Campus Resources and Planning Committee

March 4, 2009

Present: Bryan Herrmann, Pete Wyckoff, Lowell Rasmussen, LeAnn Dean, Sarah Mattson,

Shannon Juhnke, Jennifer Rothchild, Heather Peters, Sara Haugen, Dave Swenson,

Maddy Maxeiner, Karen Cusey, Zak Forde

Guests: Judy Kuechle

Minutes from 2/25/09 CRPC meeting were approved as presented.

Motion to adopt CRPC statement on the new Campus Master Plan as amended passes. Lowell Rasmussen will forward the plan to the Chancellor and she will address the issues raised:

CRPC statement on the new Campus Master Plan (as presented in Feb. 2009)

The CRPC has reviewed the master plan submitted by Oslund and Associates. The report contains many thought provoking suggestions, and we particularly concur with several recommendations:

a. the proposed improvements to the Highway 59 entrance and the call for new signage and traffic patterns that would make it easier for visitors to orient themselves on campus when entering from the east.

b. the proposed consolidation of plant services facilities.

c. the call to address concerns about storm water run-off management, particularly run-off from parking lots.

d. the proposed restoration of campus windbreaks.

We are pleased that the proposed campus layout more explicitly connects the UMM and the Morris-area school facilities, emphasizing the importance of the relationship between campus and community. More generally, we feel that by referencing the current strategic plan and by including consideration of historical, environmental and technological needs in tandem with the layout of physical facilities, this proposal improves on the prior Master Plan.

We remain unconvinced by other aspects of the plan. Specific features that we either disagree with or feel are insufficiently justified, include:

a. the plan to move 2nd street.

b. the proposed roundabouts, particularly on 4th street.

c. the plan to close the 7th street entry to vehicular traffic.

d. the idea that a new performance space north of the current Humanities and Fine Arts building could be adequately serviced by reduced parking capacity on the north side of campus. We feel that the urban assumptions about co-location of parking and facilities in the report are not appropriate given the rural setting of UMM.

e. the proposed large new greenhouses. Although interesting, they are insufficiently justified to deserve the implied priority given by placing them in “phase 1” of the recommendations.

More generally, we remain disappointed by the level of tailoring of the specifics in the report to the specifics of our campus.

Update on budget

Pete said the administration has been very good about trying to be transparent with our budget situation. He believes this committee needs to have an idea of where the money goes and not just the bottom line. Lowell distributed a handout with fiscal 09 budget information, as it existed in November. This will be the foundation for discussions we are going to have about our budgets. The committee took a few minutes to review the handout. Heather asked what kind of information Lowell would like from this committee. Lowell responded that 80% of our budget is salary and fringe. Our conversations will primarily be salary expenditures and determining how we are going to get to the $1-2 million reduction. As Jacquie points stated in her message to the campus, we are asked to model budget reductions of 5% to 8%--between $1.6 and $2.6 million over the next biennium. Her budget timeline includes another budget summit meeting on March 9 followed by the Compact meeting in the Twin Cities on March 16. The week after spring break, she will meet with CRPC and the Consultative Committee. Heather asked if CRPC could expect to receive staffing reports and salaries. Lowell said the decision will need to be data driven. Everyone understands that people will be affected. We will simply lay out the data and rationale. Lowell said he would share Link Kallsen’s report with the committee when it becomes available. Pete said it would be helpful to get all of the background documents out to committee members before Jacquie plans to meet with the committee. Lowell added that most likely, the committee will be asked to respond to a plan but that ultimately the Chancellor will make the final decision.

Other updates

Lowell recommends identifying the memorial garden area on the north side of campus as our perpetual green space in order to get to LEED platinum for the Gateway project.

Work will begin soon on campus as we begin lighting retrofits for the Energy Service Contract that will bring down our carbon footprint.

The food service RFP came under the budgeted amount. A contractor has not been selected at this point.