NWC board moves forward with plans for new student center

Posted 9/21/21

Northwest College has secured funding for the final phase of planning for a new student center and is now beginning to discuss the possibility of construction.

In August, the state approved $1 …

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NWC board moves forward with plans for new student center

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Northwest College has secured funding for the final phase of planning for a new student center and is now beginning to discuss the possibility of construction.

In August, the state approved $1 million for level III planning of the project.

“We are excited about moving forward in our planning for the new student center and will be prepared if the opportunity arises for further state construction funding or new federal infrastructure funding,” NWC Interim President Lisa Watson said when the approval was announced.

Anticipating the state funding was coming, the college’s board of trustees voted in July to use $1 million in reserves to match the state’s appropriation. Reserve funds come from money NWC slowly accumulates over multiple years in which revenues exceed expenditures. They’re the equivalent of the college’s savings and are more suited for things like capital expenditures, as opposed to operations.

At this month’s board meeting, Watson said the $2 million in total funding was “more than sufficient to cover” the design work and asked the board to consider the next step — of funding of the actual construction. The most pressing question is how it will fund its match requirements.

“Part of the work we have to do is with the funding,”
Watson said, “and what our desire is and what we feel comfortable with in terms of the project scope and the cost of the building overall.” 

Trustee Dusty Spomer said the question of the budget and funding plan came up in the last meeting of the college’s Finance Committee, which includes Trustees Carolyn Danko and Larry Todd. However, Spomer said the committee wasn’t certain if the discussion was best held in committee meetings or before the board as a whole.

Trustee Tara Kuipers said she wasn’t sure she had enough information about the project funding to be able to instruct the Finance Committee what to consider. She asked for more guidance from Watson and the board in order to know what the Finance Committee should be asked to do.

Watson discussed the construction of the Yellowstone Building, which was completed in 2014 and was the first NWC building that ever received state funding. It was a matched funding model, and Watson said there were similar discussions at the time surrounding the funding of the college’s match, which looked at reserves, bonds, and support from the Northwest College Foundation.

Watson noted that the college currently has only one outstanding debt instrument, which is for Simpson Hall, and it expires in 2023. The debt is serviced through resident fees, paid for by students who live in the residences on campus.

“That’s the only debt we have on our books right now, which is good,” Watson said, adding, “Any debt we take on has to be serviced, so that’s good to keep in mind.”

A big unknown, she said, is whether the college could get federal support for the project through the American Rescue Plan Act or The American Jobs Plan, which would help with the college’s match to state funding.

For planning purposes, the state has approved a $23.5 million new student center at NWC, which still requires legislative approval for an actual appropriation of construction funding.

Watson proposed a hypothetical scenario in which the state appropriated $12 million toward a rounded total construction figure of $24 million. The college would then need to come up with the other $12 million.

Watson asked the board to consider how much the college would want to spend, which could be less than the approved $23.5 million if the board desires. 

Watson said the foundation initiated a $3.5 million campaign to help support the project and has raised about $1 million to date. However, that $1 million included other building projects. The foundation would therefore have to talk to the donors to see if they’d still support a project limited to the new student center. 

Other options for construction funding, Watson said, include utilizing more of the college’s reserves, a bond, a loan or potentially — if there was enough community support — a voter-approved specific-purpose 1% sales tax. 

“There’s many things to look at, and it could be complex,” Watson said. “So where do we want to go with that?”

Spomer said the previous discussion in the Finance Committee included whether college reserves would be tapped and how deeply.

“Is there the stomach for that and to what level?” Spomer said. “That’s a key component, because everything else has to fill in the blanks after that figure is penciled in.”

Board President Mark Wurzel proposed having the Finance Committee contemplate those questions and come back with options at a high, medium and low level of funding for the new center. 

“Then we can have a discussion with not so many options that it’s overwhelming,” Wurzel suggested. 

Kuipers agreed it was a good approach for the board to wrestle with the decisions it needs to make on the construction.

Trustee John Housel made a motion in line with Wurzel’s suggestion, on the assumption the Wyoming Legislature would appropriate funding for the center in the 2022 legislative session. 

Kuipers seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

The current DeWitt Student Center suffers from a number of issues related to it being over 50 years old. Besides leaky roofs and plumbing issues, the building lacks American With Disabilities Act design considerations and energy efficiencies. 

Speaking in August after the state awarded the $1 million in planning funding, Watson said the college was going to be careful in how it proceeds with funding the construction, should that proceed. 

“The college wishes to be thoughtful and frugal during the design process so we can create a facility that will meet the needs of our community and still be cost effective to build and maintain into the future,” Watson said.

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