[Speaker 15] (0:27 - 0:33)
Oh, I got the answer, yes, it's fully covered. I don't believe so. Forgot the question.

[Speaker 14] (0:45 - 0:51)
It's probably when they have to let Judy know because she sure is worried about it. I know.

[Speaker 12] (0:52 - 0:54)
It's one of those things. She didn't get the benefit.

[Speaker 14] (0:54 - 0:58)
She don't want us to have it. I promise you.

[Speaker 1] (0:58 - 1:01)
What? Are you serious?

[Speaker 14] (1:02 - 1:09)
That's enough. Oh, we got a new calendar. I need these.

[Speaker 6] (1:10 - 1:21)
No, I can promise you. I can vouch for him there. I can tell you.

Medication.

[Speaker 14] (1:22 - 1:26)
Hey, keeping this calendar straight is hard for me. Keeping all this stuff.

[Speaker 1] (1:28 - 1:30)
Everything else going on in your life, right?

[Speaker 9] (1:30 - 2:05)
Well, I just, oh, the pledge is not a promise, they're coming up with a prayer offer. The top of your head. Yeah.

Got to stay ready.

[Speaker 13] (2:31 - 2:38)
Yeah, that's what they told me. He said, it's a piece of cake. You have one meeting a month.

You're not allowed to school more than an hour and a half.

[Speaker 2] (2:39 - 2:56)
The clock on the wall. The wall says six o'clock. So we will call this meeting to order.

We do have a quorum. All regents are present. And we will begin tonight's proceedings with an invocation and pledge to the United States flag and pledge to the Texas flag led by Regent Judy Geralds.

[Speaker 6] (2:59 - 3:57)
Let's pray. Lord God, we are just so grateful that we get to gather here. Father, we thank you for the call that you placed upon our hearts.

And Lord, we thank you for this college. And we thank you for everyone who's connected with the college. And we thank you for the dedication of the staff and the faculty, Lord, to deliver this.

That you would help us all as we. That this Sunday, we celebrate your resurrection. That you came to this earth.

And we thank you for our savior, that you, that your father sacrificed you to be the regent. All that you provide for us in this college. In your name we pray.

Amen.

[Speaker 13] (3:58 - 4:22)
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. On our Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

[Speaker 12] (4:29 - 4:32)
Okay, next on the agenda is program spotlight.

[Speaker 18] (4:38 - 4:40)
Dr. Evan Richards, welcome.

[Speaker 4] (5:02 - 11:40)
Hopefully, my voice will go into this well. Okay, I feel like that's squinched down a little bit. Is that good?

Oh, right, right here. Does this come out? There we go.

Okay, I like that a lot better. All right, well, first off, I do want to thank you so much for giving me the opportunity tonight to tell you a bit about a wonderful event called STEM Day. And it turns out, this event started off as an innocent little idea of mine many years ago.

I wanted to do a physics fair where I would invite the public out to come in and see the wonders of our universe. After all, that's what got me into physics in the first place, right? Being one of those physicists here, I love that stuff.

I wanted to show people how amazing our universe is. Well, word got out about what I was planning, and others said, hey, that's a good idea. Can I join?

And sure enough, it grew. It went from a little physics fair to STEM Day, right? Got to be one of the largest outreach events we held all year, as it turns out.

So my little idea became a lot bigger than I thought. And so tonight, I want to tell you just a bit about it. By the way, due to our early success, did you know in the third year, we made it?

Front page of the Baytown Sun. I thought that was so cool. I loved it.

That was one of my favorite things. So the way it works is every spring, we pick the least worst day to invite everybody out. You know how it is to juggle 1,000 different schedules to get everybody out here?

So we pick the least worst day to bring everyone out. And we invite out our local high schools from across our service area to have their high school students come in and experience some wonderful STEM-related sessions run by our incredible faculty. And I got to give a big shout-out to our faculty.

They are awesome. They sacrifice so much time, invest so much of themselves to make it such a grand event. And so the hope is, the plan, the dream is for the students to walk away excited about STEM, maybe even considering a career in STEM, or at the very least, walking away going, oh, I got to learn more about this stuff, right?

And the thing I love about it is it puts us on the map as the STEM place to come to. You want to get that higher education, get that career in STEM? Lee College has got it.

In fact, I want to show you just a few of the STEM sessions we've run over the years. Oh, but I have more. And, yeah, there's even more.

We've done a few over the years. And I will tell you, every year we get nothing but positive feedback. The ISDs come back to us and they say it was great.

We got to keep doing it. Speaking of which, let me tell you a little bit about the timeline. All right?

So we started off in 2012. And that year I knew we had to start small because I'd never run anything like this before. And we weren't sure we could pull it off.

So we're like, well, let's start small. Reached out to Goose Creek, who, by the way, are fabulous partners. They are wonderful in this.

And we asked them, hey, do you think this is a good idea? You want to join us? And they said, of course we do.

We would love to be there. And so we started with only 200 students, right, just to see if we could pull it off. I will tell you, I still chuckle about the time.

It was shortly after the first STEM day ended. I get this call from the Goose Creek STEM coordinator. She goes, you know we're doing this again next year, right?

And I went, okay, yes, of course. I'm on board. So next year rolls around.

We expanded a bit, grew a bit, again, being careful here to grow responsibly. And we got 300 students coming in, a few more schools. And then, of course, by 2014, we really hit our stride, right?

We greatly expanded the number of sessions, the number of students coming out, and, of course, the number of schools. Don't you love that list? That spans a good chunk of our entire service area.

It was incredible until 2020. We all know what happened in 2020. Sadly, COVID, we had to shut it down a little while, right?

But the whole time I kept thinking, you know, I really want to bring it back. 2024 hit, and I was thinking, well, we got a lot of new STEM programs coming online. We need to get it going again.

And so I talked to the team here at Lee, and I said, hey, are you on board? And they said, of course we are. It's a great event.

Reached out to Goose Creek because, again, I wanted to start small because I didn't know how much rust we had on the wheels and running it, right? So I reached out to Goose Creek. They've been with us since the beginning.

And, of course, they said, yes, of course, we're on board. Let's do it. But, again, we started with 200 students, much like that first year, right?

And I will tell you, it was another success. I mean, shortly afterwards, I got the same call. You know we're doing this again next year, right?

And sure enough, I've already been in planning meetings for 2026, even though we just had it a short time ago. And it's genuinely a year-long planning process. I mean, you pretty much do one STEM day.

You walk out jazzed, excited, happy, and then you're like, oh, I got to start planning next year now. And so, yeah, it's quite a cycle that we have going on here. Speaking of planning, I do have to give a special shout-out to a few people, though, before I wrap up.

One, Daisy. There she is. Look at that right over there.

She is awesome. That's right. I will tell you, STEM day has grown more and more complex.

The logistics got exponentially more complex. And guess who figured out all those logistics over there? Yeah, without Daisy, we would have never been able to figure out how to make the trains run on time.

So, I so appreciate that. Thank you very much. The other person I want to give a big shout-out to is Regina.

Let's see. Is she here? Maybe not.

Okay, I'm going to brag on her anyway. Here's the thing. Award-winning, by the way, Regina.

