All-a-Board
JCCC Trustees name Melody Rayl to fill vacant position
The Johnson County Community College Board of Trustees selected a new member last night. They also voted to expand the board by adding an additional seat bringing the total number of trustees to seven.Editor's Note: I was a finalist for the trustee position and will post my experience soon. However, I will say that I'm proud the college selected an individual, Meldoy Rayl, who has a campus connection that included working with students.Posted last night on the JCCC electronic mail server, Infolist:
Trustee search processMelody L. Rayl, Olathe, was appointed to fill the vacancy on the board of trustees at Johnson County Community College. Rayl, an attorney with Bryan Cave, LLP, and a former assistant professor in the administration of justice program at JCCC, will complete the term of Virginia Krebs, who resigned from the board in October. The term expires June 30, 2009.The trustees interviewed eight candidates, selected from among 13 applicants for the board seat, following the regular monthly meeting. The other candidates were Laura S. Byrne-Harris, Leawood; William A. Dean, Overland Park; Ronnie Metsker, Overland Park; Michael M. Morales, Olathe; Kurtis M. Ruf, Overland Park; Mary R. Tearney, Leawood; and Sandra K. Willsie, Overland Park.The candidates each had five minutes to present themselves to the board, and the trustees had 10 minutes to ask each candidate questions. Rayl will join the board at the next regularly scheduled meeting Dec. 11.“Undeniably this is one of the best community colleges in the nation,” Rayl said. “I will be able to bring to the board experience in oversight and steering. The board is accountable to the community, seeing that their needs are served.”
Seventh board memberThe trustees passed a resolution stating their intention to add a seventh member to the board. The trustees began discussions about the change in governance structure two years ago. With formal and informal input from the community, the board weighed the fact that the county has grown significantly in population and complexity over the last 40 years and came to consensus that the inclusion of a seventh board member would provide an additional and valuable community voice.A resolution describing the board’s intent to adopt the new governance structure requires publication for three consecutive weeks in local newspapers. The notification process allows for a protest period, whereby qualified electors of the college district opposed to the change could submit a petition to call for the matter to be decided by a county-wide election. If no such petition is received within 30 days of the final notice publication, the position for seventh board member would be on the ballot for the spring 2009 board of trustee elections. The seventh trustee would take a seat on the board in July 2009.
