Julie Bugner-Smith has been hired as the Alumni and Events Coordinator for Barton Community College’s Institutional Advancement department. The new position will have her leading alumni engagement and signature fundraising events for the Barton Community College Foundation.
Barton President Dr. Marcus Garstecki said the Foundation Board recognizes the importance of the position, which was posted on the Central Kansas Jobs website in September, and has approved paying the salary for this position to support alumni events.
Bugner-Smith served as executive director for United Way of Central Kansas from 2010 to 2017, when she left to lead the Pawnee Valley Community Hospital Foundation. In 2022 she became the program coordinator for the Larned Area Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development.
Approving Bugner-Smith for the Barton position was part of a consent agenda during the Oct. 28 Board of Trustees meeting. The board also approved hiring Great Bend nurse Dana Dawes as the instructor and coordinator for medical support programs at the college. This is a contract position.
The following personnel were also approved. All of the positions are on the Barton County campus.
• Amber Arizmendi – Student & Residence Life assistant
• Baileigh Drake – Assistant Care Provider (part-time)
• Ana Fabela Luna – Custodian
No action on roof repairs
Roof repairs were not on the Oct. 28 agenda. Costs were reviewed at the Oct. 14 Board study session, where Vice President of Administration Mark Dean recommended local contractor Washington Roofing for the $365,997 project. At that meeting, Trustee Dale Maneth said board policy requires quotes from three vendors, but Dean said the college can accept a quote from a single vendor if that vendor is the only one that can reasonably provide the service.
The project involves a Spray Polyurethane Foam and Washington is the only local vendor who can provide the product that meets specifications, Dean said earlier this month. He agreed to send emails to companies further away that might want to bid.
“We contacted some others,” Board Chairman Mike Johnson said, explaining why the project wasn’t on the agenda as originally planned. “We really haven’t found any. We may need to call a special board meeting just to vote on this roofing (project) so we can start some repairs before the weather sets in."
