TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College board of trustees met Tuesday, Dec. 14 to decide officers such as president and vice president of the board and to decide whether to raise wages for the school’s food service workers.

The work session began at 3:30 p.m. in the Dolores Kaufman Boardroom at EWC. Present were board members Bob Baumgartner, Judith Bartmann, Tom John McCreery, Randy Adams and Kurt Sittner along with various staff members. Board members John Patrick and Mike Varney were absent from the meeting.

In the work session, present board members voted to retain the current members in office. Baumgartner will continue to serve as president and chair of the board with Bartmann as vice president, McCreery as treasurer and Adams as secretary. The board also has the opportunity to appoint three representatives to the EWC Foundation board. It voted to retain the current appointments there as well, with Baumgartner, Adams and McCreery continuing their roles with the foundation.

The board meets each December to vote on its officers, who each serve a one-year term. Sittner asked if it was possible to revise board policy to increase the term to two years. While members expressed their support, it was unclear whether any action would be taken to revise the policy.

Tyler Vasko updated the board on the school’s IT programs, work which is “progressing” after a cyberattack took the entire school offline over the summer.

Vasko reported the school’s online portal “myEWC” needs significant rebuilding after the attack. His goal is to have most online services in place by the beginning of the next semester on Jan. 18, but says he needs “bigger guns” to get it done. Vasko asked the board’s approval to seek help from contractors outside the school, which the board gave.

Before adjourning the work session at 5 p.m., the board discussed the process in which course fees are adopted, agreeing to finalize it in the board meeting later that evening so that as inflation continues to raise prices for needed supplies in the welding, cosmetology and other programs, the process is simple and straight forward no matter who is in charge after current EWC President Lesley Travers retires at the end of the school year.

EWC Director of Human Resources Holly Lara presented a report on the difficulties of hiring and retaining food service workers. Many employees leaving have reported that although they had enjoyed their time there, they were struggling to make ends meet on their current salaries and had accepted higher pay elsewhere.

The current starting rate at EWC for a food service worker with no prior experience is $9.44 an hour and $10.42 an hour for someone with experience. McDonald’s starts its cooks at $10 an hour and Torrington High School at $13.82. The proposed salary schedule for EWC would bring the starting rate up to $12.50 an hour.

Travers expressed her concerns at not being able to find and retain employees both in food services and custodial.

“We are at a serious place where we desperately need people in these positions,” she said.

She mentioned custodial wages will be a topic of discussion at the January board meeting and other staff and faculty salaries will continue to be discussed through the following year.

“We have to get wages up,” McCreery said.

EWC Vice President of Administrative Services Kwin Wilkes presented his report on how the college has used federal CARES money to help cover additional costs incurred from the pandemic, including the cost of extra cleaning supplies and refunds for students who had already paid for room and board before the pandemic hit EWC.

The regular meeting began at 5:45 p.m. The same members present for the work session were present at the meeting.

Lara introduced EWC’s new Student Success and Testing Center Director Sergio Mendez to the board. Lara said Mendez has “hit the ground running.”

The board elected to retain Bartmann and McCreery as its representatives to the Wyoming Association of Community College Trustees and Bartmann as its representative to the Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

Wilkes presented the December fiscal report and the board accepted him as the Assistant to the Treasurer of the board.

The board voted to approve the process of course fee changes previously discussed in the work session and approved the appointment of several new faculty and staff including Suzey Delger as Nursing Program Director, Mathis Hodge as chemistry instructor, Beth Martin as art instructor and Stephanie Ligon-Tucker as communications instructor.

Director of Institutional Development John Hansen presented his report, including an upcoming bicycle donation program for international students once the weather starts getting warmer in the spring. Hansen said one of the challenges international students face is transportation to and from class, the grocery store and other spots around town. Donated bicycles would help them enjoy their time in Torrington more.

Vice President of College Relations Tami Afdahl reported her department is busy working together with the Community Education department to send out catalogues for the upcoming semester and planning the annual Sagebrush and Roses fundraiser, which is set to take place Jan. 29.

Afdahl also serves as the Vice President of Student Services. She reported most of the grades from the fall semester were entered online, with only a few hiccups compared to earlier in the semester after the cyberattack.

President of EWC’s Douglas Campus Margaret Farley presented her report, including the possibility of new grants and her working together with a local housing complex manager to provide housing for students. Farley also reported the expansion of the school’s nursing program had been denied by the Wyoming State Board of Nursing, saying the relatively new program was expanding too quickly. The adding and expansion of the construction management program, however, is set to move forward.

The board moved into executive session. The next meeting will be held Jan. 11 with the work session starting at 3:30 p.m. and the regular meeting at 5 p.m. in the Dolores Kaufman Boardroom.