Highlights - Washburn University Board of Regents September 9, 2005 Meeting

Trash Storage & Recycle Yard

TRASH WON!

With some difficulty, Washburn University has finally found a contractor that will beautify Washburn University's trash.

A contract was awarded to Dinkel Construction for $67,665 to relocate the trash collection currently located on College Avenue.

Classroom Renovation

CLASSROOMS LOST!

The existing out of date classrooms were to be renovated over Christmas Break, 2005. This project included repainting the classrooms, removing the asbestos based floor tile, and replacing the light fixtures, ceilings, floor coverings and marker boards. The classrooms included in this project were Morgan 137, 159, 160, 176, 177 and 180 and Henderson 103, 104, 118, 203 and 204.

The second classroom project on the agenda was the replacement of the fan coil units in 20 classrooms in Morgan Hall. This project was designed to improve classroom comfort and reduce the noise generated by the current outdated units.

Both classroom renovation projects were removed from the agenda for later discussion. Period. No explanation. Removed.

University Health Plan Renewal

For a second year in a row, the health insurance premiums paid by Washburn University employees will not increase. I guess that was the good news. This area received significant discussion by the board members. Good questions were asked, few answers were provided by the administration.

Answers provided by President Farley were difficult to follow. It was my experience, when managing a self-funded insurance program, that a separate fund was maintained for the insurance transactions, including the receipt of premiums and the payments on claims. That does not appear to be the case at Washburn University.

Therefore, questions asked about the amount in which revenues exceed claims received murky responses. President Farley assured the board members that more was added to the reserves than had been projected each year and that this was planned. No one could tell the board the amount in which the revenues exceeded claims last year. Confusion seemed to stem from the fact that the health plan is on a different fiscal year than the university and that revenues come from two sources, the university and the employees. Another weak explanation provided by the President, a CPA, was the confusion created by unpaid claims and the timing of claims made.

At some point it seemed that President Farley acknowledged that there was $2.5 - $2.7 million in reserves for this health plan. In the FY04 audit report, the self-insurance program had a reserve balance of just less than $1.5 million. So, if the reserves are in fact $2.5 now, it means that the high health insurance premiums have increased the university reserves by over $1.0 million in one year.

Finally, Mayor Bunten asked how many employees earned less than $22,822 per year. The administration was unable to answer this question. A review of the budget documents indicates that at least 52 employees are in this category, with 19 of these in the collective bargaining unit as food service and custodial workers. The rest of these employees were retail clerks, secretaries, and other support staff.

Renewal of Insurance Policies

The Board approved the purchase of insurance policies in the amount of $922,363, including $11,000 for non-owned aircraft liability insurance. This represented an increase of approximately $65,000 in insurance premiums. The FY06 operating budget allocated $104,753 of new monies for general insurance premiums, in addition to the additional $60,000 included in the Tort Claim Fund's public budget for liability insurance premiums.

Washburn Endowment Association (WEA) Office Space

This is an interesting project. In less than 10 years, the Bradbury Thompson Center, designed to serve the needs of the alumni and Washburn University, is insufficient to meet the needs of the current 27 full-time WEA employees.

While the $2.5 Bradbury Thompson Center was funded from private sources, the new $1.8 renovation of 1729 SW MacVicar will be funded from university reserves.

With an addition of 7,620 square feet, the former residence at 1729 MacVicar will provide WEA with a total of 12,215 square feet. The addition, a basement and two upper levels to be built on the west side of the building, will provide private offices, meeting/training room spaces and a phonathon room.

The cost of the project is still climbing. In addition to the $235,625 purchase price, the projected construction costs have grown from $1.3 million to $1.6 million. The total project was approved by the board in July, 2003 with a not-to-exceed amount of $2.0 million.

I think it is interesting to note that, in 1996, a smaller WEA organization could raise $2.5 million in private funds for the Bradbury Thompson Center, but this newer, bigger WEA organization cannot raise any funds for its new office space.

Stoffer Hall, Building Renovation

The schematic design of the renovation and expansion of Stoffer Hall was approved by the Board, with authority given to begin the Design Development and Construction Documents phases of the project.

President Farley assured the board members that the $12.7 million needed to fund this project was already in the bank, with past transfers of $8.7 million and the $4.0 included in the current public budget. A review of the public budget documents indicate that only $10.7 has been utilized from the sales tax receipts.

  • FY 04 - $2.9 million
  • FY 05 - $3.8 million
  • FY 06 - $4.0 million

Then the President of Washburn Endowment Association (WEA) assured the board that WEA employees were optimistic about achieving the $2.0 million fundraising goal for this project.

Of course, no action would be complete without assurance from the administration that the Washburn University faculty were supportive of the project. However, comments regarding the faculty's concern regarding poor utilization of the space did not make it into the meeting.

Washburn University Employee Wellness Program

Members of the Board of Regents received a package of information related to the proposed Employee Wellness Program. Rationale for the program and a proposed operating budget of $180,310 were included in the materials. This was an information item, so no action was taken. However, Regent Roth did request that the administration provide information regarding the existence and cost of similar programs at other Kansan educational institutions and industries.

President's Report

Somewhat as an afterthought, the President provided a status report on enrollment and housing for the Fall, 2005 semester. Although the overall headcount will remain the same as last fall, the full-time equivalent will increase, indicating that more credit hours were sold.

Housing in the LLC did not reach the 92% target occupancy. The administration was still investigating this to determine why occupancy was only at 88%. The financial impact of this will be a $60,000 loss in this auxiliary operation. President Farley assured the Board that there were sufficient reserves to cover this loss. It was unclear whether this was a $60,000 per semester, or annual, loss.