Trustees Approve Budget, Hire New AD, Refinance Bond Debt
Greater tax savings after successful Series 2018 refunding bond sale
The Parkland College Board of Trustees approved its FY 2019 budget and hired a new athletic director Wednesday, as well as announced a successful refinancing of its bond debt at a greater savings to taxpayers than originally estimated.
The board adopted the fiscal year 2019 budget, which includes a $333,191 operating surplus. Chief Financial Officer Chris Randles first presented the tentative budget in July, and the budget was on display for public review and input starting Aug. 1.
Parkland College officials also named Brendan McHale as the school's next director of athletics, overseeing its eight Cobras sports teams.
A Parkland College Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2009 inductee, McHale brings two decades of administrative experience at Carle Foundation Hospital Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Champaign. He was Parkland College's head athletic trainer from 1992 to 2006 before moving to Carle. McHale replaces Rod Lovett, who retired this past summer after serving as AD since 2000.
The board also voted to appoint Erin Shannon, a Champaign native, as the college's new director of marketing and public relations effective Oct. 4. Shannon has most recently served as the marketing manager for the City of Bloomington, Ill. parks, recreation, and cultural arts department.
Also during the meeting, the board moved to expend the remaining bond funds and interest it still controls after having successfully refinanced its 2009–2010 series bond debt last month. The bond refinancing reduces the district’s tax burden by a greater margin than projected.
Working with PMA Securities, Parkland College sold approximately $53 million of outstanding bond debt in the US municipal market from Aug. 14 to Aug. 29 with the sale of its Series 2018A, B and C refunding bonds. District 505 taxpayers should see a savings of $6.2 million over the decade on debt payments.
The college will use $300,000 of the remaining 2008-2009 series bond funds to replace aging flight simulators, with another $1 million to develop the Midwest Center for Precision Agriculture. The funds will also help create a high-fidelity simulation lab, with four new simulation bays and a simulated ambulance, for the Parkland College Health Professions programs.
The trustees also considered the findings of a campus-wide committee and a recommendation from the president regarding a program-specific reduction in force, with no action taken.
In other business, trustees approved the following:
- Protection, Health and Safety (PHS) projects in the FY2019 capital plan, including:
- Campus Walkway/Parking Lot Improvement-South B Wing, $1.4 million
- Exterior Repairs/Improvements, $500,000
- Campus Energy Savings Improvements, $200,000
- a five-year contract for waste hauling services with Area Disposal Services of Peoria, Ill., beginning January 1, 2019. The contract, a result of collaboration between the college’s Sustainable Campus Committee and Physical Plant, aims to reduce the amount of waste refuse going to the landfill and increase the amount of materials acceptable for recycling. Parkland expects the move to save the college about $30,000 per year, reducing/recycling costs by about 54 percent.
- an increase in some of the daily fees at the Child Development Center (CDC), effective Oct. 1, to ensure sustainability of the center. The proposed tier increases are comparable to other childcare center rates in Champaign-Urbana.
- proposal by Conference Technologies, Inc., of East Peoria, Ill., to replace the sound system in the Harold and Jean Miner Theatre, at $161,981.
- proposal of Environmental Control Solutions, Inc., of Springfield, Ill., to install a Building Automation Control system in several of the larger campus wings and the chiller plant, at $134,072.67.
- disposal of four Glock pistols as surplus property of the Public Safety department, which no longer needs them.