Navigation
Search

JPBC Minutes: February 26, 2026

8:00 – 10:30 a.m., Fannie Barrier Williams, McCue Auditorium

Attendees

Voting Members

Lorraine Acker
Mike Andriatch
Jennifer Blood
Monica Brasted
Denise Copelton
Frances Dearing
Scott Haines
Tim Henry
Tom Hernandez
Sara Kelly
Stephanie Learn
Theresa Martinez
Carl O’Connor
Kathy Peterson
Heather Raczkowski
Jaime Spiller


Non-Voting Members

Thomas Chew
Eileen Daniel
Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall
Ian Harper: Co-Chair
Mike Harrison
Rachael Killion
Elliot Weininger: Co-Chair
Melissa Wight

Guests


Dave Bagley
George Ballart
Ruth Childs
Johnna Frosini
Brian Guarino
Erick Hart
Danny Hoskins
Carlos Jones
Catie Lalonde
Karen Logsdon
Brittany Narburgh
Karen Parker
Karen Podsiadly
Darlene Schmitt
Bonnie Swoger
Chief Vasile
Elizabeth Weir


Regrets

Voting Members

Steve Barber
Susan Butler
Jana Craft
Nautica Murray
Logan Rath
Elizabeth Thorpe
Robert Wyant

Non-Voting Members

President Macpherson

The meeting was called to order at 8:02 a.m.

 

Announcements 

None at this time.

Fee-Based Budget Presentations

A Gift to the Fund for Brockport (Alumni) - presented by Jenny Blood, Controller - Brockport Foundation

 

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding whether there are any reserve funds for the fee budget. It was stated that everything that is brought in is spent that year. We spend over what is brought in and the rest of the funding needed is supplemented by using our unrestricted budget.
  • The question was raised regarding whether there are statistics on how many students opt-in versus opting out. It was stated that we do not have that data as that aspect is handled by the Student Accounts office. If you look at the fee collection through the years, we have not really seen a decrease in the funding received.

Career Services - presented by Stephanie Learn, Associate Director of Career Services

 

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding what HIP means. It was stated that it stands for high impact practice. There is an initiative with SUNY right now in looking at high impact practices in EOP and the EOP program, so we are working with them to initiate those high impact practices.
  • The question was raised regarding whether the $110,000 for internships and stipends was from special SUNY money to support that. It was stated that it was from the incremental funds. There are a number of departments that received these special funds a few years ago and Career Services was one of them with the intention that we use those funds to support internship development and the cost of living for students who were in unpaid opportunities.
  • Clarification was requested that internship funding was not coming from the student fee. It was stated that it is a separate resource.
  • The question was raised regarding whether the incremental funding is continuing. It was stated that it is continuing for now. We have not heard anything about those funds not continuing.
  • The question was raised regarding that the proposal is to shift the fee from $10 to $9 per semester. It was stated that the proposal is to reduce this fee and reallocation the resources to another fee. This is all pending SUNY approval. If there are no changes allowed by SUNY, then this fee will remain at $10.
  • The question was raised regarding whether the internship stipend is just for undergraduate students. It was stated that it is only for undergraduate students. Last year, we proposed that we were going to try to use some of the fee funding to support graduate students. We submitted the proposal to SUNY, and we were not approved to use the funds in that way. So, for right now, the incremental funds are only for undergraduate students. I am still trying to find ways to support graduate students, because it is a very large gap.
  • The question was raised regarding what student employment opportunities are there. It was stated that I don’t know the number off the top of my head, but I can say that we probably have students working in just about every department and division on campus. We have students working on the student patrol, in student services offices and academic offices. There are students that work in ASC, IT, Campus Recreation, Hazen, and many other offices.
  • Clarification was requested regarding what the connection is between Student Employment and Career Services. It was stated that our office in in charge of student employment on campus. We process all of the student employees that work on campus with the exception of BASC. A little less than a year ago, we hired an Assistant Director for Student Employment who is in charge of processing all of those things. When you post a job in Handshake, that is our office doing that. We spend the first six weeks of every semester processing students through student employment. So that is how it is connected to us.

