Wednesday, April 23, 2025
The Cloud County Community College Board of Trustees met for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Monday, March 24 at 5 p.m. in the President’s Addition.
Members Kevin Pounds, Kevin Muff, Richard Hubert, Amber Hanson, Jesse Pounds and Chairman Dave Garnas were all present.
In action items, the board voted unanimously to approve a rate increase to tuition, fees and housing for the 2025-2026 school year based on the findings of a study conducted through the fall of 2025.
The college met with student groups to review this proposed increase, and the groups were unanimous in their support.
The proposed rate change remains competitive with the cost of other Kansas community colleges.
In-district tuition remains at $71 a credit hour for in-county residents, in-state tuition remains at $78 a credit hour, out-of-state tuition remains at $103 a credit hour, international tuition remains at $122 a credit hour and online tuition continues to match residency for its tuition rate.
The overall course fee remains at $35 per credit hour, the online fee remains at $25 per credit hour and the Geary County campus facility fee remains at $10 per credit hour.
The increase comes to the Comprehensive fee. This fee will rise from $19 per credit hour to $25 per credit hour.
The comprehensive fee provides support to enhance the overall student experience both in and out of the classroom by encompassing services such as health, mental health, student activities and more.
The increase is needed to help alleviate increased costs associated with these services in support of continued student success and retention.
This increase also includes an increase in housing of $300 per room, making the cost of single rooms rise from $3720-$4000 and double (shared) rooms rise from $3000-$3300.
The student housing rate includes rent, utilities, Wi-Fi, and 17 meals a week in the cafeteria. The rate change is due to the increased cost of utilities and food, which rose more than 35% over the last three years.
The college has also renovated the residence halls themselves in the last five years to improve the experience of students.
A motion was made to approve these changes and the motion passed unanimously.
The second action item up for discussion in last night’s meeting was the replacement of the existing scoreboard and sound system in the Arley Bryant gymnasium.
The current scoreboard is nineteen years old and deteriorating. Portions of the sound system are even older than that and have caused continual problems throughout the past few athletic seasons.
Earlier this year, one of the side scoreboards went dark and could not be repaired.
At one point, the main board also went out, causing athletic department officials to both call in an immediate repair and consult with conference officials to ensure that a technical foul would not result due to lack of adequate scoring materials.
The Athletic, Facilities and IT departments met with both Daktronics and Nevco to review needs and options for replacement.
A committee has developed a two-tiered sponsorship plan to work with potential donors for advertising on the new scoreboard.
The improvements would include replacing both scoreboards with two video boards (each with an LED scoreboard), two scorer’s tables, two clocks above the court, two shot clocks, and a locker room clock in the official’s locker room.
The college intends to replace the sound system at the same time as it is integrated into the video board system.
A motion was made to approve this purchase from Nevco in the amount of $185,485.05 and authorized payment from Fund 61-Capital Outlay, complete with a seven-year warranty.
The final action item up for discussion at last night’s meeting was a proposal to repaint the ceiling, cross beams and handrails in the Arley Bryant gymnasium.
The gym ceiling and ductwork will need to be cleaned prior to the painting project.
The vendor, MVP Painting, will use a specialized dry fall paint, which dries quickly into a fine mist minimizing drips and splatters and reducing wasted paint.
This technique was successfully used on campus in the Technical Education and Innovation Center..
Due to the specialized nature of this painting technique, the college intends to use a sole source process. When a product or service is practically available from only one source, competitive bids cannot be conducted.
The board voted to approve the Arley Bryant gymnasium painting from MVP Painting in the amount of $67,410.00 with a 15% contingency in the amount of $10,111 and authorized payment from Fund 61-Capital Outlay.
In personnel items, the board approved the renewal of contracts for men’s head basketball coach, Kyle Pugh, men’s assistant coach, Matt Grantham and women’s assistant basketball coach, Tiffany Dorris.
The board also approved the appointment of an accounting instructor for fall of 2025.
In discussion items, the board reviewed policy AP6 relating to retirement practices. They will review possible changes in retirement eligibility and the age/requirements at which early retirement will be considered, to vote on at a future meeting.
They also reviewed policy C8, the drug-free workplace policy for changes to be decided at a future meeting.
The board also received its first working draft of the Strategic Plan.
This plan has been collaborated on by faculty, staff, students, the board and the community, to create a flexible plan with pillars and initiatives that will give voice to the future goals of the college.
This board meets once a month, and meetings are open to the public.
The next meeting will be April 28 at 5 p.m. in the President’s Addition.
