TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, August 13. Prior to the meeting, the board had a work session which began at 4 p.m. The meeting was called to order by board chairman, Jackie Van Mark at 5:50 p.m. In attendance were board members Rick Vonburg, Katherine Patrick, Randy Adams, Robert Baumgartner, Doug Mercer, Kurt Sittner and Jim Wilcox.

As the first rule of business, the board quickly approved the August 13 meeting agenda. A motion was made by Mercer and seconded by Baumgartner and the agenda was approved.

There were no introductions to be made and no participants in the public comment portion of the meeting agenda. 

Moving on to department updates, Van Mark called on college president Dr. Jeffry Hawes. Hawes spoke to the board about the upcoming in-service for college faculty. Hawes welcomed board members to attend the welcome-back festivities. 

Hawes also spoke to the board on the student enrollment plan.

“I actually only have two updates. Monday is the in-service for our faculty who will be returning to campus,” Hawes explained. “It is not the only preparation we have for faculty and staff.”

Hawes explained the staff preparation plans to the board. 

“Monday will be the return of our faculty joining our staff for the full day of in-service, trustees are more than welcome to attend that,” Hawes explained. “Most of the in-service will be between 8 a.m. to noon. There are some breakout sessions in the afternoon.”

“A week from Monday, classes will be reinitiated on campus, so I am excited to have students coming back,” Hawes said. “This is always one of the fun parts and exciting times of the year, having students return to our campus.”

Hawes also shared a brief explanation of the work being done in student services this year at the college. 

“You heard John (Hansen) refer to the concept of an SEM plan, again that is a student enrollment management plan. This really is a collaborated effort that has been at a team approach led by John and Tami (Afdahl), evaluating heavily what types of practices were involved with this organization,” Hawes said. “Growth is going to be the key strategy this year and for years to come. It’s something, well I think the board is well aware, enrollment is not just about numbers. Training people is what we do.”

During the financial report, chief financial officer, Kwin Wilkes spoke to the board on the July monthly financial report. Wilkes provided an unaudited update regarding revenues and expenditures for the operational auxiliary funds from July 1, 2024, to July 31, 2024. 

“We did receive our first installment from the state. You will notice however that if you compare it to a year ago, we’re looking really good. But a year ago, as I reflect on that they had some issues at the commission, and we didn’t get our first installment until later. So, it looks like we are in a really good place,” Wilkes said.

Wilkes explained the county had the same fiscal year as the college and therefore reports were behind.

“So far, in respect to our credit-tuition, we are just under $1M so far. That is 31% of what we budgeted and really close to what we did a year ago,” Wilkes said. “Moving on to fees, we’re at $330,000 basically, thinking that is almost 31% of just over $1M budgeted and again we are looking at about the same difference from the previous year.”

Hawes had a late introduction of Dr. Kim Dale from Western Wyoming College who will be on campus to help with consulting services for leadership and project management.

“We are going to look at a number of strategies to help our organization implement, evaluate and put strategies together,” Hawes explained. “They’re going to help us achieve some of those critical goals that this board approved. And obviously, enrollment again, that is the critical function of this organization is figuring out how we provide that tending to as many students as possible.”

Moving on to item six on the agenda, the board approved the July 9 meeting minutes as presented.

On action items, item seven on the agenda, the board approved the July 2024 expenditure report under item a. 

The board next moved on to action item b, where they approved the purchase of a Ford Explore-Active, not to exceed $50,000 from Laramie Peak Motors in Wheatland. Funding will be from the WIP Tourism grant. 

Moving on to item c, where the board approved Andrew Lincowski to the position of professor of mathematics and assessment data analysis. The board also approved the potion of Kayla Lindard to the position of associate of professor of nursing at the Douglas campus and Kasey Powell to the position of nursing director. Gail Bowers was approved in the position of director of admissions. 

Quickly moving on to item g, the board approved two new positions including the dean of transfer and the dean of career and technical education. The position is only funded for FY25.

Moving on to item eight on the agenda, the board considered the final reading of the board policy 1.1 college board purpose, section a. The policy was approved.

A motion to table the approval of the final reading for board policy 2.3 serious infectious illness. The motion carried and was tabled. 

The board moved on to section c, where they approved the final reading for board policy 2.18 regarding alcohol and controlled substance-free campus. The board approved the final reading of board policy 3.0 equal employment opportunity statement on section d. The board also approved sections e, f, g, h, I, j and k. 

On item l there was a brief discussion on the definition of emotional support animals and after the discussion, the board approved the final reading of board policy 6.11 animals or pets on campus.

The board moved on to section m of eight on the agenda where they tabled the final reading for board policy 7.9 data protection privacy notice after a brief discussion noting the board will add specific terminology expressing the policy applied to international students. 

The board moved on to the addendum items which were action items. The board approved item a, under the additional action items, approval of a request of a public hearing on a final budget for FY24. The board voted to approve the final budget hearing. 

The board also approved the template for concurrent and dual enrollment memorandum of understanding (2024-2025) between the college and Goshen County School District.

The board also approved the purchase of a Polaris Utility Vehicle from Frank Powersports not to exceed $50,000.

Moving on to item nine, trustee topics, Van Mark spoke on the North Platte Valley Ag Expo which will be held in conjunction with the University of Wyoming on August 22 at the James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Lingle from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned into executive session for potential litigation at 6:41 p.m.