Athletics - presented by Erick Hart, Director of Athletics

 

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation. 
  • The question was raised regarding if graduate students are eligible for the same items from the fee, is there a reason we don’t charge them so we could balance out the cost of the fee for undergraduate students. It was stated that we are in discussions regarding this. We are trying to add it to the graduate students. It is currently a proposal that we are working with the Budgeting office to see if it is allowed. So, it would help to reduce the cost for undergraduate students. We actually have a lot of graduate students on rosters. We have talked to our colleagues in the SUNY system to see if other schools are doing this and if we should move in this direction.
  • The concern was stated regarding charging graduate students in online degree programs is not ethical because they are never on campus. I am working with Rochester Regional Health to try to come up with ways to do scholarships for their nurses to come to our BSN program and when they see a fee of athletics when they don’t come to campus and they are adult students working full-time, this is going to be an issue. We really need to think about the ethics with that. It was stated that fully online students are currently exempt. It was added that currently they are, but that is part of the discussion.
  • The question was raised regarding how many years since the last increase was approved for the fee. It was stated that every year we get support for it, but then SUNY does not approve fee increases. It has been a few years since a full increase was approved. In 2024-25 SUNY did approve a small increase to the fee.
  • Clarification was requested if the fee increase is for an increase of $19 and that would bring the total fee cost to $506 or $525 a year. It was stated the current rate is $506 and the increase would bring it to $525 per year.
  • The question was raised regarding how many years have we been in the Empire 8. It was stated that this is our second year.
  • The question was raised regarding whether being in the Empire 8 has helped offset some off the annual deficit in the IFR. It was stated that the biggest expense within the IFR is personnel. The second expense is travel like bus transportation. We work with the Procurement office on this, and we have a five-year bid right now. This helps to give us some ideas on what the cost is, but the Empire 8 is more local. A bus trip to Geneseo is more affordable than being in SUNYAC. That involved hotel stays, which are very expensive. There was also more travel time involved, so more class time missed. So, the Empire 8 has been a great transition for coaches and students. Less travel time and time away from classes, so a better overall student experience.
  • The question was raised regarding the $700,000-$800,000 annual deficit carryover and that the $3.2 million is an accumulated deficit and not an annual deficit. It was stated that is correct.
  • The question was raised regarding whether one of the ways the institution is trying to help Athletics reduce its expenses has been reducing the amount the IFR account needs to pay the institution in overhead. It was stated that it went from 16% to 8% two years ago. We do still transfer around $450,000 back to the campus every year. We were growing enrollment and things were getting expensive, so Cabinet and the campus really did help us out by reducing it from 16% to 8%.
  • The question was raised regarding whether the reduction in the overhead percentage will continue. It was stated that it will.
  • The question was raised regarding what gains in tuition are offset by the additional expenses associated with expanding the team rosters. It was stated for example, we added flag football this year. So, there are 31 females on that roster. So that is 31 more students, but it is a bigger expense for us because it is new salaries, travel, and uniforms. I think the campus wins and that is where the partnership comes in. We can expand and our rosters are huge right now, but there is an expense for it. With those 31 new athletes, we don’t get anywhere near what it costs to operate the program. So, we have to partner with campus on how do get more support. We currently have 950 athletes. We struggle with if we add another program. It is great for the campus, but it is expensive for us.
  • A shoutout was given to the coaching staff and the athletic staff because a couple of years ago they talked about substantial growth and not only did they rise to the challenge, the students are having an amazing experience. It is an important thing to note that we have grown but the students are doing amazing. They are retaining at a higher rate and their grades are great. The coaching staff is doing a great job rising to the challenges of substantial growth in a very short period of time.

