Following a Christmas lunch sponsored by Great Western Dining Monday afternoon in the McAtee Dining Center, Brett Bazil was elected as Chairman of Cowley College’s Board of Trustees during the school’s regular monthly meeting. The Board also approved the 2021-2022 annual audit.
Bazil has been a Board member since January 2022. Bazil was born in Arkansas City and raised in Winfield. He graduated from Winfield High School and Southwestern College with a BS in Applied Mathematics. He holds a certificate in management from Wichita State University, W. Frank Barton School of Business.
Bazil has worked in the computing field for over 42 years. He was employed with Boeing/Spirit for 31 years before his work was outsourced to IBM in support of Spirit account, where he was employed for 11 years. Bazil is a reserve police officer for the Burden, KS, police department and a law enforcement tracker with BlueLine Tracking/Cowley Trackers.
He and his wife Ann have been married for 44 years and have two children and four grandchildren. They own a small farm that was part of Ann’s family. His current term will expire in January 2026.
Cowley College president Dr. Randy Smith presented outgoing Board Chair Gary Wilson with a plaque in honor of his work with the Board of Trustees.
“This is probably the finest Board I have ever worked with,” Wilson said. “I appreciate the support you have shown to me.”
Other officers elected for the upcoming year: vice chairman, Dr. Steve Abrams; a past Chairperson who shall serve as an advisor to the Chairman of the Board, Gary Wilson; Kansas Association of Community College Trustees voting delegate, David Stanley; an alternate delegate to the Kansas Association of Community College Trustees, Dr. Alan Marcotte; a trustee representative for professional negotiations, Glennis Zimmerman; a trustee representative to the Cowley College Foundation, Bob McGregor; a trustee representative to the Tiger Booster Club, David Stanley; three trustees to serve on the Finance sub-committee, Dr. Steve Abrams, Bob McGregor, Gary Wilson; three trustees to serve on the Academic sub-committee, Dr. Alan Marcotte, David Stanley, Bob McGregor; three trustees to serve on the Board policy sub-committee, Brett Bazil, Dr. Alan Marcotte, Gary Wilson; and Gary Wilson was named trustee designated to open bids received for college purchases.
Also, on Monday, the Loyd Group, LLC announced it had completed the annual audit of all college funds for the year ended June 30, 2022. In performing the audit, the accountants examined the validity of financial transactions according to generally accepted accounting principles and State law. In addition, they have been instructed to apply the standards established by the policies of the Board of Trustees. Holly Harper, VP of Finance and Administration, provided the Management Discussion and Analysis (MDA) Christina Henson with Loyd Group, LLC. provided the audit findings. The 2021-2022 Audit may be viewed on the College website.
“Kudos to Holly Harper and her team,” Henson said. “Everything went smoothly and was well done. We appreciate the help we received.”
In other matters:
1. Dr. Smith provided the Board with a College update. Dr. Smith mentioned the progress being made on the fundraising for the construction of the CTE facility. He also praised the work of the recent student activities held on campus. “We have a great Fine Arts program at Cowley, and the recent student activities were extremely well done. The students did a terrific job.” Dr. Smith also mentioned his recent meeting with representatives of Cowley First and the College’s work they did in celebrating Native American Heritage Month. Lastly, Dr. Smith thanked the Board for their contributions and wished them a happy holiday season.2. Bob McGregor provided the Board with a Trustee Academic Subcommittee update.3. Board Chair Gary Wilson and Holly Harper provided the Board with a Trustee Finance Subcommittee update.4. Brett Bazil provided the Board with a Trustee Policy Subcommittee update.5. Debbie Phelps, executive director of institutional effectiveness (IE), provided the Board with an enrollment, recruitment, and retention update.6. Approved the Consent Agenda:
- Board Minutes of the November 21 meeting.
- Approved the Financial Reports as presented.
- Bills and Claims. Approved fiscal officers of the College to execute payment of all bills and claims as presented.
- Administrative Reports.
- The Board approved the following policies: (113.00) Reserve Funds; (206.00) Academic Freedom; (465.00) Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
- The Board held first readings on the following policies: (407.00) Student Organizations; (411.00) Student Travel; (424.00) Student Housing; (452.00) Varsity Athletics.
- The Board was informed of a letter of retirement from Julie Rhoads, faculty-director of education, June 1, 2023.
- The Board was informed of the employment of Stephanie Hopper as admissions recruiter, effective December 18.
8. Dr. Michelle Schoon, vice president of academic affairs, informed the Board that the College is working with the Kansas Department of Corrections on establishing a weld shop at the Winfield Correctional Facility.
9. Dr. Randy Smith, interim vice president of student affairs, provided an enrollment update.
10. Paul Erdmann, vice president of information technology, provided an update on projects the information technology staff has worked on over the past month.
11. Debbie Phelps, executive director of institutional effectiveness (IE), informed the Board that the IPEDS federal winter collection opened on December 7 and will close the first week of February 2023. The winter collection includes the graduation rates, graduation rates 200, student financial aid, and outcome measures.
12. Jason O’Toole, director of athletics, informed the Board that the college’s winter sports are off to good starts, and the indoor track and field season will begin in early January.
13. Julie Rhoads, faculty liaison, provided the Board with updates from several Cowley College instructors.
14. Jessica Lucas, Government Affairs Liaison, provided a legislative update.
15. Brett Bazil provided a KACCT Quarterly Report.
16. Approved the contract with Fresh Ideas for Dining Services with the terms stated in the agreement.
17. Adopted the Community College Property Management Policy as presented and authorized College administration to pledge non-state College reserves in the amount of $2,245,000 as matching funds for the CTE project.
18. Approved proceeding with Conco Construction to construct the new CTE Building on the main campus, in conjunction with matching ARPA funds, at the stated 1.50% general condition fee and 4.00% overhead and profit fee.
19. The meeting adjourned at 1:14 p.m.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up