that the college has. One was a financial need, which we've met, and we've gotten to our cash reserve for our policy.

(52:43 - 53:11)
And, you know, we're in great shape financially because of the excess revenue over the last five or six years. Our insurance fund has benefited from that excess revenue, and our facilities have benefited. Now, I do agree that when we're looking at a $9.7 million deficit and we have, I mean, excess revenue, that if we have $1.8 million worth of needs, that we should be able to take care of those needs.

(53:11 - 53:32)
So I'm not disagreeing with the comment of right now, but I'm somewhat disagreeing comparing the last five or six years to overtaxation because those funds were needed. We may not have called them what they were, but they did benefit the taxpayers in this institution. So, you know, I'm interested in having a conversation about the current tax rate.

(53:32 - 54:16)
I don't know what the plan – Annette, can I ask you that all the facilities, expenses that we discussed at our building committee meeting, are those in this year's budget and part – and we still have $9.7 million forecasted excess revenue? Because we talked about several big projects that I thought we were funding with this year's money, this year's budget. Is that – We are – there's a little over a million, there's probably like a million-five that's still remaining from the repairs and maintenance budget that would be part of that nine. It would come out of that nine or it would – we still have $9.7? It's part of the nine.

(54:17 - 54:57)
So if we spent that, then we don't have $9.7? Because what I would probably do, and it's premature to do that because I don't know the exact number, but when the time comes to come to you and say this is exactly what our surplus is, I would be asking you to carve out that amount that was designated for facilities so that it could continue to be used for facilities. It just didn't get used in the fiscal year? That's correct. Because of timing, right? That's correct.

(54:57 - 55:17)
Yeah, and that's the difficult part about a fiscal budget is sometimes things don't fall into that year and you carry over. So yeah, I'm not arguing the $9.7 or whatever millions are left over, but I still think that the last five or six years of comparisons is not accurate to what we're looking at today. I think we needed that money.

(55:17 - 55:34)
We used it wisely. We can say where every single dollar went to that was excess revenue, and I've always felt very comfortable about stewardship of those funds for our taxpayers. But I am going to be interested in the conversation about the current year's tax budget.

(55:35 - 56:11)
I would also just really quickly add that the administration with the excess funds is very interested in looking at and working with the building committee and the board to look at other capital improvements. We have a couple of buildings, 909 Decker and Huddle, that are in dire need of, as advised by back in 2018, demolition at this point. And so just one of those things that we've talked about that would be beneficial to the college as we look at our aging infrastructure and buildings.

(56:11 - 56:41)
Also in that report from 2018, was it not correct that there were nine or ten buildings that there were some grave concerns about that needed to be addressed that we have not yet addressed? So I feel like we went for a number of years and didn't spend money on the buildings like we needed to because there was not sufficient funds, but we do have some now, and we're addressing that strategically every time we meet. I don't think we have excess funds. I think we have funds that have not been appointed yet.

(56:42 - 57:01)
But that report back in 2018, that indicated we need to do a bond, right? And that's the right way to fix the huge projects that you're referring to versus forcing it on the taxpayers. Well, forcing it on the taxpayers, M&O, not the INS. They get a chance to vote on the bond.

(57:01 - 57:06)
They get a chance to vote on the bond. They get to vote on whether we repair our facilities. That's right.

(57:06 - 57:38)
And I think that what we've done in lieu of the fact that we were leading up to a Facilities Master Plan process and then preparing for a GEO bond and then COVID came and everything got pushed aside, we've still been maintaining our facilities throughout all that, and we've used the M&O side to do it. We've used excess revenue on the M&O side to do it. And so I feel like we're still taking care of the taxpayers' buildings.

(57:39 - 57:48)
I mean, I don't think any taxpayer would vote to not support what we've done in building maintenance and improvements. We're not tearing down big buildings. We're not building new buildings.

(57:49 - 57:59)
We're not building parking garages. We're not doing that kind of stuff. We're doing big deferred maintenance items, end-of-life type issues that should have been handled years ago.

(57:59 - 58:12)
And that's why I think we've been doing the best we can with the money we have. And the money we have is the M&O side. And we've still reduced our tax rate over the last five or six years by the percentage that Annette mentioned.

(58:12 - 58:21)
So throughout all that, we've reduced the tax rate more than the other taxing entities in our area. We've put money into facilities. We've put $25 million into our reserve.

(58:22 - 58:30)
I don't really understand what the problem's been. But we're still higher than the average in our area for taxes. It has been for years.

(58:30 - 58:37)
The average what? We're number seven in the nine. So we're not going to get to any below that. I understand.

(58:38 - 58:41)
But we are taxing our people. You'd have to annex another ISD to do that. Yeah, we are taxing our people.

(58:42 - 58:47)
Okay. I think that Gina would like to speak. No, he was talking.

(58:47 - 58:54)
I just told Mark Hall that he couldn't talk again until I talked. They'll keep going back and forth. We have an agreement.

(58:55 - 59:10)
We have an agreement. Cut us off. No, I just want to say that I think this is a very nice conversation to be having, because when Gilbert and I joined this board, we were broke.

(59:12 - 59:27)
But over the last seven years, though, to be able to have conversations about finances to where we get to make decisions, we have all of these options. And it is a reoccurring theme. It keeps happening time and time again.

(59:27 - 59:35)
And I think stewardship is the word. We've put some things in place. We've got some good people in place that are doing an amazing job.

(59:35 - 59:51)
And so we do have the funding, and we have successfully met the needs. We are always going to have needs, you know, our infrastructure, our buildings, all of that. But I almost hate to say this out loud, but I agree with you.

(59:52 - 59:57)
Say that again. I agree. I do believe.

