8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Virtual Meeting via Teams
Attendees
Voting Members
- Mike Andriatch
- Lexi Bradley
- Monica Brasted
- Austin Busch
- Frances Dearing
- Kristin Hartway
- Tom Hernandez
- Sara Kelly
- Stephanie Learn
- Yin Liu
- Theresa Martinez
- Gavin Miller
- Carl O’Connor
- James Onley
- Heather Raczkowski
- Elliot Weininger: Co-Chair Elect
Non-Voting Members
- Julie Caswell
- Jackie Clark: Co-Chair
- Steve Cook
- Damita Davis
- Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall
- Mike Harrison
- President Macpherson
- Skye Paine
- Darson Rhodes: Co-Chair
- Melissa Wight
Guests
- Don Bigelow
- Nathan Bull
- Mustapha Ceesay
- John Follaco
- Kandie Gay
- Tammy Gouger
- Jennifer Green
- Scott Haines
- Jennifer Haytock
- Debbie Jacob
- Rachael Killion
- Teresa Major
- Frank Mancini
- Tammy Jo Manz
- Kamal Mehruz
- Gary Morog
- Pamela O’Keefe
- Karen Podsiadly
- Janet Roy
- Katherine Schaal
- Darlene Schmitt
- Rey Sia
- Bonnie Swoger
- Sarah Unger
- Susan Wielgosz
- Aaron Wilkinson
- Robert Wyant
Regrets
Voting Members
- Martin Abraham
- Lorraine Acker
- Michael Doyle
- Cathy Houston-Wilson
- Kathy Peterson
The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m.
Approval of the Minutes
Committee members reviewed the October 19, 2023, meeting minutes. Dr. Rhodes stated that Ms. Podsiadly did provide the answer to the question regarding the number of students or sessions that have been seen in the evening counseling clinic. The answer is that there were 103 sessions between September 18, 2023, and October 18, 2023.
Dr. Weininger motioned to approve the minutes; Ms. Dearing seconded the motion. 9 members voted to approve the minutes. Therefore, the minutes were approved.
Announcements
Dr. Rhodes made the following announcement:
- The Budget Town Hall is Thursday, November 16, 2023, from 12:45-1:45pm in Edwards 100.
Position Request Approval Process
President Macpherson provided an explanation on how the position request approval process has progressed through the years.
Position reviews have grown from paper processes to electronic review. The process is assessed for continuous improvement. During the last Budget Retreat, it was determined that Cabinet needed more definitive information regarding the positions requested. Cabinet members now have viewing rights in PageUp for all positions that will be reviewed for that period of time. Supervisors will need to be more comprehensive in their descriptions in the PageUp process. This will have benefits as it will help us to have good job descriptions and recruit successfully. These new comprehensive descriptions are not a guarantee that all positions will be approved. In the long run, getting more information earlier in the position will stop the delays further down the road. In addition, the timeline for review periods has changed. During the first budget crisis, it was decided the positions would be reviewed quarterly. This was to ensure that the campus was able to achieve salary savings over a period of time to use elsewhere. The quarterly review was not successful because there was always an exception because a specific position would need to be reviewed and replaced before the review session. Therefore, Cabinet made an adjustment to the timeline to conduct a monthly review. This timeline has been in effect for the last few years. Even with the monthly timeline, there would still be an emergency request for a position review. Now the timeline for reviews is roughly two weeks. There are times that Cabinet does not meet, and they will not conduct reviews during Extended Cabinet meetings as these meetings are reserved for more comprehensive review of items that a wider group of individuals may help think through and complete information. As a result of the new adjusted timeline, positions will not be considered between reviews.
There are positions that Cabinet has agreed that are excluded from the full Cabinet review and can move forward with VP approval. They are:
- Short term extensions to temporary contracts. An example of this would be a temporary contract would end prior to the search for the permanent position being complete. Therefore, the temporary contract would need to be extended for a short period to get through the completion of the search.
- Part-time coaches and part-time bus drivers. This eliminates time spent recruiting the same individuals.
- Some CSEA positions such as cleaners and lowest grades in Facilities where there is a lot of turnover.
