The Barton Community College Board of Trustees approved the purchase of four vehicles on Tuesday, opting for the lowest bids submitted by from Barton County venders.
Dean of Administration Mark Dean noted these were not the lowest bids, as vehicles could be purchased at the state contract price offered by venders in Shawnee Mission and Park City.
The college continuously updates its fleet of vehicles, usually making a purchase every year. But, “we did not purchase vehicles last year,” he said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, trustees approved the purchase of two cars and two 15-passenger vans to replace high mileage vehicles. They bought two Tauruses from Marmie Ford and two Express vans from Dove Chevrolet for a combined total price of $97,551.
Don Hattan Chevrolet in Park City offered the vans at the state contract price of $27,426.50, or $871 less than Dove’s in Great Bend. Shawnee Mission Ford offered Tauruses for $20,478 compared to Marmie’s $20,972, but according to board materials the local dealership met the Shawnee Mission price.

Clean audit
Trustees also approved the latest audit, for the year ending June 20, 2016. This was an unqualified or “clean” audit. Board materials note, the primary goal of an audit is to express an independent opinion that the financial statements or the college are fairly presented, and that they are in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Financial report/new hires
Dean also presented a the December financial report, noting BCC revenue is down from this time last year by about $116,000.
“The good thing is, our expenditures are also down,” Dean said, and they are running about $173,000 less than this time last year.
When the board later approved four new employees, Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman commented that the college had kept expenses down in party by extending the duration of vacancies. But this also creates some strains, and two budget teaching contracts were filled Tuesday.
The employees approved were: Michael Halbleib, systems analyst, and Sarah Riegel, administrative assistant to the vice president of Instruction & Student Services, both on the Barton County Campus; a contract for Stephanie Bishop, instructor of military academic services at the Fort Leavenworth campus; and an contract for Angela Campbell, instructor of military academic services at the Fort Riley Campus.
The First Infantry Division, “Big Red One” at Fort Riley will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2017. Barton’s Public Relations Director Brandon Steinert said the college will take part in events throughout the year in support of the anniversary.