She got just a major faculty award just the other day, and well-deserved. I'm so happy for her. She is one of many jobs that she does, is our science lab coordinator.

Can you imagine doing STEM day without science labs? It doesn't work without her, right? She's been with us since the beginning of all this, and she is a key component.

Not only does she help us get the labs ready, identify which labs go where and which ones we should use, but also making sure we have the right supplies coming in and make sure everything's well-stocked and ready to go, so that way we have happy session leaders too, right? Without her, STEM day just doesn't happen. And so, I just wanted to express my deep appreciation to Daisy and Regina, and, of course, to you, ladies and gentlemen of the board, for your support and your time tonight, to give me a chance to tell you about it.

Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (11:52 - 12:06)
Dr. Evans, do you think maybe we could also include, under your supervision, some motivational speaking? I'm told I have just a little bit of energy. We love it, and that's what makes you such an amazing faculty member.

Thank you.

[Speaker 4] (12:06 - 12:07)
Thank you very much.

[Speaker 2] (12:07 - 12:28)
Thank you. Okay, next up is disposition of minutes. We have special board meeting tour March 5th, building committee meeting March 26th, special board meeting tour March 27th, and board meeting March 27th.

Do I have a motion on the minutes? So moved.

[Speaker 6] (12:28 - 12:29)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (12:29 - 13:16)
I have a motion by Regent Cotton and a second by Regent Geralds. Any amendments or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

Next, report of the chairman. We had a wonderful honors ceremony yesterday. It was very, very impressive, the group of students that received honors yesterday.

And also recently, several of us got to attend the cheer banquet. That was very, very special and very enjoyable. And then some of us, what was the other event that we got to attend?

Two competing events the same night. What was the other one?

[Speaker 6] (13:16 - 13:20)
Ribbon cutting. The ribbon cutting in here?

[Speaker 2] (13:21 - 13:52)
Yeah, the service learning awards. And then, of course, we also had the wonderful ribbon cutting for this building. So, a lot of activity in the last couple of weeks.

And finally, I want to issue a very special thanks to the faculty assembly for hosting the debate last night for the race that's coming up. So, not to get political up here, but that's all I'll say on that. Thank you very much to the faculty assembly for that.

So, that concludes my report. Next, building committee report.

[Speaker 5] (13:53 - 17:00)
Mr. Chair, while I'm giving my report, could I request some IT support? I can't get to any of the attachments on my computer. Coming down.

Thank you. All right. I have a not-so-brief report for today.

It will take as long as it takes them to fix my computer. So, the building committee met on Thursday, April the 3rd. The committee and other board members toured several of the TV campus buildings.

The tour was designed to have a firsthand view of the facilities with issues or concerns highlighted by our facilities team. And hopefully, this will continue to provide insight into the condition of our facilities and put facility needs in context with the assessment. The building committee also met on Tuesday, April 15th.

We reviewed five items that will be presented to the board this evening for approval. And the committee recommends approval of the five items. First item is furniture updates for hallways at various facilities totaling $148,632, funded from the $1.68 million furniture set aside from fiscal year 24. I'm still not going to finish, even though he's good. Thank you very much. There will be an item to replace broken seating at the arena and wellness center totaling $117,394.

Funded from one seat. We're fixing one seat. All right.

This is funded from fiscal year 24-25 facilities operating budget. We're looking at installing roofing systems at the north central plant and the performing arts center totaling $425,287. This is funded from fiscal year 2024-25 facilities operating budget.

We have a gym restroom remodel project totaling $287,863. This is funded from fiscal year 24-25 facilities operating budget. And we have a Johnson Controls annual contract renewal with some additions, details coming, totaling $361,015.

This is funded from our fiscal year 25-26 facilities operating budget. We discussed feedback from our recent building tours. We had an update on the facilities master plan and an update on the site utility survey efforts.

We also had an update on the status of 660 West Texas Avenue property, the old coffee shop. And we had a brief update on the Exxon Mobil Baytown Event Center project. We discussed looking into possible use of property at 1301 Memorial Drive.

And we discussed our next building tours. Pam, we still have more to go. And we received an update on current projects, the cosmetology project still under construction, and the ADA phase two and life safety project list status and budgets were reviewed.

We discussed our facility master plan envisioning meeting scheduled for today at 4 o'clock. And we discussed the facilities master plan preliminary assessment with PBK, scheduled for April 24, 2025 at 4 p.m. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any questions?

[Speaker 2] (17:02 - 17:03)
Policy committee.

[Speaker 20] (17:04 - 17:08)
Scheduled to meet on Tuesday, but there is one item on the agenda.

[Speaker 12] (17:17 - 17:18)
There's only one change.

[Speaker 2] (17:23 - 17:24)
Audit and investment committee.

[Speaker 6] (17:25 - 20:21)
Yes, we met on the 10th. And David McIlwain, if I'm saying that right, actually attended in person, which was really nice. And he went over the quarterly investment report.

Each regent should have gotten a copy of that sent to their email. And then Mr. Goings went over two completed audits. And I'm not sure when we'll meet again.

But if I could just take a couple of minutes. I know last meeting we talked about some people shared what they learned in Hawaii. And just a couple of things when we're at that conference.

One thing I thought was really neat that they do, somebody mentioned from their college for kind of like their student needs, like our track. They have added laundry services so that the students can, they have a place that they can come and do their laundry, which I thought, well, that's kind of clever because that is a need. And if they're already here on campus going to school and taking care of some needs, it could possibly be a great idea to add some laundry services for our students.

So that's one thing. And another thing someone brought up was, which I thought was a good idea, too. As they have regents come up for reelection and people are signing up to run, they talked about having a session for those who want to run for the board to inform them what their role is.

Because I do think sometimes maybe some people are not exactly aware when they sign up to run for a position, what the position really entails and what the responsibilities truly are. Maybe what your limitations are. Maybe you think you have a little more freedom than what you do.

And so they talk about having a session around the time people are signing up so that they can be informed, this is exactly what this role entitles. And I thought, well, that's really a good idea because some people may decide, yeah, I really want to go for it or I'm not sure that's really what I want to do. So I thought that was another.

I've got other notes, but I'll try to limit them. We did get a presentation from a lady that worked for Amazon. I know you guys remember that.

It was a strategic planning and cultural innovations and it was Amazon is related to education. And they start with the cut. They talk about with Amazon and how you can do it with your college.

You start with the customer and you work backwards. And they asked the question, what will higher ed look like in 2075? And what will your innovation look like?

And they talk about inventing and then simplifying. They talked about how the very first Kindle came out and what it looked like compared to what the Kindle looks like now. And so I thought those were just some really interesting perspectives that could tie into education.

And it talked about like exploring and experimenting and validating and learning with the student in mind. So those are just some of the things that I've highlighted. There were a lot more things we did, but I just wanted to share those with you all.

Thank you.

[Speaker 2] (20:22 - 20:25)
Thank you. Report of the president.

[Speaker 1] (20:26 - 23:17)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a bit of a lengthy report, but it's don't complain. It's going to be just fine.

You'll get through it. And so first I want this is like the longest name for an association, but just give me a second. The American Association of Community Colleges National Council for Marketing and Public Relations awarded our college with three Paragon Awards.