(59:57 - 1:00:22)
I do believe that we have, and I probably said this maybe last year or a year before, that we have enough funding, and I don't consider it to be excess, because that's money that you can put aside that you don't need for anything. This is not money that we're putting aside that we don't need. We need it, and I believe that we can do something on our tax rate and still contribute to our buildings.

(1:00:22 - 1:00:30)
So I believe we can have the best of both worlds, and we've been in a position to be able to do that over the years. I agree. We've done both.

(1:00:31 - 1:00:35)
Absolutely. We've lowered the tax rate and still taking care of it. It's still doing good, yeah.

(1:00:35 - 1:00:47)
It's a balance, yeah. I mean, the valuations have gone up to offset the tax rate reduction. I would prefer us to stay at the no new revenue rate is where I would like to be.

(1:00:48 - 1:01:01)
Well, that's not a decision we have to make right now, but I think we've had a healthy discussion around it. And I would propose $0.02. When that time comes. Yeah, when that time comes.

(1:01:01 - 1:01:19)
That would get us at $0.19. Well, we're all across the board here. We've got the low end to the high end. Hey, it's been fun.

(1:01:21 - 1:01:30)
I like these conversations. I think we're, like Gina said, we've had the best of both worlds for a while. It's a good problem to have given where the college has been.

(1:01:34 - 1:01:38)
All right. Thank you. Thank you for healthy comments.

(1:01:39 - 1:01:52)
Now we're ready to move on to the public comment. Madam Chair, we have Dr. Georgian Ward, who has signed up to speak. Thank you.

(1:01:56 - 1:02:15)
Good evening. As mentioned earlier, I am an English and humanities faculty and also the incoming president of the faculty assembly. So tonight I'm here on behalf of the assembly to share a statement of appreciation.

(1:02:16 - 1:02:41)
The Lee College Faculty Assembly appreciates our safety and security team, facilities team, and the other essential employees for their hard work in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl this summer. We also extend our deepest gratitude to the Lee College Board of Regents for compensating essential employees on duty during the closure and all eligible employees for hours missed due to the closure. Thank you.

(1:02:42 - 1:02:48)
Thank you very much. Was there anyone else? David. Thank you.

(1:02:48 - 1:02:57)
Okay. Now we are ready to move into personnel. First item on the consent is the consent agenda.

(1:02:58 - 1:03:10)
Pull it up here. The administration recommends that the board approve the new hires as presented in our packet. Second.

(1:03:11 - 1:03:22)
Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Do we have any questions? Hearing or seeing none, all in favor vote by saying aye.

(1:03:22 - 1:03:28)
Aye. All opposed? Ayes have it. Next item.

(1:03:30 - 1:03:47)
Click to it. Consideration of approval of RFS sports to perform basketball and volleyball locker room renovations at the sports arena and wellness center. I'm sorry.

(1:03:50 - 1:03:54)
Okay. Yes. We're ready to move into new business.

(1:03:54 - 1:04:33)
Our first item under new business is consideration of agreement with Southern California News Group slash add taxi for digital services. And the agenda item reads. The administration recommends that the board authorize the president or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve RFP 2024-RFP-003 digital advertising services with Southern California News Group slash add taxi.

(1:04:34 - 1:04:39)
Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second. Okay.

(1:04:40 - 1:04:44)
We've got Regent Hemsel and Regent Geralds. Okay. Discussion.

(1:04:45 - 1:05:08)
I have a question. How much of this, does the expenditure here, I see a lot of our ads on YouTube and stuff, you know, all over media. How much of this $271,000 is a pass-through cost for our supplier? Are we paying additional? I have no idea, but I know that we're adding.

(1:05:08 - 1:05:26)
I figured somebody did. Who oversees the area. Or is this like a total budget and then they're putting a management fee on top of whatever we're spending on our social media accounts and other kinds of things? Do you understand my question? Okay.

(1:05:27 - 1:05:34)
Direct costs and overhead costs for them. Good evening. Thank you for your question.

(1:05:34 - 1:05:49)
So that is a total cost. So there's no additional cost for a percentage of like their costs that they would pass on to us. So it's a 15% management fee that we pay them out of the $270,000.

(1:05:50 - 1:06:10)
So they're spending $245,000 on media buys and ads and on social media, all of those things, and then, okay. Which averages out to around $20,000 a month. So that's a set amount regardless of whoever's bidding on it.

(1:06:13 - 1:06:23)
We're guaranteed that they're going to spend those dollars in the media markets that are chosen, I guess, by you guys. Yes, sir. In our service area.

(1:06:23 - 1:06:31)
Right. And it fluctuates throughout the year. We don't spend the same amount throughout the entire year.

(1:06:31 - 1:06:36)
I'm sure at the beginning of the semester, or right before, you want to kick off. Exactly. Right.

(1:06:36 - 1:07:07)
The promotion. So you get a report that shows what they're spending that $240,000? We have a dashboard that shows, we can look at it 24 hours a day, that shows exactly what's been spent where and how much performance that spend has created. Do we survey students to say, you know, how did you find out or what prompted you to register? I'm assuming that's what you're trying to drive, registration, for the most part.

(1:07:08 - 1:07:12)
Right. The digital marketing is an enrollment driver. That's its entire purpose.

(1:07:12 - 1:07:44)
Primary driver. Yeah. So how do you discern, how do you know what you're getting directly from the expenditures? So our job is to get people to the water and then we wait for them to drink, right? And that's where enrollment services picks up the enrollment funnel, right? So what we do is we have a pixel, we have a tiny computer program that's embedded into our website on a specific page that everything funnels to.

(1:07:45 - 1:08:06)
So that would be leta.edu forward slash apply. So with that pixel, Adtaxi and us can both look at who's coming, what their IP address is, how long they spend on the site. When you go to our website and it says you have to accept cookies or if you'd like to, that's exactly why.

