********************************************* DISCLAIMER: THIS CART FILE WAS PRODUCED FOR COMMUNICATION ACCESS AS AN ADA ACCOMMODATION AND MAY NOT BE 100% VERBATIM. THIS IS A DRAFT FILE AND HAS NOT BEEN PROOFREAD. IT IS SCAN-EDITED ONLY, AS PER CART INDUSTRY STANDARDS, AND MAY CONTAIN SOME PHONETICALLY REPRESENTED WORDS, INCORRECT SPELLINGS, TRANSMISSION ERRORS, AND STENOTYPE SYMBOLS OR NONSENSICAL WORDS. THIS IS NOT A LEGAL DOCUMENT AND MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED, PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. THIS FILE SHALL NOT BE DISCLOSED IN ANY FORM (WRITTEN OR ELECTRONIC) AS A VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OR POSTED TO ANY WEBSITE OR PUBLIC FORUM OR SHARED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE HIRING PARTY AND/OR THE CART PROVIDER. THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON FOR PURPOSES OF VERBATIM CITATION. ********************************************* June 24, 2024 Study Session... >> MS. THERESA RIEL: Okay. We're going to resume the meeting, and first up is David Borofsky with the Governing Board board assessment. Thank you. David, thank you for driving down to be with us today. We appreciate that you are so helpful all the time. So thank you. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: My pleasure. So this is about you. This is not about me. So I could stand here and lecture at you for an hour or two hours or three hours, but I'm not going to do that. What I plan to do is propose some questions. I will give you some data based on the work that you did completing the assessment, and I know she's not here, but I want to publicly thank Andrea for pushing all of you to get this completed. It's a much better tool when everybody has given some input into it. But it's a tool. So the numbers are good numbers, they say good things, but there are some things that you're going to want to talk about, I hope. So goals today, just to look at the difference between the board as a unit and individual board assessments, and to talk about some of the open-ended questions and some of the answers that you all gave to those. So your overall average of the ratings of the 15 questions was a 4.04. Anything over 4 that I have seen -- and I have done, I don't know, five other colleges in the state -- so anything over 4 is good. So I think 4.04 is excellent. It can always be better, and I think as you work together as a board, it will continue to grow when you solve and talk about some of the concerns that you have expressed as we get closer to looking at some of those questions. These are the highest-rated items. Most of you have probably figured I don't read PowerPoints, so if you can't read, let me know and I'll be happy to read for you, but I know you can, because you have documents like that that you read to prepare for. But essentially, you have talked about, as you have in the past, your ability to work across some of the issues that you have and do so respectfully, which is a change and it's a welcome change, not only for you as a board but for the college. Your responsibility and the way you have treated the interim chancellor is rated high, and that's a real positive. Whenever a board says good things about its leader, not that everything is perfect, but when you do have those conversations respectfully, it means a lot. The fact that you express your authority as a unit and not individually is also important. I know there are some comments about some board members having concern that people are trying to manage employees. We can talk about that in a couple of minutes. So what are your thoughts on -- usually when I do this, and this is no fault of the tech, I bring all these paragraphs up one at a time so you can't see what I'm thinking, but that's okay. So I'm more interested in what you think about the items, especially 4, 5, and 10, and your ratings of, high ratings of the importance of faculty, staff, and students, a two-year institution. Don't all speak at once, because that won't work. Greg? >> MR. GREG TAYLOR: Yeah, I mean, I think it demonstrates that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, quite frankly. I mean, we should be keeping what's best for the college, what's best for our students at the core of everything we're doing. I mean, of all the things you were just presenting before, I'm especially proud of the fact that the sort of respectful civility one was ranking the highest, because we had multiple conversations, all of us at the beginning of our time together, about how we needed to change the way that we interacted with each other and that we can disagree respectfully, and that we all have something valuable to contribute. It's nice to see that -- I mean, I feel like we have done that. It's nice to see that everybody agrees, but I think that in one regard, that's kind of a low bar, right, but from where we were, where this institution's board was in that regard, I think we have made a lot of improvements, and I think that's something to be proud of. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: Great. Thank you. Other thoughts about the highest-rated items? >> MS. THERESA RIEL: I just would like to say that it's easy to work with a chancellor, an interim chancellor, who's as responsive and, you know, she works well with us. So that was (muted audio). >> DAVID BOROFSKY: Great. Thank you. Others before we go on? Okay. So I think that one of the foundations that I have seen throughout Arizona of an excellent board, an effective board, is one who does work with their leader in a way that's positive. That doesn't mean that you don't have disagreements. It just means that you're all working toward the same thing, which is student success, as Greg said, and the fact that you do respect staff and faculty, as evidenced by the two retreats that we have had, and the work that has gone on at both of those retreats to create more synergy between the board and the executive leadership here at Pima Community College. So you're to be congratulated on that. So these are the lowest-rated items. I will say that there is a juncture between these items that you rated as a board as a unit and how you felt individually, so you won't be surprised in a few minutes to see that some of the items are the same. So I raised a couple of questions in this slide. I'd like you to take some time to think about that. So you all said, or the majority of you said -- so 3.8 isn't horrible. 3 is -- I mean, none of these are horrible. It's not like it's a 1.6 or something or a 1.8 like I got in one of my semesters when I was in college, but it's really less than what you have been, what you had been rating the higher numbers. So what is it about educational services and programs or programs and services and facilities and maintenance that you need to know that you don't know? And you approved the strategic plan. You approved, I was here, the budget. So what information do you need to better understand the budget and/or -- it's not about rating question 3, as I said, but it's really about understanding the budget and being able to talk about those, so there are some big items there. What are your thoughts? I mean, this is being recorded, so you need to tell the administration what it is you don't have that you want about these items. I have been at enough of your board meetings or watched them to know that these three items come up, one of the three, almost every board meeting. >> MR. GREG TAYLOR: I guess I could say, I do think we have had some of those conversations about things that were missing, but in broad strokes, I mean, we have definitely had discussions about the timeline for how these things happen. I mean, I think around the budget and stuff, Wade's probably articulated that more than anyone else around including us more meaningfully earlier on in the budget development process, because sometimes we hear things in the beginning, and they are thrown out as ideas, and as the machinations of that process goes along, certain things are abandoned or certain things are adopted and we don't know that. Then when it comes back to us, it just looks like some things are vanished and some things all of a sudden there, because we don't see all of that, not that we have to be involved in all of it, but some better way to keep us engaged in that development process so that we better understand how we got from, when we had, like, the brainstorm in a study session to the final budget that's being shown to us, because there is kind of a gap there and it's to our disadvantage. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: Okay. Good. Luis? >> MR. LUIS GONZALES: One of the questions in reference to the facilities and maintenance is I know that the word that Mr. Taylor mentioned, finish or diminish, but more importantly deferred maintenance. I know that what the deferred maintenance is, but I would like to know, I guess we would like to know what is the follow-up and what is the progress on those, how is it impacting not only the structure but also the community of students, as well, too. I know, for example, the one on 29th that for a while it was a deferred maintenance with reference to the HVAC, and we did come back to that, too, but I think all of us need to know. Myself, I don't know specifically the details in reference to the deferred maintenance, what it is, but also, the update, what has been the progress or when are we going to address those deferred maintenance, as well, too. That brought a little bit, not major concern but major information to know, for us to know. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: Great. Thank you. >> MS. MARIA GARCIA: David, so the other thing would be what do you need to know about facilities and maintenance that you do not know. The facilities as a whole, you know, when we have a board meeting, they bring up, like, the PTPST building needs to be upgraded or just different things that come up. I mean, doesn't facilities have an overall plan about how things are addressed with each building? Don't they have the knowledge already, like Luis was saying, you know, the deferred maintenance? You know, one of the things about the HVAC that we rebuilt, that we invested so much money into the Trane stuff was because they allowed things to go bad, or that's what they were telling us. And now, here we are, it still isn't being addressed. I have asked before, and I know we are going to have a meeting about it. The plan was that we're going to save $250,000 on our utility costs, but when they came up with this overall plan, you know, what did they include, what did they not include? So I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't know all that, but I would just want a complete knowledge of where we're at over all our facilities. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: Okay. Greg? >> MR. GREG TAYLOR: I think this is a theme that's come up throughout the year, and it's probably more applicable to educational services and programs, which is just, you know, I remember at the beginning of my time on the board, I think we all were saying we wanted more data, more outcomes data, graduation, retention, enrollment, all of those kind of -- and we are getting pieces of that now, which is great. I think where we're not quite there yet is sometimes I think we have had questions about the pieces that sometimes we get pieces of data but not the full set. So, for example, we'll be told, well, this demographic group's enrollment increased by this percentage, and that's what we are given. But we're not given the N underneath that, so was that one and now it's four or was it 40 and now it's 100? Because those are different. And those are probably not the same percentages, but you can play with raw numbers to get to the same percentages. So I think a lot of the questions that we ask when we are presented those things is it's great what we are seeing, but we are trying to verify and make sure that under the hood it's as good as it seems like it is, and sometimes we are not given, at least initially, all of the information we'd like to have so that we can see the difference that some of these programs are making. But I think we are getting there. It's improved from when I started till now, I think we are marching along that continuum, but I don't think we are quite to the end of it yet. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: I see Dolores taking a lot of notes. That's good. That's good. Wade or Theresa? Anything? No? You good? Okay. So your individual assessment, so you'll see, and you received from Andrea both this PowerPoint and the Excel spreadsheet, and all I did is say, I think it says DGB 1, DGB 2, et cetera, on the Excel spreadsheet, so I don't know who rated the questions how, and I don't know who wrote the answers that we're going to look at in a couple of minutes, but on this one, the individual, when you rated yourself, came up at 4.67. You don't get a whole lot better than that. Wade is smiling. I have seen some at 4.94, so you guys aren't quite there yet (smiling). But this is pretty typical where the board is a unit, because you think that there are members who don't understand some of the things you understand, and there are, obviously when you rate yourself, you think you understand everything and know everything. Wade? >> DR. WADE McLEAN: I think some people would call that grade inflation. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: Or ego, yeah, something like that. (Smiling.) So you didn't have any 5.0s, but you do have a bunch of 4.8s. These are the five 4.8s. Again, this is the respectful way that you treat each other, the work you do with the chancellor, the support you have for the mission, the vision, and the values and the goals, the fact that you understand the difference between what you're doing as a board and what Dolores is doing as the leader of the institution. So I don't know if you have any comments on that, but basically you support the chancellor and you support the mission, as a board should and as you are doing. Thoughts on that before we move on? Okay. These are the lowest-rated items. Again, 3.8 is not low. It's just lower. Any time I say anything with math, I have to look at Theresa to make sure I say this right. (Laughter.) So you'll notice again that educational programs and services, facilities and maintenance, and then effective planning, we have talked about that. I think you all are feeling and you have rated these questions in a way that demonstrates that you just need to continue to work on that, and I think that's important. So any thoughts on the individual items? Yes, Theresa? >> MS. THERESA RIEL: You know, I didn't rate 13 very high, so I might have been the one that brought that down to 4.2, which is still, isn't that a B+ or something (smiling)? But the reason that I wrote it that way is because there have been numerous times over the last year and a half when we have a meeting, Wade and I meet with the administration beforehand, and so I guess the board is given the documents, what, like, 10 days early? Five days early? >> MS. MARIA GARCIA: It's been a little better in that we get a draft, but it doesn't have all the information on it yet. >> MS. THERESA RIEL: That's what I'm talking about. So we all get the draft about 10 days early. I know because of how things are run, right, that we want it at this board meeting, but all of the information isn't available yet. So I spend some time wondering why that information isn't there, and so I understand that it is the way it is because of the timelines, but not having that information there the first time you see it, the first time you run through the whole document, it makes it a little disconcerting, because then you have to keep checking to see when it's been updated, if it's been updated. There was one board meeting when I meant to say I can't vote on the minutes because the minutes hadn't been in the packet that I saw. So I never saw them. But, you know, I got in a jumble and I forgot. So I voted on something that I really didn't feel -- now the minutes are okay, I have read them since then, but it's that kind of thing, but that's why I voted that lower for that No. 13. >> MS. MARIA GARCIA: The other thing I wanted to add is the fact that by having the information, entire information as much as we possibly can, especially those long documents that are sometimes 24 pages long, you know, the way my brain works is that I read it, then I have to go back and reread it and re-evaluate it, so it's not like I'm going to understand it the first meeting, and then I devise my questions. So that's something to think about. We all think a little bit different in how we digest the information. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: So I think this is a common concern among boards. I mean, I have heard this conversation at other boards, as well. I'm not necessarily want to defend the administration, but having been on the other side of the table, as well, it's sometimes difficult to plan a meeting and have everything you need for that meeting. I will give you a perfect example. I was in the parking lot. We've got an AC4 meeting Wednesday at 4:00. I got a change to the agenda an hour and 15 minutes ago. I mean, that happens. It's not 24 pages. Fortunately it's one. But those kinds of things happen. I think you do the best you can, and I think the administration does the best they can, as long as they are giving you all the information they have, to your point, Greg, as soon as they have it in a way that you want it and can understand it. Because you're making big decisions on a big budget and on lots of facilities all over the county. It's information that you need. Greg? >> MR. GREG TAYLOR: Yeah, I was just going to say one of the things, again, I'm trying to think of themes in our discussions that we have come up with, I think sometimes what we are given lacks historical context that can be critical. I think its origin is because the people who are putting it on there are so steeped in their field or in their part of the college that they know all the history. There is something that's changed that we're being asked to vote on that, for them, because they do IT or HR, whatever, that's just kind of run-of-the-mill and they don't think much of it, but because we don't have all the context or the historical context, we look at it and we're, like, why the heck would we need to do that? So some kind of, I don't know, historical, I believe this came up recently when we were talking about one of the benefits things, when something was changing and we were all kind of scratching our heads trying to look at old meeting minutes, figuring out what was approved years ago, why did it change to this now, and the person that put it on there may not have even thought it was a big deal. They just were, like, yeah, of course this is what happens. But we don't have any of that context, even if we remember that it was on a previous agenda. So that, especially for things that come up routinely that we approve year over year, making sure that you can remind us about what the history of that item has been, or know that something that may seem run-of-the-mill for you because that's just how much that increases normally from year to year, we don't have that context. But it would be useful for us to have that, to know when we should be concerned about something or not. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: So surely when someone works in an area, IT, HR, budgets, they do it all day long and it's just in their head, whereas you're doing other things. So sometimes you have to bring it down a notch or two. Okay? So we talked about this a little bit. So is there anything -- we are going to talk about ideas for goals in a few minutes, but is there anything in those items that were ranked lowest as board as a unit and as individuals that you would want to talk about, and maybe you have already talked about it a little bit today, and maybe in the past, so those three areas in educational programs and services, facilities and maintenance, effective planning, anything that you would want as something to think about as a goal, and you don't have to necessarily respond right now, but as you are thinking about hiring a chancellor, permanent chancellor, you want to make sure that he or she understands this particular piece of what you, as a board, need. It should come from you, as the board, in a way that gives that individual the understanding that, hey, I need to know more about, we need to know more about programs and services as it relates to education and the budget process, et cetera. Those are things that you're going to want to talk about. I would advise you to do it in a retreat format, just an idea to think about, when in fact you do make that decision. Okay. So on to the open-ended questions. These are the board's greatest strengths. I think we have talked about a number of these. Really, you all focused around listening to each other, positive dialogue, respect, and I know we are in a public session, I will say it anyway, having watched this board for the last three-and-a-half years, first as the director of AACCT, and then, as Maria is smiling at me and I'm not going to go there, I promise, then as the executive director of AC4, there has just been a 180-degree difference in how you all work together versus how the previous board worked with the two members who have been consistent moving forward. So I do think that's, to the five of you, to your credit, that you have been able to do that. Listen, you don't always agree. We've said that a hundred times. And you won't agree going forward on everything. But you do it in a way that demonstrates that everybody's opinion counts and everybody is allowed and encouraged and desired to make sure your opinion is known, whether the vote is 5-0 or 3-2. Thoughts on this? Okay. Some of your major accomplishments, you can see all of those. Continued effort to curb board members' attempt to micromanage, I don't know who wrote that. Anybody want to talk about that? Or not? Okay. Improvements. I think we have talked a little bit about this in terms of enrollment, budget development, policies, procedures, if you're not reviewing policies regularly, I would advise you to do that. I have been with some other boards who have, one in particular, completely rewrote their policy manual, actually two, completely rewrote their policy manual. Others have in a retreat format. Others have done it piecemeal, you know, five of these, five of those, five of those. They are just things that you might want to do differently. I know you spent a lot of time on BP 1.25. There are probably other policies that you might want to look at, as well. Then goals. Lots of ideas. The last one I think is interesting, that there shouldn't be any goals until the new chancellor's onboard and you can all work together to set those goals. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have ideas, though. So thoughts on the goals? Theresa? >> MS. THERESA RIEL: I do like that last statement. You know, we pulled the strategic plan from the agenda today because of that. You know, we were looking back through the videos that they had here, and both candidates mentioned the importance of having a strategic plan. Dr. Garcia was really vocal about how, you know, we needed to look at it, make sure it's exactly -- and she wasn't saying, I don't think she was saying us, the board, that we need to look at it. I think she was including herself or whoever the new chancellor is. So that's, I do agree with that last statement. But I do like the idea of having goals, because if you have a goal, we can still be working toward some things between now and when the new chancellor is onboarded, not that we're going to be doing a lot in July and the first week of August, but, you know, maybe we could do something. So I like the idea of having some goals that are more for what we, as a board, want us as a board to do, and not for the college. I don't know if that makes sense, but... >> DAVID BOROFSKY: It does, and it's a conversation that the five of you should have with or without a facilitator to bring out some of those ideas. And to your point, it's not about the expectations of the college; it's the expectations of the five of you and what you want to accomplish as a board. So certainly something to think about. Other thoughts? Okay. So I do think you continue to grow and to understand your role. Your ratings are really good. You do demonstrate support where support is needed and certainly wanted. So I think you have done well. I think you have had a good year. I think this is a good report to send to HLC. It took me a while to find this picture. I was looking for one that Wade would like (smiling). Any other questions or thoughts? >> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Thank you for your support. >> DAVID BOROFSKY: My pleasure. Any time. Thank you. >> MS. THERESA RIEL: Okay. And then moving on to 4.1, the HLC additional location, substantive change application. Is there someone who is presenting on that? Amanda? Thank you. >> AMANDA ABENS: Thank you, board, Chair Riel, board members, interim chancellor. So we have been delivering education by contract to the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Wilmot site for quite some time, for decades. The HLC application for that site had been submitted and accepted and approved by the HLC back in 2017. When that did, that application was submitted, and it had all of the programs that we ran, it described the program exactly with one exception. There technically is two street addresses that we have classrooms at at that site. That has been consistently, again for decades, but because there is two street addresses, the HLC does require that each address be a separate approved additional location. So this was something that was discovered through auditing, all the work that has been done in the provost's office with Melissa Stoddart overseeing the additional locations. So this is something that we are correcting so both of those addresses can be approved sites by the HLC. So that's a correction to this. Happy to answer any questions. >> DR. WADE McLEAN: I move we accept the corrections as presented. >> MR. GREG TAYLOR: Second. >> MS. THERESA RIEL: All in favor say aye. (Ayes.) >> MS. THERESA RIEL: Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Amanda. >> AMANDA ABENS: Thank you. >> MS. THERESA RIEL: Do I have a motion now to go into exec session? I think we are done with everything here today. >> MS. MARIA GARCIA: So moved. >> DR. WADE McLEAN: Second. >> MS. THERESA RIEL: All in favor? (Ayes.) >> MS. THERESA RIEL: Okay. We will not be coming back here, so don't stick around. You all go home and enjoy your evening. We will see you at our next meeting sometime, but good night. (Adjournment.) ********************************************* DISCLAIMER: THIS CART FILE WAS PRODUCED FOR COMMUNICATION ACCESS AS AN ADA ACCOMMODATION AND MAY NOT BE 100% VERBATIM. THIS IS A DRAFT FILE AND HAS NOT BEEN PROOFREAD. IT IS SCAN-EDITED ONLY, AS PER CART INDUSTRY STANDARDS, AND MAY CONTAIN SOME PHONETICALLY REPRESENTED WORDS, INCORRECT SPELLINGS, TRANSMISSION ERRORS, AND STENOTYPE SYMBOLS OR NONSENSICAL WORDS. THIS IS NOT A LEGAL DOCUMENT AND MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED, PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. THIS FILE SHALL NOT BE DISCLOSED IN ANY FORM (WRITTEN OR ELECTRONIC) AS A VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OR POSTED TO ANY WEBSITE OR PUBLIC FORUM OR SHARED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE HIRING PARTY AND/OR THE CART PROVIDER. THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON FOR PURPOSES OF VERBATIM CITATION. *********************************************