Delegate Teleconference Meeting
Wednesday, February 19, 2014, 9:00 – 11:30 a.m.
MembersX / Doug Wade (Bakersfield) / X / Josee Larochelle (San Jose)
X / Missy Jarnagin (Channel Islands) / X / Lorlie Leetham (San Luis Obispo)
X / Stacie Corona (Chico) / X / Mary Hinchman (San Marcos)
VACANT (Dominguez Hills) / VACANT (Sonoma)
X / Monique Cornelius for Darrell Haydon (East Bay) / X / Julie Benevedes (Stanislaus)
X / Clinton Moffitt (Fresno) / X / George Ashkar (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Sarah Song (Fullerton) / X / Rodney Rideau (Chancellor’s Office) (call-in)
Carol Lorentzen (Humboldt) / X / Jean Gill (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Christine Welch for Sharon Taylor (Long Beach) / X / Mike Redmond (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Mae Santos (Los Angeles) / Tom Roberts (Chancellor’s Office) (call-in)
X / Steve Mastro (California Maritime Academy) / X / Michelle Schlack (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Bill Musselman for John Fitzgibbon (Monterey Bay) / Nancy Freelander-Paice (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Deborah Wallace (Northridge) / X / Lily Wang (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Darwin Labordo (Pomona) / Sedong John (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Justine Heartt (Sacramento) Chair / Michelle Norton for Mick McBride (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Ming-Tung “Mike” Lee (Sacramento) CABO Liaison / Chris Canfield (Chancellor’s Office)
X / Debbie Burns for Monir Ahmed (San Bernardino)
X / Chris Bronsdon for Lorretta Leavitt (San Diego)
X / Franz Lozano for Agnes Wong Nickerson (San Francisco)
Welcome
1. Agenda Approval – Justine Heartt
Add to the agenda if time permits, a discussion regarding Student Travel and University Business.
Mary Hinchman will discuss the policies and procedures for FOA Treasury during the Treasurer’s report.
2. Meeting notes reminder: review and provide feedback before notes are posted to web – Justine Heartt
Delegates were reminded to review the FOA meeting notes.
3. Treasurer’s Report – Lorretta Leavitt/Mary Hinchman
The FOA Treasury is currently being transitioned San Diego to San Marcos. There is a current balance of $77K. The CSU 101 conference expenses are closed out and the CSU Business Conference CPO’s are pending for campuses. There has been approximately $76K in early bird registrations received. To date, $66K in vendors and sponsors revenue, but no funds have been posted.
The Treasurer’s subcommittee met once this month. The discussion items included; 1) should the banking be centralized at the CO or remain at the campus of the FOA Treasurer. It was decided that the funds stay at San Marcos, since the internal process seems to work well. This process will be revisited when a new Treasurer is voted in. No additional recommendations were noted regarding this topic. 2) The use of a P-Card to facilitate expenditures. There was consensus by the committee to use the P-Card for expenditures. It was noted that transfers could be done via CPO for expenditures by other campuses. There was a brief discussion on the process. 3) Hospitality rates for conferences. The committee reviewed prior year costs, but another meeting is in order on this topic. It was recommended that the hospitality rate will be that of the campus where the FOA Treasurer is located. If rates are higher than the campus established rates, a written exception would be needed. The discussion needs to continue on written exceptions, specifically, where the directives would be held.
Action: A sub-committee follow-up conference call will be scheduled and recommendations will be available for the March meeting. It was recommended that the discussion points and any recommendation be sent in advance for Delegates to review.
4. CABO Update – Ming-Tung “Mike” Lee
Mike Lee noted that CABO, at its face-to-face meeting of 2-17-14, welcomed two new VP’s. In addition, the “spirit of innovation” was discussed during the teleconference on 2-12-14. It was noted that the BOT is asking for more time to review capital items and items requiring approval and that a longer lead time may need to be considered. The CMS upgrade was also discussed. Mike noted that a couple of campuses are looking to fill vacant VP positions.
