Costs for the University of Colorado Board of Regents’ annual summer retreats have ballooned over the past five years, with the most recent retreat — at a remote resort in Mesa County — costing almost double what was spent the previous year.
In July, the nine-member Board of Regents — minus regent Heidi Ganahl who did not attend — traveled to Gateway for its annual three-day summer retreat. Although the retreat is not a formal meeting — no votes are taken — it gives board members a chance to discuss plans for the upcoming school year as well as long-term goals such as the CU system’s strategic plan and also to learn from panelists about ways they can work more collectively.
The three-day retreat is open to the public, although Ken McConnellogue, spokesperson for the CU system, does not believe the summer retreats have ever been livestreamed for people who are unable to attend in-person. McConnellogue added that he asked officials while in Gateway if they considered including a livestream option but was told there were difficulties with the technology.
Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa is about a 10-hour round-trip drive from the system’s flagship campus in Boulder. The resort is tucked between the palisades in Western Colorado, bordering Utah, and was founded by John Hendricks, founder and chairman of the Discovery Channel. Amenities at the resort include a restaurant, cafe, pool, spa and a car museum filled with Hendricks’s personal collection. An average room at Gateway Canyons costs about $400 per night.
When it was all said and done, CU spent $83,451.86 on this year’s retreat, which did not include travel costs for CU President Todd Saliman’s executive team or CU’s four chancellors, according to information obtained through the Colorado Open Records Act. The total is an 82% cost increase from last year’s retreat, which was hosted at Devil’s Thumb Ranch in Tabernash. The total cost for the 2021 retreat without mileage fees and other travel expenses was $45,767.80.
The total breakdown for this year’s retreat includes $38,339.14 for hotel rooms for regents, the CU system executive team, chancellors, presenters and board staff; $32,115.80 for hotel catering and meals; $10,450 for facilitation; $187.29 for activities; and $2,359.63 for mileage, airfare and other travel costs for regents and board staff.
McConnellogue said neither Saliman, his executive team nor chancellors Donald Elliman Jr. or Venkat Reddy were reimbursed for travel. Many officials like Saliman have a driving allowance as part of their compensation, which prohibits them from getting mileage and parking reimbursement — no matter how far they drive. The only reimbursements were for chancellors Michelle Marks and Philip DiStefano, who both flew to Grand Junction due to time constraints caused by other meetings. Marks’ trip was $395.80, and DiStefano’s was $458.90.
McConnellogue said the CU Board of Regents’ office pays for the costs of the retreats, which includes lodging, meals, technology, speakers and more. The office is funded by dollars from the Intercampus Cost Allocation, which also pays for centralized executive offices, employee services, the procurement service center, among other items. Funding for the allocation comes from CU’s operating budget, also known as its education and general fund budget, which is made up of state aid and student tuition and fees, although student tuition makes up a bulk of it. In fiscal year 2021-2022, the ICCA budget totaled $63.7 million.
The board did not hold an in-person summer retreat in 2020 due the coronavirus pandemic. A breakdown of costs from previous years shows that $29,524.61 was spent in 2019 for the retreat at Devil’s Thumb Ranch; $23,883.61 was spent in 2018 for the retreat also at Devil’s Thumb Ranch; and $19,781.35 was spent for the 2017 summer retreat held at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. None of these totals included mileage costs or other travel expenses as regents or other CU officials were either reimbursed through the system office budget or already had driving allowances calculated into their compensation.
McConnellogue said planning for the annual summer retreat is a collective effort between the regents’ governance committee, board staff and an external vendor. The external vendor who helped select this year’s location was Amy Humble, who deferred any questions regarding the retreat to McConnellogue.
After seeing the price tag from this year’s retreat, Lesley Smith, board chair for the CU Board of Regents, said the CU governance committee is reviewing the way retreats are planned. In the future, rather than hiring an external vendor to help set the location, plans will be made inhouse, she said.
“At this point, after seeing how expensive Gateway Canyons was, the board is going to establish a clear process, (and) the board secretary and myself have been discussing which direction that will take,” Smith said. “We need to do better and we will.”
