The Southwestern Community College (SWCC) board of directors met on Tuesday, June 13 in the SWCC Administration Center, for their regular board meeting.
Uncollectible account write-offs were approved as presented by Bill Meck, SWCC interim chief financial officer. The write-off amount was much less than prior years.
“I’ve never seen a write-off amount this low ever … at any point in time in my career,” said Meck, “so to get to talk to you tonight about writing off $1,331.21 is a wonderful thing. It was just under $120,000 last year. Now I do want to say it is a one-time benefit, due to the utilization of COVID funding and assisting students with their account balances from the prior year.”
SWCC Dean of Student Services Kim Bishop spoke to the board about a $1 proposed increase to the student transcript fee. Bishop said the fee was necessary due to additional costs being passed on to SWCC by the National Student Clearinghouse, who SWCC utilizes for transcript services. The new student transcript fee will be $6 per transcript. Following Bishop’s explanation, the board passed the increase in student transcript fees.
SWCC Vice President of Economic Development Wayne Pantini told the board a two-year agreement was reached between the college and the SWCC Education Association. According to Pantini, the agreement includes a general salary increase of 4% to the base salary of employees covered by the agreement, for 2023-24. Pantini said salary for fiscal year 2025 will be subject to negotiation.
Minimum salaries for 2023-24, based on a 167-day contract, will be as follows: entry level, $40,820; BA/BS, $41,860; MA/MS, $42,900; specialist, $45,396; and doctorate, $46,436.
The board ratified the collective bargaining agreement, which runs from Aug. 1, 2023-July 31, 2025. According to the Compensation and Benefits Report provided to the board, all other SWCC employees will receive the same 4% salary increase.
Next, the board approved a resolution directing the publication of notice on the proposition of the issuance of not to exceed $740,000 industrial new jobs training certificates. The resolution includes new jobs training agreements with Parker-Hannifin Corporation of Red Oak and Excel Testing and Engineering, LLC of Diagonal.
According to Pantini, the agreement with Parker Hannifin will provide $590,000 in funding to pay for training for 65 new jobs and the agreement for Excel Engineering will provide $85,000 in funding to pay for training for seven new jobs.
The public notice states the board of directors will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 11 in the Administration Center board room, at SWCC. In addition, the board passed a resolution approving preliminary official statement and approving electronic bidding procedures related to the new jobs training agreement. The virtual meeting will take place the morning of July 11.
The board appointed Kevin Britten of Red Oak, SWCC board of trustees member, to the SWCC Education Foundation board. Britten will replace former board member Jerry Smith of Osceola who recently resigned from the Education Foundation board, as well as the board of trustees.
In personnel, the board approved Katie White as a nursing instructor. White will move into this position from her role as nursing success coach. White has been a registered nurse in the emergency room at Greater Regional Health in Creston since 2016. She was a nurse aide instructor at SWCC from 2015-20.
Bishop reported to the board on summer 2023 enrollment. Bishop said summer enrollment is up by seven students for a total of 530 students. This is an increase of 161 credits from last summer, equating to a 5.7 percent increase.
Secondary Programs Director Rachel Ramaeker explained during the last five years the community colleges of Iowa have received an annual $600,000 allocation to be divided among colleges to provide summer post-secondary career and technical education-related coursework to high school students in the college’s region. Ramaeker mentioned, since the funding became available in 2018, SWCC has offered courses in carpentry, computer science, pre-nursing, and welding. The majority of summer college credit program courses kicked off June 1 this year. Carpentry students began on May 15.
Stoaks briefly spoke about the Community Colleges for Iowa Trustees Conference, scheduled for July 19-20, 2023, at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Stoaks plans to attend.