By MICHAEL STRAND

Salina Journal

It will be July before they formally -- and legally -- take over authority for the Salina Area Technical College, but the school's nine new members of its board of trustees have plenty to do between now and then.

They got a taste of what's ahead Wednesday night, when the trustees -- appointed by the Salina School Board two weeks ago -- met for the first time with several school board members and Salina School District staff.

The technical college is in the process of becoming independent of the school district, but one thing Salina Superintendent Rob Winter pledged to the new trustees is that cooperation between the two organizations would continue after that July 1 deadline for achieving independence.

"One of the things we're going to work through over the next several months is the relationship between the technical college and the school district," Winter said, explaining that the district will likely continue to provide some services, such as handling payroll, after that deadline.

"On July 1, 2009, it will not be a matter if never again will our paths cross. If we wanted to doom this, we could walk away on July 1."

Winter has scheduled a retreat for the new trustees in early October to start getting into details but said one of their first tasks would have to be hiring a president for the college, starting with deciding on a list of qualifications.

"One of the first things on your agenda should be to get that process moving," Winter said. Other early tasks will include selecting a president of the board and finding a legal adviser.

They will need legal advice separate from the school district, Winter said, as they will be negotiating with the district on a number of items, including a proposed lease of the college's buildings from the school district, which now owns them. Winter said he was working on a lease agreement, as the school district invested millions of dollars in the college as part of a 1999 bond issue and those debts won't be paid off until 2018. Since the new college doesn't have any taxing authority, it would have no way to pay off its share of that debt.

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.

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