It's the highest recognition in the country. So they had more than 1500 entries from 205 institutions across the United States and Canada. And these Paragon Awards represent truly the best of the best.

The Gold Paragon Award for photography was awarded to a Stephanie Sanchez. Is she here? All right.

Yay. So the movie theme posters in the lobby you hopefully have seen as you've entered tonight or before were created for the 2024 Barbers Hill Ball Fest. And the theme last year was movie magic.

And so these were our own Stephanie's take on the iconic film posters. And if you can believe it, it was a Stephanie's first time using Photoshop. And the final results turned out great.

Can you imagine what she's going to do next year and in the future? Starting at the top. I don't know.

There's a little pressure on you, Stephanie. A Silver Paragon Award for videography was awarded to Chris Coates for the first time free video ad series created for the college's digital marketing enrollment campaign. Our own Steven Spielberg, Chris Coates.

His video has been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube alone. A second Silver Paragon Award for digital marketing campaigns was awarded to Sebastian Tritano. Is he here?

No? Okay. Well, Brian, you'll just have to be his representative.

And what he did was he did that campaign for McNair Center's manufacturing and industrial technology programs, including machining, millwright, welding, pipe fitting, and industrial systems technology. And, of course, as you know, that's designed to drive enrollment and increase awareness of high demand career paths. And the campaign delivered more than 477,000 impressions and reached more than 128,000 prospective students.

So through strategic digital marketing and targeted content. So the three awards are here with us tonight for you to view. Can we see them?

They're out where? Oh.

[Speaker 12] (23:17 - 23:34)
Where are you?

[Speaker 1] (23:41 - 23:50)
That's. They wanted to show proof. Proof that they earned the awards.

[Speaker 11] (23:51 - 23:53)
He could be another Vanna, couldn't he?

[Speaker 5] (23:54 - 23:57)
They're the ones usually taking pictures. I know.

[Speaker 1] (23:57 - 23:57)
I know.

[Speaker 5] (23:57 - 23:58)
I'm taking pictures of them.

[Speaker 1] (23:58 - 26:17)
Brian. Brian, you should have taken pictures of them. You know, you're always taking pictures of us.

So on Tuesday, April 1st, Puente Trio and the Honors Program took 33 students to Texas State University for a transfer tour. And I was told that the campus the campus tour was absolutely amazing. So our students receive valuable transfer information.

For example, first year and transfer students are eligible for a number of scholarships. And Texas State is already tuition friendly. But these scholarships will help allow our students to graduate with no debt.

After their tour, the Bobcat campus. I didn't know they were the Bobcats. Now I know tour guides answered several questions, influencing some students to verbally commit to Texas State right then.

Our transfer trip or their transfer trip would not have been possible without the leadership of Dr. Javier Martinez and the support of Dr. Gina Norris, Kelly Ford Spears, Dr. Leonore Calderon, and Brianne Daly. Dr. Martinez gives special acknowledgement to Joe Greathouse. Hey out there.

And said that her encouragement and support for transfer tours and enrichment opportunities have greatly improved Puente's ability to serve its students. Finally, the transfer tour would also not have been successful without the help of Maria Sierra, Rio Cummings, and Alyssa Hernandez. They ensured that our students were engaged and more importantly, that they were safe as they traveled.

So thank you for the entire team for helping our students have a successful experience with their transferring to a university. Next, I would like to congratulate our own Regent Gina Guillory for her appointment by the Harris County Commissioners Court. What are you surprised?

Well, good. You deserve to be surprised every once in a while. To serve on the Tax Reinvestment Zone Committee.

A well-deserved congratulations. I'd like to shift. I'd like to.

[Speaker 2] (26:17 - 26:18)
Because you get to go to another meeting.

[Speaker 1] (26:20 - 27:47)
Several more. So I'd like to shift and recognize several presentations that have been made by members of our team. Let me start with two that were given to the Kiwanis Club.

So the first, Kelly Ford Spears. Wait, great. Provided a wonderful presentation on all the amazing things that we are providing to our students under her supervision, but also a very special focus on our student resource and advocacy center.

And I'm told it was very well received and very informative. So thank you for that, Kelly. And the second presentation was our own Regent Mark Hall, who shared his personal reflections based upon his service on the board.

So he provided an excellent overview of our long history, which had some really amazing pictures that I had never seen about just from many, many years ago. And I was just struck by the change. But he also talked about some of the accomplishments of the college and also kind of shared some areas that you see in terms of the future and our needs.

And I think, again, I was able to present. Judy, you were there as well. And very well received.

Great questions from the audience that you were able to answer. And I'm just glad that when I went in, when they were expecting a presentation from me, that they knew it was not me. It was you.

So thank you for that.

[Speaker 9] (27:47 - 27:53)
I considered trying to get a wig and high heels, but I didn't think that would work.

[Speaker 1] (27:53 - 27:54)
Well, not with the beard.

[Speaker 9] (27:55 - 27:57)
I didn't have time to get my nails done.

[Speaker 1] (28:00 - 33:38)
I'd also like to recognize Nicole Tunmire. Is she here? And Karen Guthmiller, are you here?

Fitting together, too. They presented their results from several numerous focus groups with our students to the Lee College Foundation Board. And I'm told not only were they there to elevate the voices of our students and were very successful at that, but I'm told that a lot of members of the board, I hope all of them, enjoyed the presentation that they gave.

And that not only was it exceptional, but, again, also very informative. So thank you, guys. Okay, we're getting there.

We're getting there. So Regent Daryl Fontenot already covered the Honors Day. I just wanted to add that I'm very grateful to our Honors Coordinator, Breanne Daly, and her administrative support for arranging all of the many details to make it such a special event for everyone in attendance.

And, by the way, just letting the board know that we will be addressing the lights, that we're apparently having many of you guys, like, sweat profusely. So thank you for that, sticking through that with us, and already been visited about. So that'll be great.

Next, I'd like to share details on the funding that we were granted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Nursing Reduction Shortage Program. Did I get that all right? Okay, it's a mouthful.

So the program is designed to enhance the capacity of nursing education programs in Texas to enroll, retain, and graduate more nursing students, where we all know that this is an area that needs to be addressed and filled. So the initiative is vital to addressing the ongoing shortage that we have in the state. And the grants were awarded to institutions of higher education that showed an increase in nursing graduates from year to year.

Lee College was awarded $443,262.17, which was the third highest amount of all community colleges in Texas. So we were number three in terms of awards, which means we're producing many more graduates than we had from years past. So congratulations to the entire nursing department, and all those who worked on this, and Dr. Norris, I would say Dr. Manabusen, and all of our nursing faculty. Congratulations to us. And then finally, I'd like to talk about a trip that was made by the Student Government Association Executive Board. They went to Galveston to attend the State Texas Junior, I don't like the word junior in that, but Joe, maybe you'll work on that, Government Association Conference.

The conference consisted of four general assemblies featuring community colleges across Texas, as well as regional conferences where they discussed proper parliamentarian procedures, and the many ways that student government associations can support their colleges. At the regional level, Leah, who we've, a number of us have met, and actually I have to go back to one thing here. She submitted an art design for the Region 5 t-shirt and took first place in that, not surprised knowing her art.

