The Seminole State College Board of Regents met Jan. 21 to consider a recommendation to hire a professional auditing service and to review the terms of President Lana Reynolds’ employment.

The meeting opened with a review of the College’s recent expenditures by Vice President for Fiscal Affairs Courtney Jones.  Later in the meeting, Jones joined Ed Lemmings, Director of Physical Plant and Campus Safety, in presenting an update on deferred maintenance issues. The College is reviewing and exploring funding options to address high priority projects, including repairs to the roof on the Raymond Harber Field House, replacement of heat and air systems and parking lot renovations.

SSC President Lana Reynolds presented her President’s Report, which included an update on the College’s COVID-19 response, personnel changes, information about campus activities and an update on spring semester enrollment numbers. She also informed the Board about the formation of the System Innovations Committee by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. The committee encourages higher learning institutions to find innovative ways to partner with businesses, non-profits and other higher learning institutions.  She said the State Regents office had communicated that these efforts replace early discussion of forced mergers and consolidations of system colleges. The President’s Report concluded with a presentation of the 2020 Year in Review, a publication that documents campus news over the span of a year. The Year in Review is available to the public online at: http://www.sscok.edu/Regents/2021/YearReview2020.pdf.

The first action item was the consideration to hire Hinkle & Company, PC for auditing services. As required by law, after five consecutive years with a firm, a change in external auditors has to be made for at least a two-year period. The College recently completed its five-year cycle with Finley & Cook, CPA in Shawnee.

The second action item was the review of President Reynolds’ employment. In accordance with Board Policy, the President is evaluated each year prior to the January meeting. The evaluation process is conducted according to the wishes of the Board Chair. It was reported that President Reynolds met with Board Chairman Curtis Morgan on Jan. 7 to review performance and discuss challenges and successes of the last year, as well as to establish goals for the coming year. The Board retired into executive session to discuss President Reynolds’ evaluation and contract. When the Board returned to public session, President Reynolds’ contract was renewed. Chairman Morgan noted that President Reynolds declined a salary increase, given that the College was unable to provide a raise to faculty and staff last summer when employee contracts were renewed. He added that when employee annuity contributions were suspended in July, 2020 due to budget concerns, Reynolds had voluntarily requested her contractually-guaranteed annuity contributions also be suspended until a time when those could be restored to all employees.

“President Reynolds has done a tremendous job and will continue to do a tremendous job for this College,” Chairman Morgan said. “In a year with no shortage of challenges, she put students and employees first. We appreciate her service and look forward to another year under her leadership.”

Board members present at the meeting were: Curtis Morgan, Ray McQuiston, Kim Hyden and Ryan Pitts.

The next SSC Board of Regents meeting is set for Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021.