(1:08:06 - 1:08:35)
It's because one of the things that we do with that information is we find out who's coming, where they are, and how long they spend and what they do while they're on our site. So that way that we can take that information and go back and tweak the digital marketing so that it has the highest performance. So if I get mindlessly trapped in a YouTube Shorts cycle and the Lee College ads are popping up... Don't click on it, that costs us money.

(1:08:35 - 1:08:53)
Oh! Remember that. Okay, so it's a pay-per-click. But then when someone clicks on it, we know exactly what... Yes, so when they click on it, it will take us to the apply page and then that will tell us all the information that I just told you.

(1:08:54 - 1:09:11)
Okay. Interesting. So if we pay by the click or whatever, how do we get... How is the 270 a fixed number or 271 if we don't know what's going to actually happen or how they're going to use it? Well, it's up to $270,000.

(1:09:11 - 1:09:44)
So we adjust based on the cost per click. So we tell them that we have this much money to spend on each platform and once they get to that level, then it turns off. So we determine the 271 number or whatever? Or are we... How do they bid 271 and then we have to back into that as they spend the money based on clicks? Or how does that... I'm not sure I understand.

(1:09:45 - 1:10:14)
So each month, let's say the $20,000 each month is divided among 18... Not 18, eight different channels like Google Ads, Facebook Ads. These are all paid ads, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, streaming services like Hulu and YouTube. So all of the different platforms that we pay them to access for us, those are proportioned out how much money we have to spend that particular month.

(1:10:15 - 1:10:34)
So we're not going to... Just as we were saying, in May, June, July, and August, we're going to ramp up our spend and so we would communicate that with them. But then in September, October, November, we're going to ramp down. So those costs per clicks would go down.

(1:10:34 - 1:10:47)
We wouldn't spend the same amount of money each month. Does that answer your question? Yes, it does. It would be interesting if you could do a presentation to us sometime and show us that portal, that dashboard, and maybe we can see... Sure.

(1:10:47 - 1:10:54)
Kind of get an idea where it's all coming from and how it works. I'd love for you to know what we do. I would like to see that either as a group or individually.

(1:10:56 - 1:11:19)
I noticed on the scorecard, it's not totaled. Did I miss something or am I not understanding it? The scorecard that we were given? The total score for each one of those? That's what I'm not exactly sure about, about the scorecard, the procurement scorecard. He's going to pull it up.

(1:11:19 - 1:11:38)
He's pulling it up now. That's the scorecard. And I'm sure when we started this company four years ago, we were new and maybe things weren't developed.

(1:11:39 - 1:11:55)
But nowadays, this is routine, common business, and a lot of folks do this. And maybe we do have the opportunity to use some local folks. So I hope that we would give them a good opportunity to keep that money locally.

(1:11:55 - 1:12:05)
So, yeah, go ahead. You got it. Well, the total score column, I don't see anything in there.

(1:12:05 - 1:12:28)
Am I missing something? I assume that would be totaled across. How do we pick them? They had the highest scores across the board. This represents one person, a second person, a third person, and a fourth person who's evaluating on each criteria.

(1:12:29 - 1:12:41)
So cost, vendor experience, proposed solution, and personnel. So if Brian's on the committee, he's evaluating. If you're on the committee, that's you, Mark, the other Mark, and there's Gina.

(1:12:41 - 1:12:56)
And then it's for every vendor. So there's one, two, three, four, five vendors. And then so to get the total score, what you would do is you would add all four and divide it by four, and that would give you your average score out of 100.

(1:12:57 - 1:13:14)
I guess I took it to be column one was their bid and number two was their experience, number three was their solutions, and four was their personnel. Then we added those up. I didn't realize that was Brian and that was Susie and that was Billy and Bobby.

(1:13:14 - 1:13:24)
Yeah, each row is a person. I can't believe I got left out of that, right? What? Did I get that right? Me too. I don't think that's right.

(1:13:25 - 1:13:33)
Each person that's evaluating. You better take a good look at that. It's hard to see.

(1:13:34 - 1:13:48)
It's hard to see. Go ahead. Because I'm thinking that Billy, Bob, and Susan or whoever all did one for each, maybe put a vote in one for each one of those.

(1:13:48 - 1:13:58)
This is the team. I would just have thought they would have been the total. For their cost, they got a 98 percentile.

(1:13:59 - 1:14:08)
For their four or five people. I would think the first column cost is their bid, 270, 260, 280, 300. But it's their perception of the cost.

(1:14:09 - 1:14:14)
That's how I understand it. No, that should be the actual bid would be the cost column. Then the experience.

(1:14:15 - 1:14:31)
These folks can write their experience with each of the companies. So Leslie has cleared this up a little bit for us. So these are the total scores from the committee that reviewed the proposals.

(1:14:32 - 1:14:41)
So if you did add them up across, then you would need to divide that by four. Or get the average. To get the total score.

(1:14:41 - 1:14:53)
Because obviously if you add them all the way across, you're going to get a 400 number rather than a 100 number. That's what I just said. What? That's what I understood.

(1:14:53 - 1:15:14)
So if I'm understanding this. Am I missing something? If this is, let's say, for example, collaboration, which was one of the vendors. All the total scores under cost for the four people that were rating their proposal, their RFP.

(1:15:15 - 1:15:34)
The cost was, they achieved 28.33 points. And you would apply that same rationale for each one of those columns. So the number that's represented is the average of the four people in the area that you're actually scoring.

(1:15:36 - 1:15:46)
And each one of those is weighted at a different percentage. I really can't average it, can I? You can't divide it by four. No, you couldn't.

(1:15:47 - 1:16:02)
It's more complicated than we understand. Well, maybe we don't need a maximum score of 100. Maybe it's just the total score, because if you're adding across, you're going to come away with whoever has the highest score would be the person that went.

