The Barton Community College Board of Trustees on Thursday approved next year’s budget, which calls for no increase in the mill levy.
This is the budget that was discussed at previous meetings and published in the Great Bend Tribune on July 28. Trustees held a budget hearing on Thursday and there were no comments or questions from the public.
The board also conducted its monthly study session on Thursday. There were reports on athletic compliance with rules and laws, Internet service and the trustees’ fall retreat.

Athletic compliance
Todd Moore, the assistant athletic director and sports information director, said Bryce Roderick, commissioner of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, will be one of the speakers at the fall orientation for student athletes at BCC. According to Moore’s report, Roderick will review conference matters in a question and answer format, focusing on matters of compliance within in the National Junior College Athletic Association.
This year, every Barton coach will be required to take the NJCAA Compliance Exam and pass with a score of 90 percent or better. Each question answered wrong will be reviewed by the coach and answered correctly with documentation of findings in the NJCAA handbook/casebook. The conference considers 80 percent a passing grade. “We wanted to go above and beyond what was expected at the NJCAA level,” Moore said.
Trustee Brett Middleton asked if coaches know that they can call Athletic Director Trevor Rolfs or Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman if they have any questions about compliance with college, conference or national policies.
They do, Moore said. “Trevor hammers on compliance. He has stressed that from the beginning.”
“We know that Barton has been under scrutiny thanks to mistakes made ...” trustee John Moshier commented, as trustee Don Learned recalled the 2005 Sports Illustrated article about the college. In 2006, ESPN College Sports summarized the outcome of the time trustees were referring to: “A federal investigation into financial aid and academic fraud in the athletics department led to the convictions of the athletic director and seven coaches and to the firing of the college’s president.”
Today, Moore said, “We are trying to do things right. I think a lot of people respect that we are trying.”  His report lists several pages of steps taken and progress made since 2007 to make Barton a model of compliance. A 2012 item states, “ALL ATHLETIC PROGRAMS at Barton CC were cleared through the rigorous NJCAA year long audit!!”
The complete report can be viewed online at http://bartonccc.edu/community/aboutbarton/trustees/studysession/fy1314/20130808/Compliance%20Timeline%202011-2013.pdf.

Better Internet
Charles Perkins, dean of information services, reported on a new bundling of the college’s Internet contracts that will increase the cost by nearly $4,000 a year but which will improve security and bandwidth. The college now pays $126,573 combined to various services. For an extra $3,940, he said, the college can enter a single agreement with KanREN, using Cox as the underlying contractor. KanREN is the Kansas Research and Education Network. It was founded in 1991 to create a statewide backbone network to extend Internet access to all Kansas higher education institutions. The college has used KanREN in the past, with student housing on Cox and some locations on Cox Consumer.
Dean said Cox Business is expanding in Great Bend with plans that the company has not yet made public. For this reason, “we get an attractive price we haven’t had in the past,” and all sites – in Barton County, Fort Riley, Grandview Plaza and Fort Leavenworth – will be “hooked together.”
Bandwidth at all sites except downtown Great Bend will increase. The changes are as follows: Barton County campus from 50Mb to 100Mb; Fort Riley from 20Mb to 100Mb; Grandview from 20Mb to 50Mb; 1025 Main Great Bend from 100Mb to 10Mb; and Barton County campus dorms from 20Mb to 50Mb.
According to Perkins’ report: “Barton has been with KanREN since 1993 and our service and benefits from being a part of this network have been exceptional. Through the partnership, Barton is provided with technical expertise in routing and networking, along with technical assistance on the ITV (interactive television) network.
“The dorms will be very happy,” Perkins said of the more powerful Internet connection. At the same time, he said, “we want to protect the students.” The technical assistance helps with monitoring at no extra cost.
Future board action will be required to approve this contract.

Other business
President Heilman recommended that for this year’s board retreat, trustees consider attending the Association of Community College Trustees Leadership Congress, Oct. 2-5 in Seattle. “It would be in lieu of an in-house retreat,” Heilman said, recommending the sessions on policy governance. One day of the schedule would be travel time. Trustees were asked to check their schedules as reservations will be needed by the end of the month.
Also discussed Thursday was Heilman’s monthly report of agreements signed. These include an agreement with Hutchinson Community College, which will serve as a host site for Barton’s OSHA Training Institute Education Center; an agreement with Mercy Hospital in Independence, which will be an affiliate for Barton’s medical lab technician (MLT) clinicals; and a similar Emergency Medical Service agreement with Newton Fire/EMS in Newton. Heilman said Barton’s status as an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training provider may lead to other agreements with colleges. “We have agreements being considered by Seward (County Community College) and Pittsburg State,” he said.