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N.      Authorization to Acquire Utility Easement Associated with the UK Healthcare Patient Care Facility Project (FCR 9)
Mr. Branscum said that FCR 9 recommends that the Board authorize the executive vice president for finance and administration or his designee to negotiate the acquisition of utility easements on Woodland Avenue between Euclid and Columbia Avenues for a price not to exceed the fair market value as determined by a qualified appraiser or through condemnation proceedings. The easements are needed to relocate an electrical transmission line for the new Patient Care Facility. The university has been acting in good faith to acquire these easements through fee simple properly acquisitions. If these negotiations are unsuccessful, this Board action will authorize the university to proceed with condemnation proceedings as these easements are crucial to the project and the associated construction schedule. On behalf of the Finance Committee, he recommended approval of FCR 9. Ms. Curris seconded the motion, and it carried without dissent. (See FCR 9 at the end of the Minutes.)
Ms. Ball expressed appreciation for the Board members attendance at the Finance Committee meeting. Their attendance at the committee meetings enables Mr. Branscum to get through his report in a timely manner.
O.      Proposed Amendment to Governing Regulations: Faculty Vacation Leave, Sabbatical Leave, and Delay of Probationary Period (HRCR 1)
Judge Patton, chair of the Human Resources Committee, reported that the committee met that morning and had one action item, HRCR 1. This item was adopted initially on first reading in June, and then last month it was before the Board for a second reading. The purpose of this amendment is that historically faculty that accrued 22 days a year of vacation leave could carryover to the next year unused vacation leave. This has resulted in an unfunded liability for accounting purposes of about $20 million. A change was recommended that would require faculty to use vacation in the year that it is earned, or it would be lost.
There were some concerns expressed, particularly from some representatives of the medical faculty, at the last meeting that caused the Board to table HRCR 1 for one month so the concerns could be addressed. It primarily dealt with the fact that even though the regulation provided that there could be exceptions the procedure for obtaining those exceptions was not outlined within the body of the regulations. In the last 30 days, the concerns have been resolved, and according to Dr. Yanarella, the College of Medicine Faculty Council is in agreement with the new language. HRCR 1 was considered in the Human Resources Committee meeting, and the committee recommends to the full Board the adoption of HRCR 1 on second reading. Mr. Williams seconded the motion, and it carried without dissent. (See HRCR 1 at the end of the Minutes.)
Dr. Yanarella thanked both the provost and the vice president for finance and administration for coming up with the language that now appears in the relevant Administrative Regulation (AR) and referenced in the amendment to the Governing Regulation (GR). He also thanked Dean Jay Perman and Executive Vice President Karpf for speaking to the College of