5. Budget Update – Ryan Storm (time certain of 9:30 a.m.)
Mr. Storm reported that the LAO has come out with a report/critique of the Governor’s budget. Noted in the report was agreement with the Governor’s budget, namely, the CSU establishing goals for performance measures. The LAO disagreed with unallocated increases and the debt service framework. In addition, the LAO did not support the $50MM grants for innovation in higher education proposal and the freeze on tuition. The LAO is recommending a mix of tuition fee revenue. In 14-15 recommended increase in tuition funding, adding on a COLA factor/adjustment. The issue is a difference in methodology on the calculation on the enrollment funding.
The Chancellor has been mindful to be thankful to the Governor for new dollars. There is still a $95MM gap in the Chancellor’s request and the Governor’s budget. Compensation, increased enrollments, capital and deferred maintenance funding are still issues. There has been quite a bit of consultation on the gap. The Governors long term plan is concerning for the CSU (.60 cents on the dollar for funding). The Presidents have received targets on enrollment funding for 14-15. The LAO thinks enrollments increases should be approximately 7,000 vs. 8,339 as outlined by the CSU. All other areas compensation, etc. are still being reviewed. The CSU remains optimistic due to the revenues coming into the state.
Mr. Storm noted that the Chancellor is in Sacramento today for a Budget Sub-Committee hearing.
There was a brief discussion on the debt service framework. Mr. Storm noted that there seems to be consensus that this is good for the CSU; however, debt service spikes may be an issue. The good news is that the administration has agreed to honor State Public Works Board debt service spikes for projects already approved by the Governor and Legislature. The trustees are concerned about the GO debt service. There is potentially $25MM amount that may not be covered. However, as debt is retired, there may be room to work with this amount. The Governor has expressed that he does not intend for the CSU to be participants in future GO bonds and the state being a partner.
There was a brief discussion on the additional $50MM as addressed in Chancellor White’s “State of the CSU” speech. Mr. Storm noted that the decision hasn’t been made about where the $50MM will come. Discussion is ongoing.
6. CSU 101 January 2014 Update – Justine Heartt
The CSU 101 ended with $2,340 in net income. The evaluations are being reviewed. A debrief will also be completed. Thanks to those who assisted with the success of the 101. The October planning session is moving forward. It was noted that communication needs to be reviewed and possibly improved.
7. CSU 101 October 2014 Update – Lorlie Leetham
Lorlie thanked Justine for the success of the January 101. The CSU 101 date is slated for October 26-29th at the Cliffs Resort, Pismo Beach. The cost is approximate ($1,100) and currently in line with the January conference. A contract will be issued with the Cliffs shortly. Campuses will be allowed up to 4 attendees.
It was noted that the communication issues may stem from new staff not being familiar with travel and understanding the CPO process. Delegates should be specific with these staff.
Action: Consider a possible waitlist for no-shows.
8. CSU Business Conference March 2014 Update – Sharon Taylor
Missy Jarnagin reported that there was an on-site meeting this past Monday. There are 43 confirmed vendors and 363 participants currently registered (CSU only, does not include vendors). Rooms are no longer available at the Hilton. The Crowne Plaza across the street will be offering rooms at the same rate as the Hilton.
9. CSU Business Conference 2015 discussion of three ideas (may need to update bylaws) – Justine Heartt
a. Rotate Chair between FOA/PSSOA with Vice Chair being Chair in the following year
It was noted that PSSOA still feels disengaged with the process. PSSOA is supportive of the suggestion to rotate chairs. It was suggested that Brian Cotham co-chair the 2015 conference, since he has a lot of experience with coordinating large conferences. Action: Clint will follow-up with the suggestion.
b. Hire Debbie Brothwell as a Retired Annuitant to coordinate conference logistics. We would still need program chairs and vendor/sponsor chairs from both organizations.
There was a brief discussion on the hiring of Debbie Brothwell to assist with the coordination of the conference. It was noted that the planning is a huge task and the coordination efforts need support.
c. Hire Richard Jackson from AOA to help.