(1:16:03 - 1:16:14)
The point is of all five companies, Ad Taxi got the highest consistent rate in every category, which is why they were chosen. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

(1:16:15 - 1:16:29)
Did they have the low bid? They have the bid that's consistent with the others. They're all $270,000. They're all the same price? They are, yes, sir.

(1:16:30 - 1:16:39)
Are all the management fees the same? No, sir. I don't understand that. I just want to clarify.

(1:16:39 - 1:16:52)
So we did last year when we approved this same item. The exact same process. It was towards the tail end of the original agreement that had up to five additional years of providing the service.

(1:16:52 - 1:17:12)
And so for the last four or five years, this is the company that Lee College has been using that we've approved. I think last year's agenda item said that these services would need to be re-bid in January of 2025. So this must be the last year of the somewhat services we agreed to in 2020 and the fifth extension of that.

(1:17:12 - 1:17:43)
Not extension, but continuation of it. So you're telling us that they've done a good job for four years, four or five, and that they scored high and they're doing it for the same money as others, but doing it better, in your opinion. But we should probably going out for a full new bid early next year because we're not going to give them the business just because it's an additional year, right? Well, this is what you are just suggesting.

(1:17:43 - 1:17:48)
This was the RFP process. Right. Yes, sir.

(1:17:48 - 1:17:52)
So we didn't do this last year. No, sir. We've done this.

(1:17:52 - 1:17:57)
Right. So we used up our time with that we had in the original agreement. Yes.

(1:17:57 - 1:18:03)
This is the new bid, not in January 25, but now. Yes, sir. And we're doing it now.

(1:18:03 - 1:18:08)
And so they first started in June of 2020. Okay. So this is the bid.

(1:18:09 - 1:18:19)
And these five companies or so, you did the evaluation. You and your team and however you score them. We don't understand it, but you came up with your recommendation on what we should use.

(1:18:19 - 1:18:25)
Cost is about the same for all. But based on your other experience with them, you're recommending them. Yes, sir.

(1:18:26 - 1:18:42)
And maybe next time when we have a chart like this, we could have the prices for everybody. Just why not? Are we voting on a one-year deal? This is the same situation. Is this a one-year deal or not? This is for one year.

(1:18:43 - 1:18:48)
One year. Yes. But we have the opportunity to re-up as we have had in the past.

(1:18:48 - 1:18:51)
But we're only approving 12 months. That's correct. Yes, sir.

(1:18:51 - 1:18:56)
So in a year from now, we're going to be looking at this again. Well, you'll. Not a full R&B.

(1:18:56 - 1:18:59)
Not a full R&B. We'll. Yeah.

(1:18:59 - 1:19:15)
Because this doesn't say for a number of additional years like the original one did. So the way this is presented is we're doing this again next year. There's nothing here that says if we approve this, we have the option for additional years.

(1:19:15 - 1:19:25)
So it's not presented that way. So this is for one year. So we would be doing this bid again next year based on the way it's written.

(1:19:27 - 1:19:40)
It looks like we're not on the same page or something. Let's just be sure we're clear on that. I guess I made the motion, so I can amend it to be sure that this is a 12-month agreement.

(1:19:41 - 1:19:47)
It says in the documentation, campaign flight, 12 months. Is that what that is called? Campaign flight? That's correct. 12 months.

(1:19:49 - 1:20:01)
So each year that we have voted to extend the contract, it's the same thing. We just went out for a comprehensive full bid for this year. Is that right? Yes, ma'am.

(1:20:04 - 1:20:12)
Okay. So we will be looking at this again next year. I do have another question about this year.

(1:20:12 - 1:20:43)
Since we've been doing this for five years, it's a two-part question. Number one, are prices in the marketplace, what we're being charged by Facebook or whatever, are those increasing or decreasing? That's the first question. Based on that, have we adjusted our spend amount or whatever you call it, you know, price per click or whatever? Have we adjusted our budget to track, you know, inflation of prices? Sure.

(1:20:43 - 1:21:17)
Right. So the price per clicks can't really be budgeted because they fluctuate depending on what it is. If it's something that is incredibly popular, like, and this is very specific in the higher ed funnel of enrollment, right? So if something is very popular and in demand, right, like nursing, cybersecurity, we're going to pay more cost per click for that than we would, say, an English major.

(1:21:18 - 1:21:25)
And they determine. They don't determine that. Facebook, Google, Meta, those people determine that.

(1:21:26 - 1:21:38)
And they tell Ad Taxi how much it is. And then we tell them how much we want to spend based on how much those cost per clicks are. So that's why I said don't click on it.

(1:21:40 - 1:21:48)
But has there been, in a general sense, have you seen an increase in the cost per clicks? Yes. Yes. The trend is always upwards.

(1:21:48 - 1:22:01)
Because Google and Meta and Facebook like to make money. I've seen amounts of money. Brian, I think this amount is pretty close to last year's amount.

(1:22:01 - 1:22:16)
I didn't go back and see what we did the prior years, but has it gone up at all each year? Do you recall? Not significantly. This is approximately the same amount that we spent last year. I get last year, but I'm talking about over the five-year period or so.

(1:22:16 - 1:22:28)
Before that. No, we've spent the same amount every year. So this is a good number for us in terms of getting the results that we want to achieve.

(1:22:29 - 1:22:39)
The highest enrollment in the 90-year history. Well, I just want to hear you say that. Yeah, right? Yeah, the performance of this company has been exceptional.

(1:22:40 - 1:22:55)
And had it not been for Hurricane Beryl, I think we would be in the exact same place as we were the last two years. And that is the ultimate criterion that we are looking at. And they also do a lot more than only digital marketing placements.

