Meeting Minutes 03/13/2024
Aiken County Commission for Higher Education
March 13, 2024
Business and Education Building, Room 276
ACCHE Members Present: Jackie Busbee, Tim Simmons, Teresa Haas, Joe Lewis, LaWanna McKenzie, Clearence Jackson, Jackie Busbee, Sallye Rich, King Laurence, Chip Marvin, Clarance Jackson, and Dan Heimmermann
USCA Staff Present: Brian Enter, Mary Driscoll, Todd Wilkinson, Ahmed Samaha, Cam Reagin, Christen Engel, Ernest Pringle, and Julie Radford.
ACCHE Members Not Present: Sharon Marra
Chair Haas called the meeting to order at 5:03 p.m. She stated that notice of the meeting had been published in accordance with the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act.
Motion from Mr. Tim Simmons to approve minutes from the last meeting. Ms. Jackie Busbee seconded the motion. The motion was approved.
Chair’s Report: Chair Haas thanked everyone who attended the Aiken County Council dinner on March 6. Chair Haas received positive feedback and said it makes a difference for the council to know more about USC Aiken. Chancellor Emeritus Sandra Jordan sent a thank you note to the commission for her portrait. The note was passed around and read aloud for everyone to hear.
On March 1st, the DOE gave a tour of the AMC. Chair Haas, Dr. Heimmermann, Dr. Scott McKay, and Savannah River National Laboratory employees were in attendance. Photos of the building's construction progress were shown on slides. The DOE told Haas the completion could be 11 months. Haas mentioned a possible opening ceremony for the DOE, including invitations to Senators and the Governor.
Hass next introduced the annexation of university property and a discussion of its value. Currently, it is 22 cents per gallon, and if the property were annexed, it would decrease to 11 cents per gallon. This means it could save $60,000 a year for the university to be annexed into the city. Chair Haas shared that she met with City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh, who said other fees, such as the Franchise Fee, are involved. She asked if Brian Enter would provide more detail regarding the issue.
Brian shared a map that showed the public water services and the City of Aiken water service district. He shared that 150 acres could be annexed into the city, but 210 acres would still be left outside the city service area. That Valley Public Service Authority would service that 210 acres. If USCA saved the $60,000, there would be no tax implications and the move would reinforce positive relations with the City of Aiken. The downside, however, would be stricter landscaping requirements by the city. The biggest issue would be the franchise fee, which is added to the electric bill by 5%. The savings from the water bill could be counteracted by the franchise fee. Once an entity is annexed into the city of Aiken, it is challenging to reverse. Chair Haas asked for a discussion, which resulted in tabling the issue for now.
Executive Committee: No Report
Finance Committee Report: Chip Marvin said the stock markets are picking up, which leads to a cash rise. Currently, the ACCHE has 1 to 2% excess cash that will be taken out of stocks and placed in the bond fund. Regarding stocks, on the high end for allocation of stocks, which needs to be rebalanced. To complete this task, the chair of our organization would initiate this, but Chip shared that it’s not something that needs to be voted on but that it is following the ACCHE asset allocation strategy that was put in place. There are no outstanding bills, and the last expense was for the maintenance shop at $1,000.
Chip asked all attendees to look at the information on the spreadsheet that shows the asset balances for the most recent 20 quarters and to let him know if anyone had questions. The reason behind showing this was to try and level an estimate of standard. He stated the ACCHE is not required to spend any capital or interest. The average of the previous quarters, in June of 2019 the number was 2.07 million, which changed to 2.1, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7 million. Our spending policy is to take a average 4% of the last 20 quarters.
Buildings and Grounds: The infrastructure and roads associated with the athletic fields are close to being complete. The softball field is expected to be completed by August. Throughout the spring, the roof on the Penland and the Ruth Patrick Science Education Buildings and a couple of other buildings will be near completion. He shared that there will be various utility upgrades and new bathrooms installed in the Science Building and Etherredge Center.
Brian Enter presented renderings for the Cyber Integration Center that is to be located at the current softball field. Brad Owens is currently working on the building's design. Originally it was a two-story design, but after cost estimates. it will be one-story. It went down to one story because the National Guard did not receive enough funding from the state. The floor plan was shared with the commissioners to help get a better visual. The next step is to approve this phase by the SFAA in June. The square footage went from 2643 to 2500. Images of different designs of the building were shown.
Chancellor’s Report: Dr. Heimmermann shared the status of USCA’s legislative requests including tuition mitigation, which was requested at $4,000,000 but has decreased to $2,000,000. Additionally, USCA was slated to receive from the House Budget $4,000,000 million for the nursing expansion and $2,000,000 for the Cyber Integration Center.
The strategic plan is going to the Board of Trustees on Monday. In addition, there is a matrix that assigns owners to each strategic initiative. Christen Engel provided handouts to commissioners detailing the strategic plan. The handouts show the institutional priorities and strategic actions that will guide USCA over the next five years.
Dr. Heimmermann shared that in a couple of weeks, the facility's master planning process will be launched. The current one dates to 2014.
Brian Enter stated that the architect was Scott Garvin, who had worked on USC Columbia’s master plan. He estimated the cost of developing a new plan to be $65,000. Scott currently has a copy of our strategic plan, so he is knowledgeable about the plans and features. The meeting will occur early next month, and the plan will be completed around July. Another part of this plan will be a traffic study of pedestrian pathways or traffic patterns introduced with the new facilities.
The Chancellor shared that the next item was the graduate outcome report that Ahmed Samaha has been working on. Ahmed shared that there needed to be a better understanding of what our graduates are doing immediately after graduation. For 2022 to 2023, there was a 71% response rate from graduates. The handout presented showed the average salary and graduate schools attended. He stated one of the areas that will be studied closely within the next 12 to 18 months is expanding internship opportunities for students. These opportunities are primarily local, but Career Services is trying to expand this summer to the upstate and low-country areas. Ahmed shared that Chip Limehouse is assisting Career Services in this effort.
Dr. Heimmermann stated that the focus should be on salary, 10 years or 15 years after graduation. A technical college versus a four-year college degree will be compared. The report should also show which professions are growing.
Christen Engel shared an update regarding the branding project. She thanked everyone who attended the discovery and review sessions. From the feedback received, there are going to be some modifications. Currently moving forward with a new mark that emphasizes USCA. A lot of market research was done in the spring and summer of last year, which showed that the market was within a 35-mile radius, and USCA did not have a lot of awareness outside of that. Also, some participants only knew about USCA because of the University of South Carolina. They are working on a strategy to help create that distinction. There will be new creative standards that will be a part of the new advertising campaign.
She updated the website and said the new branding would be a part of it. Christen stated the current website is outdated, and it is complex. The goal is to make sure it’s a more stable platform.
Ahmed reminded the commissioners about commencement, saying that Senator Shane Massey would be the speaker.
Additional Updates: Chair Haas discussed the delegation, that because of redistricting, we will no longer have Senator Setzler but gain Senator Brad Hutto. Bart Blackwell announced that he is not going to run again. Haas asked for Joe Lewis to share an update since he is the chair of the Aiken County Commission for Technical Education. Joe shared there is an opening for the presidency at Midlands Technical College, and Forrest is one of the finalists. He thinks the previous president did a remarkable job for the college.
Motion to adjourn meeting by Mr. Tim Simmons, Seconded by Mr. Joe Lewis. The meeting adjourned at 5:50 p.m.