The Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Board of Trustees convened a meeting on Monday, August 3, 2026, at 3:03 p.m., in The Brumit Center for Culinary Arts and Hospitality, Tillman Dining Room. Dr. Joe Barwick, Chair, presided.
In addition to Dr. Barwick, the following members of the Board participated: Theresa Banks, Michael Garrison, Roger Kumpf, Judy Lewis, Anthony Penland, Frances Ramsey, Roger Reid, and Drew West. Ben Teague and Glenda Weinert participated remotely. Andrew Nagle, General Assembly appointee, was also present. Matt Kern and Robert Uhren, Ex-Officio were absent.
Others present for the meeting included: John Gossett, President; Deborah Bailey, Vice President, Economic & Workforce Strategy and Community Partnerships; Amanda Edwards, Executive Director, College Advancement; Kerri Glover, Executive Director, Community Relations and Marketing; Cris Harshman, Vice President of Operations/CIO; Fairley Patton, Vice President of Student Services; Dana Moore, Associate Vice President of Instructional Services; Ashley Leonard, College Attorney; and Carolyn Rice, Secretary to the Board.
Call to Order
At 3:03 p.m., Chair Barwick read the ethics statement. No conflicts were reported. Ms. Rice called the roll; a quorum was present.
Swearing In
New Trustee Roger Kumpf and reappointed Trustees Joe Barwick and Michael Garrison were sworn in to the Board.
Consent Agenda
At 3:07 p.m., Chair Barwick asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda.
Dr. Banks moved to approve Consent Agenda items: 1. A. June 1, 2026, Board Meeting Minutes; 1. B. Personnel Actions; and 1. C. Board Attendance Record 2025-2026. Chief Penland seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Resolution/Action Items
2. A. Dr. Gossett discussed the Conflicts of Interest and Undue Influence Questionnaire for the Voting Members of the A-B Tech Community College Board of Trustees. The procedure was designed for Trustees to complete and sign annually to attest to reading the By-Laws of the College regarding Conflicts of Interest, Appearances of Conflicts, and other rules regarding Trustee conduct. Dr. Gossett asked all Board members to sign the Procedure so that the College may have it on file for future visits from our accreditors, SACSCOC.
2. B. Ms. Dana Moore shared that the 2027-2028 Academic Calendar follows the pattern of previous academic calendars. The College remains in compliance with the mandated twelve paid holidays per year.
Mr. West moved to approve the 2027-2028 College Calendar. Chief Penland seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
2.C. Ms. Moore informed the Board that with the closing of the Craggy Correctional Center, the College has the opportunity to move equipment and faculty from there to the Western Correctional Center for Women, and to offer Electrical Systems Technology starting this fall. Electrical Systems Technology will offer an additional opportunity for students at Western Correctional Center for Women to learn another meaningful skill that will help them earn a living wage upon release.
Chief Penland moved to offer Electrical Systems Technology at the Western Correctional Center for Women. Ms. Ramsey seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
2. D. Ms. Deborah Bailey shared that NC Community Colleges are mandated through the State Board of Community College Code to review the programs provided to ensure occupational training is relevant to the workforce, responsive to training needs, and responsible for use of state resources. A-B Tech complies with these requirements by publishing and maintaining a Continuing Education Internal Program Accountability Plan that ensures that all continuing education classes are valid, credible, and accurately reported.
Ms. Lewis moved to approve the Economic and Workforce Development/Continuing Education Internal Program Accountability Plan. Mr. West seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
2. E. Ms. Melissa Valko informed the Board that the North Carolina Community College System Office has yet to finalize the state budget for the fiscal year. The Continuing Budget Resolution allows the President and the College to pay state-funded salaries and other ordinary expenses of the College for the interval between the beginning of the new fiscal year and the adoption of the budget resolution by the Board. We hope to present the final budget to the Board in October.
Dr. Banks moved to approve the Continuing Budget Resolution. Ms. Lewis seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
2. F. Mr. Cris Harshman discussed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the College and the Western North Carolina Historical Association (doing business as the Asheville Museum of History) with the Board. The Museum, located on property adjacent to A-B Tech Asheville, is seeking annual financial support, limited groundskeeping and exterior maintenance support, campus public safety coordination, and other discretionary cooperative efforts as mutually beneficial to both parties.
The terms of the MOU are for five years, and the College is not bound to provide any financial support. The College will provide exterior groundskeeping support subject to staffing, equipment availability, operational priorities, and weather conditions.
Mr. Garrison moved to approve the Western North Carolina Historical Association MOU. Dr. Banks seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Budget Information
3. A. Ms. Green updated the Board on the status of Article 46 Funded Repair and Renovation Projects. $18 million in repair and renovation projects have been approved by Buncombe County this week. We are still seeking quotes for cabinets and countertops in the Vet Tech building, as well as for the emergency water valve connections for buildings at A-B Tech Asheville.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved a $13 million envelope package for A-B Tech Enka, and will start the bidding process for designer services by the end of August.
State Capital Infrastructure Fund (SCIF) funded projects, which include Dogwood Electrical Upgrades, College-wide security systems upgrades, upgrades to the Ramsey Welding and CNA Lab, and upgrades to the culinary kitchen in the Magnolia building, are still in progress. Bids for designer services open in late August.
