CMC Board of Trustees meets in Rifle

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.