And at the state level conference, our region was awarded the Spirit Stick, an award given to the region with the most community service and leadership demonstrations. So congratulations on that. And I'm also happy to and proud to report that Lee College received the Outstanding Delegation Award for providing leadership, collaboration, and overall support to the conference attendees.

Students met with other college student governments, seeing how they're similar and different in their various leadership styles. And they also learned from Congressman Sylvia Garcia, the keynote speaker, who spoke about her struggles and her work to help vulnerable communities through economic programs. I'd like to thank Joe Greathouse, who serves as their advisor, and our SGA Executive Board, and also the Board of Regents, who has always been so supportive of our Lee College Student Government Association.

One more thing that I skipped over. So the Lee College Foundation Annual Scholarship Breakfast took place on April 11th, and we celebrated 29 new named scholarships. And to just give you a little bit of perspective, typically we get 10, and so this was a great increase for us, and we're very happy about that.

I want to thank everyone who was in attendance, who had the honor of listening to our featured speaker, Ms. Layla Leah, who I don't know if there was, I mean, I was crying. There was a lot of wetness on the faces. And I think that's one of the most inspiring stories I've ever heard.

So it was just amazing to hear from her. But I want to offer a special thanks to the entire foundation team, under the leadership of Sela Taccone, for making the event so special. So thank you.

That concludes my very long report, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. Okay.

[Speaker 2] (33:42 - 33:46)
Next, we have report of resignations and retirements.

[Speaker 1] (33:47 - 33:49)
So we have Graham Cox, who retired.

[Speaker 2] (33:54 - 34:00)
Next, we have financial report with Jacob Atkin. Atkin. I'm sorry.

[Speaker 1] (34:00 - 34:02)
Not S, either. Just Atkin. Atkin.

[Speaker 2] (34:02 - 34:05)
I'm sorry. Pull my glasses down. I can see that teeth.

[Speaker 5] (34:05 - 34:06)
All right.

[Speaker 2] (34:06 - 34:10)
Making his debut here at the Regents' meeting.

[Speaker 5] (34:11 - 34:11)
Break in.

[Speaker 1] (34:14 - 34:19)
I think they won't be as hard on you as they are on me, though. Annette's dancing, but you just can't tell.

[Speaker 3] (34:22 - 34:25)
I was told you guys were going to be nice to me today, since I'm new.

[Speaker 11] (34:25 - 34:26)
We are.

[Speaker 3] (34:27 - 34:33)
Although, based on how excited she was to hand it over, I'm seriously wondering if that could possibly be true.

[Speaker 2] (34:34 - 34:42)
And considering that I normally introduce Annette as our fabulous CFO, you know, you've got a lot to work yourself up to.

[Speaker 3] (34:43 - 34:56)
There are very big shoes to fill. There's no question about that. So as we look at financials at the end of March, please keep in mind that we are seven months through the fiscal year, or approximately 58%.

[Speaker 1] (34:57 - 34:58)
It's not up on the screen.

[Speaker 3] (35:01 - 35:02)
It's on these outside ones.

[Speaker 19] (35:02 - 35:03)
How do I get it on the inside?

[Speaker 12] (35:04 - 35:11)
They're working on it. Perfect.

[Speaker 3] (35:14 - 42:12)
So please keep in mind that we're 58% of the way through the year. So as we look at percentages on a month-over-month basis, if we're in excess of 58%, it means that we're probably ahead of schedule. Let's start with cash.

Cash is always king. As you can see, we have about $40 million in operational funds with just over $30 million in board reserves. That includes both the standard board reserves as well as the insurance reserve fund.

We budget approximately $7.4 million in monthly cash outlays. So if you take that into consideration, that means that we have five months of cash on hand for operations and a little over four months cash on hand for our reserves. As we talk about big shoes to fill, considering where we were in 2018, Annette Ferguson has done an amazing job leading the finances to bring us from a position where we were out of cash to a position where we are very well reserved.

And we are far from protected from that ever happening at Lee College again. As we consider revenue, we'll start with tuition and fees. You can see that we're at $14.6 million through the end of March. That is essentially all of the tuition and fee revenue we will collect for fall and spring semester. We'll collect the vast majority of summer tuition and fees in April and May. And this is, we expect to be on target and on budget with our tuition and fees at the end of the fiscal year.

With state appropriations, we have received two out of the three payments. The last one will be received in June. So we still have an additional $5 million coming to us through state appropriations.

In terms of our district taxes, you can see that we are $1.9, almost $2 million under budget. As you know, we cut the tax rate after adopting the budget. We did not adopt the budget after those tax rates were passed by the board.

We are going to be able to absorb those through our operations without having to make any other adjustments. But this is going to report as under budget at the end of the year due to those tax cuts. This is a list of our other revenue.

The primary item that we're looking at there is with regard to our interest income. You can see that we've budgeted $2.2 million. We're at 1.5 or 69%. So we expect to make more in interest income than what we had budgeted at the beginning of the year. I would also like to mention that based on our investment committee, we're moving right now to invest the $5 million of board reserves that were being held in mutual funds and government pools into longer term investments with a three to five year maturity. This is going to allow us to hedge against the two likely Fed cuts that we'll see later this year and the expected continued decline in interest rates in 2026, thereby maintaining a higher rate of return for the college into the future.

With regard to restrictive funds, please keep in mind that grants work on a reimbursement basis. And so expenditures will throughout the year always be higher than revenues, because it's not until after we incur the expenses that we charge that back to the grant and receive those in reimbursements, which is why you see the $452,000 net loss. But we will collect that revenue before the end of the year.

And this is essentially net to zero. As we look at our projected budget versus our actual, you can see there that we are still expecting to see tuition and fees be above budget. State appropriation should be right on target.

And actually, as you look at. The 2025 performance, we should be slightly higher as the state goes through the reconciliation process for our students, actual completions versus what they budgeted at the beginning of last year. District taxes are down, as we mentioned before, and our other revenue should be pretty close to what we budgeted without too many variations.

Total projected net revenue. You can see right now we're projecting a $2 million net surplus at the end of this year. We're trying to manage this as best that we can from an administrative perspective.

We understand that we have many needs and there are so many things that we can do with this money. We want to get as close to zero net surplus as we can at the end of each year to maximize our spending and to make sure that we're adding as many services to our students as we possibly can during the year. If we look at what we budgeted, the breakdown of our budget at the beginning of the year to our projected actual, we see only minor variances, which is what we should expect.

If you see a large change here, something unexpected happened. And so this is just an indication that things are progressing as originally planned. For the month of March, our operating costs came in quite a bit less than they did last year, and that's really what this is doing is comparing how did March this year compare to what we expected based on last year's March, and some of that is the timing difference.

This is an expansion of that same concept only for the year through the end of March, not just the end of March. And as you can see, our actuals are trending below budget. And so finally, in terms of our expenses, salaries and benefits are coming in under budget.

We estimate that we might have as much as a million dollars in vacancy savings. At the end of the fiscal year, based on our current vacancy trends for the year, our operating costs are coming in slightly under, and then, of course, our debt service almost always ties out to 100% as we budget exactly what our annual debt service is going to be, plus $2 million. Are there any questions regarding the financial report?