Campus Recreation - presented by Scott Haines, Director of Campus Recreation

 

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding how much it will cost the students to rent the bikes. It was stated that it is free. We did a survey of the students to see if there was any interest in being part of a raffle to get a bike for the semester and if so, would they be willing to pay a small fee or put a deposit down. Majority said yes, but we are not going to do the deposit piece because it gets tricky trying to figure that out. There are going to be 15 bikes, and we want to make sure when they come back that they look brand new or close to it. We will have students sign up and we are going to pick students by pulling numbers or names similar to bingo. Then those 15 students will get a bike for the semester. The reality is most of them are signing a bike in. They get it for three days, then bring it back, then they sign it out again, but we don’t charge them anything for that.
  • The question was raised regarding the Zambonis as problems have been mentioned with them in years past and are there still problems with them? It was stated that we do not have Zamboni problems. We spent $178,000 on a new electric Zamboni. We traded in our old propane one and now we have two electric ones, so we are green now. You don’t smell it in the rink like most of the other places. We have the best Zamboni in the county, the worst glass or second worst glass, but the best Zamboni, which is more important because the ice is fantastic here.
  • The question was raised regarding how the revenues from the SERC memberships fit into the figures provided. It was stated that for faculty and staff memberships, we have an MOU where fees go up only the same as the union contract, so 3%. That goes into our second account where our rentals are. I just pulled the report the other day. Between all of the community and the different fees at the front desk, it is about $50,000 that we get back. There are a lot of places that don’t allow community members, but we do. We want them to come and be active and interact with our students. For our Emeriti and retirees, part of their benefit package is they get a membership to utilize the facility for free and then a discount price for their spouse or significant other. We enjoy having our community members come in. They mostly come at different times of the day than the students. A lot of our retirees, even the former mayor, come in at eight or nine in the morning.
  • The question was raised regarding the usage rate and what percentage of our students use the facilities at least once. It was stated that I don’t have the number on hand, but it is about 40%. We have public skate just for students and we don’t necessarily track those numbers because we can’t get the software over there. That percentage does not include the classes and practices in there. The facility is used from first thing in the morning, and we have adjusted our hours for the growth in athletics. There is a high usage need for athletics this time of year because they have both winter and spring sports practices. They start at 2:00. Then at 7:30 it is hopping with intramurals. We have club sports and we have informal recreation. We are over in Tuttle. We are all over the place. We are outside on the weekends. So, lots and lots of things going on.

Fine Arts - presented by Ruth Childs, Associate Professor and Chair in Theatre and Music Studies; Danny Hoskins, Associate Professor in Theatre and Music Studies; Carlos Jones, Professor and Chair in Dance

 

