The next step in the search for OCCC’s next president, selecting a search firm to help regents recruit and screen candidates, should be completed by the end of January.

Regents presidential search committee chair, Helen Camey, said two firms have responded to the request for proposal, so the committee must decide which company to hire.

“The two that did reply back, they are two good firms,” Camey said. “They will be able to do what we want.”

Camey and the two other members of the committee, Regent Lenora Burdine and Regent Christie Burgin, met Dec. 2 and brought the information to the special Board of Regents meeting held on Dec. 3 at Frontier State Bank in Oklahoma City.

Two companies — Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and Schnake Turnbo Frank (STF) — responded with proposals for OCCC.

Proposals were received from the firms on Dec. 1 and opened at 5 p.m. The committee had requested a two-tiered proposal.

Regents asked search firms to set one fee for an internal search within the college and a separate fee for the external search if one is desired, Camey said.

Camey said both search firms suggested the college go directly to a national search with the presidential search instead of starting internally.

The detailed proposals and Skype interviews with representatives from both firms gave the committee too much information to process in their two-hour meeting on Dec. 2.

“The meeting was good. The Skype sessions were good. … the proposals that they returned were longer and more detailed than we were expecting,” Camey said. “So as a result of these multi-page things, we need to digest the information before we come back to you with a recommendation,

“We’re tentatively scheduled to reconvene on [Dec. 17] to finalize the recommendation to be presented to the board, either by a special meeting prior to the January meeting, or at the January board meeting as a backup,” Camey said. “But I suspect that we will have to have a special meeting prior to that board meeting, because the January Board meeting is really late in January.”

In a previous special meeting of the Board of Regents on Nov. 18, the board decided in a 6-to-1 vote that the search for the college’s next president will start first within the walls of the college. Camey cast the dissenting vote.

“Shouldn’t we revisit this?” Camey asked. “My opinion obviously hasn’t changed on this. Again, I’m one board member, one vote, but I would be remiss as being on this committee by not bringing it to your attention of what they (both firms) recommended, not solicited…,” Camey said.

However, other regents said they had already made the decision, so they would still go with what was already decided.

“I think the board has spoken,”  said Regent Rick Moore. ”I think you tell someone like that the board has voted, this is what we’re going to do, and you guys are going to do what we say,”

The next regular regents meeting is at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 26, 2015 in the Al Snipes Board Room on campus.

For more information, visit www.occc.edu/aboutus/boardofregents.