New Howard College Trustee Maxwell Barr, right, receives the seal of office from Dr. John Freeman, president of the board of trustees, Monday at the college. Barr was appointed to the Precinct 4 seat on the board, which became vacant when long-time trustee Don McKinney died. (HERALD photo/Steve Reagan)
College trustees learned during their Monday meeting that renovation projects authorized by a 2007 bond election are, with few exceptions, proceeding on schedule with major work scheduled to begin this summer.
The main work ongoing now includes renovation of the A and E wings of the administration annex, modification of the electrical primary system and constructing an addition to the science building.
The only main delay among those three projects is at the science building addition.
“That's about five or six weeks behind schedule,” Executive Vice President Terry Hansen told trustees. “Several utility lines that were missed during the initial site survey have to be moved ... But even though we've run into extra work, we're still basically on schedule (overall).”
While things have been busy so far, the pace will pick up even further in the coming months when work begins on Phase 2 of the renovation project, Hansen said.
Major work to be done in the second phase includes installation of a new central chiller and boiler plant and renovation of the Student Union Building, Horace Garrett Applied Sciences Building and the administration building.
Before the Garrett and administration buildings can be renovated, they must undergo asbestos abatement (the Student Union Building has already been abated). Because the Garrett building houses the nexus for the college's phone system and computer network, abatement would severely hamper those areas of operation.
“We're going to do abatement over the Memorial Day weekend,” Hansen said. “When they begin abating the Garrett building ... the college will be effectively offline — we won't have phone service or our computer network. So we're going to have the abatement work done over that four-day weekend.”
Officials hope to present finalized plans for the second round of projects to trustees within the next two months, Hansen said.
Also Monday, trustees:
• Welcomed new Precinct 4 trustee Maxwell Barr, who was appointed to succeed long-time trustee Don McKinney.
• Approved a new Geographical Information Systems Technology Program for SouthWest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf.
• Approved handbook and catalog Changes and reappointment of college deans and directors.
Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at
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