Highlights - WU Board of Regents - September 22, 2006 Meeting

Spotlight on WU's Check Register

At each BOR meeting, members of the WU Board of Regents are presented with one or two months of the University's check register. These reports are quickly approved, with little or no discussion. However, there are interesting items to note each month.

For example, the sub-total of expenditures on the agenda page certified by the Treasurer never seems to match the total of the detail provided. In July, the detail provided is $171,329.72 less than the sub-total. In August, the $2,831,109 detailed check register is over $10 million short of the $12,974,794 sub-total certified by the Treasurer. It would be nice if a Board member would seek an explanation of this variance in a public forum.

More specific items to note in the July/August 2006 check register are the following:

Expenditures of Interest

  • $33,305 - CBORD Group - annual I-Card maintenance fee
  •   19,596 - Capitol Plaza Hotel - banquet room rental
  •   16,819 - Standard & Poor's - University & Government Research Insight
  •     6,500 - Michael Gunter - moving expenses
  •     2,400 - Celeste Ehrenberg - moving expenses
  •     5,000 - GO Topeka - Building A Brighter Future
  •     2,000 - Melissa Kout - settlement agreement

Ongoing Operating Costs

  • $63,605 - Frye Allen - Advertising, media services; diversity postcard, Law School logo
  •   16,698 - BKD - (2) audit progress billing payments
  •     3,000 - Pinegar, Smith - monthly lobbying expense
  •     2,342 - Goodell Stratton Edmonds - general legal matters

Travel Card Payments

It would be interesting to know who has possession of these credit cards and what the approval process is.

  • $10,319 - July payments
  •   12,834 - August payments

P-Card Payments

The City of Topeka has undergone extensive study of their P-Card program. Review of the expenditures has uncovered some unauthorized uses. Could the same be said of Washburn University's use of the P-Cards?

  • $78,230 - July payments
  •   62,494 - August payments

Projects - No Specific Board Action

At each board meeting, the consent agenda includes ratification of purchases made by the administration between $25,000 and $50,000. It appears that the administration retains significant discretion when spending capital funds.

  • $59,363 - American Fun Food Co - classroom furniture - HLRC 112
  •   23,529 - McQuay Factory Services - labor & material
  •   18,735 - Kansas Building Systems - ADA ramp & handrails
  •   16,411 - Young's - dining services kitchen exhaust
  •     3,304 - Lesser Electric - relocate dessert island from Union Market to C-Store

Hopefully, the relocation of the dessert island does not remove purchases of these food items from the student meal plans.

Approved Capital Projects

Listed below are current payments made in July/August 2006 for ongoing projects on and around campus that have been specifically approved by the Board of Regents. Members of the Board of Regents repeatedly state their intentions to watch these projects carefully. Yet, some projects still go over budget with no explanations forthcoming from the administration.

  • $180,607 - DF Osborne - WEA MacVicar Renovation
  •     70,440 - City Glass & Mirror - LLC curtainwall repair
  •     69,080 - Torgeson Electric - telecom conduit - KTWU to WV (Budget - $62,900)
  •     64,691 - Ferrell Construction - Stoffer Hall addition
  •     34,066 - Lesser Electric - Henderson ADA chairlift (Budget - $33,240)
  •     30,864 - Senne & Co - Morgan/Henderson classroom renovation
  •     27,800 - Horst Terrill & Karst - Greek Village architects (Budget - $35,000)
  •     21,330 - KS Assoc of CC - deferred maintenance evaluation (Budget - $50,000)
  •     14,060 - Burlingame Concrete - 3130 Shadow Lane patio/ADA access (Budget - $56,235)
  •       8,469 - Mohan Construction - 1313 SW 21st Street renovation

Something's Missing

In May, 2006, the Board of Regents approved two WEA innovation grant programs. Funding for "The Center for Community Service & Service Learning" grant has gotten underway with the approval of its departmental budget at the July 28, 2006 BOR meeting.

The innovation grant award for the "High Performance Computing Environment" included funding for computer hardware, software, training and travel. It appears that no expenditures have been made for this project. It will be interesting to see whether or not the only progress noted in this project's annual report is their successful journey through the University's procurement process.

Miscellaneous Questions - Other Business

If the Board ratifies hiring Rick LeJuerne as Director of SBDC at an annual salary of $71,220, do the payments averaging $3,000 a month to StreitLine Consulting go away?

For the third year in a row, the University will not increase the Health Plan premiums paid by the employees. In spite of the $1,000,000 growth in the self-insurance fund during FY05, the university apparently has not given any consideration to lowering the medical insurance premiums, as the State of Kansas did last year.