- Residence hall positions. These are funded by DIFR and not the State budget.
- Temporary student positions. They fall within the requirements of the division. The only exception are the student positions that do not have a clear funding source and therefore need to be reviewed by Cabinet.
- Positions at REOC would no longer come to Cabinet for review because they have a different budget stream and do not impact our bottom line for our budget. There will be a careful review of those positions between the President, REOC Director and Budget department.
Positions go through a vigorous review within the divisions before they get to Cabinet level for approval. Due to this review, most positions are approved once they get to the Cabinet level. Some divisional reviews have resulted in examining strategic priorities and how positions can be combined or repurposed to achieve goals. The divisional reviews have helped the campus to achieve salary savings. These savings can be reviewed in the divisional presentations (presented on October 12 and October 19) and in the Five-Year Financial Model.
The following question, answer and discussion points occurred:
- The question was raised if the process is documented in the operating guidelines to give individuals a better idea of the process. It was stated that there isn’t a checklist or specific template because we are working in a changing environment. The consistent questions that are asked could be consolidated and developed into the procedure, so individuals understand the best way to work through the process.
- Appreciation was extended for sharing the process.
Members were reminded that on December 14, 2023, there will be a staffing update. The Vice President for Administration and Finance will speak holistically on where the campus stands in numbers of faculty and staff throughout the University, how the numbers have changed over time and salary savings that have been captured.
Five-Year Financial Model Update
(Presentation is available in Teams)
Ms. Clark provided an update on the Five-Year Financial Model. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:
- Appreciation was extended for the Five-Year Financial Model update.
- The question was raised regarding further explanation on the “Other Items” listed under “Actions-$10M Challenge” especially since there is a gap in 2024-2025. It was stated that the other items involved budget reduction targets as were presented in the division budget presentations on October 12 and October 19. We are now in a position of growth and hoping to sustain the student growth. In order to accomplish this, we did not want to make extra cuts to divisional budgets during a time when we are looking to create additional revenue. There is a concern that if you continue to cut, you can prevent growth and cause morale issues. Therefore, we are going to take a pause this year on other items that involved cuts and focus on items that bring in additional revenue. In the out years, if we have better enrollment and retention than we predict we get an opportunity to readjust moving forward and we have more revenue and then cuts don’t need to be made. This may impact our structural deficit, but we are looking at this model every six months and can make adjustments if the numbers start to look concerning.
- The question was raised if the State budget deficit has been factored into the model. It was stated that there is an anticipation of a $50 billion deficit over the next three years. If this deficit does happen, there are items at risk. An example of that would be the additional operating aid of $2.4 million that we are to receive over the next three years. We did keep this in the financial model because in most instances when additional operating aid is put into the State budget, it stays in. The most likely cut will be the transformational funds because these are temporary funds. This is why we removed the transformational funds from the model after 2024-25.
- The question was raised regarding wanting more information about the decreased out-of-state tuition rate and if it helped towards the increase in our enrollment. It was stated that the out-of-state tuition was reduced to make it more comparable to the in-state and make us more competitive to help increase our enrollment. It was added that we knew we may lose money initially as this initiative would be offered to new and current out-of-state students, but 97% of our students are in-state students. We wanted to be more attractive to out-of-state students and recruit additional students going forward. This does not mean we will always have this tuition rate, but we are bringing more students in and creating a reputation. We also increased scholarship opportunities for out-of-state students. This is an experiment, and we will know more at this point next year. This opportunity was given to us late in the recruitment cycle, so we won’t be able to see the impact until next year.
- An update was provided on the out-of-state recruitment. It was stated that there are markets that have a lot of potential. One of them is Pittsburgh and Alleghany County. Two college fairs were completed this fall in this area, and one is scheduled for the spring. Another area is Lackawanna County which is the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre area. A college fair was attended as well as materials being dropped off at various high schools. This area is an ideal location as it is only 2-3 hours away from us. An additional area we are looking at is Connecticut. Our tuition cost compared to some Connecticut institutions is resonating well. Another area we are exploring is New Jersey. This is due to proximity and population. This is a tough area to export from as they typically go to private institutions. California is another area we are exploring. We have had some luck recruiting from California. California does tend to export well to the eastern part of the United States. We are looking at ways to staff programming there through Alumni. Another area we would like to explore is the Phoenix area. Especially for Athletics. There are not a lot of D3 schools there. We are looking at ways to partner with Alumni to get materials and a presence out in these areas so that we can maintain staff members abilities to attend recruitment events downstate.