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding whether it is known if other SUNY schools are charging this fee and if so, what is the fee amount? It was stated that Geneseo has a $5 fee, so we are asking to match them. It was added that SUNY Oswego has free tickets for their students, but they have a program that they built over many, many years for funding from the community to support that and it doesn’t necessarily come from the school directly.
  • The question was made regarding usage data. It was stated that the guesstimate in terms of students engaging with the arts, just with the performances, would be 1,000 a semester. What we have found is we have written multiple grants to get free tickets for students, and when we have free tickets, numbers go up. So, we really believe that free tickets for students would increase engagement with the arts dramatically. We have students that want to go and see their roommate in a play, but they can’t afford to buy a ticket more than once. That doesn’t include all the students taking classes as well.
  • The question was raised regarding what is the current fee per semester? It was stated that it is zero.
  • Clarification was requested because it looked like the original proposal was for a $30 per semester fee. It was stated that the proposal is for $5. It was added that for any fee proposal, it goes to the fee committee first and then JPBC reviews it for approval. When the fee committee vetted this, while we were supportive of the fee overall, we took the $30 fee down to $5 based on our analysis and comparables.
  • The question was raised regarding whether a $5 per semester fee would enable free tickets to events. It was stated that it could be transformative. It could expand student engagement with the arts. It was added that it would help. It would certainly not cover everything, but we could come up with a formula for particular shows that would enable students to go for free. Particularly if they are actually directing or choreographing, because the students have responsibilities to create and their friends could see their work multiple times for free. A Fine Arts fee would help reduce the cost and help us shift funds a little bit. In addition, it was added that the slide where all of the line items were listed, $30 would have covered all of that, $5 does not. We are still going to be scraping by figuring out how to get students to travel to conferences, how to support a guest designer to come or a guest choreographer to come in. So, that $5 does not cover everything that we need, but it does help.
  • The statement was made that we want to recognize the importance of the arts on campus. In addition, it was added that this request was a long time coming and appreciation was extended for bringing it forward.
  • The question was raised regarding what the current relationship with the Brockport Student Government (BSG) is in supporting some of the work that you all are doing and what is currently being done. It was stated that we support all of the movement and dance teams. So, the dance team, swing dance club, Latino and step team. There are music student groups that use our facilities. They use our facilities for practice rooms and rehearsal studios. So, we are constantly working with them. Some of the students do crossover, so there is cross pollination of the work. In those cases, there is no financial back and forth. If they use our spaces and if we incur any damage or any issues that happen while they are in the space, our departments pay for that. It was added that I just bought speakers for three new studios that the students use and I didn’t get any support for it. I had to find the funds. There used to be a BSG night where the students would pay a $5 ticket price, and $5 is less than a ticket price. The ticket price for students is $9 currently. We asked this question before, and I didn’t receive an answer. I don’t think we have ever seen the $4 per ticket funding come back to us.
  • The question was raised whether there has been any analysis on the loss of revenue when tickets are free. It was stated that the fee would not cover every performance or production. We will still need to retain ticket prices for some of the events. We can also continue to go after grants for the ticket fees. It was added that as long as student enrollment stays where it is or gets better, we are at the same place we currently have been. We want arts to be valued and worthy, and we want to take a barrier away from students. If enrollment goes down, we don’t know what we are going to do. We are going to be in trouble if numbers go down. In addition, it was added that we serve a lot of general education courses that have a requirement in our classes to go to events, but they don’t go and they take the hit to their grade. They don’t go because of the ticket price. If I have them in a dance class and the requirement is to see four events, they will pick one. Some instructors will then say pick three out of the four, then they will go to two and take a hit to their grade for the other one. It was also added that the free tickets have worked amazingly when we have had them. We have partnered with all different divisions and departments across the campus to get free tickets.
  • The concern was stated that it is a critical point that you raised, that there is an educational connection, especially with general education courses that have a required art event experience. If there can be some way of coordinating what those free ticket events are so that faculty know those a bigger value than what has been discussed. It was stated that we spend a lot of time with our event manager and our chairs. We are very connected and it is a united effort. We are trying to schedule our events more closely so that we are not overlapping, but that is a good point to be mindful of.
  • The question was raised regarding how does a student who is interested in fine arts engage in these activities other than showing up to a performance if they are not in one of the academic majors offered by these departments. It was stated that we have multiple student clubs that perform and work in all of our spaces. For example, I have a social work student who is really interested in electrical work, so he is taking a lighting practicum and learning lighting and working in the space. We have a technical production minor, which is an interdisciplinary minor between dance, journalism, and theatre. Students can also usher, they can work backstage, they can take a costume practicum and run the quick changes behind the scenes. There is marketing, I have a whole social media team of students. We meet once a week and do social media for the theatre program.

Student Health Services - presented by Elizabeth Weir, Director of Hazen Center for Integrated Care

 

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation
  • The question was raised regarding what the flat rate fee of the online degree programs covers at the Health Center. It was stated that this line item does not fall under Hazen’s budget. It is currently sponsored by Residential Life and the University, and the product is called Timely Care. It is a 24/7 platform that affords physical and mental health care and a whole host of self-care items.
  • The question was raised regarding whether Timely Care will help with the counselor to student ratios if the mandate is passed in the New York State Assembly. It was stated that we are not currently allowed to count our interns that we have on a consistent basis in the counselor to student ratios, they are not going to count the Timely Care because they want in-person, one on one care.
  • The question was raised regarding whether there have been increases to this fee in recent years. It was stated that there have been multiple years with no large fee increase, but in 2024-25 there was a marginal increase allowed.