(1:22:55 - 1:23:18)
They help us with search engine optimization on the organic side. So that when students in our service area look up nursing or whatever program they want to look into, or college. There's a whole host of things that they do on the back end of the web that helps our organic results come up higher on the first page.

(1:23:19 - 1:23:32)
When I first started, you could just type in keywords and make it come up. The algorithm wasn't as sophisticated as it is now. And so they are able to do things that we simply don't have the expertise to do.

(1:23:33 - 1:23:47)
Will that dashboard show geographically where these hits are coming from? Well, we only spend money in our service area. But yes, sir, to your point. I'm excited to see that.

(1:23:48 - 1:24:07)
There's no point in advertising outside our service area because we don't really have a lot of online programs to do that with yet. When an ad pops up and we don't click on it. Are we paying for views? Because I've been in part of a program back in my days where, yeah.

(1:24:08 - 1:24:23)
So if the ad pops up and no one clicks on it, we don't pay anything. Well, that's a good thing. Do I need to modify my motion to confirm that we're talking 12 months? Or is it totally clear? What was your motion? It appears that the way it reads.

(1:24:23 - 1:24:28)
I didn't look back. Yeah, it's 12 months. It says 24, 25.

(1:24:28 - 1:24:32)
So I think we should be good. I'm good then. I would just add one comment.

(1:24:32 - 1:24:37)
Thank you for this terribly informative. Because I'm, you know, losing. Absolutely.

(1:24:37 - 1:24:44)
My pleasure. He's been at home clicking on videos on ads all day. So you'll see a decrease in how much we spend real soon.

(1:24:44 - 1:24:53)
You have his IP address, right? Send him the bill. I'm going to go over and click on one of our competitors. Thank you.

(1:24:53 - 1:24:58)
Yes. Click on Lone Star and HCC. Every time you see them, click on them.

(1:25:00 - 1:25:08)
Thank you very much, Brian. Thank you very much. Are they putting out in our area? Is there a geographical? Are they geofencing us? Yeah.

(1:25:08 - 1:25:13)
Whatever you call it. They could be. I mean, it really wouldn't do them any good.

(1:25:13 - 1:25:20)
Because their students are going to have to pay out of district tuition. So, I mean, that's kind of why we stay in our area. I mean.

(1:25:20 - 1:25:26)
When you say our area, what does that really mean? Our service area. Our service area. You're targeting just our service area.

(1:25:27 - 1:25:35)
That's right. Are we involved in any geofencing? Absolutely. We geofence all the time.

(1:25:35 - 1:26:00)
Right? Where you track individual people that click and you get their. And then if they go over to San Jacinto, do we get a note? We send ads directly to them? Or is there a program like that? I will say that what we do with Ad Taxi is we work in our service area. But we do also have smaller campaigns.

(1:26:01 - 1:26:19)
I think we've exhausted discussion on this. We also do smaller campaigns that we can run in-house. So one of the reasons why this is so critical is because we can't put $20,000 a month on a credit card.

(1:26:20 - 1:26:38)
Which is all that software, I mean, all that these meta and Google take. You can't make a purchase order with Google. So smaller campaigns that spend $3,000 or $4,000 a month for like the foundation or for like a particular program, we can do those in-house.

(1:26:39 - 1:26:47)
But large campaigns like this, we're not able to do that. Do you have a comment? I just have one question. Okay.

(1:26:48 - 1:27:12)
Bids like this, RFPs like this, do they have to do a presentation? So each company that bid, do they have to do a demo so that you can see if they can perform the tasks, say, of the ones that we've been with all this time? Or is it just on paper? It's just on paper. So we send out a formal RFP with everything that we're looking for. It's pretty detailed, I bet.

(1:27:13 - 1:27:16)
Yes, sir. So we just duplicate that a year from now. Okay.

(1:27:18 - 1:27:27)
All right. I think everyone's had an opportunity to weigh in. We've had the motion, and it's time for the vote.

(1:27:27 - 1:27:30)
Thank you. All in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye.

(1:27:31 - 1:27:53)
Any opposed? Same sign. Okay, the ayes have it. Next item, consideration of approval of RFS sports and to perform basketball and volleyball locker room renovations at the sports arena and wellness center.

(1:27:54 - 1:28:25)
And the administration recommends that the board authorize the president or her designee to negotiate final terms and award the basketball and volleyball locker room renovation services to RFS sports for the sum of $109,311.98. I move. Second. Okay, I hear a motion over here with Gilbert and a second by Weston.

(1:28:26 - 1:28:35)
All in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Oh, I missed that.

(1:28:36 - 1:28:41)
We didn't look at the exhibits. That would have been awesome. Well, I just thought you would say any discussion.

(1:28:41 - 1:28:48)
Yes, I missed that. There's pictures of things. Oh, okay.

(1:28:48 - 1:28:59)
For those that didn't get to see it, I think it would be nice if we could see those exhibits. It's going to be awesome, really epic to see what it's going to look like. Kind of can see it.

(1:29:00 - 1:29:03)
Yeah. Those are the locker rooms. Oh, you're right.

(1:29:04 - 1:29:21)
Oh, cool. Okay, we got that look. The next item is the arena consideration.

(1:29:22 - 1:29:31)
Let's see, that was XB2. Did we actually vote on that? Yes, we did. Okay.

(1:29:32 - 1:29:57)
We did. The only thing we didn't do, Judy, was the discussion, but we voted on it. Okay, XB3, consideration of approval of core stone paving and construction to perform overhead brick structure demo and concrete ramp re-slope at 700 West Texas Avenue parking lot.

(1:29:59 - 1:30:13)
And click, click. Are we talking about in that picture, what looks like a carport or something? We're repaving that? That one picture? What it appears, looks like. Yeah, we're taking that down.

