Muff appointed to CCCC board of trustees

Kevin Muff has been appointed to fill a vacant position on the Cloud County Community College board of trustees.
The board of trustees voted 3-1 during its regular meeting Tuesday night, to appoint Muff to the board to fill the seat left open after Jim Koch won re-election in the November general election, months after he had passed away.
Muff had run as a write-in candidate for the board, and received 351 votes.
Because Koch was elected to a second term on the board posthumously, the trustees voted during its November meeting to publish a board of vacancy notice as part of the process to appoint a new board member.
Two letters of interest to fill the position were received, including one from Muff and one from Will Metcalf.
Board member David Garnas made a motion to appoint Metcalf to the board, and the vote was a 2-2 tie with board member Amber Hanson not in attendance.
The trustees then had a discussion on the two candidates for the board seat.
Bruce Graham made a motion to appoint Muff to the board. The motion passed 3-1.
Muff is a graduate of Cloud County Community College. He would serve as the men's basketball coach for 12 years.
Currently, Muff is the dean of student improvement and an instructor at Concordia Junior-Senior High School.
Muff will be sworn in to the board during an organizational meeting on January 10.
Also during the meeting, a recommendation from the college administration for tuition, fees and campus housing rate for the 2024-2025 academic year was approved by the board.
The recommended tuition rates include a $19 percent increase for international students, from $103 to $119.
Currently, the tuition rate for international students is the same as it is for out-of-state residents.
It was reported by vice president for administrative services Caesar Wood that increasing the rate for international students is needed to offer additional support and resources for those students.
The rate increase places Cloud County as the seventh lowest for international students among the community colleges in Kansas.
The rate proposal had been shared with the out-of-state and international students attending Cloud County this semester and the resident assistants.
Also approved is an increase in the building fee for all students, from $2 per credit hour to $4 and an increase in tech fees for all students, from $10 to $20 per credit hour.
Wood had reported to the board during November meeting that the increase in tech fees, based on 30,000 credit hours, will increase revenue from $303,526 this year to approximately $600,000.
The building fee increase will generate approximately $120,000 next year, compared to $59,926 this year.
The approved increase in the building fee will help support building operations at both the Concordia and Geary County campuses. The tech fee increase will help support the increased use of technology across the college's academic programs and student services.
The in-district tuition (Cloud County residents) of $71 per credit hour, the in-state tuition rate of $78 per credit hour and the out-of-state tuition rate of $103 per credit hour will remain unchanged for 2024-2025.
Also unchanged for next year will be the housing and off-campus meal plan rates.
Included in the consent agenda approved by the board, was the appointment of Michael Draemel, Beloit, as systems administrator, effective March 4.
Draemel, who is the assistant IT director at North Central Kansas Technical College in Beloit, received a bachelor's degree in business administration and a bachelor of science information networking, telecommunications degree and a certificate in web development from Fort Hays State University.
Matt LaMair, a senior project engineer for McCownGordon Construction, provided an update on the construction of the Technical Education and Innovation Center.
McNair informed the trustees that the project is still tracking for completion of July 2024.
In the last couple of months the main focus has been getting the building enclosed for cold weather.
McNair said that the HVAC systems have been delivered.