[Speaker 2] (42:12 - 42:22)
Yes. The surplus that you're projecting of $2 million is after the shortfall in tax collections. Is that correct?

[Speaker 3] (42:22 - 42:23)
That is correct.

[Speaker 2] (42:23 - 42:33)
And the primary, as I recall from the slide, is the revenue in lieu of tax category is what's coming up the most short. Is that correct?

[Speaker 3] (42:33 - 42:38)
That is correct in terms of the reduction in revenue for our ad valorem taxes.

[Speaker 2] (42:38 - 42:51)
That's also the one that is next to impossible to project. Okay. And have we collected everything we're going to collect on revenue in lieu of tax, or is there a chance before the end of the year something else could come in?

[Speaker 3] (42:53 - 43:00)
We'll always collect nominal amounts, but it shouldn't be anything material to the numbers that we reported today.

[Speaker 19] (43:00 - 43:01)
Thank you.

[Speaker 20] (43:13 - 43:14)
That's correct.

[Speaker 12] (43:15 - 43:46)
Yes. It was coming in at like 77%. That's not a big, big dollar item.

Was that Grant?

[Speaker 19] (44:08 - 44:09)
Yes.

[Speaker 3] (44:09 - 44:18)
So that's actually related. Those aren't related to one another. But yes, here's the actual variance in our revenue in lieu of taxes.

[Speaker 18] (44:21 - 44:22)
Can I ask a question?

[Speaker 1] (44:23 - 44:40)
Would everyone please join me in applauding Jacob getting through this first presentation? You can see how happy Annette is sitting in the audience in the peanut gallery there. So thank you, Jacob.

[Speaker 3] (44:40 - 44:41)
Thank you so much.

[Speaker 11] (44:44 - 44:48)
They were really not that scary, Annette. Yet.

[Speaker 2] (44:50 - 44:52)
Okay, next up is public comment.

[Speaker 15] (44:52 - 44:54)
No one signed up, Mr. Chairman.

[Speaker 2] (44:54 - 45:31)
Okay, moving into action items. Okay, consideration of new hires. The administration recommends that the board approve the new hires as presented below.

Do I have a motion on this item? Nope. Okay, I believe it was a motion by Regent Guillory and a second by Regent Cotton.

Any discussion or questions on this item? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[Speaker 12] (45:31 - 45:57)
Aye. Any opposed? If I can get my mouse to cooperate.

[Speaker 11] (46:00 - 46:02)
The other one. It's easier.

[Speaker 2] (46:04 - 46:27)
Consideration of resolution declaring the Board of Regents has reviewed the Lee College Investment Policies and Investment Strategies and reaffirmed each as provided in Board Policy CAK Legal and Local. The administration recommends that the Board affirm the resolution declaring that the Board of Regents has reviewed the Lee College Investment Policies and Investment Strategies. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 12] (46:28 - 46:28)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (46:29 - 46:35)
I have a motion by Regent Guillory and a second by Regent Gerald. Discussion on this item?

[Speaker 12] (46:43 - 46:43)
Very good.

[Speaker 2] (46:44 - 46:45)
Thank you for that.

[Speaker 1] (46:46 - 46:51)
Who, by the way, did not request that you guys actually take a quiz or anything on this?

[Speaker 2] (46:53 - 46:56)
Okay, if there's no more discussion on this item, all in favor say aye.

[Speaker 12] (46:57 - 46:57)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (46:58 - 47:29)
Any opposed? The next agenda item is the consideration of joint election contract agreement with Harris County. David, is this the one that I need?

Okay, so Regent Santana, if you could read the motion for us there.

[Speaker 5] (47:29 - 47:57)
All right, this agenda item is consideration of joint election contract agreement with Harris County. The administration recommends the Board authorize the President to enter a contract with Harris County, whereby the County will perform all procedures allowed under state election laws for Lee College District in connection with the May 3, 2025 Regent Selection. I move that the Board authorize the President for her designee to negotiate final terms and enter into the proposed joint election agreement with Harris County and to take related actions.

[Speaker 9] (48:00 - 48:18)
Any discussion on this item? I would just note that they're charging us a little over $3 a voter, so that ought to motivate the voters to get out and earn it or whatever. See if we can get that per vote count.

Is there ever a follow-up, like where's the profit go if there is any?

[Speaker 5] (48:19 - 48:46)
Yeah, I'm not sure if the cost is related to there's probably no other elections going on and no one to share the cost with. Is that part of it, you think? Well, anyway.

Thank you for clarifying. Any other questions? Any other questions or comments?

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[Speaker 19] (48:46 - 48:47)
Aye.

[Speaker 5] (48:47 - 48:50)
Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you.

[Speaker 12] (48:54 - 48:55)
Regent Santana.

[Speaker 2] (49:06 - 49:24)
Next agenda item, consideration of interlocal agreement with the City of Baytown for collaboration to offer summer camps for kids via the Humane Heroes Program. The administration recommends that the Board authorize the President or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve the agreement with the City of Baytown. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 12] (49:24 - 49:25)
I have a second.

[Speaker 2] (49:25 - 49:34)
I have a motion by Regent Warford and a second by Regent Morfano. Any discussion on this item? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[Speaker 12] (49:35 - 49:35)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (49:35 - 50:06)
Any opposed? All right, motion carries. Consideration of the tuition rate for dual credit courses.

The administration recommends that the Board authorize the President to set the tuition rate for dual credit courses to $58.52 per semester credit hour for fiscal year 26. Do I have a second?

[Speaker 12] (50:06 - 50:06)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (50:06 - 50:16)
I have a motion by Regent Morfano and a second by Regent Santana. Do we have any discussion on this item?

[Speaker 11] (50:17 - 50:19)
How is that rate compared to last year?

[Speaker 5] (50:23 - 50:34)
Again, just a clarifying question. This rate is basically being set and we're just agreeing to a rate that's been established. We're not raising it ourselves, right?

[Speaker 16] (50:35 - 50:37)
It's in statute in HB 8.

[Speaker 19] (50:39 - 50:41)
Out of our control.

[Speaker 17] (50:41 - 50:42)
Totally.

[Speaker 2] (50:42 - 50:50)
Any other discussion on this item? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed?

[Speaker 12] (50:51 - 50:51)
Motion carries.

[Speaker 2] (51:00 - 51:14)
Next item, consideration of course fees for the logistical operations management program at Huntsville Center. The administration recommends that the Board authorize new course fees to cover the cost of certification testing. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 11] (51:15 - 51:15)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (51:16 - 51:22)
I have a motion by Regent Cotton and a second by Regent Warford. Discussion on this item?

[Speaker 19] (51:26 - 51:28)
I have a question.

[Speaker 2] (51:28 - 51:43)
This is a fee for the prisoners, the students at Huntsville. Do we have a choice in raising these fees? What's the logic here?

[Speaker 20] (51:44 - 51:44)
Dr. Walzers?

[Speaker 2] (51:49 - 51:52)
Are we raising them or is this just a new program?

[Speaker 18] (51:53 - 51:56)
No, it's not a new program. It's just fees associated with the programs.

