Lisa Watson

Northwest College has a temporary kitchen in place for the next 18 months while a new student center is constructed. 

At last week’s Park County commission meeting, commissioners unanimously approved starting the lease with no security deposit at $1,000 rent per month in order to cover utility costs. Commissioners approved authorizing chair Dossie Overfield to sign the lease once the final details have been hashed out. 

Commissioners will be able to reevaluate the lease either up or down in the future to adjust to the utility cost. Overfield said the county is not looking to make a profit on the agreement, but simply cover utilities. 

There is only one meter to record utilities for the entire fairgrounds, which hosts other groups and events throughout the year outside of the fair. 

Overfield said the Heart Mountain Hall would still be available for rentals, and even the kitchen would still be used once by an outside group next year which already had a reservation for it. 

“I am truly grateful to the commissioners for their willingness to support the college for this project,” NWC President Lisa Watson said. “It’s getting very exciting and it’s about to get real.”

The project for the new student center is out for bid and the college is awaiting responses, hoping costs haven’t risen too much. 

“We’ll know more in the next couple of weeks,” she said. “And I’m grateful for the opportunity to be at the fairgrounds and to keep our students fed.”

Watson said while, as she’s calling it, the “last supper” at the DeWitt Student Center won’t be until December, she’d like to be able to get into the temporary kitchen earlier as the college staff will be bringing in at least some of their open equipment.