The South Plains College Board of Regents have been weighing their options regarding high cost construction projects.
The biggest topic of discussion during the prior monthly meetings held by the regents is the future of the Natatorium and the high cost associated with renovating the entirety of the building.
During the January meeting, SPC President Robin Satterwhite presented a comprehensive report on the current state of the facility.
Discussion amongst board members established that renovation, replacement or closing the facility entirely needs to be decided as minor fixes will only prolong the decision.
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.
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, 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 was approved. Board Member Ty Gregory was absent from the meeting and has since missed multiple meetings dealing with construction approvals.
During the April meeting held Thursday, Gregory was in attendance while Board Member Chris Edens was absent.
Discussions into the construction projects continued. A hangup between the group has been waiting for the upcoming year projections that are scheduled to be received in May which will give the board a clearer picture on revenue.
Satterwhite provided a recap of the situation and then recommended that BRG Architects assist SPC in publicly requesting bids for a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) to renovate the SPC Natatorium. BRG will employ WIT, the company who composed the Natatorium assessment as a subcontractor for pool engineering. CMAR will subconnect all trade categories including pool demolition and construction.
Satterwhite explained that the item approval would be of no cost and only keeps the ball moving forward as the board weighs approval of moving forward with the project until the projections are received in May.
At that time, Satterwhite encouraged the board to hold an additional meeting in May to look at all projects in place to come to an agreement.
Gregory voiced his concerns and provided a sheet of information to those in attendance regarding the number of individuals using the pool throughout the year and uncertainties that were had.
He shared with the board that he was in favor of halting any additional movement of the Natatorium until the board could evaluate all projects in a facilities planning committee setting. Gregory also emphasized that if he had been in the prior meetings he would have not voted in favor of moving forward with the Natatorium.
Multiple board members shared his sentiment that a meeting was needed to look at the broad scope of projects and determine what was essential for the time being. However, multiple members of the board were in favor of approving the item as it was of no cost and did not affect the final decision.
Members of the board approved the item except Gregory who was opposed and Edens who was absent.