COA mulls offering house to next president

Wood: Bray house would be incentive

By Kristin Pitts
Staff Writer

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Recognizing that relocation could present a tough challenge for College of The Albemarle’s next president, college officials are looking to offer some help by providing riverfront housing.

Although the idea is still in the planning stage, the COA Board of Trustees have discussed providing a place to stay as an incentive for current President Lynne Bunch’s replacement.

The house up for consideration is the former home of Gerald Bray, who served as COA dean of administrative services from 1978 to 1986 as well as a brief stint as interim president. Bray died in April 2008.

Since Bray’s death, COA officials have been unsure of what to do with the home, which sits behind the college on land that COA purchased in the 1990s from Bray and his family. The house sits on the Pasquotank River.

As part of their agreement, Bray retained lifetime rights to the home. The rest of the land has since been developed.

Jim Turdici, COA vice president of business and finance, said the land contains the John Wood Foreman Technology Center and the Zack D. Owens Health Sciences Center/Albemarle Family YMCA. Also, a tract between the Owens and Foreman centers is the planned site for a future Corporate and Continuing Education Building, he said.

Matt Wood, chairman of the COA Board of Trustees, said that the housing incentive, which has been discussed for the past few weeks, is being given consideration because of the nation’s tough housing market and the need for keeping the president’s salary competitive.

“The reason it was considered is that the housing market for candidates has been a problem because people who have houses are not able to sell their houses in this market,” Wood said.

Wood said that a local candidate probably would not be enticed by the offer. But other candidates, who are concerned with the stress and expense of relocating, might see the offer as a deal-making perk.

Another concern during the presidential search has been that of salary.

“There’s a discussion that perhaps the COA president’s salary has fallen behind,” he said.

Wood said that North Carolina community college presidents’ salaries are made up of two components. One is paid by the state, and is contingent on degrees and experience, among other things. The other component comes from local funding.

That local portion, which Wood said hasn’t increased in years, concerns COA officials as they try to find the best candidate to replace Bunch. The current president announced earlier this year that she plans to retire in March.

The idea to include housing as part of the new president’s job stands to make the offer more competitive with community colleges that have increased their presidents’ salary over the years.

“The local portion of Lynne Bunch’s salary has not changed in several years,” Wood said. “Other colleges have been moving up.”

Bunch’s annual salary as of March 31 was $129,252.

Wood stressed repeatedly that the idea is still just that — an idea. He also said that COA officials would have more discussions before the housing offer would be made to candidates for the president’s job.

“It’s not like we’re just going to just give this person a house; it’s going to be part of the negotiation,” Wood said.

Wood said the presidential search panel is still gathering applications for Bunch’s position. The panel will meet at the end of the month to review applications, he said.