The South Plains College Board of Regents met during their monthly meeting Thursday which focused heavily on the future of the natatorium.
During the President’s Report, Dr. Robin Statterwhite spent a majority of the time focusing on the construction aspect of the college.
Satterwhite presented a comprehensive report done on the current state of the facility and noted that the tile style pool in the facility is closer to 50 years old. As with all older facilities, not only are the tiles issues the pipes are old and rusting causing several issues. In previous meetings, Satterwhite has provided brief updates regarding the facility and also provided student opinions that were gathered from staff.
Satterwhite explained that opinions from students varied in what would attract more traffic to the pool and facility overall but the general consensus was the facility was in need of serious renovations ranging from pool features, dressing room overhaul and overall quality of the facility.
It was added that pools usually have a life span of 25 years and the current pool as far exceeded that. While minor fixes have been made in the past Satterwhite is recommending either a large-scale renovation or replacement. Discussion among board members established that renovation, replacement or closing the facility entirely needs to be decided as minor fixes will only prolong the decision.
BGR Architects of Lubbock submitted three plans all of which are over five million dollars. It is projected that there will be 5.7 million dollars in the Capital Improvement fund by September of 2024. It was noted that all the current plans are all geared to the building as it currently stands. Satterwhite explained that the options provided to the board match the footprint of the building due to the massive price increases if the college chose to expand.
Board member Joe Tubb offered his opinion saying the decision comes down to if South Plains College needs to provide a swimming pool for students and the community.
Board member Richard Ellis offered numbers that coincided with the future operations of the pool and the upside when incurring those costs. Ellis expanded on his comments explaining that he enjoys the pool, however, putting what is an estimated five million into the pool with other future projects on the horizon is hard to justify.
Satterwhite explained to the board that residence hall renovations are one of the bigger projects the college would like to look at in the future. Additionally, the potential of adding dental hygiene to the college’s programs is one of the bigger goals the college is looking toward in the future which would potentially be placed within the Gentry Square development. While that is a big goal, Satterwhite explained that process would take a handful of years to get the ball rolling as accreditation is one of the biggest hurdles before moving that program along.
Discussions continued that included the vice presidents offering their thoughts and what the pool means to them and how it serves the best interest of the college. With the college trending in a positive direction financially, it was explained that is a positive in the discussion, but projecting into the future remains an uncertainty.
Board President Mike Box questioned spending money to tear the facility down would also be at a cost to the college and believes building a new facility is simply making a good investment in the property.
After a lengthy discussion, Board Member Chris Edens made a motion to move forward with the process to get real estimates and plans to make a more educated decision for the future of the pool. Vice Chairman Ronny Alexander second the motion and the remaining members approved the motion. Board Member Ty Gregory was absent from the meeting.
Moving along within the construction report, the outdoor fitness court will have the pavilion installed in the next few weeks to complete that will complete the project. Satterwhite also reported they are ready to go out for bids on new flooring for the Women’s Complex for roughly $400,000. Those bids should be back for the next regular meeting. While they are getting the biding done, the project should be completed over the summer.
Satterwhite also reported that they are getting bids on updates and repairs to Fraizer Hall. This might include flooring, wall work, windows and other updates for the facility. As of now they believe they can get several updates done in separate pieces and avoid ADA regulations in the project. If the ADA threshold is crossed, the dorm would likely need to be replaced entirely. Satterwhite is hoping to have some plans together in the next 30 to 60 days.
Beginning the meeting, Board President Mike Box welcomed new SPC Public Relations Specialist Adán Rubio. Rubio is an alum of South Plains College and is replacing Myrna Whitehead who retired at the end of December 2023.
Vice-President for Academic Affairs Ryan Gibbs asked the board to enter an agreement with Ed2Go to offer over potentially 900 courses and noted that several other community colleges in the region are already offering these programs. He noted that the relationship is a wholesaleretail agreement. They sell courses to South Plains College and in turn the college would sell those to the public in retail fashion.
Gibbs would like to focus on courses that fill absences the current course offerings and things that would work as bridge programs into other current offerings. President Dr. Robin Satterwhite agreed with the assessment of Dr. Gibbs and recommended to the board they move forward with the program. Gibbs did note that is probably not a revenue generator for the college but certainly would deep the course offerings. The challenges the college is facing on increasing the course offerings is primarily filling roles for instructors for those courses. This meets that challenge in a simple way. Satterwhite reported that it will all be branded as South Plains. The board approved the move with all board members in favor. Faculty at South Plains College will begin culling the list based on needs and prep the list of what courses will be offered.
Dr. Stanley DeMerritt, Vice-President for Student Affairs, reported that while overall enrollment is up daily for South Plains College, they are seeing educational shifts that is reducing numbers of in person education but seeing increases in dual credit enrollment. Overall enrollment is up a little over 8% overall. Occupancy for the college is currently running at well over 80%. DeMerritt capped his report with a report on the first December graduation in the history of South Plains College. Over 600 total students fell into the graduating ranks with well over 200 students participating in the ceremony.
Vice President for Business Affairs Teresa Green covered the financial reports before Vice President for Institutional Advancement Julie Gerstenberger brought the board the 2024 SPC Scholarship Gala information.
The gala has been set for February 23rd at the Mallet Event Center in Levelland and will feature Sony/Columbia recording artist and Amarillo native and SPC alum Trent Willmon. $82,752 in donations have already been garnered in sponsorship money including City Bank returning as the event host. Butch’s Rat Hole and Anchor Service along with Scott and Jamie Bryant as the Pacesetters for 2024.
The final item of discussion dealt with changing the time and day of meetings for the future to accommodate board member Ty Gregory. Multiple members shared their understanding of Gregory’s position in asking to make adjustments to the meeting time and date. However, the board did not feel like moving the meeting would not be the best answer for the entirety of the group.