Midway College names Laura Armesto new provost; Board of Trustees elects Donna Moore new chair

Dr. Laura Armesto has been named the new provost and vice president of academic affairs at Midway College. She will join the staff June 24.

Armesto was most recently vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, which like Midway has undergraduate programs for women and graduate programs for both men and women and recent years has expanded its online course offerings. During Armesto's 10 years in the job, she developed more than two dozen programs. Before Chatham, she held several administrative positions at Barry University in Miami. She has reviewed grant applications for the American Association of Colleges and Universities and facilitated workshops for chief academic officers through the Council of Independent Colleges.

"She possesses a wealth of academic and administrative experience as well as a collaborative leadership style that will serve the institution well," Dr. John P. Marsden, president of Midway College, said in a press release. "The search committee believes Dr. Armesto is a strong fit for the institution, and I know her capabilities first hand after working with her earlier in my career." The release said Armesto was selected after a national search.

Dr. Marlene Helm, who served a year as interim vice president of academic affairs, will return to her position as an education professor with oversight of the teacher education graduate program. "I thank Dr. Helm for her service over the last year in the interim position," Marsden said. "The first graduating class of our Master of Arts in Teaching program which she helped establish just received their diplomas at our May commencement. I know under her leadership that program will continue to grow and other graduate level programs will be developed."

Meanwhile, the college's Board of Trustees has a new chair, retired Kentucky Educational Television executive Donna Moore, right, of Lexington. She was elected at the May 9 meeting and immediately succeeded Interim Chair Mira Ball. Moore, a 1962 associate-degree graduate of Midway Junior College, has a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky. She has been on the board since 1999, is a past president of the Alumni Board and headed the recent Presidential Search Committee, which recommended the hiring of Marsden early this year.

Council considers how to finish the new Gratz Street wall: Natural stone? Manufactured stone? Stamped concrete?

Looking north on Gratz Street toward Main Street

The Midway City Council passed its budget for 2013-14 without discussion last night, but spent a good deal of time talking about the biggest project in the budget: reconstruction of the walls and sidewalk on Gratz Street at the east end of downtown.

The council voted to accept the $63,173.50 bid of Karsner Construction Co. of Frankfort for the work, which was 21 percent higher than the engineer's estimate of $49,710. Joe Grider of HMB Professional Engineers said the estimate was based on initial design work, and he increased the quantities of materials in the final design, increasing the cost. The new budget allocates $70,000 for the project, to be paid from funds accumulated over the last several years.

The other bids were $90,064 from Woodall Construction Co. of Lexington and $94,178 from Stewart Contracting Corp. of Richmond. "I didn't see anything out of line" in Karsner's bid, Grider said, adding that on most of the 11 bid items, at least one of the unsuccessful bidders was much higher than the other two bidders. For HMB's tabulation of the bids, click here.

The bid item that drew discussion was the plan to use a stamped concrete finish for the wall, which Karsner bid at $6,827. The current wall is made of hand-cut stone that has badly deteriorated. Council Member Dan Roller said the wall should be finished with stone, "a more Midway type of thing." He said tourists come to the area to see stone walls, not concrete formed to look like stone.

"It's going to be considerably more" to finish the wall with stone, Mayor Tom Bozarth said, suggesting that it could be done at a later time, but also saying that the city might be able to save a few thousand dollars by demolishing the existing wall and sidewalk. Council Member Aaron Hamilton said he liked that idea, but Grider noted that the option was included in the bid, and Karsner deducted only $4,400 of the $6,845 demolition bid. Why? "As soon as he turns control of that over to the city, he's at the mercy of the city" for the project schedule, Grider said.

Council Member Sara Hicks asked if the existing wall's stone could be re-used; several at the meeting said it could not because it was of poor quality and badly weathered. After the council voted to accept the contract, Council Member Bruce Southworth asked if the wall could be finished in manufactured stone, which looks real to many observers. Grider said it might look better than stamped concrete for a few years, but after 20 years "I'm not so sure." He agreed to check on costs of both natural and manufactured stone and report back.

Bozarth said he wants the project done by Sept. 1 because the Midway Fall Festival will be held Sept. 21 and 22. The bid document calls for the work to be completed within 60 calendar days; Grider said Karsner told him work could start two weeks after getting notice and should take 25 to 20 working days, or about six weeks.