- The question was asked if out-of-state institutions are implementing similar strategies to recruit New York State students away from us. It was stated that we are seeing schools offering in-state rates to Western New York students. There is a threat, especially in New York City as every school from Alabama to UCLA seems to have a regional advisor there.
- The question was raised if a tuition increase is likely to happen and if it would help take some weight off the “Other Items” line in the $10 million challenge. It was stated that tuition increases are not what politicians are in favor of because it is not a vote winner for their constituents. The additional $2.4 million in operating aid was the work around to make up for the lack of the tuition increase and to help the operating budget be whole. If we are to see a tuition increase in the out years, that would help us going forward and would add that to the model. We would not be likely to have both the additional operating aid and a tuition increase.
- The question was raised regarding the subsidizing of Athletics as it is indicated on the model through 2027-28 and is this the way we will operate going forward. It was stated that most Athletic programs have some form of institutional subsidizing. There was a decision made many years ago that a large overhead would be charged to our Athletics program and a large number of Athletics personnel would be on IFR accounts. That means we pay all of the benefits for those positions. This puts our program at a disadvantage compared to Cortland where most of their personnel are on State lines. This is a long-term conversation where we need to keep looking at what the plan is to have Athletics be as healthy as possible. Part of that plan may be transferring some of the personnel lines to the State budget. We are only able to do that when we have more students to recruit and have those positions available. We are currently looking at all of the costs attached to Athletics. We are examining if we can raise the number of individuals on a roster to help increase enrollment but maintain the same level of staffing. We have had a couple of programs that have had low recruitment over the years. We have to balance recruiting more students to these programs without having to hire additional staff. A critical decision was made this year to exit SUNYAC and enter the Empire 8 Conference. This conference is more local, so this means less overnight travel and fewer hotel room expenses. Also, there will be less time on the bus and will help with a better student experience. We should start seeing some savings next year. To be prepared, we have kept the expense in the budget because we don’t have a solution to the overall issue, but we are working on chipping away at the expense. We will then make adjustments going forward.
- The question was raised regarding how our roster sizes compares to other schools and the concern that we could be making them so large that students are sitting on the bench and therefore impeding the goal of a better student experience. It was stated that our largest roster is football, and this would be the way for other schools. We are going to have larger rosters, but it will not impede the student experience. We have a new swimming and diving coach that has helped increase our roster from five students. This has helped team spirit as we are now comparable to other school rosters. We have conducted roster size analysis on the teams and have developed roster size targets. We have made some of female team coaches full-time to increase recruitment and help make the rosters equivalent. The overall investment is to help recruitment to increase our enrollment. If the plan doesn’t work, then we will re-evaluate the plan.
- The question was raised regarding what retention initiatives are being implemented to maintain the students from the increased enrollment. It was stated that there will be a presentation on the retention efforts that would provide a better comprehensive explanation at a later meeting.
The question was raised regarding the five-year projections and if the retirement eligible line would indicate reduction from current staffing levels. It was stated that line is specific to the retirement eligible population. The separations that are not retirement related are indicated in the salary savings. The retirement eligible population is separated out due a specific program to look at if the positions are likely to be filled, refilled at a different level or moved to a different area. This is the area we expect to see some people leaving. We don’t know when they are going to leave, and we are not talking to individuals about leaving. We are thinking about planning for the future and what our work force is going to look like. Most CSEA employees will retire when they are eligible to. We also see this in our academic staffing. We see it less in the faculty. This is about succession planning.
Additional Items from the Committee
The following items was discussed:
- Members were encouraged to wear their Brockport apparel tomorrow for Green and Gold Friday.
- Members were encouraged to share the happiness of the gift of time and help make this a great place to work.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 a.m.
JC/DR/mw