By Bethany Peterson/editor in chief

The board of trustees selected three finalists for the District 2 seat vacated by Joe Hudson.

At a board workshop Sept. 29, the five board members present voted by writing the name of the applicant they wished to interview on a piece of paper. The names and who voted for them were then read aloud.

“It’s like secret ballots,” trustee O.K. Carter said. “So exciting.”

“They won’t be secret long,” replied Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley, who is not a voting member.

Before the board meeting, five of the 11 applicants were disqualified. Roger Fleming and Jimmy McKenzie currently work for the college as adjuncts, and three others live outside of District 2. The college requires all trustees live in the district they represent, and a trustee cannot have worked for the college in the 12 months prior to becoming a trustee.

Of the remaining six, board president Bill Greenhill and Carter voted for Dennis Slechta. Louise Appleman and Kristin Vandergriff voted for Conrad Heede. Gwendolyn Morrison voted for John Marshall.

Appleman said she voted for Heede because he ran a good race against Hudson in the last election, receiving 31 percent of the votes.

“He has demonstrated a definite commitment to service,” she said. “I’d like to give him this opportunity.”

Carter said he knows Slechta, and Slechta also fit what he was looking for in an applicant.

“I was looking for a wide range of recommendations from key influentials in the community,” he said.

Slechta submitted 10 letters of recommendation with his application. The letters came from area business personnel as well as one from state Rep. Vicki Truitt.

Morrison said she wanted a good selection of finalists for the board to consider.

“I just thought he had a good background and awareness and familiarity of property all over the county,” she said.

The college will run a background

check on the three finalists. Then the board will get a chance to interview them all at a workshop at 5 p.m. Oct. 20 that is open to the public.

“I want to ask why they are interested and what they hope to bring to the board,” Morrison said.

The public will have an opportunity to comment at the board meeting at 6 p.m. that night, after which the board will appoint a trustee to be sworn in at the Nov. 17 meeting.