The Navajo County Community College Governing Board convened Tuesday, June 20. During the meeting, Northland Pioneer College Friends & Family (NPCFF) Executive Director Betsyann Wilson presented a report on their application statistics for the fall semester. She also stated that NPCFF set aside $22,000 in the upcoming budget to provide mini grants for faculty, staff and student organizations. “They can write a little mini grant proposal to NPC Friends and Family to be funded for things that fall outside of regular budget.”

During the construction report, Director David Huish gave an update on the White Mountain Campus Skills Center, which is moving steadily along now that weather is no longer an issue. “The electrician is about 85% complete because we are still waiting for the internal parts of some of the electrical panels to be shipped from the manufacturer.”

The welding and automotive departments in the skills center are also waiting on materials to be shipped to complete construction. “We know that there is a deadline to get students into this building July 31,” stated Huish, adding that he thinks this will be doable for the welding department but might have to be pushed back for the automotive section.

In the president’s report, President Dr. Chato Hazelbaker stated that the Spingerville/Eager NPC center will be moving to a new building in the future and during the fall the college will be using the Round Valley High School for some courses.

Kayenta Township’s Economic Development Specialist Geraldine Laughter, Town Manager Olivia Jones and Attorney Greg Kelly provided a presentation about Kayenta’s land ownership and partnership in relation to the college’s facilities and potential further developments at the Kayenta center.

The board also talked about other modifications and location changes for courses and programs, but no specifics were outlined and no action was taken.

Following the regular meeting, the board entered executive session for discussion on President Hazelbaker’s performance and contract. Following the session, the board reconvened and directed the Recording Secretary to the Board to amend the President’s contract to approve future salary increases dependent on numeric performance measures. The vote passed unanimously with Board Member Elias Jouen absent from the meeting.

In new business, the board:

* Approved Board Member Derrick Leslie to travel for the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) annual Leadership Congress. The approximate cost will be around $2,750, which is available in the proposed 2023-24 budget.

* Authorized the acceptance of grant funding in the amount of $32,500 from the Local First Arizona Foundation to participate in the Northern Arizona Good Jobs Network (NAGJN). NAGJN is a four-year project focused on developing a regional workforce training system across the five northern Arizona counties.

* Approved an award of contract for the acquisition and implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to Anthology Inc. not to exceed $7.4 million. This project will be funded using NPC Unrestricted Fund Balance and the software cost will be paid over a period of 10 years. Two other bids were received from companies Ellucian and Zarr. An evaluation committee was formed with employees from both NPC and Cochise College with criteria based on price, implementation strategy and pricing proposal, qualification and experience, and proposed product and service meet colleges’ needs and constraints. Anthology had the most favorable scores, with an average rating of 79.81 out of 100 points. Ellucian had 70.38 rating and Zarr a 40.75 rating.

* Approved the purchase of annual support and maintenance from Jenzabar Inc. in the amount of $349,071. This is an annual, budgeted renewal.

* Approved the purchase of 155 computers and peripherals from SHI International Corp for a total of $261,786. The purchase meets competitive purchasing guidelines by using Arizona State Contract OMNIA Contract No. 2018011-02. This purchase will be made using the remaining Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds that have been allocated to the college and will not use NPC operational funding.