CCCC board accepts gift of ag facility
During its regular meeting on Tuesday night, the Cloud County Community College board of trustees accepted the gift of a new agriculture facility from the Cloud County Community College Foundation.
The 8,000 square-foot facility will be used to meet the needs of the growing agriculture program by providing space for the precision ag equipment, educational schooling for the community and hosting livestock shows and competitions. It will also be used by students in the agriculture program in areas to include animal care and laboratory for large animals, marketing of farm products and property management.
The contractor on record for the agriculture facility project completed the work to the satisfaction of the bid specifications and all change orders submitted as of June 16. The contractor, architectural firm and Foundation director Heather Gennette, inspected and approved the completion of the facility on June 21.
“The project grew from a $15,000 pole shed to more than a $400,000, 85x100 multipurpose ag facility,” Gennette representing the Foundation in donating the facility to the college, said.
The Foundation received $100,000 grants from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation and the Sunderland Foundation for construction of the ag facility.
Other donations included $23,000 from the Cloud County board of commissioners and $5,000 from the Community Foundation for Cloud County.
The Foundation board of directors authorized contributing up to $140,000 toward finishing the project.
“It has already served as a very good recruiting tool,” Gennette said.
Also during the meeting, the board approved a bid from Budreau Construction, Inc. in the amount of $185,725, which includes a 15 percent contingency, to repaint the exterior trim of the main campus and Tech West buildings that are a rust color to a bronze color to enhance the curb appeal of the college.
The board was informed that the work will enhance the college's ability to attract and recruit students with a refreshed look to compliment the new staircase and bookstore additions of similar color for a more unified exterior.
The board was presented a maintenance and support agreement renewal for 2021-2022 with Jenzabar.
The college selected and purchased Jenzabar in 2005 as the enterprise resource planning software. It supports functions critical to the college operations such as admissions, advising, financial aid, student records, human resources and accounting operations.
Authorizing college president Amber Knoettgen to negotiate the renewal of the Jenzabar maintenance and remote services agreement for an amount not to exceed $156,000 beginning July 1 was approved by the board.
The cost of the agreement for 2020-2021 was $141,769.
The board approved a bid of $67,466.76 for the purchase of three 2021 Ford Escapes from Farm Country Ford, Inc., Concordia.
Bids were requested from the car dealerships in Cloud County for vehicles to replace three Chevrolet Impalas in the college's fleet. All three have over 230,000 miles on them.
The vehicles are used by faculty/staff to travel for business related events and for coaches to recruit student athletes.
Farm Country Ford was the only dealership able to submit a bid for the replacement vehicles.
The college is receiving a trade-in value of $2,750 for each of the Impalas.
Renewing the college's property, general liability, business automobile, educator's legal liability and excess liability insurance with IMA in the amount of $154,597 plus the option of crime of $1,807, cyber liability in the amount of $6,050 and the renewal premium of IMA for worker's compensation insurance coverage in the amount of $66,696 for the fiscal year 2022 was approved by the board.
The board approved authorizing Knoettgen to request no more than $100,000 from the Foundation for the scholarship fund.
Appointing Patricia Owensby Macfarlane as the vice chair of the board to fill the position vacated by the resignation of Ellen Anderson was approved.
The board also approved appointing new trustee Bruce Graham as the board representative to the Kansas Association of Community College Trustees. Anderson had also served in that capacity.
Included in the consent agenda approved by the board was the hiring of Lawrence Gerber as an English as a Second Language instructor.
Gerber is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a bachelor of arts degree in Geography and regional development. He received his master of arts degree in English as a foreign language from Southern Illinois University.
The consent agenda approved also included the renewal of legal services with Ferrell Law Firm, LLC in the amount of $7,500. It will include hourly services and reimbursement expenses as needed.
The board met in executive session for 10 minutes for the purpose of negotiations and 15 minutes for the purpose of discussing non-elected personnel.