[Speaker 15] (52:00 - 52:14)
These are the fees for the students to take the industry certification for CLA and CLT, the certified logistic technician and there's a certified logistic something else.

[Speaker 18] (52:16 - 52:17)
Associate.

[Speaker 15] (52:17 - 52:34)
Associate, thank you. And these are just basically the testing fees for those two programs. And by making them student fees, we are able to use their Pell Grant money to pay for them.

I was wondering the connection with Pell, so you made that connection for me.

[Speaker 2] (52:34 - 52:38)
So, very good. Thank you. Any other questions on this matter?

[Speaker 18] (52:39 - 52:40)
Thank you, Dr. Walzers.

[Speaker 2] (52:40 - 52:56)
All right, hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

All right, I just lost my, here it is. I'll say it just disappeared from my. Regent Santana, you're not the only one having computer issues today.

[Speaker 12] (53:15 - 53:33)
Okay, find my place. Okay, next agenda item.

[Speaker 2] (53:34 - 54:23)
Consideration of contract with Sidentix, easy for you to say, or employee safety platform with a five-year agreement. The administration recommends the board authorize the president or her designee to negotiate final terms and prices with Sidentix agreement for the installation and implementation of the safety platform at $72,275 and an annual service cost in the amount of $81,800 for the current year, with a renewal up to four additional years at an annual cost of $81,800 for a total of $481,675 for the five-year agreement.

The contract is through the TIPS Co-op contract number 230105. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 12] (54:24 - 54:24)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (54:26 - 54:30)
Okay, I have a motion by Regent Morfano and a second by Regent Warford. Any discussion on this item?

[Speaker 14] (54:31 - 54:33)
So, how does it work?

[Speaker 18] (54:36 - 54:38)
Tom, would you come to the podium?

[Speaker 7] (54:44 - 55:57)
Good evening, Regents. So, the way it works is every employee, full-time and part-time, receives a badge. This is a wearable panic alarm badge.

It doesn't need Wi-Fi. It doesn't need cell phone service. And what it does is it alerts our security with three pushes of a button of any medical emergency or any other incident.

And if there's an active threat, you continuously press it for eight times. And not only our security receives an alert on who pressed it and where they are located at, Baytown Dispatch will also get the alert and they'll respond as well. And we immediately go on a lockdown.

So, in light of the situations that are going on now, this would definitely reduce employee anxiety and it will definitely increase response times because seconds are everything. So, that's how it works. And it works all across campus, including parking lots.

And it's for all our campuses, Huntsville, Education Opportunity Center, Liberty, and McNair Center.

[Speaker 11] (55:58 - 56:02)
So, there are buttons on that little card you've got? Yes. Okay.

[Speaker 7] (56:02 - 56:03)
Yeah.

[Speaker 11] (56:05 - 56:07)
Don't push it three times or whatever times.

[Speaker 8] (56:07 - 56:09)
I know. I know. I'm kidding.

[Speaker 11] (56:12 - 56:21)
So, is this in conjunction with the DNA that we are already going to install? Tom, again, that's different.

[Speaker 7] (56:21 - 56:41)
So, that's another layer of protection. And what that would also do is that would automatically activate the DNA, the door locking system. It would automatically activate our navigator alerts.

Everything, hopefully the way it would work within 10 seconds, everybody would know we were in lockdown just by somebody pressing that button.

[Speaker 9] (56:44 - 56:48)
Wi-Fi? Doesn't need no Wi-Fi. How's the signal, Sam?

[Speaker 7] (56:48 - 56:49)
You want to?

[Speaker 9] (56:49 - 56:52)
In case we have a power failure or something like that.

[Speaker 8] (56:52 - 57:44)
Well, thank you very much. My name is Justin Masek. I'm with Syntegix.

It actually works with low energy Bluetooth, is the standard. What that means is that we set up a private network on all the campuses. So, we know that anywhere inside or outside on campus, it's going to work.

There's not going to be any dead areas. There's not going to be any drop zones. We have redundancy built in place.

So, if power goes out or anything like that, it self-heals. There's a number of redundancies in place. So, if weather events happen, we have to make sure that this lifesaving technology works and it will anywhere on campus.

[Speaker 16] (57:45 - 57:48)
What other community colleges do you have?

[Speaker 8] (57:50 - 58:52)
We work with the technical college system in Georgia. We also work with some in Florida. And over the past, since September 4th, the tragedy in Georgia, we've had a lot of awareness throughout the country because we've been effectively created a technology system that compresses the amount of time to identify, notify, and respond.

And we know that's the most critical aspect in saving lives. 99% of the time, our product is used for everyday things, things that don't hit the news, somebody having a heart attack, a panic attack, or anything in the classroom or outside. The 1% is the active shooter, and that we put things in place to help mitigate that and help save lives, both on the identifying, but also on the response and the notifying and the response and the mitigation of that.

[Speaker 14] (58:55 - 59:02)
We also- If you push it three times, that does what versus a medical alarm?

[Speaker 7] (59:02 - 59:14)
So three times, that notifies only our security team. More than eight times, it's our security and police, sheriffs, including in Huntsville.

[Speaker 14] (59:15 - 59:23)
Have them lock the doors or no? No. Okay, I misunderstood.

No, sir. If it's a medical emergency, three times and- Yes.

[Speaker 7] (59:24 - 1:00:13)
And we did speak to Laporte ISD on this, because they have this system. That's our closest school district that has it. They love it, have no issues with it.

So we did meet with them to see how they liked it and what issues that they came across, and so that's our closest example school district. We like this one because we don't have to depend on a phone app, and like our neighboring school district, they have one that you have to have a phone app. So this one's just very simple, simple to use.

We put gateways in the buildings. It talks to our network. If our network goes down, of course, we have our generator, but it also has a backup battery of eight hours if the power goes down, too.

[Speaker 11] (1:00:13 - 1:00:19)
So employees will wear that and their other identification?

[Speaker 7] (1:00:20 - 1:00:22)
Right behind it.

[Speaker 11] (1:00:22 - 1:00:22)
Together? Okay.

[Speaker 7] (1:00:22 - 1:00:44)
So you can discreetly press it. They do not interfere with each other, which is good because in our employee handbook, it's required that all employees have to wear their IDs. So this will reinforce that because you have to wear both.

It'll reinforce that policy that we have in our handbook.

[Speaker 11] (1:00:45 - 1:00:59)
So then the DNA system that we're implementing, do the cards have anything to do with that? Will they interface with our DNA system that we're going to be putting in? John, do you know?

[Speaker 8] (1:01:00 - 1:01:15)
We do work with a number of integrations, and we have a number of them on our website, and that is only going to continue to grow. But we have open APIs with that. So I can't tell you specifically which one, but I know we work with some of the major providers, and we're going to continue to do that.

[Speaker 6] (1:01:31 - 1:01:38)
Talking to the mic. He's waving in the... Yeah, and I think for John, too.

[Speaker 17] (1:01:42 - 1:01:55)
Mark? Good evening. The DNA system for the door locking, it also works, but it will work with your system or not?

[Speaker 8] (1:01:55 - 1:01:56)
Open API.

[Speaker 17] (1:01:57 - 1:02:09)
So if it does, it will, what he discussed as a handshake with the system so that it can open or lock or whatever you need it to do. That point.