(1:30:15 - 1:30:26)
Oh, we're taking the whole thing down? Is that correct? Oh, that's the part we're demoing, the whole building. Okay. Thank you.

(1:30:27 - 1:30:40)
How are we doing? Good. Your turn. We're actually going to be taking down the whole front carport on West Texas, along with the actual apartment building, that small structure right next to the Green Apple.

(1:30:41 - 1:30:50)
And then we'll be taking the actual slope of the concrete to where it's actually drivable. Right now you have to go up the slope and go in. What's the apartment you're talking about? It's not an apartment.

(1:30:50 - 1:30:53)
It's that little tower. Oh, okay. That little tower.

(1:30:53 - 1:30:56)
Yeah. No one's using it to live in or anything. No, sir.

(1:30:59 - 1:31:04)
Any other questions? I don't think you read the motion. She didn't. Yeah, the administration.

(1:31:05 - 1:31:14)
Okay, Mark, give me a chance to call on you, okay? You hopped in there and got me off schedule. We had a motion and a second. No, we didn't.

(1:31:14 - 1:31:20)
We hadn't even read the description yet. We hadn't read the description yet. I'll speak faster, give you a chance to speak.

(1:31:20 - 1:32:00)
The administration recommends that the board authorize the president or designee to negotiate final terms and award the overhead brick structure demo and concrete ramp re-slope services at 700 West Texas Avenue parking lot to Corestone Paving and Construction for the sum of $99,724.20. We do have the details, which included the demolition of the overhead brick structure in the columns. So now we have that. I move to approve.

(1:32:00 - 1:32:15)
Second. We have a motion on the floor and a second. Is there any other discussion? Okay, hearing none, we're ready for the vote.

(1:32:16 - 1:32:21)
All in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you.

(1:32:41 - 1:33:34)
We are ready for item number four in the same category, which is consideration of approval of Corestone Paving and Construction to perform asphalt replacement at 650 West Texas Avenue parking lot. And that is the actual agenda item reads, the administration recommends that the board authorize the president or designee to negotiate final terms and award the asphalt replacement services at 650 West Texas Avenue parking lot to Corestone Paving and Construction, again, for the sum of $111,372.70. Now, do I have a motion? So moved. Second.

(1:33:34 - 1:33:48)
It's been moved and seconded. Okay, is there any discussion? I just have a question because I wasn't at the building committee. This will, everything will be sloped the same, and this will kind of match up to what we're doing right next to it.

(1:33:49 - 1:34:04)
That's exactly what we're doing. We're taking out the asphalt and replacing it with concrete and re-striping that area right around the green apple, and that way it will all actually match up and actually look better and drive better. I like the drive better part.

(1:34:05 - 1:34:13)
Is that your only question? That was my only question. I don't think so. Is it still in operation? Okay, any other? It is.

(1:34:13 - 1:34:24)
These two jobs are going to be worked together, and the slopes and all the grading, and it's going to look like it's one master plan parking lot. Right. We have to do this one if we're doing the first one, really.

(1:34:24 - 1:34:31)
It makes sense. This asphalt parking lot is not the way it needs to be. We're going to re-stripe it all.

(1:34:31 - 1:34:34)
That's part of this. Yeah, they've got to plan all the parking. That is correct.

(1:34:34 - 1:35:05)
Are we gaining parking spaces in this redo? I don't remember that. With the removal of the small building structure, along with the redoing all the concrete in there, we're actually going to pick up one or two different spots and probably a permanent dumpster spot, so it will stop moving around the parking lot, and that will be able to facilitate some of our actions over there. Along with the Green Apple, with the student loft apartments, and then also some of the cosmetology that we're looking at in the future.

(1:35:08 - 1:35:20)
I'll just point out, just like the last one, these two projects are part of the current operating budget we're in right now. Thank you. What's the Green Apple? It's a hair salon.

(1:35:20 - 1:35:26)
A hair salon building that we purchased. Yeah, that's part of cosmetology right now. That's cosmetology.

(1:35:26 - 1:35:49)
So there's one building. Green Apple and cosmetology is the same thing? No, cosmetology is being renovated in the bigger apartment loft building. In the old bookstore that we just had on Texas Avenue? That's the discussion of the 50% that Mr. Santana talked about earlier? The Green Apple salon has been used for cosmetology as well, but not all of cosmetology.

(1:35:49 - 1:35:59)
So, yeah. But it was a salon. Does that answer your question, Mark? That's not the Lee College building designation.

(1:35:59 - 1:36:04)
Is it Green Apple? No. It's just cosmetology. It's what we still consider it as, is the Green Apple.

(1:36:04 - 1:36:08)
That's what it used to be. It's an identifier for the building. Correct.

(1:36:09 - 1:36:16)
OK, all in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you.

(1:36:17 - 1:36:59)
Item number five in this section, consideration of approval of Construction Masters of Houston, Inc. to perform renovation at Tucker Hall. The administration recommends that the board authorize the president or her designee to negotiate final terms and award the Tucker Hall renovation services to Construction Masters of Houston, Inc. 

for the sum of $213,880.86. And do I hear a motion? So moved. Second. Moved and second.

(1:36:59 - 1:37:05)
OK. Beautiful pictures on this. Can't wait for the rendering, rendition of it.

(1:37:05 - 1:37:21)
The renderings look great. Is it question time? Yeah. So the conference room will be bigger or no? The conference room will not change in size, but it will change in functionality.

(1:37:22 - 1:37:35)
Does that make sense? You're absolutely correct. It will not change in size. One of the things we are doing, we're redoing the millwork to actually incorporate the refrigerator and the food warmer so that you actually have more movability around the room.

(1:37:35 - 1:37:51)
The conference table is going slightly smaller, but it will still accommodate 25 persons with space on both sides of the actual table so that you don't have to move half the people out just to go to the bathroom. Because right now there's very tight space if you're on your right. Yes.

