Barton Community College’s Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to buy from local car dealerships, even though a Topeka dealership submitted lower bids on replacement vehicles. The total cost will be $116,786.10 for one three-quarter ton 4 x4 Chevrolet truck and two Chevy Impalas from Dove Chevrolet Buick Cadillac, and three Ford Fusions from Marmie Ford.
The same vehicles could have been purchased for $110,357 by buying the truck and Impalas from Ed Bozarth Chevrolet in Topeka and the Fusions from Shawnee Mission Ford. Earlier this month, when the board studied the bids, Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman said the board generally gives local venders 5 percent leeway over out-of-town bidders, and that the total here was close to that — 5.8 percent. His recommendation Tuesday, which the board unanimously approved, was to stick with the local dealerships.
Board chairman Mike Johnson and trustee Don Learned commented on the decision toward the end of the meeting.
"I’m just very pleased on the college vehicle replacement — that we support two of our local dealers," Learned said.
"They both support the college in a lot of ways," Johnson said. The chairman also noted that the college is supported with local property taxes.
The lower bids are available to other governing bodies. Ed Bozarth Chevrolet and Shawnee Mission Ford have the state contract bid, and schools, cities and counties could also buy vehicles at the state price, although it’s more common for entities to "buy local."
In other business Tuesday, the board approved new Military Certificate programs of study, and hired Troy Prosser as a tutor and Frank Philbern as a security officer, both for the Barton campus.
Board members learned that the college’s Workforce Training and Community Education department staff will meet with the Camp Aldrich advisory committee to discuss new programming opportunities for the camp/conference center located between Claflin and Cheyenne Bottoms. Julie Kramp and Elaine Simmons said ideas have included training for careers related to wildlife or outdoor managers, and a pre-wildlife science course in partnership with Fort Hays State University.
Dean Mark Dean said no bow hunters utilized the camp grounds during deer season this year. College trustees voted to allow Camp Aldrich to be marketed for bow hunting, but there wasn’t time to develop and market the idea for 2011.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Dean Charles Perkins gave a presentation on the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System – IPEDS – which collects data from nearly 7,000 postsecondary institutions. Perkins said this is public information that can be found on the website http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/ then click on College Navigator and put "Barton Community College" or any other college in the Name of School box.
