Vice Chancellor of Finance Mario Rodriquez reviewed the Governor's Budget proposal for 2020-2021 with Members. This was a high level overview of what is currently included in this budget, and indicated which items may not be in the May Revise budget. Cost of Living COLA from last year of 2.3% was not made available, but may be reinstated along with the 1.5% COLA for the current year which could provide a 3.8%  cost of living increase, The COLA is distributed by Los Rios with 20% allocated to operations and 80% allocated to the employee units. Employee units (LRCEA, SEIU, LRSA. LRFT and the association for management and confidentials LRMA) distribute COLA funding through a "bucket" system so the allocation may not be the same per unit. Enrollment is another component of basic funding for the district which is down by 10 - 12% due to COVID closures and moving to remote learning. Enrollment is expected to lag for 2 - 3 years.

Operations Director gave the Safety Report indicating that the homeless issue still exists, and a few break-ins and vandalism were reported. 

Operations Director reminded Members that protocol has changed for those coming to campus, and the new forms can be found on the Operations website. These forms track who is on campus and where they went so that maintenance can appropriately clean those areas. A mandated OSHA training was provided to managers at ARC. Building updates for Natomas, Technical Education and STEM are all moving forward. HomeBase locations are being painted and furniture is being installed. Technology is being installed in the STEM building. The Business Office is fully moved to the Admissions Records area. Receiving was backed up for 2 weeks but  the issues are now fixed. Grounds are still not being kept up although the weeds have been cut down. The Beaver Food Pantry distributed 1,461 meals recently, but a lack of volunteers threatens the efficiency of this project. Only 6 volunteers showed up and we need 20 volunteers to handle the volume.

Vice President of Administration gave the IT report indicating that our VPN remote system will be changing providers in March. All ARC-owned laptops will be affected as well as personal computers being used while remote.