3. B. Ms. Valko discussed the State and County Budget as of June 30, 2026. We closed out the fiscal year and spent 90 percent of our overall budget. All unspent funds will carry over to the next fiscal year. Both Buncombe and Madison Counties experienced increases in utility rates and usage.
Trustee Business
4. A. Dr. Banks moved to table the Nominating Committee’s presentation of their nominations for Board Chair, Board Vice-Chair, and Board Secretary for 2026-2027 to the September 14, 2026, Board meeting. Mr. Reid seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
4. B. Mr. West moved to table the nominations of two Trustees to serve on the Executive Committee to the September 14, 20206 Board meeting. Mr. Reid seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
4. C. Please let Ms. Rice know if you would like to attend the NCACCT Leadership Seminar in Greensboro.
President’s Report
Dr. Gossett presented the results of the NC Community Colleges 2026 Performance Measures for Student Success to the Board. The presentation included the following information:
- Performance measures are a legislatively required report that is used to inform the public about the performance of our colleges. Seven areas were measured, and the results are as follows:
- Basic Skills Progress – Greater than average
- College-Level English Success – Greater than baseline
- College-Level Math Success – Greater than baseline
- First Year Progression – Below baseline
- Completion – Greater than baseline
- Licensure and Certification – Exceeded Excellence level
- University Transfer – Greater than baseline
- The College dug into the results and found that we couldn’t replicate the data being used by the System Office.
- In response, the Executive Leadership team will focus on the following Key Performance Indicators:
- Enrollment
- Student Success
- Operational Excellence
- Financial Stability
- Dr. Gossett then informed the Board that thanks to Mark Carlson, Associate Vice President of Workforce Development, the results of the Continuing Education Compliance Audit were a success. The review of records yielded documentation showing minimal findings, with non-compliant hours reported for budget FTE exceeding one percent of the total number of hours included in the Workforce Continuing Education and College and Career Readiness samples of classes reviewed. The finding exceeded one percent but was under the threshold of five percent for a material finding warranting a reversion of funds.
- Dr. Gossett thanked those who attended the Futures Factory grant announcement. Once the contract is signed, work begins with finding an architect. It should take about 36 months to complete.
- The state budget was passed, and Propel NC was fully funded by the General Assembly. Propel NC incentivizes getting citizens into the workforce.
- The General Assembly is also funding a new Customer Relations Management (CRM) system, apprenticeships, enrollment growth, and modernization of an Enterprise Resource Planning system.
- Unfortunately, the request to upgrade A-B Tech Madison was not funded this year. We will continue to seek alternate funding sources for that project.
- Customized Training and the Small Business Center will now earn budget FTE, which will help support our Small Business Center in Enka. Our Small Business Center is a leader in the state.
- DEI was discussed during the President’s meeting last week, and the College was asked to attest that we are not teaching anything around the DEI dogma.
- Dr. Monty Sullivan has been selected as the new president and CEO of the North Carolina Community College System. Dr. Sullivan will schedule regional meetings where our employees and Trustees will be able to meet him.
Dr. Barwick thanked Dr. Gossett for his report and then thanked Ms. Amanda Edwards and the College Foundation for all the work they did on the Future Factory’s Grant. Dr. Barwick also commended Dr. Gossett on the excellent speech he made during the Grant announcement.
Mr. Ben Teague also thanked everyone involved for their work on the Grant and suggested that a Task Force be created to focus on all things Futures Factory. Chair Barwick agreed to consider creating a Task Force.
Staff Report
Mr. Cris Harshman outlined a one year Data Bridge Strategic Plan for the Board. Mr. Harshman discussed the following:
- Decisions are how an institution's system works; decisions should be data-informed in order to be connected to reality and vision; therefore, data is not just information; data is a proxy for intentional and thoroughly considered decisions.
- The theme of the Strategic plan is Data. We use data to measure goal success, to prioritize goals that compete for resources, to ensure the goals are translated into operational execution, and to make decisions.
- A Data Governance Committee has been created to define governance and to go over the initial foundational goals. The Committee will address policies, oversight, standards, and accountability that align people, processes, and systems to ensure data quality and drive data maturity.
- One year from now, we should be able to point to tangible evidence that A-B Tech makes decisions differently. Not perfectly, but demonstrably better.
- The Executive Leadership Team will be the ultimate owners of the Strategic Plan, and once our data is cleaned up, we can move ahead with confidence about how progress is measured.
Closed Session
At 4:32 p.m., Chief Penland moved that the Trustees enter into closed session pursuant to G.S. 143-318.11(a) (1) and (3) in order to discuss confidential personnel matters pursuant to G.S. 115D-27-29 and to discuss matters protected by the attorney-client privilege. Mr. West seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Upon a properly made motion, the Board returned to Open Session.
Informational Items
The 2025-2026 Student Success Scorecard and Divisional Updates are included in the Board packet.
The next Board meeting will be on Monday, September 14, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. at A-B Tech Asheville.
Adjourn
Upon a properly made motion, the meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn H. Rice
Board Secretary