“One aspect of conference planning I would be willing to talk about is FOA making an arrangement with me to assist with locating potential conference sites and negotiating the contract. Not only have I done this for AOA for years, and know the "tricks of the trade," but also do it for other AOA and CSU affiliated groups, so there is also opportunity for some multiple-booking leverage with hotels as to room rates and concessions. This would, of course, be done in accordance with FOA specifications, and any final decisions would be FOA's.”
Based on the discussion of the suggested options, a spring conference will be held for the CSU Business Conference and the CSU 101 in the Fall. Action: George will follow-up with Sally Roush, Interim EVC, to verify that approval/acknowledgement of the conferences is needed on an annual basis. There was a brief discussion on the value of training and wanting to move forward with ongoing conferences.
After a lengthy discussion, consensus was reached that there would be an FOA chair/PSSOA vice chair, with assistance from Debbie Brothwell for coordination. There should be multi-year planning and Josee Larochelle will chair the 14-15. This would be the conclusion after George confirms with Sally. George will contact the Chair after confirmation so the decision could be forwarded to the FOA.
10. Nominations for regular elections at our March Meeting – Justine Heartt, Steve Mastro, Julie Benevedes
a. Email ballot will be sent with deadline for voting. New Officers announced at March meeting.
b. Nominations certified by the Nominating Committee for the following positions are:
Vice Chair:
Missy Jarnagin
Deborah Wallace
Secretary:
Mae Santos
2-Year Member-At-Large:
Monir Ahmed
Darrell Haydon
It was noted that nominations have been accepted and certified by the committee. Voting will be done via mail and ends on 2-28-14.
11. CO Financial Services Updates
a. Financial Services Update – George Ashkar
Financial presentations were done at the January BOT meeting and findings were reviewed. The report on the NCAA Agreed upon Procedures (AUP) was postponed with an update slated for March. The CO is working with the campuses and Auxiliaries and Internal Audit to verify and clear any findings by March.
It was noted that some of the campuses NCAA AUP reports were conditionally accepted, with a few recommendations for additional information to make the reports more robust.
In addition, the CO is working diligently to review the new debt structure. The council of Presidents reviewed the matter yesterday at their meeting.
The CO held the kickoff meeting with KPMG to discuss the 13-14 audit. GASB 68 was discussed in length. Preliminary indications are that this will have a significant impact on the statements moving forward.
b. Summarized Feedback on the DRAFT SW Guideline – Claims for Stale Dated Checks against the CSU – Lily Wang
It was noted that this a follow-up item from previous meetings. To date, nine campuses have responded or had questions regarding the draft document. Some questions included clarification and three areas were highlighted: 1) Three campuses indicated a system wide process with a centralized process for escheated checks. A consideration is being reviewed by the CO to process centrally; this will be based on resources of the CO. There was a brief discussion on the idea of a campus lookup feature, so individuals don’t have to go to 24 sites to find where they may have outstanding items. In addition, a central webpage might be helpful, with lookup field for individuals to lookup names. Action: A survey will be presented to FSAC on the suggested, and results pose to the FSAC group at the next scheduled meeting in April. 2) Undelivered payroll checks – some campuses mail out, if returned, there is a time certain period to deposit to Wells before SCO escheats the check. Action: CO to follow-up with the SCO on its process and timing, so the checks may be deposited before it’s escheated by SCO. 3) Vendor checks – all checks should be escheated to Wells Fargo Bank, except for appropriated funds, such as Capital Outlay Bond Funds, which need to be remitted back to the State. The CO guideline taken from the RMP document notes original funding source should be considered.
Action: It was suggested that the CO will move forward with the guideline after clarification of the SCO escheat procedures (item #2 above). There was consensus.
c. Year-end in-person training on April 28-29, 2014 – Lily Wang
It was noted that April 28th is the legal date and 29th is the GAAP training date. This is in alignment with the CFS upgrade.
There was a brief discussion on having the training during the CFS upgrade shutdown on April 17 and 18. It was noted that KPMG and the hotel are booked for the 28th and 29th. Action: Lily will follow-up to see if alternate dates are available and will notify the FOA.