The Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees met at the college’s campus in Rifle Wednesday, where they directed staff to complete negotiations on the letter of intent for the lease-purchase of the Denison II housing project with the Town of Breckenridge.
The 30-unit housing project will be used for student and employee housing. The town is constructing the project on land immediately adjacent to CMC’s Breckenridge campus.
The board also approved a code of conduct policy as part of its continuing effort to improve governance. Trustees also unanimously approved new course fees for English as a Second Language courses.
The new structure for course fees for English as a Second Language will be effective fall 2017. For many months ESL and developmental education staff worked with a consultant to determine a course and fee structure that would better meet the needs of students, and be sustainable financially. Instead of basic-level ESL courses being offered for a full semester, for instance, they are being restructured into six-week blocks, which is easier for students to commit to. For basic-level ESL classes, course fees are changing from $52/semester to $40 for a six-week course.
Intensive ESL, which will accommodate two to three levels of instruction, will go from $72 to $80 a semester. No change was proposed at this time for high school equivalency/GED course fees.
The trustees also unanimously approved board meeting dates for 2017-18; faculty sabbatical requests for 2017-18; honorary degrees to be awarded as part of the CMC’s 50th Anniversary year; and slight modifications to college policies on equal opportunity and sexual misconduct. They also approved a new policy on challenge exams for students.
Trustees also approved a revision to the board’s previously approved resolution to refinance certificates of participation (COPs), including a net effective interest rate not to exceed 4.5 percent, resulting in a lower interest rate when compared to its outstanding 2007 COPs. At a previous meeting, they voted to issue new COPs to finance capital projects at the college’s locations in Aspen, Spring Valley or Breckenridge. In addition, the board approved the selection of a new auditor, CliftonLarsonAllen.