The Navajo County Community College Governing Board convened June 21, where President Dr. Chato Hazelbaker provided the President’s report. In his report he discussed ways to improve enrollment. “Within the last month, the President’s Cabinet has discussed three new programs to bring into the college, which we’re going to explore with the hope that the earliest these could be offered is the Fall of 2023.” The three programs are Criminal Justice, Agriculture and Sports Medicine. “They’re all eligible to funded with Proposition 207.

“The fourth two-year program that we’ll likely spend some time working on next year is Behavioral Technician. But that one is dependent on legislative budget,” stated Dr. Hazelbaker.

Dr. Hazelbaker did note that current projection enrollments are flat. “Our goal as a college is to increase our enrollment by 1.5%, that’s not the trajectory that we’re on right now.” He stated that there will be a meeting this coming week to discuss what can be done during the summer to address the issue and figure out students’ needs.

Dr. Hazelbaker also stated that the college will be hiring two more academic advisors, so each campus has at least one physically on campus to improve student’s success.

The college is also applying for a grant to help with five key strategy areas that Hazelbaker referred to as ARMSS (A Relational Model for Student Success). “We’re putting in for a new Title 3 grant,” stated Dr. Hazelbaker. “This Title 3 grant that we are putting in for will be a $1.5 million over five years.”

The five key components the grant will be used for are a virtual student success center, additional support for the college’s One-Stop-Shop, additional support for an advising model, learning communities, and Native American success initiative.

NPC Friends and Family Director Betsyann Wilson gave a report as well. “In scholarships to date we have awarded $55,550 for Fall 2022 and we will be awarding an additional $30,000 for the AndyVon transportation grants,” stated Wilson, also mentioning recent scholarship winners.

“The board chose to up the amount of our standard Leg Up and Fill the Gap scholarships,” said Wilson. “They voted to raise it to $1,000 and we give nine of those, so one in each location every semester.” Wilson cited the reason for the increase being the rising cost of gas and inflation.

Director of Facilities and Vehicles David Huish provided a construction report on the Skill Center building being built at the White Mountain Campus, which estimated the substantial completion to by the end of December 2022 and final completion by mid-January 2023.

He also reported on the Head Start building at the Winslow campus, which is expected to be completed by the end of October 2022.

Vice President of Administrative Services (VPAS) Maderia Ellison gave a report on the financial position of the college from July 1, 2021, to April 30, 2022.

VPA Ellison also reviewed the financial ratios that the Higher Learning Commission uses to track institution financial health, which surmised that NPC is well above the threshold score and has been for years.

In other business, the board:

* Approved minutes of last month’s board meeting.

* Approved the intergovernmental agreement between Navajo County Community College District and Dishchii’bikoh Community School for dual enrollment.

* Approved the intergovernmental agreement between Navajo County Community College District and Whiteriver Unified School District for dual enrollment.

* Approved the resolution designating Maderia Ellison as the Chief Financial Officer for Auditor’s General Office.

* Approved the resolution to Navajo County Election Services to conduct elections in conjunction with the Navajo County General Election on Nov. 8, 2022.

* Approved the Arizona Tuition Reciprocity intergovernmental agreement between Navajo County Community College District and New Mexico Higher Education Department. This agreement allows undergraduate students to not pay the higher out of state rates at some Arizona and New Mexico institutions.

* Discussed membership with Arizona School Board Association (ASBA) in order to access training offered by that organization.

* Approved a contract with The Registry to hire an Interim Associate Vice President of Human Resources for a period of six months for an amount not to exceed $110,000.

* Approved purchase of annual Jenzabar Inc. support and maintenance for 2022-23 for $317,627.

* Approved the purchase of a new vehicle for use by the Maintenance Department. The vehicle cost was $71,217.

* Approved the increase in design fees to be paid to SPS+ Architects of $273,876 related to additional services and expanded scope of the White Mountain Campus Skills Center.

* Approved an award contract for lobbying services to Racy Associates, Inc. for up to a five-year period and not to exceed $190,000 in total cost. Board members Kristine Laughter, Elias Jouen, Everett Robinson and Derrick Leslie voted to approve the item, while Board member Frank Lucero voting against. Lucero stated the amount approved should be the total expected cost of $180,000, rather than stating it should not exceed $190,000.

* Approved the purchase of the multi-year EBSCO Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Complete, ERIC, and Associates Programs Source Plus services for NPC’s libraries for $75,339.