Campus Resources and Planning Committee

April 9, 2008 – 3:30 p.m.

Members Present: LeAnn Dean, Sara Haugen, Brook Miller, Michelle Page, Lowell

Rasmussen, Jennifer Rothchild, Dave Swenson, Jenny Wermerskirchen,

Pete Wyckoff

Members Not Present: Ken Hodgson, Jacquie Johnson, Sarah Mattson, Maddy Maxeiner,

Sharon Van Eps, Douglas Williams

Agenda items for upcoming meeting

Lowell Rasmussen will come back before the end of the semester to discuss budget saving initiatives and Master Planning. James Morales will give an enrollment update and Maddy Maxeiner and Jacquie Johnson will discuss the public capital campaign launch.

Debt

Lowell Rasmussen reported on our debt structure and that there’s been a long history of debt on this campus. In 2003, we were told by the University’s Budget & Finance office that we needed to do something about our debt. We developed a repayment schedule and have been working on that since then. But because we’ve been carrying forward a debt, that total amount is back to where it was in 2003. The new repayment plan will be increased by $200,000 a year and will no longer be carried forward after FY 2013. At that time, assuming we do not have any additional debt, the remaining amount will be due in FY 2014. There are several unknown factors yet—we don’t know what the governor will decide about the budget and we do not know what our enrollment will be. He also mentioned that the University is working on a Retirement Incentive Option (RIO) that could potentially impact our budget. Hopefully, by 2010, we will start creating reserves and making campus investments. Lowell is open to suggestions/guidance from committee members.

While the new EFS system will not have a significant impact on our students, it will make our day to day operations more efficient. We also need to think about organizational functions and whether some offices (Business Office, Financial Aid Office and the Registrar’s Office) could be housed in one area, possibly where the Bookstore is currently located, becoming a One Stop center for students. The Bookstore could then be housed in the Student Center, perhaps Louie’s Lower Level and that could potentially help their revenue stream. This is an opportunity for us to think about how we can ultimately provide better services to students.

Lowell will be asking for guidance from this committee when the Gateway building is complete as we start thinking about the use of Blakely. He also mentioned that the fish houses will be moving—one down by the PE Center to be used primarily as offices for coaches and the other will be used as a biomass lab. We have been asked to work with the West Central Initiative focusing on green colleges. We commented that we do not want to destroy the campus’ traditions, but at the same time, we want to expand and enhance our programs.