[Speaker 9] (1:02:13 - 1:02:16)
The other end of that button, are we monitoring that? Okay.

[Speaker 17] (1:02:16 - 1:02:17)
Oh, yes.

[Speaker 9] (1:02:18 - 1:02:19)
From our security?

[Speaker 7] (1:02:20 - 1:02:36)
There is a mapping system with it. So the mapping system, it will come up on the security's desktop, and the security officers in the field, it will come up on their phones, because there's an app for their phone. So they will get the location on their phone as they're responding, so they're not going in blind.

[Speaker 8] (1:02:46 - 1:03:19)
So that's included with it. There aren't any additional fees for that. In the event that we provide an overage, 10% or more overage on it, in the event, and we have a few customers throughout the country that have to order replacement badges, they're about $30 a badge.

That doesn't happen that often, because we are hardware and software as a service. We want to make sure we have the right number up front. And these are reassignable.

You don't have to charge them. So we wanted to keep it simple.

[Speaker 19] (1:03:19 - 1:03:20)
Okay.

[Speaker 5] (1:03:26 - 1:03:33)
Thank you for continuing to improve the safety of our faculty and staff and all of our students. Appreciate it. Thank you.

[Speaker 2] (1:03:34 - 1:04:14)
Okay. If there's no further discussion on this item, all in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Consideration of RFS sports to replace broken seating at the Arena and Wellness Center.

Administration recommends that the Board authorize the President or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve RFS sports to replace broken seating at the Arena and Wellness Center for the sum of $117,394. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 9] (1:04:15 - 1:04:16)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (1:04:16 - 1:04:28)
I have a motion by Regent Cotton and a second by Regent Hall. Any discussion on this item? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[Speaker 12] (1:04:29 - 1:04:29)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (1:04:29 - 1:04:30)
Any opposed?

[Speaker 12] (1:04:32 - 1:04:33)
Motion passes.

[Speaker 2] (1:04:41 - 1:05:01)
Consideration of Furniture Marketing Group Hallways Furniture Updates. The administration recommends that the Board authorize the President or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve Furniture Marketing Group for Furniture Updates at various facilities for hallways for the sum of $148,632.27. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 12] (1:05:02 - 1:05:02)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (1:05:03 - 1:05:13)
Got a motion by Regent Morfano and a second by Regent Guillory. Any discussion on this item? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[Speaker 12] (1:05:14 - 1:05:14)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (1:05:14 - 1:05:15)
Any opposed?

[Speaker 12] (1:05:15 - 1:05:17)
Motion passes.

[Speaker 2] (1:05:29 - 1:05:51)
Consideration of Award to Construction Masters of Houston for Gym Restrooms Remodel. The administration recommends that the Board authorize the President or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve Construction Masters of Houston for Gym Restrooms Remodel for $287,863.16. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 11] (1:05:52 - 1:05:53)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (1:05:53 - 1:06:03)
Got a motion by Regent Warford and a second by Regent Gerald. Any discussion on this item? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[Speaker 12] (1:06:03 - 1:06:03)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (1:06:04 - 1:06:05)
Any opposed?

[Speaker 12] (1:06:06 - 1:06:06)
Motion passes.

[Speaker 2] (1:06:17 - 1:06:41)
Consideration of the HVAC Preventative Maintenance Agreement Renewable Option for Year 4 Fiscal Year 2025-2026 and Additions. The administration recommends that the Board authorize the President or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve the Renewable Option for Year 4 of the agreement plus additions with Johnson Controls for $361,015. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 12] (1:06:42 - 1:06:44)
So moved. Second.

[Speaker 2] (1:06:45 - 1:06:56)
I have a motion by Regent Santana and a second by Regent Cotton. Discussion on this item? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[Speaker 12] (1:06:56 - 1:06:56)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (1:06:57 - 1:06:57)
Any opposed?

[Speaker 12] (1:06:58 - 1:06:59)
Motion passes.

[Speaker 2] (1:07:08 - 1:07:32)
Consideration of Monument Roofing Systems to install roofing systems at the North Central Plant and the Performing Arts Center. The administration recommends that the Board authorize the President or her designee to negotiate final terms and approve Monument Roofing Systems to install duralast roofing systems at the North Central Plant and the Performing Arts Center for the sum of $425,287. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 11] (1:07:33 - 1:07:33)
So moved.

[Speaker 2] (1:07:34 - 1:07:39)
I have a motion by Regent Warford and a second by Regent Cotton. Any discussion on this item?

[Speaker 12] (1:07:50 - 1:07:51)
John? Philip?

[Speaker 10] (1:07:57 - 1:08:09)
Yes, sir. This passes 20-year warranty. This is one of the ones that we've identified with the life cycle that we'll be starting with.

That one is no longer under warranty. It expired back in 2023.

[Speaker 11] (1:08:11 - 1:08:15)
How old is that building, John? Or Philip, either one?

[Speaker 10] (1:08:16 - 1:08:17)
I believe 2013.

[Speaker 11] (1:08:19 - 1:08:19)
13?

[Speaker 10] (1:08:20 - 1:08:20)
2013.

[Speaker 11] (1:08:24 - 1:08:25)
Well, it's not under warranty.

[Speaker 10] (1:08:26 - 1:08:30)
That building is not, the roofing system is not under warranty. We have no certificates or anything on it.

[Speaker 14] (1:08:33 - 1:08:39)
So it doesn't necessarily need a roof, it's just not under warranty anymore. Is that what that means?

[Speaker 10] (1:08:40 - 1:09:12)
Well, the roof on that system does need to be replaced. It's got two layers on top of it. We have had leaks in it.

We've had to come out and get repaired. And we're having to do it under our dom right now on the pack. Had multiple leaks over the lobby area and some on the actual black box area and some on the actual stage as well.

We just completed all those repairs with the pack and stage area and the full black box. Most of that repair was due to water damage.

[Speaker 9] (1:09:12 - 1:09:15)
I read this new roof will have a 20-year warranty.

[Speaker 10] (1:09:16 - 1:09:17)
That's correct.

[Speaker 9] (1:09:18 - 1:09:20)
For repairs during that period?

[Speaker 10] (1:09:20 - 1:09:27)
Yes, sir. Anything that will be covered? Any manufacturing, anything of that nature?

Lasting products and labor should all be covered.

[Speaker 11] (1:09:36 - 1:09:40)
I thought it was a little before that. I thought it was like 2010.

[Speaker 19] (1:09:47 - 1:09:59)
I think that was a remodel. Okay.

[Speaker 5] (1:10:01 - 1:10:13)
I think this is getting on the cycle of replacing roofs before they fail and then getting good 20-year warranties on them, which I'm surprised warranty covers it that long, but that's what they say.

[Speaker 10] (1:10:14 - 1:10:19)
Every time you end up doing a roof, one of the things you are purchasing is the 20-year warranty.

[Speaker 11] (1:10:23 - 1:10:24)
I said 10.

[Speaker 10] (1:10:24 - 1:10:28)
13 was a renovation over in that area.

[Speaker 14] (1:10:30 - 1:10:43)
We're replacing roofs. That means we've replaced all the roofs that do need it? Already caught up and now we're going back and doing the ones that...

