JWCC seats trustees and elects officers; Pike County well represented
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By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
Submitted photo
Kent Snider (right) of Quincy and Andy Sprague (left) of Kinderhook were declared winners in the April 1 consolidated election and were seated as members of the JWCC Board of Trustees at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Board. Snider, a challenger, and Sprague, an incumbent, were elected to full six-year terms from 2025 to 2031.
John Wood Community College’s (JWCC’s) Board of Trustees met last Wednesday evening to formally canvass the results of the April 1 Illinois consolidated election.
In the context of elections, the canvass is a post-election process that aggregates and confirms that all valid ballots cast are accurately counted and included in the final election results.
According to the canvass of election results conducted by the Adams County clerk/recorder submitted to the Board, vote tallies for the nine counties in JWCC’s district were as follows: Snider – 5,359 votes; Sprague – 4,884 votes; Christopher Adam Holtschlag 4,485 votes; and Elizabeth Weas Cash – 4,039 votes.
The Board went on to hold its reorganizational meeting, which featured the seating of one new trustee, the reseating of one trustee, election of officers and appointing of trustees to board committees.
Kent Snider of Quincy and Andy Sprague of Kinderhook were declared winners in the April 1 consolidated election and were seated as members of the JWCC Board of Trustees. Snider, a challenger, and Sprague, an incumbent, were elected to full six-year terms from 2025 to 2031.
Sprague is the proprietor of Pike County’s Sprague’s Kinderhook Lodge.
Jacob Davis of rural Barry (graduate of Liberty High School) was selected by JWCC’s student body and took the Oath of Office as the College’s Student Trustee for 2025-26. Trustees recognized outgoing Student Trustee Kannon Dickerman of Quincy, who served from 2024-25.
The Board also recognized outgoing trustee Dr. Randy Greenwell, who served the College from 2019 to 2025.
Trustees voted to elect Bob Rhea as chair; Andy Sprague as vice chair and former Pikeland Superintendent Paula Hawley as secretary for the Board. As elected officers, Rhea, Sprague and Hawley will serve as the Board’s Executive Committee.
As chair, Rhea appointed trustees to the following Board committees: Finance and Audit – former JWCC Ag Center Director Larry Fischer and Kent Snider; Curriculum: Don Hess and Pittsfield High School Principal Angie Greger; and Rhea appointed Hawley as the Board’s representative to the Illinois Community College Trustees (ICCTA) Association. Hess will serve as alternate representative to the ICCTA.
Following the reorganizational portion of the meeting, board members authorized entry into a one-year sublease agreement with two successive one-year automatic renewal options with University of Illinois Extension for space at the Orr facility on the Baylis Agricultural Education Center property and the JWCC Mt. Sterling Education Center.
In other business, the Board:
ν Recognized incoming members of JWCC’s Student Government Association. Officers for the 2025-26 academic year will be as follows: Brady Althoff of Plainville, president; Lizzy Blickhan of Fowler, vice president; Colton Coats of Bluffs, treasurer; and Karlie Barry of Camp Point, secretary.
ν Approved Gerber Tours as the travel provider for the Upward Bound program. Following a formal request for proposals, Gerber Tours submitted the only proposal, with a total cost of $49,812. Upward Bound is a federally funded TRiO program that supports high school students in grades nine through 12 who are from limited-income backgrounds and whose parents have not earned a bachelor’s degree. The program helps these students prepare for and pursue a four-year college degree.
ν Adopted the 2026-27 and 2027-28 College calendars.
ν Awarded Advanced Technologies a $38,366 bid for solar and wind turbine educational training systems to be purchased with grant dollars. The mobile systems will be used to teach students how to repair solar and wind technology equipment.
The next regular meeting of the Board will be held Wednesday, May 21, at 6 p.m. at the JWCC campus in Quincy.
