Triton Board of Trustees 3-3-14

Triton Board of Trustees

Board Committee of the Whole Audit Committee

Board Retreat

Monday, March 3, 2014, Triton College Board Room A-300

6 and 6:30 pm

Observer: Pauline Koch

Glover “Trace” Johnson and Vanessa Moritz could not attend the Board Retreat, so it was video recorded for them. This first report is about the Board Committee of the Whole Audit Committee. 

Present: Elizabeth Potter, Dr. Patricia Granados, Mark Stephens, Donna Peluso, Glen Stam, and Student Trustee Jamie Marie DePaolo.

Absent: Diane Viverito, (came in at end of audit meeting), Glover “Trace” Johnson and Vanessa Moritz.

Others in the room: Brenda Jones Smith– assistant to Dr. Granados, and another Triton employee – community liaison. Sean Sullivan, Douglas Olson and, of course, the two members of Crowe and Horwath – the auditors.

The observer started observing at 6:18 p.m. (Observer missed the first few minutes of the report.)

Report from Crow and Horwath: There was no difficulty with the audit, and it was right down the middle of the road.  It was transparent, and there was no disagreement with management reports.

Report from Christine at Crow and Horwath: A system transition took place this year, and audit was done past June 30 for the previous year.  Some changes may not be cost effective, and it is up to Triton to decide which changes to make.

Preliminary recommendation concerning Internal Controls:

Problem: Controls over Information Technology. Formal process not in place to see if criteria for access is met.  This is a management responsibility.

Response from Sean Sullivan: We will establish a security team to review current procedures, especially as related to new employees.

Problem: No response in place to review suspicious activity in computer system.  All users need proper credentials.

Response from Sean Sullivan:  The same protocol is now in place that is used at 20 other colleges to review suspicious activity.

Problem: Appeared excessive number of users had administrative capability.

Response from Sean Sullivan: Will tighten down access to administrators, but not for students. Need to keep easy access for students. Password access parameters will not be tightened but will tighten up access to system.

Problem: Controls over vacation time: As of June 30, vacation time for June had not been requested but had been used. Managers did not have all vacation forms in system until July 14. People did not turn in forms in timely fashion, so it appeared that staff had accumulated over 200 hours of vacation time that is not allowed per policy.  It then appeared in accounting terms that there was an overstatement of liabilities.

Response by Sean Sullivan: This issue can be easily remedied – need supervisors to turn in forms on time.

At this point Sean Sullivan left the room for another meeting, and this meeting was adjourned at 6:30 pm.

This second report covers the Self Evaluation or Board Retreat that started at 6:32 p.m.

Board Retreat called to order and Pledge of Allegiance said.

Roll call done with members present as noted above.

Role of the Board:

Mark Stephens reported in terms of self-evaluation that two changes had occurred recently related to the HLC (Higher Learning Commission) report.

1. The travel policy was changed to reflect that Board has oversight but does not decide who goes where regarding travel.
2. The policy regarding interview of candidates for deans’ positions was changed so that the Board only interviews for the position of president.
3. “We got a 10 year accreditation.

The meeting was now turned over to Mike Monahan.

Mr. Monahan introduced himself and spoke about the “Role of the Board”. He has served as a trustee for 24 years on the Illinois Community College Trustee Association (ICCTA), which was established in 1970. There are 273 Board members in Illinois for Community Colleges.  All are elected, except in Chicago that are appointed by the Mayor.

What do they do at the ICCTA?

1. First mission is to make possible trustee education opportunities and conduct 5 to 7 meetings a year in continuing education for trustees.
2. Legislative advocacy is done, with 95% of their time spent in Springfield and 5% of their time in D.C.

Mr. Monahan presented a pamphlet for the Board to review, and he reviewed the history and background of community colleges in Illinois.  Community colleges were created as units of local government and can: levy taxes, establish election of trustees, and make policy.  They have geographical boundaries, and a board of trustees governs the community college.  Community colleges may accept public funds from the State and Federal Governments. We now have in Illinois 273 trustees who by law operate only comprehensive community colleges, as we have no longer have “technical colleges” in Illinois.

 Page 6 of pamphlet:

Good to review the 1965 Act that creates community colleges as it spells out exactly the duties, powers, and responsibilities of trustees. There are 35 duties and 33 powers.  Among those are the responsibilities to approve programs, levy taxes, set tuition, hire the president, and evaluate the president.

Recognize as a board that you have only 1 employee – the President of the college.

In all board decisions, the Open Meetings Act applies – discussion may occur in closed session, but all votes must be in open meeting. There are 23 exceptions to the Open Meetings Act, and board goes into closed session for these discussions.

At this point Mark Stephens asked why the HLC did not catch earlier the problem they now expressed with the board interviewing candidates that were recommended by the president.  Mr. Monahan responded, “I guess they just missed it.”  He continued:

“Just to be clear, the president is responsible for the administration of the college, and the board sets the policy.”

Page10 of pamphlet:

It reminds us that the board makes policy, and the staff carries it out.

Page 12 of the pamphlet:

The item emphasizes the college budget is approved by the board.

Page 19 of pamphlet:

Question asked of the board: “How to do your homework?”

When attending events trustees may be approached with suggestions or comments. Best way to handle that is to listen and report this information to the president and board chair. Trustee may have heard only one side of issue and needs broader perspective. Need to come back and confer regarding the issue and develop own personal policy. In order to have a good relationship between board and chair, members do not come to meetings with surprises.

Mark Stephens – We have a committee system in which two board members are on the major committees so they know the issues before hand. Stephens recommended to discuss ahead of time, but must vote in public. Committees provide advice and make recommendations.

Mr. Monahan agreed there was too much detail to discuss issues in a public meeting, and as long as the board felt informed, it was good to discuss in closed session and vote in public.

Next items for open discussion:

To promote discussion, Mr. Monahan asked the board to respond to the statements he had made.  Each board member was asked to respond individually.

 First: Our board has a good feel for what students, taxpayers, staff, and administration needs.

Response: Asked to agree or disagree and discuss.

     All responded positively, and Stephens remarked that, “We have 7 different communities        represented, and no one has an agenda, and this board is concerned about what is good for      this community college and this district.”

Second: Board knows what board and staff are responsible for.

Response: All had a positive response and know if they have questions they can go to the president.

Third: All the trustees understand that the board acts as a unit and not as an individual.

Response:

Potter:  “Everybody works together.”

Peluso:   “No personal agenda.”

Stam:  “ Mark draws out information from each member.”

DePaolo: “ I feel like I hear from students – the board has heard about things already by the time we get to a meeting”.

Viverito:  “This is a love fest. We have never had problems.”

Stephens:  “ I feel very fortunate to work here. We figure out a way together to work it out.  The President works too hard sometimes.  As chair you are the board's servant, not the boss and must make sure board members are engaged. This is an outstanding board from the chairman's perspective.”

 Fourth. Do you get good advice from your attorney, architect, and financial advisors?

Response: All responses were positive. From Stephens, “Never have we gone over budget or         not on time with projects.  If it is not true we fight it, as we don't just settle law suits.”

Mr. Monahan skipped some items and went to Number 6: How the board conducts its business. Can the board keep things confidential?

Response: All members were positive about this topic.

Mr. Monahan again skipped and went to number 9. How do you come to the board? Do you feel prepared?

Response:  All members stated they felt prepared.  Some like the digital devices for information and others like hard copy.

Mr. Monahan said, Final question:  If you could change anything on this board, what would it be? All positive responses, except it would be great to have more money to work with. No one would change anything!

Adjourned at 7:55 pm.