By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Less than a year removed from the Barton Community College Board of Trustees, Cole Schwarz is returning to serve on the board. Tuesday afternoon, current Trustees voted in favor of appointing Schwarz to the board to replace recently resigned Don Learned.
Chairman Mike Johnson and the Trustees had three candidates submit applications for the open position.
"All three are very qualified," said Johnson. "I'm very happy to say that any one of the three candidates would make an excellent trustee. For those that are not successful today, I would encourage them to consider running for the office."
Schwarz was appointed to the board in August 2020 to fill an open position, but did not gather enough votes last fall to obtain one of the three seats that were up for election. Originally from Silver Lake, Kansas, Schwarz works as a financial advisor in Great Bend.
Along with Schwarz, Trustees member Gary Burke said Doug Panning and Will Rains applied for the position.
"It's unfortunate that we don't have three positions to fill," said Burke. "All three of the candidates are well qualified with different experiences. All three of them would benefit our college by being a trustee. Unfortunately, we get to just choose one."
Schwarz will be sworn into office in September. Learned resigned after 19 years on the college’s board.
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