(1:37:52 - 1:37:56)
We're not moving walls in there. No. Yeah, none of that kind of renovation.

(1:37:57 - 1:38:10)
We are getting larger TVs, 80 inches each. These? Correct. No HVAC work or anything like that? HVAC work was done not too long ago.

(1:38:10 - 1:38:17)
Correct. Yeah. What other mechanical systems in here are part of this scope work? I don't remember exactly.

(1:38:17 - 1:38:26)
The biggest parts in here were, of course, the IT. We're doing all the lighting, LED. The diocese is going to be completely replaced.

(1:38:26 - 1:38:40)
The boardroom is going to be updated and the table is going to be done. All the chairs that you're sitting in, which will be the next agenda item, is actually going to be through FMG. We're using that to actually replace all the chairs and the conference table.

(1:38:41 - 1:38:50)
The room is going to be completely redone. All the seating? All the stadium seating. Same capacity of seating? Correct.

(1:38:52 - 1:39:12)
Stages staying the same? We're going to stage? Stage for the most part will stay the same except for the diocese. We're going to actually update it, bring it to a nicer look and actually complete the paint, carpet, tiling, lobby area. It's going to be quite a bit of work that's going on in here for about a month and a half, two months.

(1:39:13 - 1:39:23)
Restrooms? Restrooms are getting done to ADA's fashion. We're redoing all the partitions and the millwork. The Dye is going to have the technology built into it.

(1:39:23 - 1:39:33)
Will we still have these on the table? That's a Carolyn Lightfoot question. I'm still trying to get with her on that, on the actual IT, because there is some issues. If she wanted to put some other items, we're still discussing that part.

(1:39:34 - 1:39:45)
This is just the main actual construction. Are we designing this to be a teaching room also? We're designing it just as it is right now. We're just bringing it up to date.

(1:39:45 - 1:40:01)
Does it need anything additional to be a teaching room if we wanted to have a class in here? Just so you know, we are bringing in a brand-new lectern, the same one that we're going to be putting around the college. It's going to be a more up-to-date, modern lectern that's actually going to be here. We're updating the podiums.

(1:40:02 - 1:40:09)
It will be able still to have class in here as they have in the past. And with bigger screens, I'm sure so. Exactly.

(1:40:10 - 1:40:18)
Microphone. We're getting rid of the projector that doesn't work up in the ceiling and along with the screen. What about the clock? We're going to keep a clock.

(1:40:19 - 1:40:31)
At the same time. Micro-managing, micro-managing. It's all good. 

I'm used to it. Well, you have answers. Thank you very much.

(1:40:31 - 1:40:42)
Any other questions? None. I just also want to make a point. These are part of the projects that are still in this current operating budget that are coming in at the end of the fiscal year.

(1:40:43 - 1:40:53)
Thank you. Gilbert, did you say you wanted a bigger picture also? I wanted a bigger picture on that wall over there. Oh, my gosh.

(1:40:53 - 1:41:00)
Okay, all in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

(1:41:00 - 1:41:09)
Now, don't go too far. We may need you to come on back up. The next item is, let me increase my screen.

(1:41:10 - 1:41:23)
Furniture. Yep. Consideration of award to Furniture Marketing Group, Inc., to perform demolition of existing furniture, fixtures, and equipment, FF&E, and install new FF&E in Tucker Hall.

(1:41:24 - 1:41:55)
So the administration recommends that the board authorize the president or designee to negotiate final terms and award the demolition of existing FF&E and the installation of new FF&E for the Tucker Hall renovation project to Furniture Marketing Group, Inc., for the sum of $135,266.40. Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second. I have a second.

(1:41:55 - 1:42:02)
I have a second. You got that, David? Judy. And Gina.

(1:42:02 - 1:42:10)
Judy. Okay, discussion. That's the chairs.

(1:42:11 - 1:42:25)
That's these chairs, basically. That's the chairs that you're sitting in right now, the chairs that are out here, your conference table, and your chairs inside your conference room. By demolition, I'm assuming they mean removing them? Correct.

(1:42:27 - 1:42:38)
The chairs in there, will there be a smaller chair than what we... That's the same chair that Officer Collette is sitting in at this very moment. Roll her in. No, don't do that.

(1:42:38 - 1:42:41)
I didn't ask for the chair. They were here last meeting. Yeah, they were here.

(1:42:42 - 1:42:51)
And you can sit in them. I was here the morning before the board meeting, last meeting, and I actually brought it into the conference room so everybody could actually sit in it. I mean, a smaller chair in there would be helpful.

(1:42:51 - 1:43:09)
So are these... The table's going to be smaller. Are these chairs out here, are they the student type, like we have now with the desk? They're going to be exactly what we have now, except for ADA compliant. And they'll be... We're working on the colors, the cloth, everything that needs to be done, along with spacing.

(1:43:10 - 1:43:27)
Everything in here will be done in accordance with ADA. If we were building a new room for a classroom, would we put receptacles throughout the area to plug equipment in? We're not doing any plugs. No, if we were, we would do that though, right? I would think so.

(1:43:27 - 1:43:36)
Yeah. Depending on what type of class. If it's just a lectern, then we have the lectern and we have the TVs for the video or whatever we need, plus we have the cameras for the interactive.

(1:43:40 - 1:43:51)
Any other questions? Okay, hearing none, I guess we're ready for the vote. All in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye.

(1:43:51 - 1:44:12)
Opposed? Item seven. Long agenda. Consideration of renewing fiscal year 2024 Lee College employee contract for Bradley-Traz.

(1:44:12 - 1:44:30)
The administration recommends that the board approve renewing a contract for Bradley-Traz Huntsville Center Librarian for the academic year of 2024-2025. Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second.

