By Steven Stilt
During its meeting Thursday night, the Kaskaskia College Board of Trustees chose to maintain its current leadership structure for the next year.
Trustees voted unanimously to retain Bill Hawley as the board’s chairman. Also keeping their positions are vice-chair Linda Stover, secretary Laura Wedekemper, and recording secretary Karol Potter.
KC President George Evans says the board officers have been excellent to work with over the years.
“You know, Mr. Hawley has always done a great job at leading this board, and the fact that you have a non-partisan group that doesn’t bring internal politics in here, reviews their materials, asks realistic questions — if it’s not broke, why fix it?” Evans said. “And he’s been a strong steward, a strong leader. Linda’s been right there to support him along the way, Laura has been a great representative for the trustees’ association and … I think we’re going to continue with a well-oiled machine. It just goes to show the character and commitment of them, across the board, and the leadership that they’ve provided me for the college to succeed.”
Board members also approved a motion to continue holding board meetings on the fourth Monday of each month beginning at 6:30 p.m.
In other action, the board approved the annual audit report presented by Chris Suda and Justin Knorr from CliftonLarsonAllen. Suda reports that there were a few minor deficiencies in the audit but nothing that rose to the level of being a material issue. All in all, Suda says the audit was very clean and communication with KC staff was excellent.
The board approved a collective bargaining agreement between the college and the Kaskaskia College Federation of Teachers, which includes 2 1/2 percent annual pay increases for the next three years. Evans commended all those involved in the negotiations for the new agreement.
Trustees approved a number of personnel items, including the retirement of director of radiologic technology Mimi Polczynski. The board also approved the hiring of Brennan Stover as assistant professor of criminal justice; Emeline Rincker as assistant professor of mathematics; Joshua Paddock as director of TRIO; and Sarah Correll, Blake Hendrick, and Levi Kinkead as building and grounds technicians.