[Speaker 10] (1:10:44 - 1:11:24)
To be honest, sir, actually we're starting with the ones that are out of warranty. Because all the roofs that we have around campus, we only have, I believe, six roofs total that are not under warranty as of right now. We have some that are actually fixing to expire.

I've actually presented all the roofs to the board building committee, which ones were closed, which ones were no warranty. Due to the use of fact and the most damage that we've had lately, the pack was one of the ones that was brought up to be one of the first ones to get completed. It's already cost us extra money to do repairs.

Remember, we just did the stages.

[Speaker 11] (1:11:25 - 1:11:26)
He's saying...

[Speaker 14] (1:11:26 - 1:11:28)
Our roofs are kind of overall in good shape.

[Speaker 11] (1:11:29 - 1:11:33)
He's saying we need it, though, because they keep having to repair it since 13.

[Speaker 5] (1:11:33 - 1:11:51)
I think, Mark, what we're trying to get to is where we are repairing major systems before the end of life happens, which then you have damages and repair costs. Roof systems with 20-year warranties, you get 20 years out of them. We don't want to do them all at one time.

They all expire.

[Speaker 10] (1:11:51 - 1:11:52)
Exactly.

[Speaker 5] (1:11:53 - 1:12:04)
There's a little thought process that goes into that. They've identified the roofs that are needing repair. Those are getting repaired.

Those that need to be replaced because they're end-of-life cycle.

[Speaker 9] (1:12:07 - 1:12:15)
In both meetings, the buildings meeting, the pack didn't have two or three layers on it. Was it the north plant that has multiple layers?

[Speaker 10] (1:12:15 - 1:12:18)
The north plant has two to three layers on it.

[Speaker 9] (1:12:18 - 1:12:19)
All that's coming off?

[Speaker 10] (1:12:19 - 1:12:26)
Correct. We're stripping it down, making sure we find all the deficiencies, get those repaired, and then put a brand new Duralas roof on it.

[Speaker 13] (1:12:28 - 1:12:49)
I, for one, am glad to see Duralas roofs. Figure with them. We replaced the roof on my building.

It had been leaking, the standing seam. It had been leaking for three or four years when we moved in it. We had the Duralas put on there.

I was in that building over 20 years and never had a leak, never had a repair.

[Speaker 12] (1:12:53 - 1:12:54)
Okay.

[Speaker 2] (1:12:56 - 1:12:58)
No further discussion. All in favor, say aye.

[Speaker 12] (1:12:58 - 1:12:59)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (1:12:59 - 1:13:02)
Any opposed? A motion passes.

[Speaker 12] (1:13:12 - 1:13:13)
Thank you.

[Speaker 2] (1:13:13 - 1:13:27)
Consideration to reaffirm or modify Board of Regents budget priorities for fiscal year 26. The administration recommends that the Board reaffirm or modify budget priorities for use in developing the fiscal year 26 operating budget. Do I have a motion on this item?

[Speaker 16] (1:13:28 - 1:13:29)
Move. Second.

[Speaker 2] (1:13:29 - 1:13:34)
I have a motion by Regent Santana and a second by Regent Morfano. Discussion on this item?

[Speaker 16] (1:13:38 - 1:14:05)
Starting out with some parameters to give to the administration on how to begin our budget process. Because we sometimes tend to be in the process and discover that we want to pivot. And this helps the administration to be able to develop the budget in a sense in understanding what our needs and desires are.

[Speaker 9] (1:14:08 - 1:14:35)
I would just comment that we've had several discussions. We had slides today about our reserves and we seem to be in good shape in the area of reserves. We have previously prioritized that as part of our budget process.

So the administration can take a look at that. We may want to modify that we don't set aside burdensome amounts.

[Speaker 5] (1:14:36 - 1:14:48)
Yeah I would also just remember that on that as our budget grows over the years so does that four month to six month number. So just keeping it in mind is what we're talking about.

[Speaker 9] (1:14:49 - 1:15:24)
Does have we and I know we've talked about cash reserves but there's another definition of reserves that we previously used back in the old days. Is that and you kind of indicated with operating cash or something that some of that would fall into a category of reserve. Can you address that issue?

And I know I know we we redefined reserves as we wanted cash in the bank right. We didn't want any smoke and mirrors but there are still some reserves. You want that done tonight or during the budget session?

No just brief.

[Speaker 3] (1:15:26 - 1:17:04)
So to your point the the funding that we've identified as reserves are funds from prior operating periods that have no intended purpose at this point right. There's no commitments against those funds. They're not part of our current year operating budget.

They're not expected to be part of future operating budgets. Those are true cash funded reserves. The other funds that we talk about the operating cash that we have in there that is that is cyclical right.

So we collect our taxes mostly through the end of February so that that grows. Then we spend that down slowly through essentially the end of November. So in November those operating the operating account will be significantly lower and then we'll start to see a big influx of cash again as we start to collect taxes.

Those funds are are on a rolling 12 month basis right. We collect revenue we spend revenue then we rebudget for the next year and we don't really ever get that number all the way down to zero. So there is some built in surplus there.

But but that is that that is essentially a rolling 12 month operating fund. Highlighting that we have five months means that if we didn't collect any money at all for the next five months we would have enough cash to cover all operations without making any changes to our to our current spending pace as an institution.

[Speaker 9] (1:17:05 - 1:17:08)
That even touch our debt?

[Speaker 19] (1:17:09 - 1:17:09)
Would not.

[Speaker 5] (1:17:12 - 1:17:33)
I think I also recall seeing the two numbers here I think you mentioned them together which is the self-insurance fund as well. That's cash money but not the reserve amount right. It's two separate reasons to have them but total together is is 30 million or so in cash.

I like where we're at.

[Speaker 12] (1:17:36 - 1:17:37)
What we need.

[Speaker 3] (1:17:40 - 1:18:27)
Yes. So when we get into the budget workshops we'll go into a significant amount of detail regarding our projected revenues and how we expect revenues to be collected in the next year. And then we'll go through our expenses including administration's proposal for how we would allocate any new revenue that we would expect next year as part of our operating budget.

And so you will see that detailed out by essentially account code. And at that time if you're if you would like to make changes that that's when you could recommend specific changes to how much we may have budgeted to go into reserves or into other initiatives that we would propose to the board in May and June prior to approving the budget in July.

[Speaker 12] (1:18:35 - 1:18:36)
Sure. If we have to.

[Speaker 2] (1:18:41 - 1:19:15)
Okay. If there's no further discussion on this item. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed. Okay.

Motion passes. Okay. We are going to move the next agenda item to after executive session.

And so at this time the meeting of the Lee College Board of Regents on above listed date after proper posting and in accordance with Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code for the specific purposes provided will recess from open meeting to closed meeting. No action will be taken while the board is recessed in executive session.

[Speaker 9] (1:19:39 - 1:19:46)
Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Speaker 2] (1:20:01 - 1:20:36)
Okay. The closed meeting is adjourned and the board is reconvened into open meeting. And agenda item nine dot B dot 13 is being suspended.

Next on the agenda is matters of concern for future agendas. Hearing none. This meeting is adjourned.