MCC approves Moss as interim president

The Mesalands Community College board of trustees on Thursday approved making Allen Moss the college's interim president, effective immediately, during the board's first in-person meeting in three years.

Moss, formerly executive director of corrections and dual enrollment at the college, was appointed ass acting president in mid-February after the previous president, Gregory Busch, left town following no-confidence votes by the executive team, faculty senate and staff senate.

The board didn't discuss the new Moss appointment openly, but officials previously had praised his conduct in the weeks after becoming acting president.

Busch was accused of disregarding advice about the college's declining financial condition and threatening to fire those who revealed Mesalands was under state fiscal oversight.

The board, which met Thursday in Building A's Great Room, also accepted the resignations of Busch and board chairman Jim Streetman, the latter who was accused of lack of oversight regarding the college's grave financial condition. The actions followed a closed executive session of more than an hour. (See other story in this edition about Busch's resignation.)

The board also passed a motion to solicit letters of interest from those living in District 1 to serve in Streetman's seat. Such letters should come with a page on the applicant's background and a statement on how he or she would support the Mesalands community. Letters should be addressed to the Mesalands Community College Board of Trustees, 911 S. 10th St., Tucumcari, NM 88401.

The letters and accompanying data must be submitted to Moss by March 27. He said the college might schedule a special meeting to make an appointment to fill the seat.

Mesalands District 1, which encompasses north rural Tucumcari, mirrors District 1 of the Tucumcari Public Schools district.

Vice-chair Teresa Stephenson presided over Thursday's meeting, which was in-person for the first time since March 2020 during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Mesalands officials had urged the board to hold the meeting as a hybrid of in-person and virtual for greater transparency. In addition to about 25 people who attended the meeting in person, about two dozen watched it on an internet stream.

Moss said the next scheduled meeting on April 18 would be in the Great Room again. After that, he said officials would assess whether to move meetings back into the board chambers room.

The rust from a lack of in-person meetings became apparent early. After standing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag, several Mesalands officials forgot they also had to recite a pledge to the flag of New Mexico.

Finances

Mesalands officials spent much of the meeting discussing the college's precarious finances and how to address them.

During his president's report, Moss said Mesalands will make its March 24 payroll, but he was was less certain whether it has enough cash reserves for April 7 paychecks.

Regardless, Moss said the New Mexico Higher Education Department "will step in" to ensure Mesalands employees are paid.

"I've been assured by HED we're in a good spot," he said. "It's good news because we see a path forward."

Chief financial officer Blanca Pauliukevicius also said during her report HED "will step in as needed for the next few pay periods."

Moss said state appropriations won't be available to the college until late April or early May. He said Mesalands is in the process of forming a "fiscally responsible" budget for the next school year.

He also wrote in his report that House Bill 2 in the New Mexico Legislature provides $2 million, plus $250,000 for HED to conduct information gathering from the community, staff, faculty and students for the future of the college, though that might be reduced by lawmakers or the governor.

Moss said two future options for Mesalands are to keep it as an independent institution or merge it with another, citing Eastern New Mexico University as a possibility. Moss and others at Mesalands said they preferred the first option.

Board member Philip Box asked about the use of $140,000 from the Mesalands Community College Foundation to pay for salaries at the Mesalands Dinosaur Museum. Moss replied the allocation was necessary due to the "chaos" of rebuilding its finance department and an insurance settlement of the museum's storage building destroyed during a storm.

Pauliukevicius said Mesalands will reimplement a cloud-based version of the Jenzabar platform by about April 1, and staff will undergo training for it. She said Jenzabar would remove "our biggest roadblock" in assessing the college's finances.

She said the Mesalands is undertaking "difficult discussions" with staff members about its solvency plan.

Box said he's heard Mesalands had about $700,000 in unpaid bills due to the college. Pauliukevicius said she hadn't verified that but acknowledged it recently collected about $182,000 owed from a vendor that had accrued in the past 18 months. She said her office also recovered grants that hadn't been requested for reimbursement.

"I have my team fully engaged to recover the money we're owed," she said.

Box also expressed skepticism about Jenzabar, noting he checked board of trustees meeting minutes from years ago where the platform was frequent source of complaints.

"It's gotten us in a heap of trouble," he said.

Pauliukevicius said it was "a valid concern," but noted staff would undergo training and would access help with the system as needed.

Chief of Staff Duane Brooks said the forthcoming Jenzabar contract, due to be approved by HED, would run through 2026, and "I think you'll see a huge benefit" from the cloud-based version Mesalands would use.

Denise Hackett, chief of institutional research, effectiveness and accreditation, said the Higher Learning Commission officially had listed Mesalands as "financially distressed" and would make an advisory visit in September. She also submitted a required 50-page provisional plan to the organization.

Representing staff senate, Kim Enriquez said her organization had submitted suggestions to cut costs, including turning off lights and computers when they weren't in use.

She said employees are stressing over the possibility of more pay cuts or layoffs. She said they need to know as soon as possible.

"We would not like to wait until June (the end of the fiscal year) whether we get contracts or not," she said.

Moss said he was relatively certain Mesalands' restructuring would be fully known by April.

Chief of campus operations Mark Martinez said he would issue a request for proposals for audit services to finish the fiscal-year 2022 budget, which was due in last November.

Brooks said current auditor Marty Mathisen was about to finish the long-overdue FY2021 report.

Other items

- Martinez said he recently obtained $453,000 from HED to resume renovations on Building A as soon as this week. He said he also would obtain a quote from the contractor to have restrooms renovated and save money. Martinez said he also recently received a $47,000 reimbursement for recent mold remediation.

- Chief academic officer Joel Kiser announced paleontology professor Axel Hungerbuehler and his geology class recently made "a big find" - a left femur of an ancestral crocodile from 200 million years ago at an excavation in Quay County. The news was greeted with applause.

- Brooks said Mesalands was obtaining a memorandum of understanding with Menlo College in Atherton, California, to provide students more paths to bachelor's degrees. Menlo also was offering $15,000 scholarships to attend the school for two years.

- Chief of communications Josh McVey said Mesalands would hold its first in-person graduation since 2020 at Tucumcari High School's Rattler Gymnasium on May 5. He said recent MCC graduates are invited to walk across the stage, as well. The announcement was greeted with applause.

- The board approved investing $2 million in endowment funds for the nursing program in the state treasury's short-term accounts.

- The board approved a calendar of reports for the 2023-2024 school year.