(1:44:32 - 1:44:51)
Questions, discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Item number eight.

(1:44:52 - 1:45:09)
Consideration of law firm engagement. The administration recommends that the board authorize the president or her designee to engage Fisher Firm for the college. Do I hear a motion? So moved.

(1:45:10 - 1:45:41)
There and there. Okay, any discussion? Mark? How does, yes, how does this complement our current legal change in our legal? The special circumstance? Yes. Yeah, this is a special circumstance and we'll have more information about this during executive session.

(1:45:47 - 1:45:51)
Ms. Gannon, we're from the firm. During executive session. I'm sorry.

(1:45:51 - 1:46:02)
Any questions? Any other questions? Okay, all in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, item number nine.

(1:46:09 - 1:46:45)
Consideration of the acceptance of the vision 2028 annual progress reports and approval of vision 2028 revisions. The administration recommends that the board accept the vision 2028 annual reports on strategic targets, completed objectives, delayed objectives, and new objectives and approve revisions to foundational statements, strategic goals, strategic targets, and measurable objectives. Do I hear a motion? So moved.

(1:46:45 - 1:47:11)
Second. Regent Gena and, and, oh, okay. Any discussion? Thank you, Dr. Walters, for the report that you gave us at last board meeting and now it's time to approve, so we'll call for the vote.

(1:47:11 - 1:47:24)
All in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Item 10.

(1:47:26 - 1:47:44)
Consideration to adopt a resolution for granting tax abatements within reinvestment zones. The administration recommends that the board adopt a resolution establishing guidelines and criteria for granting tax abatements within reinvestment zones. Do I hear a motion? So moved.

(1:47:44 - 1:48:09)
Second. Any discussion? Just clarifying, this just allows us the opportunity to do it, does not commit us to doing it, correct? We're formally saying we would be open to looking at tax abatements. We've done one.

(1:48:09 - 1:48:28)
Yeah, we formally did it and it was very loose. So this allows us to look at, meet the criteria and see whether or not it makes sense for us to participate with a group of other taxing entities or be the only one, right? Correct. And it still has to come back to us before it happens anyway.

(1:48:29 - 1:48:35)
Yeah, the specifics would come to us. This is just saying we're open to doing it. It gives us the ability to do it.

(1:48:36 - 1:49:01)
In most instances, all the other entities that are doing those tax abatements, we all do it at the same time generally, right? Generally. Yeah, because it's usually on ask of the taxing entities on a specific project. We did one with Chambers County and the city of Baytown with NRG not too long ago, basically because the 313 agreement with Goose Creek CISC didn't work.

(1:49:02 - 1:49:11)
So we were the other half of the equation. And it was beneficial to everyone. All in favor, vote by saying aye.

(1:49:11 - 1:49:19)
Aye. Ayes have it. No one opposes, correct? I better ask.

(1:49:20 - 1:49:47)
OK. The next item, item number 11, consideration and review of the 2024 ad valorem tax anticipated collection rate certification. The administration recommends that the board receive and approve the certification of anticipated ad valorem tax collection rate 2024 for Lee College District.

(1:49:48 - 1:49:58)
Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? I'm not sure I understand all this, to be honest with you.

(1:49:59 - 1:50:22)
Is there anyone that could explain what we're doing here real quick? That'd be Annette. Every year, they just calculate what their collection percentage is. And they are required to present that to you for your review and acceptance as to what their collection percentage was for the year.

(1:50:24 - 1:50:33)
So this is something that you do every year. They're just saying they're going to collect 100% of the taxes for us. That's true.

(1:50:33 - 1:50:48)
That's good news. And the delinquent, right? Some of current and delinquent, including penalty and interest. They're going to do all that for us? Well, they don't collect the delinquent.

(1:50:48 - 1:50:53)
That's what the law firm does. But this is included in that report. Yes, sir.

(1:50:55 - 1:51:12)
Do we do a contract with them annually or with Goose Creek for this? Or how does that work? We have an interlocal agreement with them to be our tax assessor collector. That just goes on, keeps going and going. We don't renew that.

(1:51:12 - 1:51:19)
OK. Yes, sir. Because we do not want to try to assess and collect our own taxes.

(1:51:20 - 1:51:24)
Right. Or an ambulance. OK.

(1:51:24 - 1:51:28)
We'll call for the question. All in favor, vote by saying aye. Aye.

(1:51:28 - 1:51:44)
Any opposed? Executive session? Yes. OK. The meeting of the Lake College Board of Regents on the above listed date, which is August the 22nd.

(1:51:45 - 1:52:07)
I have to read this for the board minutes. After proper posting and in accordance with Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code for the specific purposes provided, will now recess from open meeting to closed meeting. No action will be taken while the board is recessed in executive session.

(1:52:25 - 1:52:31)
Very, very cold. You're fine. You don't have to do any more research.

(1:52:31 - 1:52:37)
You're fine. I really don't want to sit down and have to get right back up. Let's see.

(1:52:37 - 1:52:42)
One, two, three, four, five. We've got a quorum. Dabble in session down and dabble in closed.

(1:52:42 - 1:52:51)
It will be concluded by the next meeting. I didn't dabble out. 38.

(1:52:53 - 1:53:18)
OK, the closed meeting has now adjourned, and the board will now reconvene into open meeting. Do we have any matters of future concern? I actually have one. I would like, if we could get a report on the work from home policy pertaining to what departments or positions are still, after COVID, working from home and schedules.

(1:53:19 - 1:53:30)
OK, I'll make sure we get that to Linda. What's that? A request for work from home policy and what positions are still doing that. That's a request by Regent Hemsel.

(1:53:31 - 1:53:36)
Any other? OK, do we have a motion to adjourn? So moved. So moved. And second.

(1:53:38 - 1:53:38)
Meeting adjourned.