MINUTES

Minutes  of  a  Meeting
ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS

SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
Arizona Board of Regents Office
January 27, 2009
[PDF]

The Arizona Board of Regents held a special meeting at the Arizona Board of Regents Central Office, 2020 N. Central, Suite 230, on January 27, 2009, at 3:00 p.m.  Some members participated by telephone. 

Present:        Regent Boice
                    Regent Bulla
                    Regent Calderón
                    Regent DeConcini
                    Regent DuVal
                    Regent Leonard
                    Regent Mariucci
                    Regent McLendon
                    Regent Martinez
                    Regent Meyer                   

Absent:         Superintendent Tom Horne
                    Governor Janice Brewer

Also attending were Michael Crow, Christine Wilkinson, James Rund, Morgan Olsen, Jim O’Brien, Terry Shafer, Matt McElrth, José Cárdenas, Cindy Jewett, Mark Searle, Betty Capaldi and Rich Stanley from Arizona State University; Robert Shelton, Jacqueline Mok, Melissa Vito, Paul Allvin, Steve McCarthy, Rick Kroc, Meredith Hay, Judith Leonard, Lynne wood, Johnny Cruz, Alexis Blue and Jim Florian from the University of Arizona; John Haeger, M J. McMahon, Mark Neumayr, David Bousquet, Liz Grobsmith, Mason Gerety, Fred Hurst, Pat Haeuser, Diane Verkest, Cindy Chilcoat and Lisa Nelson from Northern Arizona University; Executive Director Joel Sideman, Board Counsel Nancy Tribbensee, Board Secretary Peggy Martin, Cathy McGonigle, Christine Thompson, Sandra Woodley, Kathy Bedard, Emily Palumbo, and Stella Galaviz from the Central Office; and Ted Ferris, Jaimi Molera, Tim Nelson and Scott Rogers from Osborne Maledon, Phil Vandermeer, Pat Coughlin, Renee Schafer Horton and Aaron Mackey.

Regent Boice called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.

Upon motion by Regent DeConcini, seconded by Regent Bulla, the Board unanimously voted to move into Executive Session.

The meeting resumed at 3:35 p.m.

Status Report regarding proposed legislative budget cuts (Agenda Item 1)

Ted Ferris presented the Position Statement of the Board and stated the statement was very clear and very responsive.  He thanked everyone for all of their work on getting this statement together.

Jaime Molera reported that negotiations seem to be going fairly well.  There are some members of the legislature that are beginning to understand the magnitude of the proposed cuts.  The Senate is still pushing hard on the Chairmans’ proposal.  The House seems more interested in working on a better solution.

The Board approached the legislature with an offer of $100M cut.  There are other members of the legislature that are still talking much larger cuts.  Regent McLendon stated that it sounded like the House was above the Regents’ $100M figure and the Senate was even above that.  He asked if Jaime thought this meant we could end up in the middle of those two numbers.  Jaime stated he did not think so and Regent McLendon responded that we need to resist any attempts to increase the number.  Jaime stated that the Governor still needed to weigh in and he believed that would help us.

Authorization to Develop and Implement Employee Furlough Plans (Agenda Item #2)

Nancy Tribbensee described the options.  This resolutions allows for exception to various Board policies which will allow the universities, if necessary, to develop and implement furlough programs.  Furloughs are an option to minimize layoffs and have there has been general support for this option at the universities.  She further stated that she and the university attorneys were working on a furlough plan to have placed in Board policy, so in the future, if furloughs were ever needed there would be no need for an exception to policy.

Regent Bulla stated that the HR Committee has looked at this matter.  He further stated that the language was well done.  He also asked that the universities make certain that their HR/IT Systems would be able to administer the furloughs and that they be aware of the impact on fringe benefits.

Upon motion by Regent Boice, seconded by Regent Bulla, the Board unanimously authorized the University Presidents and the Board’s Executive Director, as each President and the Executive Director may deem necessary, to respond to current budget constraints by developing and implementing furlough plans, to be effective immediately, and grant exceptions to Board policies 6-101 (Administrative Employees), 6-201 (Faculty Employees), 6-301 (Professional Employees), 6-405 (Staff Employees), 6-801 (Paid Holidays), 6-803 (Vacation Pay) and 6-804 (Sick Leave) to the extent necessary to implement furlough plans, through a declaration by the Board of financial emergency, as set forth in the executive summary, with Regents Bulla, Calderón, DeConcini, DuVal, Leonard, Mariucci, Martinez, McLendon and Boice, voting in favor of the motion.

There being no further business to come before this meeting, Regent Boice adjourned the meeting at 3:52 p.m. 

SUBMITTED BY 

Margaret L. Martin
Secretary to the Board 

APPROVED BY

Fred T. Boice
President