Forum in Versailles June 18 for candidates in special election for state representative

Among other business at the meeting, Don Vizi, executive director of the Woodford County Chamber of Commerce, said the group had hoped to have its forum for state-representative candidates at Midway College on June 18, the only date that all three candidates were available, but the venue was not available that night, so the forum will be held at Falling Springs Park in Versailles, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Vizi was reminded that the county fair will be getting under way at the park that night, and was asked how those who only wanted to attend the forum could do so without paying the fair's admission fee, which is charged at the entrance to the grounds. Vizi, who has been on the job only a few months, said he was unaware of that complication and would try to get it worked out.

A special election for state representative from the 56th District (Woodford County and parts of Fayette and Franklin counties) will be held June 25 to fill the year and a half remaining in the term of Democrat Carl Rollins of Midway, who resigned to head the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority. The candidates are Republican Lyen Crews, independent John-Mark Hack and Democrat James Kay.

Council scheduled to pass budget Monday evening

Final passage of the city budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is on the agenda for the regular meeting of the Midway City Council Monday, May 20, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. All city council meetings are open to the public.

City Clerk-Treasurer Phyllis Hudson says the council has made no changes in the detailed budget offered by Mayor Tom Bozarth last month. For a copy of the proposal, click here.

Committee to consider first draft of noise-and-nuisance ordinance, cemetery ideas Monday morning

Noise and cemetery issues are on the agenda of the Cemetery, City Property and Ordinance/Policy Committee of the Midway City Council, which will meet Monday, May 13, from 9 to 10 a.m. at City Hall.

The committee will consider first draft of a noise ordinance, an idea it has discussed at its last two meetings. The draft will also cover nuisances other than excessive noise, according to the meeting notice from City Hall.

Cemetery topics will be ideas for a chapel, a bench for senior citizens and the Memorial Day service. All city council and committee meetings are open to the public.

Committee to consider citizen parking request Thursday

The Water-Sewer, Garbage-Recycling and Streets-Sidewalks Committee of the Midway City Council will meet at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 9 at City Hall to discuss a citizen parking request. All council and committee meetings are open to the public.

Council to meet on new budget at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday

Mayor Tom Bozarth has called a special meeting of the Midway City Council for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 1, at City Hall located to discuss hos proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. "Possible action will be taken," says the notice from City Hall. All council meetings are open to the public. For last week's story on Bozarth's proposals, click here.

State Rep. Carl Rollins resigns to head state agency; special election to fill vacancy will be June 25

UPDATE, April 30: Democratic Party officials nominated James Kay of Versailles as their candidate for the election. Republicans nominated Lyen Crews, vice president of business and financial affairs at Midway College, who lost to Rollins by about 5 percentage points in 2010. UPDATE, May 8: Independent John-Mark Hack of Versailles, a former state agriculture-policy director, filed an hour before the deadline. For a story on the race from Ryan Alessi of cn|2's "Pure Politics," click here.

State Rep. Carl Rollins of Midway resigned from the General Assembly today in order to accept a new job: chief executive officer of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority and the Kentucky Student Loan Corp.

“For the past seven sessions of the General Assembly I have had the honor of serving the people of the 56th District in the Kentucky House of Representatives,” Rollins told Gov. Steve Beshear in his resignation letter. “In the last five sessions leadership in the House has allowed me to serve as chairman of the House Education Committee, where we proved that by working in a bipartisan manner we could make significant improvements to public education for the children and citizens of the Commonwealth.”

The last session saw passage of at least two bills that Rollins strongly advocated: one that is expected to result in the dropout age being raised to 18, and the "Districts of Innovation" law that allows waivers from state rules to try new ways to improve learning. He also sponsored a bill to abolish the death penalty in Kentucky; it got nowhere but he was promised a hearing in the legislative interim.

Beshear, a Democrat like Rollins, called a special election for June 25 to fill the 20 months remaining in Rollins's term. Party precinct officials in the district will nominate candidates. McDonald's franchisee Joe Graviss of Versailles, who ran for the state Senate several years ago and has remained active in Democratic politics, has been mentioned as a candidate. Rollins told cn|2 Politics (Channel 2 on Insight and Time Warner cable TV) that county party chair James Kay, who was a legislative aide in this year's session, is interested in running, and Kay acknowledged that. Another legislative aide, Versailles City Council Member Brian Traugott, has also been mentioned as a Democratic candidate.

Carol Rogers, chair of the Fayette County Republican Party, "said the nominee is most likely to come from Woodford County, considering it makes up most of the district," cn|2 reports, noting: "The House must redraw the districts with the 2010 Census figures before the 2014 election. And the map the House put out earlier this year, significantly shifted the 56th District precincts in western Fayette County and instead added precincts from southern Scott County." It also includes much of Franklin County.