Technology - presented by Steve Cook, Chief Information Officer
(Presentation is available in Teams)

 

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

 

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding what is the ideal reserve amount and can we maintain that? It was stated that we should always try to maintain between $300,000 and $500,000 in reserves because of things that can happen. For example, some of our reserve funds will probably be used up this summer for all the things that are happening with the power outages. Across campus we are going to have switches and other items die. We are being as proactive as possible, but they only have so much life span going up and down. What we are doing is we want to make sure that we have a certain number of backups on campus so we can replace them quickly. We intentionally budget lower than the number of students enrolled. One of the reasons we had a big jump in reserves from last year to this year is because we only budgeted for 5,500 students and we had 7,000. Our philosophy of this department is to always budget lower than the number of students coming in so that we can build up our reserves. All of the money that we have spent on hardening our network and streamlining things on campus in terms of things that you do not see every day but impacts how well it works on campus, has been paid for out of reserves since I have started here.
  • The question was raised regarding that the budget for information security is doubled for next year and what necessitates that and what are the challenges? It was stated that part of it has to do with our geopolitical situation that we are in across the world. Everyone has probably seen a phishing email and they are getting more creative, and AI has made it easier for them to fake people out as well. What we are trying to do is create a corset of tools that we will be using to help protect the campus. We could spend more money on people or spend more money on tools. We are trying to find the fine balance in between. Essentially, we are trying to find the most efficient way that we can monitor our systems. The product we are looking at will help us if something happens at 2am when no one is awake. We are looking for a 24/7 model which is better than what we have now. Not that we do not have a 24/7 Service Desk, but we need to have individuals watching our systems 24 hours a day now and that is much more different than it used to be even a couple of years ago.
  • The question was raised regarding if the software needed for student employees like Adobe comes out of this fee. It was stated that pretty much any tool that is being used on campus is being paid for by the fee unless it is something specialized for research. In the Art department, students can pay for the Adobe suite at a discounted rate when it comes to their education.

Parking and Transportation - presented by Johnna Frosini, Director of Parking and Transportation Services

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding whether the funding from the fee covers the electric charging stations. It was stated that we have 10 ports now for electric vehicle charging stations. Parking has to pay for the software. We do get 90% of the revenue from the charge, but we do have to pay the cost of the electricity too.

Technology - presented by Dr. Steve Cook, Chief Information Officer

The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding the reserves increasing with the requested one percent increase and last year there was a substantial reserve balance over a million dollars. It was stated that amount was a calculation error. The reserve balance should have been closer to $300,000.
  • Clarification was requested that the accumulated reserves that we had been seeing over the past few years were not accurate. It was stated that is correct. My error was a part of my learning process of managing the budget.
  • The question was raised regarding the operating assumption with that inflation rate. It was stated that it is anyone’s guess at this point because of what is happening with AI in general. That’s where the big dollars are going. For example, memory chips for computers. There is a certain capacity that the world can produce. The capacity for lower end chips is shrinking because they are making more money producing the higher end chips for AI. So, as that capacity grows, then possibly that will thin some things out for us and allow us to have more of the lower end chips produced at greater numbers. They are saying 12 months, but I see at least two to three years before it settles out.
  • The question was raised regarding whether these AI chips will entail more energy usage on campus or is it just at the off-campus data centers. It was stated that it is for the very large, specialized data centers that are building the cloud infrastructure and AI infrastructure. I think we are going to see utility costs in general go up, as we have all seen this past year.

Additional Items from the Committee

None at this time. 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:36 a.m.