Brought before the Northern New Mexico College Board of Regents during its Aug. 29 meeting, Vice President of Finance and Administration Domingo Sanchez III and Vice President of Advancement Ricky Serna presented a charter which would combine the audit, finance and facilities into one committee. Board president Michael Branch and regent Alfred Herrera would be the board representatives on this committee. Herrera made a motion to approve the charter.
Regent Chayo Garcia, though, did not feel comfortable with the charter.
“This (the charter) is the responsibility of the whole board, not just two members,” Garcia said. “This runs the whole college.”
Branch assured Garcia during the committee meetings no decisions would be made and no action would be taken. The committee would only make recommendations to the Board, Branch said.
”But it is hard for us, the rest of us, to make decisions when we don’t have all the information,” Garcia said.
The Board consists of five regents. It is the responsibility of these five members to guide the college in facilities, finances and vision.
One of the difficulties, however, is that with the small number on the board, Regents have to serve on a variety of subcommittees.
The charge of the joint audit, finance and facilities committee, as written in the Charter, reads, “The committee reviews and advises the board on matters, activity, and policies relating to financial accounting and reporting; the institution’s internal control; risk management; fiscal compliance matters; long-range physical planning; capital projects; and operations and maintenance.”
“I don’t want this much power in one place,” Garcia said.
Garcia said the purpose of the Board was to spread out and balance the power. This charter, she said, gives most of the power to two members of the Board.
According to Herrera, the committee would not be closed to the other members of the Board. The agendas, he said, would be sent to all members of the Board. However, Branch added that if three members of the Board were present, it would be a public meeting requiring public notification 72 hours prior to the meeting.
“We are not trying to preclude Board members,” Herrera said.
Still, Garcia remained uncomfortable with the committee combination, she said.
“Finances are the foundation for the whole college,” Garcia said. “If the finances are shaky and we don’t know about it, how can we make decisions.”
Northern’s president Nancy Barceló said she understood Garcia’s concerns, but she said the small size of the board made dealing with matters in a timely manner difficult.
According to Sanchez, the idea behind the charter was to save time at the meetings. In the committee meetings, Sanchez said, finances, audits, and facilities are discussed at a much higher level of detail.
“We get into the blood and guts of the matter,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said during the Board meetings, he could take up most of the morning discussing finances at this level. With the committee, he would not have to regurgitate the same information during the Board meetings.
“It’s an opportunity to not speak so much here,” Serna said.
However, Garcia still did not feel comfortable with the motion.
“What I feel is that I’m totally out of the loop, and I don’t understand what’s happening and I’d like to understand,” Garcia said.
Regent Cecille Martinez-Wechsler agreed with Garcia. Martinez-Wechsler pointed to a line in the charter describing the facilities management committee responsibilities.
The line in question reads, “Make recommendations to the Board on the award and execution of construction and equipment contracts.”
“That’s really what bothered me,” Martinez-Wechsler said.
Student representative Lisa Salazar said her experience at finance committee meetings was that they served as a tutorial.
“The point is, we need to be tutored as well,” Martinez-Wechsler said.
Herrera withdrew his motion to approve the charter. Herrera said to approve the charter, he would want the entire Board’s approval.