The Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES component school boards voted on Wednesday, April 16, to approve the $4,768,253 Herkimer BOCES administrative budget for the 2025-26 school year.
Component district school boards took a vote on whether to approve the BOCES administrative budget and then cast an overall vote as a board. The budget passed with a vote of 9-1 among the 10 school boards.
BOCES component district school boards only vote on the administrative component of the BOCES budget.
The school boards unanimously voted to re-elect three incumbent Herkimer BOCES Board of Education members and for one newly elected member to join them.
The following candidates were elected to three-year terms from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028: Janine Lynch, representing West Canada Valley; Samuel Luce, representing Herkimer; Holly Pullis, representing Owen D. Young, and Rick Virkler, representing Central Valley. Lynch, Luce and Pullis were re-elected.
Virkler will fill the seat currently occupied by Travis Costin, who didn’t run for re-election. Virkler, a member of the Central Valley Board of Education, is a regional sales manager with Munson Machinery, where he has worked for the last several years. He is a graduate of Herkimer Central School District and Herkimer College, holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Syracuse University, completed the Chartered Financial Consultant program at The American College of Financial Services, earned multiple Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) investment licenses and worked for more than 14 years in financial services – including more than 11 years with two Fortune 100 companies: as agency sales director at MassMutual and partner (sales manager) at New York Life.
Virkler lives in Mohawk with his wife, Missy, and four daughters. He serves on the boards of the Mohawk Municipal Commission and Central Valley youth softball. He enjoys golfing, hunting, fishing, coaching youth sports and spending time with his family.